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May Fends Off Attempt to Keep EU Customs Union Option Open

May won a ballot in the House of Commons on Tuesday by 307 votes to 301 on the amendment. 

May Fends Off Attempt to Keep EU Customs Union Option Open
Theresa May, U.K. prime minister, speaks during a joint news conference with U.S. President Donald Trump, at Chequers in Aylesbury, U.K. (Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Theresa May fended off an attempt by pro-European Conservative rebels to keep open the option of Britain entering into a customs union with the European Union after Brexit.

May won a ballot in the House of Commons on Tuesday by 307 votes to 301 on the amendment -- tabled by rebels in her own Conservatives and backed by Labour. It would have forced the government to negotiate a customs union with the EU if it failed to broker a Brexit deal guaranteeing frictionless trade. She earlier lost a vote forcing her to keep Britain within the EU regulatory regime for medicines.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Flavia Krause-Jackson at fjackson@bloomberg.net, Emma Ross-Thomas

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