Brexit news latest: Theresa May could bring back deal for fourth vote and hints she could call General Election if it fails

Theresa May is considering bringing her Brexit deal back to the Commons for a fourth vote next week and has hinted that she may call a general election if Parliament cannot agree a way forward.

“I fear we are reaching the limits of this process in this House,” she told MPs who voted her deal down again on Friday. Her remarks appeared to signal that she is prepared to call a General Election to try to break the deadlock.

Mrs May said the vote would have “grave” implications and that failure to support her plan was “almost certain” to involve an extended delay to Brexit, with the UK required to hold elections to the European Parliament in May.

It came as pro-Brexit protesters clashed with police officers in central London leading to five arrests.

Mrs May will not be able to bring her deal back to the Commons for a fourth attempt until MPs have taken part in the second round of a series of “indicative” votes on alternatives to the deal.

One idea being mooted at Westminster, was that if one option did emerge as a clear favourite there could be a final run-off vote with Mrs May’s deal.

The Prime Minister is consulting senior ministers over the weekend on the way ahead after MPs voted on Friday to reject the Withdrawal Agreement by a majority of 58.

 

Following the defeat on what was supposed to be Brexit day, Labour called on Mrs May to finally accept that her deal was dead and to call a general election.

But Downing Street sources have made clear she has not given up hope of getting it through Parliament, despite having already suffered three crushing rejections by MPs.

One source pointed out that the scale of the reverse was significantly less than the previous occasions as a number of prominent Brexiteers, including Jacob Rees-Mogg, Iain Duncan Smith and Dominic Raab, fell into line.