A first attempt by MPs to find a consensus route forward for Brexit has ended in deadlock and confusion after the Commons rejected every option put forward, albeit with a near-even split on the idea of joining a customs union.
Oliver Letwin, the veteran Conservative MP who led the process which allowed backbenchers to seize control of the order paper to hold a series of indicative votes, said the results were “disappointing” but he hoped a new round of votes would be held on Monday.
The Speaker, John Bercow, said he would allow this to take place, prompting shouts of protests from many MPs.
The Brexit secretary, Stephen Barclay, said the results strengthened the government’s view that Theresa May’s Brexit deal was the best and only way forward.
On the lack of a majority for any of the eight alternatives put to the vote on Wednesday, he said: “It demonstrates that there is not easy option here, that there is no easy way forward.”
Groups of MPs had suggested 15 ideas, of which eight were selected by Bercow for votes.
The closest result was a commitment for the government to negotiate a “permanent and comprehensive UK-wide customs union with the EU” in any Brexit deal. Put forward by the pro-EU Tory veteran Ken Clarke and others, it was voted down by 271 votes to 265.
The only other relatively close vote was on a plan drawn up by the Labour MPs Peter Kyle and Phil Wilson, and tabled by the former foreign secretary Margaret Beckett, to require a referendum to confirm any Brexit deal. This was lost by 268 votes to 295.
Other softer Brexit options sustained heavier defeats. A plan for “common market 2.0”, involving UK membership of the European Free Trade Association (Efta) and European Economic Area (EEA), had 188 votes in support and 283 against.
The Labour frontbench plan for a softer Brexit was defeated by 237 to 307, while a motion tabled by the Conservative MP George Eustice, which proposed staying in Efta and the EEA without a customs union, only gained 64 votes, with 377 against.
The final three votes were also decisive, and concerned other areas of Brexit. A Conservative Brexiter plan to propose leaving the EU without a deal on 12 April lost by 160 votes to 400; a Scottish National party plan to revoke article 50 lost by 184 to 293; and another Brexiter plan seeking preferential trade arrangements with the EU if there is no withdrawal agreement lost by 139 to 422.
The complex set of votes took place after an amendment to the government’s Brexit motion on Monday was passed by the Commons by 329 votes to 302. Tabled by many dozens of MPs and led by Letwin, it set aside Wednesday for the Commons to hold non-binding votes on as many options as MPs wanted to put down.
The government has criticised the way the MPs seized control of parliamentary business, saying it was a dangerous constitutional precedent. To this end, it whipped against the vote on Monday, prompting three junior ministers to resign so they could back the plan.
Conservative MPs were also ordered to vote against the business motion on Wednesday, which was needed for the debate to happen at all. It passed nonetheless, by 331 votes to 287, with 33 Tories rebelling.
Labour also whipped for its MPs to support some plans, including the holding of a confirmatory referendum. This prompted the shadow housing minister, Melanie Onn, to resign from the frontbench, saying she could not support any such vote.