Brexit Vote: Parliament Debates E.U. Withdrawal Plan – The New York Times

Two of the four amendments, introduced by opposition leaders, are similar: They would scuttle Mrs. May’s deal while also rejecting a “no-deal” exit and committing to a pursuit of other options.

The other two, also similar to each other, would allow Britain to exit the Irish backstop unilaterally, which would effectively kill the deal, because Brussels considers that condition unacceptable.

Amendments that the government supported were rejected by Mr. Bercow, adding fuel to Conservative accusations that he has not been an impartial arbiter.

One would have guaranteed Parliament a future vote on whether to carry out the much-loathed backstop. It was unclear how that amendment would have affected Brussels’ view of the deal. — Benjamin Mueller

Business backs the deal, but says the government needs a Plan B

The Confederation of British Industry, representing 190,000 businesses, voiced its support for Prime Minister Theresa May’s deal on Tuesday, but said it expected the government to have an alternative solution if the bill failed.

“The vast majority of business would like to see this deal passed tonight,” John Allan, the group’s president, told the BBC. “But we’ve got to be realistic, it looks extremely unlikely that it will be, and we’ll be in a new situation tomorrow morning.”

“This will be a situation of national emergency,” he said. “We are only 70-plus days away from crashing out of the E.U. Businesses are making decisions every day about postponing investments, moving jobs to Europe.”