<p class="title">British MPs voted on Monday to play a bigger role in Brexit, giving themselves the power to express their preference for different options in an unprecedented move that the government called "dangerous".</p>.<p class="bodytext">MPs won a vote that will allow them to seize control of parliamentary business on Wednesday by 329 to 302, with three junior ministers quitting after voting against the government.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt and health minister Steve Brine resigned, a government source told AFP, while business minister Richard Harrington announced his decision to leave government on Twitter.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In his resignation letter, Harrington said the government's approach was "playing roulette with the lives and livelihoods of the vast majority of people in this country".</p>.<p class="bodytext">But the Brexit ministry said in a statement it was "disappointed" by the vote, adding that it "upends the balance between our democratic institutions and sets a dangerous, unpredictable precedent".</p>.<p class="bodytext">Three years after Britain voted to leave the European Union, Monday's vote sets up a potentially crucial clash between government and parliament on the best way of ending a bitter political crisis.</p>.<p class="bodytext">MPs will now have the chance to vote on various options, such as revoking Article 50 and cancelling Brexit, holding another referendum, a deal including a customs union and single market membership or leaving the EU without a deal.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But even if MPs decide a majority course of action, the government is not legally bound to follow their instructions.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The government will continue to call for realism -- any options considered must be deliverable in negotiations with the EU," the Brexit ministry said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The prime minister earlier said she was "sceptical" about the process, saying similar efforts in the past "produced contradictory outcomes or no outcomes at all".</p>.<p class="bodytext">May admitted Monday she had still not secured the votes needed to get her own, twice-rejected Brexit deal through parliament, raising again the prospect that Britain could crash out of the European Union in just over two weeks' time.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Anxious at the deepening crisis in London, EU leaders last week agreed to postpone Brexit to avoid a potentially catastrophic "no deal" divorce on March 29, when 46 years of ties were formally scheduled to end.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But they warned that unless May can persuade MPs this week to support her withdrawal deal, Britain must come up with a new plan by April 12 -- or leave its closest trading partner with no deal at all.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the government was a "national embarrassment", adding: "We will still face the prospect of a disastrous no-deal Brexit." The EU had earlier ramped up the pressure by announcing its full readiness to deal with the "increasingly likely" event of a no-deal Brexit in three weeks' time.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The British parliament remains deeply divided over Brexit, reflecting the sharp divisions in the country.</p>.<p class="bodytext">MPs have already voted against a "no deal" Brexit but this remains the default legal position unless they agree an alternative.</p>.<p class="bodytext">May went over her own Brexit scenarios at an emergency cabinet meeting earlier Monday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">It followed a weekend of media reports that her own ministers were trying to oust her.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Most of the alleged plotters are Brexit backers who fear the terms of Britain's departure will be watered down or even reversed.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Theresa May is the chicken who bottled Brexit," former foreign minister Boris Johnson wrote in a weekly column for The Telegraph.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"It is time for the PM to channel the spirit of Moses in Exodus, and say to Pharaoh in Brussels - LET MY PEOPLE GO," he wrote, leaving some room however for possibly supporting her deal.</p>.<p class="bodytext">What happens to her premiership if parliament favours a more EU-friendly Brexit alternative that contradicts her policies is unclear.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Parliament is thought most likely to rally around the idea of keeping Britain in a customs union with the European Union or its single market. Both of those policies contradict May's position.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A customs union would keep Britain from striking its own trade agreements with non-EU countries.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A single market would require the government to go back on May's promise to regain control of Britain's borders and migration policy. </p>
<p class="title">British MPs voted on Monday to play a bigger role in Brexit, giving themselves the power to express their preference for different options in an unprecedented move that the government called "dangerous".</p>.<p class="bodytext">MPs won a vote that will allow them to seize control of parliamentary business on Wednesday by 329 to 302, with three junior ministers quitting after voting against the government.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt and health minister Steve Brine resigned, a government source told AFP, while business minister Richard Harrington announced his decision to leave government on Twitter.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In his resignation letter, Harrington said the government's approach was "playing roulette with the lives and livelihoods of the vast majority of people in this country".</p>.<p class="bodytext">But the Brexit ministry said in a statement it was "disappointed" by the vote, adding that it "upends the balance between our democratic institutions and sets a dangerous, unpredictable precedent".</p>.<p class="bodytext">Three years after Britain voted to leave the European Union, Monday's vote sets up a potentially crucial clash between government and parliament on the best way of ending a bitter political crisis.</p>.<p class="bodytext">MPs will now have the chance to vote on various options, such as revoking Article 50 and cancelling Brexit, holding another referendum, a deal including a customs union and single market membership or leaving the EU without a deal.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But even if MPs decide a majority course of action, the government is not legally bound to follow their instructions.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The government will continue to call for realism -- any options considered must be deliverable in negotiations with the EU," the Brexit ministry said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The prime minister earlier said she was "sceptical" about the process, saying similar efforts in the past "produced contradictory outcomes or no outcomes at all".</p>.<p class="bodytext">May admitted Monday she had still not secured the votes needed to get her own, twice-rejected Brexit deal through parliament, raising again the prospect that Britain could crash out of the European Union in just over two weeks' time.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Anxious at the deepening crisis in London, EU leaders last week agreed to postpone Brexit to avoid a potentially catastrophic "no deal" divorce on March 29, when 46 years of ties were formally scheduled to end.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But they warned that unless May can persuade MPs this week to support her withdrawal deal, Britain must come up with a new plan by April 12 -- or leave its closest trading partner with no deal at all.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the government was a "national embarrassment", adding: "We will still face the prospect of a disastrous no-deal Brexit." The EU had earlier ramped up the pressure by announcing its full readiness to deal with the "increasingly likely" event of a no-deal Brexit in three weeks' time.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The British parliament remains deeply divided over Brexit, reflecting the sharp divisions in the country.</p>.<p class="bodytext">MPs have already voted against a "no deal" Brexit but this remains the default legal position unless they agree an alternative.</p>.<p class="bodytext">May went over her own Brexit scenarios at an emergency cabinet meeting earlier Monday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">It followed a weekend of media reports that her own ministers were trying to oust her.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Most of the alleged plotters are Brexit backers who fear the terms of Britain's departure will be watered down or even reversed.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Theresa May is the chicken who bottled Brexit," former foreign minister Boris Johnson wrote in a weekly column for The Telegraph.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"It is time for the PM to channel the spirit of Moses in Exodus, and say to Pharaoh in Brussels - LET MY PEOPLE GO," he wrote, leaving some room however for possibly supporting her deal.</p>.<p class="bodytext">What happens to her premiership if parliament favours a more EU-friendly Brexit alternative that contradicts her policies is unclear.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Parliament is thought most likely to rally around the idea of keeping Britain in a customs union with the European Union or its single market. Both of those policies contradict May's position.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A customs union would keep Britain from striking its own trade agreements with non-EU countries.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A single market would require the government to go back on May's promise to regain control of Britain's borders and migration policy. </p>