Brexit vote result - LIVE: Jeremy Corbyn tables vote of no confidence in Theresa May that could bring down government after historic 230-vote Commons defeat
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Your support makes all the difference.MPs overwhelmingly rejected Theresa May’s divorce deal with the EU on Tuesday evening, plunging the Brexit process into chaos.
The defeat was widely expected, but the scale of the House of Commons’ vote – 432 votes against the government and 202 in support – was devastating for Ms May’s fragile leadership.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn put forward a confidence motion in the aftermath of the crushing loss, which made history as the biggest ever government defeat on the floor of the House of Commons.
The defeat by 230 votes easily beat the previous record of 166 votes, set in 1924 by the minority Labour government of Ramsay MacDonald.
Parliament finally delivered its verdict on the prime minister’s withdrawal agreement after months of debate, as crowds of both Leave and Remain protesters gathered outside parliament to express their anger.
Ms May insisted she intended to stay on, setting out plans for talks with senior parliamentarians in the hope of finding “genuinely negotiable” solutions which she can take to Brussels.
But she faces another crucial vote on Wednesday after the Labour leader moved to table a formal motion of no confidence in her government.
Senior ministers reportedly told top business leaders that a motion to delay the Article 50 process of leaving the EU is being prepared in a conference call following the vote defeat.
To follow events as they unfolded, see our live coverage below:
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The European Research Group (ERG) - a powerful caucus of Brexiteer Tory backbenchers - will back Theresa May in a confidence motion tomorrow. A source tells The Independent: "ERG MPs will of course be voting for the government in the no-confidence motion tomorrow."
The DUP leader Arlene Foster has hailed the decision to reject the deal as acting in "the best interests" of the UK.
She said: "The House of Commons has sent an unmistakable message to the Prime Minister and the European Union that this deal is rejected.
"Ms May will now be able to demonstrate to the Brussels’ negotiators that changes are required if any deal is to command the support of Parliament.
"We will work with the government constructively to achieve a better deal. That is our focus. Whilst some may wish to use this defeat to boost their political ambitions, we will give the government the space to set out a plan to secure a better deal."
She said reassurances were not enough, the PM must now seek "fundamental changes" to her deal.
May's leadership rival Boris Johnson told Sky News: "The margin of defeat for government is bigger than I expected.
"It's no particular cause for rejoicing for me because after all I've been trying for so long to get the government back in the place where the PM was in her Lancaster House speech last year when we were really talking about taking advantage of Brexit.
"All that got lost when we moved into the quicksand of the Northern Irish backstop - locked into the customs union, locked into the single market."
He said she now had a "massive mandate" against her deal to take back to Brussels, where she needs to surgically remove the backstop.
Mr Johnson said: "You don't need to extend article 50. There are bits of the withdrawal agreement that are fine."
Powerful Unite boss Len McCluskey calls for a general election in the wake of this defeat.
SNP health spokeswoman Philippa Whitford raised the case of heavily pregnant Labour MP Tulip Siddiq, who was in the Chamber in a wheelchair after delaying her caesarean section in order to vote against the Brexit deal.
Dr Whitford said: "She should have been undergoing a caesarean section today for a high risk pregnancy and she is comfortable with me saying she has gestational diabetes and was asked by her medical team to undergo that at an early time.
"She has had to defer that despite the advice and comments made from the chair yesterday that apparently were given no comfort from the government benches.
"I think this is shocking and I have to say as a doctor to put our colleague and her baby at risk because we cannot have a method of allowing those who are sick or pregnant (to vote) is disgraceful."
Speaker John Bercow reminded MPs he had said the situation was "lamentable" the previous day and he supported proxy votes, adding: "I had indicated my strong support.
"It would have been necessary for a resolution to be tabled by the Leader of the House but for reasons which others can explain - it's not my job to do their explaining for them - that has not happened."
A No.10 spokesman said they hoped to open talks with other MPs as "swiftly as possible" once the vote of confidence was out of the way.
"We want to identify what would be required to secure the backing of the House consistent with what we believe to be the result of the referendum," the spokesman told a Westminster briefing.
"We want to leave with a deal and we want to work with others who share that."
The spokesman declined to be drawn on whether they would include Jeremy Corbyn.
"Let's not pre-empt talks before they have happened. We will look to engage widely with people we believe share our objectives."
Jeremy Corbyn's spokesman suggested Labour could table another motion of no confidence in the government if they lose Wednesday's vote.
Asked how many times Labour would put the confidence vote before accepting that they could not get a general election, he replied: "It will go on being the case that the best outcome is a general election but if we can't get a general election then all the options will be on the table as unanimously agreed in Liverpool."
The spokesman added that the government was "quite clearly unable to govern", and said the "unprecedented" scale of the defeat made clear that "no amount of tweaking or talks on the detail are going to change that".
The pound plunged and then rallied against the euro after Theresa May’s Brexit deal was overwhelmingly rejected by parliament.
The Irish government said it regrets the historic defeat of Theresa May's, which ramped up the risk of a disorderly Brexit.
In a statement, it said: "The Irish government continues to believe that ratification of this agreement is the best way to ensure an orderly withdrawal of the UK, which avoids a hard border and respects the single market and customs union, while also delivering on the UK's objectives for withdrawal.
"The Irish government recalls the clear position of the European Council at its meeting of December 13 when it stated that the withdrawal agreement is not open for renegotiation. This was restated in the joint letter from presidents Tusk and Juncker to prime minister May yesterday."
"Consequently, the government will continue to intensify preparations for such an outcome.
"Earlier today, cabinet discussed preparation for a no-deal Brexit in detail. Cabinet took a number of significant decisions, including the preparation of essential legislative measures as part of this ongoing work. This work which will intensify over the next few weeks.
"The Irish government recognises, however, that a disorderly Brexit is a bad outcome for everyone, not least in Northern Ireland.
"It is not too late to avoid this outcome and we call on the UK to set out how it proposes to resolve this impasse as a matter of urgency."
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