UK's May says parliament blocking Brexit is more likely than 'no deal'

LONDON -- Prime Minister Theresa May will say on Monday that lawmakers blocking Brexit is now a more likely outcome than Britain leaving the European Union without a deal.

Parliament is deadlocked over how to proceed with Brexit, Britain's biggest shift in foreign and trade policy in more than 40 years, and is expected to vote against May's deal on Tuesday, plunging the departure from the EU into deeper uncertainty.

May's minority government, which is propped up by a small Northern Irish party, was last week defeated twice in parliament on Brexit, with lawmakers creating a new obstacle to a no deal Brexit and forcing May to promise she would come up with a 'plan B' within days if her deal is rejected.

"There are some in Westminster who would wish to delay or even stop Brexit and who will use every device available to them to do so," May will say in a speech to factory workers in the leave-supporting city of Stoke-on-Trent in central England, according to advance extracts.

She will add that, based on the evidence of the last week, she believes it is more likely that members of parliament (MPs) will block Brexit than that Britain will leave the EU with no deal to cushion the economic shock and prepare a future relationship with the EU, her office said.