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#BrexitShambles: The Reactions That Sum Up The Result Of Last Night's Vote

Natalie Gil
16 January 2019, 9:56
Theresa May's Brexit deal – the one she's spent the last two years negotiating with the EU, and which will determine the UK's future – was voted down by parliament in an historic defeat last night. At 202 votes from MPs in support and 432 against, it was the biggest defeat for a sitting government in history, and triggered Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to table a no-confidence motion in the government.
(MPs will now spend Wednesday debating this, rather than the nitty-gritty of the Brexit deal itself, before a vote at 7pm tonight.)
There was a lot of anger, despair and confusion among people following along on Twitter as last night's events unfolded. Because truly, there's no clear way out of this mess – as everyone seems to agree. But these were some of the most incisive, wittiest and relatable reactions we saw.
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President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, put it best: perhaps the UK should just stay in the EU.
Others employed the (arguably now quite tedious) #10yearchallenge meme to predict the direction in which the UK is headed.
Then #BrexitShambles and #BrexitChaos began picking up steam on Twitter, with people highlighting the fact that the country is pretty much screwed (for a very long time, at least), whichever way you look at it.
Meanwhile, others were quick to flag how the UK appears to the rest of the world right now: like an absolute joke. One spoof account of the French president put it particularly well.
Jeremy Corbyn may have tabled a motion of no confidence in the government (which could, but it's unlikely, lead to a general election) but many Remainers don't think he's gone far enough. Huge swathes of the public are now calling on him to finally, at long last, back a second referendum, which won't be possible without his support.
The People's Vote campaigners who cheered outside parliament as last night's result was announced are certainly behind a second referendum, as are 71 of Corbyn's own Labour MPs, who have now written him a letter urging him to back another national vote. "We now face a moment of national crisis, where the facts and the views of many people have changed – and are continuing to change," they wrote, adding that renegotiating the deal with the EU "is not a realistic prospect".
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Judging from one journalist's analysis, though, this is unlikely. How this will impact Corbyn's support among the legions of young devotees who flocked to him at the 2017 election remains to be seen.
Others called out the person who got the country into this mess in the first place and who, miraculously, was nowhere to be seen in the aftermath of the vote!
The whole situation was too bleak, confusing and fast-moving for many people to continue following. Some, even journalists, considered muting all mentions of Brexit on their timelines, while others went all the way.

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