LONDON (AP) - British lawmakers are trying to put the brakes on Brexit - at least for now.
The U.K. Parliament voted Thursday 413 to 202 to ask the European Union to delay the U.K.’s exit from the bloc beyond the scheduled date of March 29.
The vote comes a day after U.K. lawmakers committed Britain to staying in the EU unless a divorce deal is ratified. With the approaching deadline intensifying fears that Britain could leave the bloc without a deal - a move that economists say could spark economic turmoil - the U.K. Parliament voted Wednesday to rule out the possibility of a no-deal Brexit.
However, the final say on whether to grant Britain a delay rests with leaders of the 27 remaining EU nations.
A look at what might happen next:
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DELAY, DELAY, DELAY
After a series of Parliamentary defeats, British Prime Minister Theresa May grudgingly gave lawmakers a chance to delay Brexit. This option proved popular, since politicians on both sides of the Brexit debate fear that time is running out to secure an orderly withdrawal by March 29.
May wants to get an extension until June 30 - but only if she can get Parliament to back her Brexit deal in a third vote by March 20. May’s proposed Brexit deal has been defeated twice already by lawmakers.
If it is defeated again, May says Britain will have to seek a long extension, with the risk that opponents of Brexit will use that time to soften the terms of departure or even overturn Britain’s decision to leave.
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WHAT’S THE EU’S PART IN THIS?
A Brexit extension requires approval from all 27 remaining EU member countries. They have an opportunity to grant such a request at a March 21-22 summit in Brussels.
But the rest of the EU is reluctant to postpone Brexit beyond the May 23-26 election for the EU’s legislature. The U.K. won’t be represented in the European Parliament after it quits the EU; its seats already have been given to other countries to fill in the May election.
The bloc may be open to a long delay, however, to allow Britain to radically change course. European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted Thursday he will appeal to EU leaders “to be open to a long extension if the U.K. finds it necessary to rethink its Brexit strategy and build consensus about it.”
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NO CLEAR ROUTE OUT OF BRITAIN’S POLITICAL CRISIS
Parliament’s votes this week won’t end Britain’s Brexit crisis. Both lawmakers and the public remain split between backers of a clean break from the EU and those who favor continuing a close relationship, either through a post-Brexit trade deal or by reversing the June 2016 decision to leave.
May is unwilling to abandon her hard-won divorce deal with the EU, which sets out the terms of Britain’s withdrawal and the outline of future relations with the bloc.
Her Conservative government is holding talks with its Northern Irish political allies and pro-Brexit backbench lawmakers to see if they will abandon their opposition to a deal they fear keeps Britain too closely tied to the bloc.
If May’s Brexit deal is defeated in a vote next week, the government says lawmakers will get to vote on several different options for Brexit to see if there is a majority for any of them.
Opposition politicians think the only way forward is an early election that could rearrange Parliament and break the political deadlock. May has ruled that out, but could come to see it as her only option.
And anti-Brexit campaigners haven’t abandoned the idea of a new referendum on remaining in the EU. There’s currently no majority for that in Parliament. A motion calling for a second referendum was defeated by a thumping 334-85 vote on Thursday.
However, the political calculus could change if the paralysis drags on. The opposition Labour Party has said it would support a second referendum if other options were exhausted. Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said after Thursday’s votes that a new Brexit referendum might offer a realistic way to break the deadlock.
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Gregory Katz in London contributed.
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Follow AP’s full coverage of Brexit at: https://www.apnews.com/Brexit
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