Theresa May suffers embarrassing Brexit bill defeat in House of Lords

Britain's House of Lords inflicted an embarrassing defeat on Theresa May's government on Wednesday, challenging her refusal to remain in a customs union with the European Union after Brexit.


The Lords voted 348 to 225 in favour of an amendment to the prime minister's Brexit blueprint, the EU (Withdrawal) Bill, which would require ministers to report on what efforts they had made to secure a customs union by the end of October.

It is the first defeat for the government's key Brexit bill.

While the change can still be rejected when the bill returns to the House of Commons, the vote could also push the UK toward closer ties with the European bloc.
  [thenational.ae]
 18/4/18