Prime Minister Theresa May's plan for Great Britain's exit from the European Union (Brexit) has come to pass defeat in the British Parliament last night, which led to chaos in the so-called Brexit process, writes the BBC.
According to the BBC yesterday, May may have hoped to secure last-minute support for her deal with the European Union (EU).
But the deputies rejected her proposal, 391 deputies voted "against" and 242 "for", a few weeks after her first proposal suffered the same fate.
Theresa May's new defeat in the British Parliament could further weaken her leadership in the Conservative Party and increase calls for her resignation.
Also, the Prime Minister could face the challenge of new parliamentary elections.
The UK is due to leave the EU on March 29.
What's next?
The next step is a new vote that will take place today.
MPs will vote whether they will accept that Great Britain leaves the EU on March 29 without an agreement, that is, whether there will be a so-called "unsettled" or "no deal" Brexit.
Leaving the EU without an agreement, without the 21-month transition period provided for in the agreement, carries certain risks in the areas of trade, immigration, health and other areas, and the parliament will most likely reject that possibility, writes the BBC.
Rejecting a "no deal" Brexit will lead to a new vote, according to the BBC.
That vote will decide whether May will again turn to the EU with a request to extend Article 50.
This would put the Brexit ball in the court of the EU, which would potentially allow the EU to decide for itself how long the period in which Britain must leave the EU will be extended.
What is a backstop?
One of the most contentious issues in the negotiations on Britain's withdrawal from the EU is the so-called "backstop", a mechanism intended to ensure that the border between Ireland, a member of the EU, and British Northern Ireland remains open regardless of whether London and Brussels reach an agreement on arranged dating and future relationships.
Although both sides claim that they neither want the activation of the backstop nor the establishment of a hard border in Ireland, the EU has insisted on some kind of open border security.
The Irish government wants the same, since an open border is one of the key parts of the 1998 peace deal that ended the conflict in Northern Ireland.
The "backstop" is an instrument that defines the conditions under which the Irish border will remain open even if the UK and the EU do not reach a comprehensive trade deal.
Therefore, if after the end of the post-Brexit transition period, in 2020, there is no trade agreement between London and Brussels, the "backstop" will automatically enter into force until an alternative solution is found.
Under the backstop provisions, the UK would enter a temporary customs union with the EU, meaning there would be no customs checks between Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Also, Northern Ireland would remain bound by the rules of the single market, thus avoiding other checks on goods crossing the border.
Such a status of Northern Ireland is a point where a problem arises for the British side.
Namely, while Northern Ireland would effectively be part of the single market, the rest of Great Britain would not be, so checks would have to be introduced for goods moving from Northern Ireland to the rest of Great Britain.
The EU's initial request was that the "backstop" only apply to Northern Ireland. The British government, however, rejected this, stating that it could not accept that Northern Ireland had different customs regulations to the rest of the country.
British critics of the "backstop" as the main point of contention state that Great Britain could not unilaterally withdraw from that mechanism, that the "backstop" is described as "time-limited", that is, it will be applied until "partially or in full" be replaced by another agreement.
That, Brexit supporters say, means the EU could keep Britain in the customs union indefinitely and prevent it from striking its own trade deals.
The final point of contention is regulatory checks within Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, a particular problem for Northern Irish unionists who support Prime Minister Theresa May's government and see the provision as the first step towards the breakup of the UK.
When it comes to those checks, the EU stated that most of them would be carried out in factories and farms, not at the border.
In January, British MPs overwhelmingly rejected the proposed text of the agreement on an orderly separation, and many subsequently asked the Prime Minister to negotiate changes to the "backstop" provisions.
The British government claims it is impossible to make a withdrawal agreement without a "backstop" because the EU requires the provision to be in place.
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