Is Theresa May’s Brexit deal now dead – and is No Deal now the UK’s only option?

MPS are due to vote on whether the UK should leave the European Union without a deal.

The future though is anything but clear.

Theresa May during PMQs ahead of the Brexit vote on March 13, 2019

PRU

Is Theresa May’s Brexit deal now dead?

Not quite.

Despite the original referendum put to the people on the country’s future relationship with the EU and solemn promises to enact on the leave majority, MPs have twice now rejected the deal put on the table by Theresa May.

There is only a matter of days to go before our scheduled exit but no one knows if this will even happen.

Things are still very much up in the air.

It’s widely thought MPs will reject the motion which states “this House declines to approve leaving the European Union without a Withdrawal Agreement and a framework on the future relationship on March 29”.

The vote only applies to the March 29 deadline and would not rule out the possibility of a No Deal exit later this year, if Parliament is ultimately unable to agree a way forward.

Jean-Claude Juncker has ruled out giving Theresa May a ‘third chance’

EPA

Is No Deal now the UK’s only option?

The options, for the moment, are still on the table but time is running out with just days to go before the deadline.

If MPs vote for No Deal, the UK will leave, as planned, on March 29 and automatically revert to trading on World Trade Organisation rules.

But if they vote against a No Deal and back extending Article 50 on Thursday, March 14, May will be forced to formally ask EU leaders for the whole process to be extended.

That is not clear cut though as all EU members must vote unanimously to agree to her request.

EU chief Jean-Claude Juncker though has stood firm, saying there would be no further negotiations on May’s Brexit deal, saying there would be no “third chance”.

He added: “In politics, sometimes you get a second chance. It is what we do with the second chance that counts. Because there will be no third chance.

“Let us be crystal clear about the choice – it is this deal or Brexit might not happen at all.”

The EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said the EU ‘cannot go any further’

EPA

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The EU’s Michel Barnier said the EU “cannot go any further” in trying to persuade MPs to back the agreed terms.

He added: “If the UK still wants to leave the EU in an orderly manner, this treaty is, and will remain, the only treaty possible.”

No one can predict what happens now.