What does the censorship motion voted against Theresa May mean today?

If he is not expelled from power, the prime minister, reinforced at least for the moment by the evidence that his own deputies want her in the difficult task of getting the country out of the European Union, will return to parliament on Monday with a plan alternative.

Theresa May's government faces a censorship motion on Wednesday after the overwhelming defeat of its Brexit agreement and, although it looks like it will not prosper, it only accentuates chaos 72 days after the planned departure of the European Union.

"Any other prime minister, faced with the magnitude of last night's defeat, would have resigned," said Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn in a morning session in parliament.

On the eve of May, he suffered the worst parliamentary ban imposed on a British government in the country's recent history: 432 deputies – including 118 of their conservative party – voted against its Brexit agreement, which won only 202 supporters.

Immediately afterwards, Corbyn filed a motion of censure, which must be voted by the deputies at night, after an afternoon of debate. But despite the catastrophe of the day before, it is very likely that the prime minister survived the challenge.

(You might be interested: how European governments reacted to the historic "Brexit" vote)

The small Northern Ireland DUP unionist party, of which 10 deputies are dependent on the conservative parliamentary majority of conservatives, has already announced that, despite the rejection of the Brexit agreement on Tuesday, it will support May to return to Brussels to renegotiate. And so should many conservative rebels who do not want to lose power in Corbyn's hands if they are called early legislative elections.

"By counting the numbers of opposition parties, we're unlikely to win," Labor's right-hand man John McDonnell told the BBC. Although he warned that "the atmosphere in parliament at the moment is completely unpredictable".

"Westminster is in chaos"

If she is not expelled from power, May, strengthened at least for the moment by the evidence that her own rebel deputies want her in the difficult task of getting the country out of the EU, will return to parliament on Monday with a plan B. This is time to be discussed, modified and voted.

"I will listen to the views of the Chamber, to understand the views of parliamentarians to identify what could be supported by the chamber and respect the referendum" that in 2016 decided Brexit, said the prime minister in the weekly session of questions to the House of Commons before the motion of censure began to be discussed.

Andrea Leadsome, representative of the government before the parliament, defended in the BBC that "the Prime Minister's agreement is good". "We need to find a way in which this agreement, or part of it, or an alternative agreement, which is negotiable, can be presented to the EU to complete the Brexit on March 29," he added.

But if May continues to insist on defending their agreement, it is possible that Europeanists and Euro-skeptics are also entrenched in their respective positions.

"Westminster is in chaos", the Scottish nationalist Ian Blackford has launched before the Commons. "Plan B will be plan A, but served with another sauce," he said, calling May to request a postponement of the Brexit date and to hold a second referendum.

In a letter published Wednesday, more than 70 Labor MPs have precisely defended the organization of this second referendum that Corbyn should support if it fails to start early legislative elections.

(You might be interested: Brexit: where is the UK going?)

"She is stubborn"

Increasingly concerned about the threat that this will lead to a Brexit without an agreement of catastrophic consequences, the main British employers, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), have urged to find a new plan "immediately".

But according to the opinion of Anand Menon, professor of European politics at King's College in London, the prime minister "who is stubborn, will return to Parliament with a version of his agreement and will try again".

However, "I think the entity of this defeat will ensure that the EU assesses whether it is worth making concessions, given the number of deputies that the Prime Minister must convince," he adds.

(You might be interested: The British Parliament rejects the Brexit agreement)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed that there is still "time to negotiate" and French President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged that "maybe one or two points can be improved" in the text.

But only the president of the European Union, Donald Tusk, dared to suggest that London could simply go back. "If an agreement is impossible, and nobody wants a Brexit without an agreement, who will finally have the courage to say what is the only positive solution?", He tweeted.

If an agreement is impossible and nobody wants an agreement, who will finally have the courage to say what is the only positive solution?

– Donald Tusk (@eucopresident) January 15, 2019