Crushing rejection of Theresa May's Brexit plan ushers in new chaos in Britain

British lawmakers on Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected Prime Minister Theresa May’s blueprint for separating from the European Union, throwing the torturous Brexit process into new chaos and setting the stage for a parliamentary vote of no confidence in her government.

The lopsided scale of the defeat, with 432 votes against and 202 in favor, came as a devastating blow to May, who has staked her political career on successfully steering Britain out of its decades-old participation in the 28-member bloc.

It was the worst parliamentary defeat for a sitting British government in nearly a century. Her backers had hoped to limit defections within her party; instead, scores of them broke ranks, leading to the crushing 230-vote margin of loss.

European leaders expressed dismay — and issued a sharp reminder of the timetable, which calls for Britain’s exit from the EU on March 29. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker voiced regret over the vote and added: “I urge the United Kingdom to clarify its intentions as soon as possible. Time is almost up.”

With the prospect of a punishing defeat looming large — and with Brexit set to take effect less than three months from now — May and her key Cabinet colleagues had made a last-ditch bid to shore up support. But the effort was in vain.

“The government respects the will of the House,” a grim-faced May said afterward. The defeat, she said, will mean “more bitterness, more rancor.”

Within moments of the vote, opposition Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn called a vote of no confidence in May’s government, to be held within 24 hours.

The campaign for the 2016 Brexit referendum was a bitter one, exposing deep rifts between different segments of British society. The 52% of voters who favored leaving the EU felt Britain needed to take back control of its laws, borders and monetary policy. Immigration also became a flashpoint.

Many who supported leaving the EU also felt that money sent by Britain to the EU each year would be better spent improving the overburdened National Health Service and dealing with other domestic needs. They also disliked the fact that Britain was not free to strike its own trade deals with other countries outside the EU.

But the 48% who voted to remain in the bloc believed, with equal passion, that Britain would be safer and more prosperous inside the EU. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets of London to protest that the referendum result did not reflect true national sentiment.

May, who became prime minister after the referendum and the resignation of David Cameron, faced the unenviable task of trying to marry those diametrically opposing views — a task she has struggled with for months.

The doomed deal’s central sticking point was over how to prevent a “hard” border emerging between Northern Ireland — which is to leave the EU with the rest of the United Kingdom — and Ireland, an EU member.

A so-called backstop plan, which will come into force only if no future trade deal can be achieved, has been drawn up. But opponents say the plan keeps Britain too closely tied to the EU and object to its lack of an end date and the fact that Britain cannot unilaterally withdraw.

Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party, which May depends on for a majority in Parliament, also objects to the backstop, saying it would keep Northern Ireland more closely tied to the EU than with the rest of the U.K.

“Everyone is aware that we are entering uncharted territory,” said Anand Menon, director of the think tank UK in a Changing Europe, before the vote.

With noisy protests taking place outside the Palace of Westminster, Environment Secretary Michael Gove pleaded for the proposal’s approval. Voting against it risked "playing into the hands of those who do not want Brexit to go ahead," he said.

Despite months of negotiations with EU officials, the agreement was a compromise that left both sides in Britain unhappy.

If May had lost by a small margin, she might have felt she had​ a clear mandate to return to Brussels to seek minor tweaks to the deal and could then ask lawmakers to vote again. But the seismic defeat leaves her position increasingly untenable.