London:UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson managed to garner the preliminary support of Parliament for his Brexit agreement, but the body rejected the Conservative leader's plan to pass the necessary enabling legislation in the space of just three days.
The support of the most Euroskeptical sector of the Conservative Party and 19 rebel lawmakers from the Labor Party opposition gave Johnson a comfortable majority of 30 votes - 329 to 299 - in the House of Commons on Tuesday, media reported.
Despite having given the green light to the terms of the pact, the members refused to deal in just three days with the law that would implement them - a dense text of 110 pages that the government published on Monday evening - as Johnson had been demanding.
The refusal frustrates the hopes of the prime minister to abandon the European Union on October 31, as he has promised to do on numerous occasions, at least in an agreed-upon manner.
Read more:Johnson to pull Brexit bill if timetable rejected
Johnson said that he will continue with preparations for a possible abrupt break with the EU in nine days, although he emphasized that his intention now is to work to ensure that the divorce proceeds based on the accord that has Parliament's approval.
His next steps will be determined once Brussels has commented on the delay that Johnson last Saturday saw himself forced to request.
The EU still has not responded to that request, in which Britain is once again proposing to delay Brexit, this time until January 31.