LONDON: British lawmakers defeated Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit divorce deal by a crushing margin on Tuesday, triggering political upheaval that could lead to a disorderly exit from the EU or even to a reversal of the 2016 decision to leave.<br /><br />Parliament voted 432-202 against her deal, the worst parliamentary defeat for a government in recent British history. Scores of her own lawmakers – both Brexiteers and supporters of EU membership – joined forces to vote down the deal.<br /><br />Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn promptly called a vote of no confidence in May’s government, to be held within 24 hours.<br /><br />With the clock ticking down to March 29, the date set in law for Brexit, the United Kingdom is now trapped in the most profound political crisis in half a century as it grapples with how, or even whether, to exit the European project that it joined in 1973.
