May seeks Brexit fix in talks with rivals

LONDON: British Prime Minister Theresa May scrambled to put together a new Brexit strategy on Thursday after MPs rejected her EU divorce plan and demanded that she rule out a potentially disastrous "no-deal" exit.

May held individual talks with MPs from rival parties after narrowly surviving a confidence vote triggered by the crushing defeat over her Brexit deal on Tuesday. But the leader of the main opposition Labour party refused to meet the premier until she ruled out the possibility of the UK crashing out of the 27-nation bloc without any future arrangements in place.

May is trying to hammer out a new approach that she can present to the House of Commons on Monday. MPs are scheduled to debate the next steps on January 29 -- just two months before Brexit day.

The world´s fifth-largest economy will on March 29 break off from its closest trading partner after 46 years -- and has no new arrangements in place. The island nation is still embroiled in many of the same arguments about its place in the world that were raging when voters defied government warnings and opted to leave the EU in a 2016 referendum.

May´s offer of talks came after a hectic 24 hours in which her Brexit deal was rejected by a historic 230 votes in the Commons. She then defeated an attempt to oust her government by a majority of 19.