• Parliament seizes control of legislative agenda
• Bill to block 'no-deal' exit to be debated Wednesday
• PM Johnson to propose mid-October election
• UK scheduled to leave European Union on Oct 31
• Parliament’s active sitting days
• Process of no-confidence vote
• Plummeting pound:

LONDON: British lawmakers defeated Boris Johnson in parliament on Tuesday in a bid to prevent him taking Britain out of the EU without a divorce agreement, prompting the prime minister to announce that he would immediately push for a snap election.

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks to the media outside 10 Downing Street in London, on Monday, September 2, 2019. Johnson says he doesn't want an election amid Brexit crisis and issued a rallying cry to lawmakers to back him in securing Brexit deal. Photo: AP

The 2016 Brexit referendum showed a United Kingdom divided about much more than the European Union, and has fuelled soul-searching about everything from secession and immigration to capitalism, empire and modern Britishness.

It has also triggered civil war inside both of Britain's main political parties as dozens of lawmakers put what they see as the United Kingdom's fate above that of party loyalty.

Just as Johnson began speaking, he lost his working majority in parliament when one of his own Conservative lawmakers, Phillip Lee, crossed the floor of the House of Commons to join the pro-EU Liberal Democrats.

The pound, which has gyrated to the twists and turns of Brexit since the 2016 referendum and is highly sensitive to the prospect of a 'no-deal' exit, had briefly dipped as low as $1.1959 before the vote in parliament. Barring a minutes-long "flash crash" in October 2016, sterling has not regularly traded at such low levels since 1985.

Fears of a 'no-deal' Brexit were rising elsewhere.

The European Commission said such a scenario was a "very distinct possibility" and French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said it was the most likely scenario.

In a document seen by Reuters, the European Commission set out proposals to be published on Wednesday to provide financial help for EU businesses, workers and farmers if Britain crashes out of the bloc without any agreement.

It restated its view that a 'no-deal' divorce would hit the British economy much harder than that of the EU.

The UN trade agency UNCTAD said it would cost Britain at least $16 billion in lost exports to the EU, plus a further substantial sum in indirect costs.

The US investment bank JPMorgan said an election would make a no-deal Brexit more likely.