brent: you are watching "dw news." special coverage of the british parliament. arlen has just ejected prime minister theresa may's agreement with the european union, and unprecedented defeat for a british government in the house of parliament. let's talk about what we have just seen. alex is with me, our brexit analyst. when you this was coming, we cannot talk about a surprise, but the margin of defeat is

stunning. alex: very disappointing for theresa may who has been trying to win over support for progressive deal with the e.u. that she finally hammered out last november. she was supposed to pose it to parliament but she pulled it because she did not have enough support. she put her to parliament today and it has been rejected. she was defeated by 200 30 votes, 432 against it, only 202 for. the majority of the 202 will be those working for the government, so she really doesn't have the support of parliament. brent: so she lost tonight and she said she heard the voice of the house, she is expected to survive that, so she says she will come back next monday with

an alternative plan to what she presented tonight. alex: nobody is really expecting her to come back with an alternative plan. it is likely to be her plan with maybe a few tweaks here and there, which is what she has been trying to do over the past few months. she is desperately trying to get more support from the e.u., more concessions out of the e.u.. the e.u. time and again have made it clear they will not reopen that withdrawal agreement , that is now their last offer on the table. it is legally binding. however, there is a political declaration that goes with that, and there have been letters exchanged between brussels and between downing street, where she said that some of the issues in are concerned about, particularly over northern ireland and the republic of ireland have been listened to and that if a backstop is put into place which would effectively keep the u.k. in a

customs union with the e.u. for certain amount of time, that it will be temporary. they have already said that, but that has not relieved the fears of many mps. brent: this is our special coverage of the brakes it vote in the british parliament tonight. the brakes it withdrawal plan from the european union that was negotiated by prime minister theresa may and her government has been defeated. let's get reaction from the british prime minister a few moments ago. >> every day that passes without this issue being resolved means more uncertainty, or bitterness and more rancor. the government has heard what the house has said tonight. but i ask members on all sides of the house to listen to the british people who want this issue settled. and to work with the government to do just that. brent: the fighting spirit is there, but it feels like nothing

is going to change, even next monday, it even if we get this so-called alternative plan. does this move us closer to a second referendum on breaks it -- on brexit? alex: it moves us closer to mps in parliament trying to take more control of the brakes in crisis because so far the government has clearly failed. one of the things -- there were various moves afoot by various factions in parliament for what they want. the scottish mps and the welsh mps wanted to put forward an amendment to that withdrawal bill and in the end they did. they want there to be an extension to the lisbon treaty that would effectively delay breaks it. they want there to be more time so that in can have more time to work out what they can agree to. march 29 is the deadline of when

the u.k. will leave the e.u. that is what was triggered by theresa may when she triggered article 50 and that is what is going to happen unless parliament puts down a new bill and there is a new act of parliament saying that would happen. if they want an extension of article 50 from the e.u., the e.u. has to agree. that means 27 members of the e.u. have to agree to that plan. they could possibly do it if they see there is an end in sight. the problem is, is there an end in sight? she has been defeated by 230 votes in parliament. what is it that mps will agree on? that is why if we are going to see parliament take more control, step-by-step, will they try to come up with a plan, can they get support on this or that? there will be many mps who will be hoping they can rally enough mps to support a softer brexit, more like the norway

relationship with the e.u. but the u.k. would stay in the single market. a lot of mps, in fact, that has been put forward by conservative and labor mps. in answer to your question about a second referendum, so much of that comes down to the labour party. jeremy corbyn at the moment clearly does not want a second referendum. he will get a vote of no-confidence tomorrow when he is saying there needs to be a general election. we expect him to lose it. if he loses it, what will he do next? will he then listen to his own mps and many labour party members across the country who are saying they want there to be a second referendum. will he go for that? he is a eurosceptic himself. he does not want a second referendum. he knows he will lose many of those voters who voted to leave in the first place and they will

not come back to the labour party if he does that. so he is in a difficult situation. brent: you are watching "dw news." this is our special coverage of the brakes it vote in parliament to now. the plan defeated tonight in the british parliament. barbara is standing by in london. it feels like we are as close of we have ever been to a hard brexit, the u.k. crashing out of the european union on march 29. is that where we are headed? barbara: we don't know yet, but of course you are right in saying we are closer than we ever were. that is the secret fear that the european union has had for many months now. because even from a distance you could see things going wrong in london. you could watch the cars that

are racing toward the abyss. and it did not stop, it did drop in. the problem now from the european side is that you cannot do much to help. one of the questions that arise at the moment, for, is can parliament somehow, if we think about what alex just talked about, that parliamentarians would want to take more control over the whole breaks it process, can they forced theresa may to ask for an extension to the article 50? she is the one that needs to do that, that request has to come from government. there are a lot of technical difficulties that need to be overcome in the next weeks in order to sort of stop this car that is racing into extinction, really. and causing a lot of pain for the british site and for the european union at the same time. brussels is certainly willing to help, to a certain extent, but

london somehow needs to get the steering wheel. brent: based on your experience, do you think there is a willingness in brussels to extend this time, this deadline for the beginning of brexit? are we talking about a possibility of getting several months added, or several weeks? how generous can the e.u. be at this moment? barbara: not too generous, of course because we will be having european elections in late may. what the european union does not want is written participating in those and not knowing whether it is still a member or not, whether it is leaving or coming or going or what the status really is. so that is one point. what is being talked about on the european side is the possible extension of about three months, until the end of june, where the old parliament will still be in place and in office.

and will three-month be enough to help get parliament and the british government to break the impasse? no one can tell from this point in time. as the european union wants to know that britain really is on the way to solve this problem, not just to sort of run in circles a bit longer and turn the same issue over and over again, but to actively look for a way forward. it is going to need a bit of convincing, even though brussels is willing to help. brent: barbara, thank you very much. standby. we will come back to you in just a moment. the government is prepared for a potential disruption that could be especially acute in the u.k. bortz on the english channel. -- ports on the english channel. >> its glory days are long gone.

channel resort once frequented by queen victoria, ramsgate today is sleepy and run down. only its mayor appears to be advancing energetically into the future. a breaks a tear like the majority -- brexiteer like the majority of this harbor town. he points proudly to working harbor to be turned into a hub that can accommodate large vessels and commercial traffic. ramsgate has not operated a regular cross channel service since 2013. now there are plans to revive it. in the event of a no deal brexit , it is slated as an alternative route to avert bottlenecks in nearby dover. but the plan by the transport secretary has been sharply criticized. the harbor is too shallow to accommodate freight ships. >> it is a fantasy.

it is what i would call the emperors new port. he cannot see that this port is completely naked of all the facilities you might need to be an international port. >> the harbor is as ill-prepared for the freight service as the company awarding -- awarded the contract to run. not only has it never operated a ferry service, it doesn't have ships. steve coombs and his action group discovered that some time ago. as the transport secretary insists it's not a problem, the government is testing other of deal scenarios. a live rehearsal last week, this time it ramsgate airport. only 89 trucks took part in a test. ramsgate is already the front of jokes, ridiculed as the town of failed preparations. >> i think we are just being a bit used there. i think a right-wing --

right-wing group that's trying to push for this no deal, they are the only people that seem to be appeased, and everyone else just thinks it is a joke. >> hotel owners and ramsgate want clarity on what awaits their town. amid brexit uncertainty, the earnings have been dropping for months. but the mayor is not rattled by the prospect of impending chaos. he would be fine with a disorderly brexit, because that would catapult the sleepy town of ramsgate into the headlines, as the no deal harbor town. brent: that report on what could happen if there is a hard brexit, but no deal brexit for the u.k. what about the pound sterling? alex: the pound has actually rebounded despite that enormous defeat for theresa may in parliament. the reason appears to be because

many of the money men and women actually believe that it might force lawmakers to pursue other options. so now there may be something that can be agreed to in parliament, but it is interesting that it has rebounded, strengthened rather than falling rapidly. meanwhile, the e.u., according to the president of the e.u. commission is to step up its planning for a no deal brexit. obviously they are taking this vote very seriously, and undoubtedly, the u.k. government will be doing the same, because this is very concerning as we are getting just 10 weeks away from the u.k. leaving the e.u., and at the moment without a deal. although i do not believe that parliament will allow that to happen because there are so many within parliament who are

against a no deal brexit. brent: the president of the european council saying the only positive resolution he sees at this moment, based on what is happening tonight, is for brexit not to happen. alex: the second referendum, and there will be many people who are agreeing with him. i've also seen people on twitter that are curious that he is saying that. these people are very pro-brexit , curious that he is involved in believing he has no right to be saying things like that. it just shows how divided certainly the u.k. is and how the e.u. is still putting out a hand to the u.k. that's not to say that every country who is a member of the e.u. feels the same. the e.u. -- the u.k. has done a good job of accepting member -- many e.u. members.

there's the option of extending article 50, therefore delaying brexit, and maybe not happening at all. brent: what are our options right now? for rv viewers who may just be joining us, the deal prime minister theresa may presented rejected tonight pucci said she will come back with an alternative plan. alex: what can she really come back with within three days? brent: so what happens then? that say we are headed toward a second referendum. what would that look like and how would we get to that? alex: there would have to be agreement in parliament, legislation put forward, there would have to be a majority of mps and also in the house of lords as well to agree to that and vote on it for that to happen. brent: is there support for that right now? alex: is there support within

the house of commons? yes, there is some support, but there are still many mps who are against it, and they keep coming back to the main party that is of obstacle to the second referendum, the labour party. the front bench under jeremy corbyn are not keen for a second referendum, and they have been doing everything they can to prevent that from happening. however, the shadow brexit secretary, the man whose labor spokesman on brexit is we believe quite keen on the second referendum, he just has to persuade his top boss that it is a possibility. it is not completely ruled out. brent: let's remind our viewers of what is happening, theresa may said she has heard the house and there has to be a vote of confidence, no confidence tomorrow. she needs to know if they are

behind her. alex: it had to be moved by the labour party. jeremy corbyn has done it tonight and it will be voted on tomorrow because the government is allowing time for it to be debated. this is so that she can still shore up her support. she already has support from the right wing brexiteers. they will support the government on this, and there are 10 northern ireland unionist mps who have also said they will support her. so it looks like jeremy corbyn will not win that confidence vote. the next question is, what will he do next? i think they will work hard to try to get parliament to come to some kind of agreement among what will work, what will get the votes and what won't, and his last resort would be backing the second referendum. it is still not there yet. brent: what is the purpose for

jeremy corbyn to call this no-confidence vote tomorrow if he knows the numbers are against him and it won't make a difference? alex: because he has to. he has been under so much pressure to do it. theresa may said even if he doesn't call the no-confidence vote, i will allow time in parliament for the other parties, the scottish nationalists, the welsh mps, those liberal democrats who are pro-a second referendum. they could call for a no-confidence vote if he had no choice and had to do it. brent: thank you very much, alex. let's take the story back to the e.u. parliament. >> we not only have a member of the european parliament, we have a member of the brexit steering group, he is here with me now,

undoubtedly also digesting the result. 230 votes, a historical defeat for theresa may. is that deal so bad? >> the deal is so good because it is a compromise. a negative, broad majority, and unexpectedly broad majority, but the two groups cannot agree on anything. some want to have a hard brexit and the others want to have no brexit at all. now it is up to the british to make a proposal to reconcile it. >> it seems like the european union will have to offer something so theresa may can save the deal or that set -- or so that any deal can pass. what can they offer the u.k.? >> there's the question of the irish border that was agreed on.

they will have to come up with a proposal. >> one contentious issue is the backstop, the insurance policy to avoid a hard border between ireland and northern ireland. should we limit the backstop in let's say five years? >> you do not limit the insurance before the fire comes. it's an incredible thing and they have said in london that it is legally binding, that the backstop will never come if you agree on a free trade agreement in a transition period. therefore we have to wait on what britain will say now.

>> what is your gut feeling, as someone who has seen many decades of european policy, what will be the next steps? >> britain has asked to leave the european union without having any internal plan on how to do that. the tory party is totally divided. the opposition is not helpful because it is about election to get the power. nothing is constructive in that way. then they have to look for how they can find a proposal and here we have to wait, we cannot help people who were totally in and in fight themselves. >> you can see even the medela parliament who has the most experience with those issues cannot take you have things will proceed in the next days, weeks, or even months. brent: thank you very much, max, in strasburg, france.

we heard right there, a member of the european parliament, that the level of uncertainty now has just gone up about 10 levels tonight. and we still have no idea what breaks it will look like or when it will happen. alex: we had no idea. we have heard from downing street, from the prime minister's spokesperson saying that theresa may will not resign . that is no surprise, but also that the prime minister has not ruled out a note due brexit, which as we said is harder than the hard brexit. it would mean the u.k. would leave on wto rules. that is interesting that the pm spokesperson has said they have not ruled out eight no deal. so everything is still in play here, apart from theresa may's deal because it doesn't have the

support. boris johnson saying the deal is dead, theresa may's deal is dead. she has three days to try to come up with some kind of alternative. brent: or she could ask the european union for more time, right? alex: earlier she said she didn't want to do that and she didn't want there to be a second referendum. brent: but she has changed her mind -- before. alex: will they have to have a special summit, or are they just going to leave the u.k. to try to work this out? at some point she has to go back to brussels and go begging, please help me with this. with the defeat of 230 votes, a lot of changes would have to be made. brent: so we have this no-confidence vote scheduled for tomorrow, she is expected to survive that. then she has thursday, friday, saturday, and sunday to put a

plan b together. then she will present that to parliament. look into your crystal ball, let's say a week from monday night, or going to be talking about the same level of uncertainty we are talking about tonight? alex: probably. i think we will see mps, politicians, members of parliament in the house of commons trying to take more control and trying to make allegiances within parliament to see what they can get, enough support to get something through. it is very divided. there is not a large faction in favor of one particular move, whether a no deal brexit, whether a softer brexit or a second referendum. that is the problem, how they tried to bring everyone together. everything, as i've said for so many months, is still on the table. brent: everything is on the table, and you mentioned the no-confidence vote being called

by jeremy corbyn. let's listen to his initial reaction to the defeat of theresa may's break the plan tonight. >> the results of tonight's vote is the greatest defeat for government since the 1920's in this house. this is a catastrophic defeat for this government. after two years of failed negotiations, the house of commons has delivered its verdict on her breaks it deal, and that verdict is absolutely -- on her brexit deal, and it is decisive. the government has lost the confidence of this house and this country. therefore, mr. speaker, i inform you, have now tabled a motion of no-confidence. and i am pleased that motion will be debated tomorrow. so this house can give its verdict on the sheer incompetence of this government. brent: if you are watching from

outside the u.k., you would think this is the head of labour , and he smells political blood. alex: yes, you certain he would think that. i think if you look at the numbers, is unlikely that he is going to win that no-confidence vote. brent: thank you very much. you're watching special coverage of the brexit boat on "dw news." more coverage at the top of the hour. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

confronts. twenty four twenenty four don't call. yeah but it is working to live from paris willl news and analysis from france my cat hi marco in t these are the main world news headlines. a huge defeat the tories amaze breaks the deal british lawmakers voted down by a majority of two hundred and thirty that's the largest ever onn record opposition leader jeremy corbyn hails. a catastrophic defeat mrs may be tabled a motion of no confidence in her government