Theresa May pushed back the British parliament’s next vote on her Brexit deal to as late as March 12, just 17 days before the UK is due to leave the EU, in a tactical gamble that dismayed business, Europhile MPs and some European leaders.
After three senior cabinet ministers threatened to vote against the government to block a no-deal exit, the UK prime minister tried to keep a grip on negotiations by offering the House of Commons a new deadline to vote on a revised deal.
But the gambit was condemned by the CBI business group as “running down the clock”, while Europhile MPs argued that it was unlikely to save the prime minister from a humiliating defeat on Wednesday, when parliament will debate her approach to talks.