Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team MPs reject May’s EU Withdrawal agreement… MPs have rejected Theresa May’s EU withdrawal agreement on the day the UK was due to leave the EU. The government lost by 344 votes to 286, a margin of 58. It means the UK has missed an EU deadline to delay Brexit to 22 May and leave with a deal. The prime minister said the UK would have to find “an alternative way forward”, which was “almost certain” to involve holding European elections. – BBC News What happens now that Brexit deal has been defeated? – Sky News May’s loss means Britain is heading for a lengthy Brexit delay – James Forsyth for The Spectator What happens next for Brexit now Theresa May has lost Withdrawal Agreement vote – and will she resign? – Asa Bennett for the Telegraph (£) A no-deal Brexit or general election are now likelier than ever – Robert Peston for The Spectator > Today on BrexitCentral: Withdrawal Agreement rejected by a majority of 58 – Here’s how every MP voted Highlights from the EU Withdrawal Agreement Debate David Scullion: Brexiteers were right to vote down May’s awful deal Michael Tomlinson MP: Why I decided to vote for Theresa May’s deal Shanker Singham: Why we must support the Government’s deal …but PM considers a fourth bid to pass the deal… Theresa May and her cabinet are looking for ways to bring her EU withdrawal agreement back to the Commons for a fourth attempt at winning MPs’ backing. The PM said the UK would need “an alternative way forward” after her plan was defeated by 58 votes on Friday. MPs from all parties will test support for other options during a second round of “indicative votes” on Monday. But government sources have not ruled out a run-off between whichever proves most popular and the PM’s Brexit plan. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has called on Mrs May to change her deal or resign immediately, while Northern Ireland’s DUP – which has propped up Mrs May’s minority government – also continues to oppose the deal. – BBC News …and even hints at a general election to break the Brexit deadlock… The prime minister herself said at the dispatch after her defeat: “The House has been clear it will not permit to leaving without a deal, so we have to find a way forward.” Describing the implications of the decision to vote her down as “grave”, the prime minister went on to say “we are reaching the limits of this process on this House”. Everyone read one thing only into that remark; the prime minister could be paving the way for a general election to break the impasse. Less than an hour after Mrs May was defeated, her party chairman Brandon Lewis tweeted a new social media post – “Labour just voted to stop Brexit” – which looked very much like a general election slogan. – Sky News …as Cabinet ministers tell May to ’embrace no deal’ Cabinet ministers will attempt to take control of Brexit by telling Theresa May it is “time to embrace no deal” after her EU Withdrawal Agreement was rejected by MPs for a third time. Mrs May will hold a conference call with ministers on Sunday night amid calls for a Cabinet vote on how to proceed. Senior backbenchers said the Prime Minister had reached the end of the road and should now quit, but Mrs May stood firm and wants to put her deal to a Parliamentary vote for a fourth time next week. She hinted that if MPs refuse to follow her she might call a general election to break the impasse, warning MPs: “I fear we are reaching the limits of this process in this House.” – Telegraph (£) Thousands of Leave supporters descend on Parliament Square Thousands of Leave supporters gathered in Westminster to protest against the delay to Brexit, on the day the UK had been due to leave the EU. Some protesters reacted with cheers, while others shouted “shame on you”, as MPs rejected Prime Minister Theresa May’s EU withdrawal agreement. The March to Leave – which began in Sunderland two weeks ago – arrived in Parliament Square on Friday afternoon. A separate Make Brexit Happen rally, organised by UKIP, was also held. – BBC News Angry over Brexit delay, ‘Leave’ supporters march through London – Reuters Staff told to leave Parliament “as a matter of caution” – Guido Fawkes Michel Barnier says the EU is open to a customs union with UK… If Britain wants a customs union, the EU is ready to make a deal, the bloc’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said Friday. Speaking to the College of Europe campus in Warsaw, Barnier appeared to nod to the indicative votes in the House of Commons on Wednesday in which eight different Brexit options failed to gain a majority but a proposal for a customs union came closest, losing by just eight votes: 272 to 264. – Politico If Brexit deal fails Friday, UK has till April 12 to decide – Barnier – Reuters …as Austrian leader says No Deal will happen if there’s no new British plan Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Friday that unless Britain came up with a Brexit plan in the next two weeks there would be a “hard” British departure from the European Union. Kurz commented on Twitter after the British parliament rejected for a third time the withdrawal agreement struck between London and Brussels, a rejection Kurz said he regretted. “We keep striving for an orderly Brexit even if this has now become more unlikely,” Kurz’s tweet read. “If there is no plan presented by Great Britain in the next two weeks then there will unfortunately be a hard Brexit. But for this, Austria and the EU are well prepared.” – Reuters Show us your Plan B for Brexit, EU leaders tells May- The Times (£) UK is ‘top of the queue’ for post-Brexit trade deal with the US Donald Trump’s national security adviser has told Sky News the UK will be “at the top of the queue” for a trade deal after Brexit, in a sign that the Trump administration is growing impatient with delays to Britain leaving the EU. John Bolton said that the British people should not fear a no-deal scenario. “People who worry about the United Kingdom crashing out of the European Union – they are going to crash right into the United States,” said Mr Bolton. “We are standing here waiting to make a trade deal with a UK independent of the EU.” He stressed President Trump’s commitment to Brexit, that he is “eager for the will of the British people to be carried out, and he is even more eager to do a trade deal”. – Sky News Dominic Grieve loses confidence ballot at local Tory AGM Two Conservative MPs lost confidence votes at their local associations’ respective AGMs this evening. The first was Dominic Grieve, in Beaconsfield, where members reportedly voted by 182 to 131 against him. As readers might expect, the primary topic of the night’s discussions was Brexit. What happens next is uncertain – a confidence vote does not hold formal weight in terms of deselection, though it is obviously a pretty clear verdict. Nor do we know if Grieve intends to seek readoption to stand again at the next election. The Beaconsfield association chairman says that “He [Grieve] remains our Conservative MP but I will be speaking as soon as possible to my fellow officers and the Executive Council.” – Conservative Home DUP deputy leader: I’d rather stay in the EU than back May’s deal The deputy leader of the DUP said on Friday he would rather see the UK stay in the European Union than back the withdrawal agreement. Nigel Dodds, a Brexiter, urged the government to return to Brussels to demand changes that would make the border backstop acceptable to parliament. Insisting the withdrawal agreement would undermine the union, Dodds said the EU’s resistance to amending the deal must be challenged by Theresa May. “I think it would be actually better staying in the European Union than living under this withdrawal agreement, which would mean you would accept all the rules of the European Union, pay in all the money, but have no say whatsoever,” he told LBC radio. – Guardian The Independent Group of MPs to form political party The Independent Group of British MPs announced Friday that it has applied to register as a political party to compete in the European election. The group, made up of 11 MPs who have broken away from the Conservatives and Labour, submitted an application to the U.K.’s electoral commission to become a party called “Change UK — The Independent Group.” Former Tory MP Heidi Allen has been appointed interim leader until an inaugural conference scheduled for September, according to a statement from the group, which backs a second Brexit referendum. – Politico Remainer rebels who quit Tories and Labour finally become a party so they can stand in EU elections – The Sun Centre parties to lose 73 seats in European Parliament projection The European Parliament’s two largest blocs are on track to shrink by a combined 73 seats, according to the European Parliament’s latest official poll. The poll, published Friday, shows the center-right European People’s Party (EPP) on course to win 188 out of 705 seats in the European election in May while the center-left Socialists and Democrats group (S&D) is on course to win 142 seats. The Parliament’s projection equals a loss of 29 seats for the EPP, which currently has 217 MEPs in the assembly. – Politico Tim Bale: Brexit is tearing apart Britain’s establishment political parties Brexit threatens to blow the British party system apart. Differences over the UK’s relationship with the EU have never been deeper, more salient and more entrenched than they are now. Europe has become a fundamental cleavage, rivalling those which have traditionally helped determine, and continue to help determine this country’s party politics. Tectonic shifts like this are rare. But when they do occur, they throw up the possibility of profound change and realignment. Inasmuch as voters ever identified with the programmes and the parties on offer, they may forget any loyalties and any preferences they once had. New contenders for their support may emerge, and indeed already have. Existing parties may split – or at the very least reconfigure themselves, and their appeals to the electorate, in order to try and cope. All that seemed solid may melt into air, with profound consequences for electoral competition. – Tim Bale for the Telegraph (£) Ian Conner: Theresa May is a modern Machiavelli Theresa May is a political genius. I know what you’re thinking. He’s lost his marbles. Parliament is in chaos. She’s totally inept. She never wanted us to leave the EU in the first place, and it shows. The EU have fallen into the trap that Mrs May set for them. It was no deal all along, unless they offered a decent one in the first place. Genius! The EU’s patience has run out. They are making the decisions now. Though they have been since 1973. There are only two options from their point of view: Leave without a deal or accept the deal with a short extension for ratification. The EU will only authorise another delay if her deal passes the Commons. They won’t authorise a long delay because they don’t want 70-something Nigel Farage clones in the EU parliament. – Ian Conner for CommentCentral Dominic Raab: Why I’m backing May’s deal Last November, I resigned from the Cabinet because I could not support the government’s Brexit deal.I still judge it to be a poor deal.I also recognise that with the government purporting to take no deal off the table, and its acquiescence in the extension of Article 50, that we potentially face an even worse alternative that could reverse Brexit and betray our democracy.In extending Article 50 and signalling it was taking a WTO exit off the table, the Government weakened its own negotiating position in Brussels, and I’m afraid it heartened those in Parliament trying to frustrate Brexit.- Dominic Raab MP for The Spectator Asa Bennett: Dom Raab has ended his fight against the deal, but other Tory Brexiteers are still fighting on “We need to proceed with realism,” Mr Raab said. “The choice, now, is between the risk of being held in the backstop by the EU for a period – from 2021 – without being able to control our exit, and a significant risk of losing Brexit altogether.” His reluctant acceptance will annoy those Brexiteers who had been delighted by his spirited resistance to the deal, telling Mrs May only yesterday to get more out of Brussels on the backstop to make it acceptable – otherwise, she should pursue a “sensible” no-deal. That rhetoric could appeal to a sizable number of Tories. Most party members prefer a no-deal to what Mrs May agreed, recent polling shows, and the recent spell of indicative votes resulted in a majority of Tory MPs voting for a no-deal (156), rather than against it (94). So considerable numbers will be looking for someone who fought the hardest against the Prime Minister’s deal, and seemed least afraid -as MPs continue to keep a no-deal at bay – of it happening. – Asa Bennett for the Telegraph (£) Helen Thompson: For the EU, Brexit presents a big security dilemma Brexit is an existential matter for the EU. It is losing its strongest military power, its second-largest economy, and its premier financial centre where more than half of all Eurozone borrowing and equity issue occurs. It is also losing a member state with enough votes under qualified majority voting to change the balance of power within the Council of Ministers. In part, the EU’s response to Brexit has reflected the nature of the EU as a political construction. – Professor Helen Thompson for CapX Brexit in Brief Brexit has exposed the extent to which officials behind closed doors decide public policy – Douglas Carswell for the Telegraph (£) The EU is shutting out views that do not chime with the Brussels elite. We can’t leave too soon – Tim Worstall for the Telegraph (£) The public deserve to know how the Brexit negotiations went so spectacularly wrong – Frank Field MP for the Telegraph (£) Northern Ireland learned lessons in reconciliation. If only the rest of the UK learned them too over Brexit – Rory Guinness for the Telegraph (£) Bercow, the Remain Enabler – Jayne Adye for Get Britain Out ‘Brexit into outer space’ – Joel Cassement of Get Britain Out for The Commentator Rory Guinness: Northern Ireland learned lessons in reconciliation. If only the rest of the UK learned them too over Brexit – Rory Guinness for the Telegraph (£) Happy Brexit Day! How Prime Minister Gove negotiated a great deal with the EU – Iain Martin for Reaction The Tories are the party of nation. No wonder Brexit has been so toxic for its prime ministers – Vernon Bogdanor for the Telegraph (£) Mervyn King, a voice of reason and authority on Brexit – Kathy Gyngell for Conservative Woman Our incompetent MPs don’t get it — Brexit is not about the economy, stupid – Mervyn King for The Sun Parliament votes down the “Stay in and pay up” Treaty – John Redwood’s Diary Three cheers for the Commons for the way it is conducting the necessary argument on Europe – Andrew Gimson for Conservative Home Varadkar will meet EU allies to plot course through chaos – The Times (£)