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In a long and impassioned debate on January 29, 2019, the United Kingdom’s House of Commons voted to advise the government not to leave the European Union without a deal, and advised Prime Minister Theresa May to return to Brussels to renegotiate “legally binding amendments” to the Irish backstop portion of the Brexit deal. Is there any method to this madness?

Formally, the government carried the day, and most of the amendments to the prime minister’s motion in support of her existing agreement were rejected, some by substantial majorities. Among the amendments rejected were Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s amendment calling for extensive discussion of the options for future agreement with the European Union and the Scottish National Party’s call for withdrawal of the article 50 notice.

But there is now a majority in the House of Commons that rejects a no-deal Brexit, and in her closing remarks, May recognized that fact. However, she repeated her mantra that the best way to avoid no deal is to have a deal. In welcoming the resolution calling on her to return to Brussels to renegotiate the backstop to her deal, she said that Parliament has now stated clearly the kind of deal that it wants, rather than what it does not want.

On the same day, The Guardian reported that French President Emmanuel Macron, as well as senior EU officials, had already informed May that renegotiation of the November 25, 2018, Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration would not be possible. These were all matters to which May had given her agreement. May will return to Brussels soon to attempt to reopen negotiations, arguing that Parliament has given her a stronger hand. It is unclear if EU leaders will view matters in this light.