UK MPs take control of Brexit timetable with indicative votes win

Theresa May's humiliation at the hands of parliament continued on Monday as MPs voted to hold a series of indicative votes on alternatives to her twice-defeated Brexit deal.

An amendment by the former Conservative Minister Oliver Letwin was approved by 329 votes to 302 as three government ministers resigned to vote against May.

The prime minister refused to say whether she would recognise the outcome of any subsequent indicative votes and warned MPs that their strategy could set a dangerous constitutional precedent.

“No government could give a blank cheque to commit to an outcome without knowing what it is. So I cannot commit the government to delivering the outcome of any votes held by this house. But I do commit to engaging constructively with this process,” she said.

A statement later issued by the government said the vote “upends the balance between our democratic institutions and sets a dangerous, unpredictable precedent for the future”.

Three pro-EU ministers, Alistair Burt, Steve Brine and Richard Harrington resigned their posts ahead of the vote, as 29 Tory MPs rebelled to vote for the amendment, while eight Labour MPs supported the government.

Harrington, a junior business minister, accused the government of "playing roulette with the lives and livelihoods of the vast majority of people in this country".

'I WANT MY MV3'

May earlier told the Commons the government was not planning to table a third 'meaningful vote' on the existing deal due to a continued lack of support.

She said that "as things stand there is still not sufficient support" to ask MPs to vote on her deal for a third time, having been defeated heavily earlier this month and in January.

Downing Street had been looking at holding 'MV3' on Tuesday or Wednesday, as the government needs the House of Commons to support the deal in order to get the short delay to the Brexit deadline it had requested from the European Union.

Last week the EU said that if May's deal won parliamentary support the deadline could be extended from 29 March to 22 May to make necessary legislative preparations, but if it failed again then a shorter delay would be given to 12 April, by which time the prime minister would have to present an alternative plan to Brussels.

May addressed the Commons on Monday afternoon after averting a supposed leadership coup by senior Conservative party members over the weekend and following an apparently also unsuccessful chat with Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party, upon which her party relies on in order to maintain a wafer-thin parliamentary majority.

The pound, which has been a gauge on financial markets optimism about the Brexit process, was down 0.25% at 1.3176 against the dollar just before 1700 GMT on Monday and down 0.3% versus the euro at 1.1649.

(Reporting by Frank Prenesti and Oliver Haill)