Brexit vote result - LIVE: Cabinet ministers rebel as Theresa May's bid to keep no-deal Brexit on the table ends in yet another humiliating defeat
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Your support makes all the difference.Theresa May has suffered a humiliating defeat after MPs voted to completely take the option of a no-deal Brexit off the table.
MPs voted by 312 votes to 308 in favour of an amendment that was stronger than the government's own motion in its opposition to a no-deal outcome.
Ms May's motion said the Commons "declines to approve" leaving without a deal on March 29, but said the only way to avoid this is to pass an agreement. The amendment passed by MPs removed this caveat and simply said the Commons "rejects" a no-deal Brexit.
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Earlier, chancellor Philip Hammond used his Spring Statement to downgrade growth forecasts and warn MPs that uncertainty over Brexit was damaging the economy.
It came after ministers revealed plans to scrap tariffs in the event of the UK crashing out of the European Union without a deal as MPs prepare to vote on a no-deal Brexit.
Under a temporary and unilateral regime, EU goods arriving from the Republic of Ireland and remaining in Northern Ireland will not be subject to tariffs – a prospect likely to increase the risk UK jobs would be lost. Charges will however be payable on goods moving from the EU into the rest of the UK via Northern Ireland under a schedule of rates also released today.
↵Hammond says he has decided to fund free sanitary products in secondary schools from 2020.
Hammond says the economy is fundamentally robust, but the uncertainty still hangs over it. "It is damaging the economy - and our standing in the world," he says.
We have huge opportunities ahead of us, he says. "We have shown we are not shy as a nation of the challenges ahead of us.
"Our potential is clear - our advantages are manifest. A brighter future is within our grasp - tonight lets seize it."
Responding to this statement, the shadow chancellor John McDonnell says we have just witnessed a toxic callousness over the government's disregard for austerity in the UK.
"The chancellor turns up today with no real end or reversal of austerity - and to threaten us: that austerity can only end if we accept the government's [Brexit] deal."
A downgraded forecast is a pattern under this chancellor, McDonnell says.
He says the chancellor has shifted the deficit on the backs of public sector workers.
Police budgets have faced a cut of £2.7bn since 2010, McDonnell says, claiming nothing in the budget makes up for the human cost of this.
Benefit freezes and the rollout of universal credit are forcing people into food banks to survive, the shadow chancellor adds.
One million pensioners are living in severe poverty.
"A government condemned by the UN for inflicting destitution on its citizens.
"And there’s nothing balanced about a government investing £4155 per head in London on transport, and the North only £1600."
John McDonnell attacks the government for breaking the “historic link between securing a job and taking yourself out of poverty”.
This government has created a “large-scale jobs market of low pay, long hours and precarious work”, he says, adding that average wages are still below where they were ten years ago and 4.5 million children are living in poverty.
During his statement, the chancellor also talked about "building a consensus" across the House of Commons for a deal "we can collectively support" to press forward with Brexit.
This is not exactly the government line - considering Downing Street and Theresa May have shown no sign of dropping her current agreement and rejected descriptions of it being "dead".
Instead, Mr Hammond here appears to be calling for a cross-party consensus on a UK-EU agreement - and one that could command the support of a majority of MPs.
Of course is something Jeremy Corbyn has called for - and involves an agreement on a customs union. It would never be acceptable for the Conservative Eurosceptics, and if the PM went down this road, she would in all likelihood split her party.
Responding to the Spring Statement, Edwin Morgan, interim director general of the Institute of Directors, says:“Warm words and proposed consultations are not enough for businesses at a time when confidence is rock bottom and investment plans are eroding away, and many will find it difficult to tread water until more decisive action at the Autumn Budget.
“While a ‘no deal’ would wreak certain havoc for many firms, we must also avoid being lulled into thinking an exit deal alone is a substitute for providing a real economic impetus that lowers costs, spurs productivity growth, and supports businesses as they adjust to Brexit, whatever its form. Indeed, the fact that the OBR lowered its forecast for GDP growth this year – based on a smooth exit from the EU – highlights just how much the economy is set to fall below its potential, even in a relatively benign scenario."
In perhaps the most unsurprising announcement of the chancellor's statement, he says he will be voting against a no-deal scenario.
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