The British parliamentarians were set to vote Tuesday on Prime Minister Theresa May's latest Brexit deal that would determine the future of the United Kingdom within the European Union. Two months earlier, on Jan. 15, British lawmakers voted 432-202 against May's deal, forcing her to renegotiate the divorce deal in Brussels.
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The most contentious part of the divorce deal Theresa May agreed with the EU in November is the "backstop", a measure making part of the Brexit deal which is aimed to avoid controls on the border between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU-member Ireland.
The "backstop" would create a "unique customs territory" in which free movement of industrial and agricultural goods allowed by the EU would remain applicable. The pro-Brexit supporters are seeing the Irish backstop as a trap which will condemn the U.K. to stay indefinitely within this union.
On Monday night, May announced three documents - a joint instrument, a joint statement and a unilateral declaration - which she said were aimed at addressing the Irish backstop. She said the assurances created an arbitration channel to work on alternative solutions to the backstop.
Theresa May announcements “entrench in legally-binding form” existing commitments that it will be temporary and ties the U.K. and EU to start work on replacing the backstop with other arrangements by December 2020.
Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the Labour Party, has been very critical of the talks between Prime Minister Theresa May and the President of the European Commission Jean Claude Junker.
"The Prime Minister's negotiations have failed. Last night's agreement with the European Commission does not contain anything approaching the changes Theresa May promised Parliament" he tweeted Tuesday.