Brexit set for long delay after MPs turn down Withdrawal Agreement

Brexit is on course for a lengthy delay after MPs rejected Theresa May's EU Withdrawal Agreement by a margin of 58 votes.

In dramatic scenes in the House of Commons, MPs voted by 344 to 286 against the deal as hundreds of protesters staged a noisy demonstration outside on the day when the UK was due to leave the European Union.

The result of the crunch vote means that the UK has missed an EU deadline to secure an extension of the Brexit process and leave with a deal on May 22.

Mrs May now has until April 12 to go back to Brussels with new proposals and seek a longer extension to the negotiation process, or see the UK leave without a deal that day.

With a clear majority in the Commons against no-deal, and with MPs once more seizing control of the timetable on Monday, Mrs May said that the UK would have to find "an alternative way forward".

This was "almost certain" to involve the UK having to stage elections to the European Parliament in May, she said.

Mrs May said that the outcome was "a matter of profound regret"

Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage tweeted: "The new EU treaty has been rightly defeated for a third time. Extension and further battles now seem inevitable. We are not downhearted, and will fight them again."

The DUP tweeted: "The backstop has always been the problem. The backstop remains the problem. Use the time constructively to deal with the problem."

Cheers went out around Parliament after controversial campaigner Tommy Robinson announced to a large crowd that the Government's Withdrawal Agreement had been defeated for a third time.

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, arrived to the rally on Parliament Street for a number of speeches.

He began: "So Theresa May has lost her vote. Many people will be asking what does that even mean.

"It means we were betrayed. Today is supposed to be our Independence Day."

The crowd were then shown a documentary made by Robinson on a 50-foot screen.

He said of his documentary: "Panodrama proves everything, every single one of you already know: propaganda, slander, collusion, demonisation against every single one of us."

The rally will hear more speeches later in the day, from Tommy Robinson himself, colliding with the Leave means Leave event at Parliament Square.