(LONDON) — British Prime Minister Theresa May has suffered an embarrassing parliamentary defeat on Brexit as lawmakers remain resistant to her EU divorce plan.
The House of Commons voted 303 to 258 on Thursday against a motion reiterating support for May’s approach to Brexit — support expressed by lawmakers in votes just two weeks ago.
The defeat is symbolic rather than binding stresses how weak her hand is as she tries to secure changes to her divorce deal from the EU in order to win backing for it in Parliament.
The government was defeated when the members of a pro-Brexit faction in the governing Conservatives, the European Research Group, abstained because they feel the government is effectively ruling out the threat of leaving the EU without a deal.
May is struggling with little sign of success to win backing for her deal from both pro-Brexit and pro-EU lawmakers in Parliament, which rejected the agreement by a whopping 230 votes last month.
The U.K. is due to leave the EU on March 29.
