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British Prime Minister Theresa May departs after speaking at a press conference after attending a special session of the European Council over Brexit on November 25, 2018 in Brussels, Belgium.
The U.K.’s Brexit deal with the EU has been rejected by U.K. lawmakers in another landmark defeat for British Prime Minister Theresa May.
May’s Brexit deal was defeated for the first time back in January but she had hoped last-ditch tweaks to the deal, specifically on the contentious Irish border issue, would help persuade Members of Parliament (MPs) to change their minds.
Her deal was rejected by 149 votes after 242 MPs voted for the deal and 392 MPs voted against the deal. Sterling initially pared earlier losses against the dollar after the decision to trade 0.2 percent lower at $1.3124. It, however, slipped again to trade 0.5 percent lower against the greenback.
Speaking after the result, May said she regretted the decision taken by the house. She further added that voting against leaving without a deal and for an extension does not solve the problem.
The deal’s chances were dealt a blow earlier on Tuesday when the government’s chief legal advisor said that the risks to the U.K. from the “Irish backstop” remained unchanged despite recent legal assurances from Brussels — although he did say the risks had been reduced by the tweaks.
The Irish backstop is a mechanism to avoid restoration of the “hard” border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland that was erased with the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement between London and Dublin. Some U.K. politicians don’t like the fact that the backstop, although intended as a last-resort, would mean the U.K. remaining within a EU customs union for an indefinite amount of time and unable to leave unilaterally, effectively meaning it might be tied to the EU for an unspecified duration.
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