Brexit: No incentive for EU to move as May loses another vote

Theresa May could have presented MPs on Thursday with a neutral motion that simply took note of her statement on the Brexit negotiations earlier this week. Instead the UK prime minister asked them to reiterate their support for “the approach to leaving the EU expressed by this House on January 29th”. It must have seemed like a clever idea at the time, but if there is one thing the conspiracy theorists in the Brexiteer European Research Group (ERG) are good at, it’s spotting conspiracies. They understood that the motion could be interpreted not only as a reaffirmation of their demand for changes to the Northern Ireland backstop but also as a rejection of a no-deal Brexit in line with another amendment passed on January 29th.