Theresa May postpones UK Parliament's vote on Brexit deal

British Prime Minister Theresa May has postponed Parliament's vote on her European Union divorce deal to avoid a shattering defeat — a decision that throws her Brexit plans into chaos.

All signs had pointed to a big defeat for the prime minister in the vote planned for Wednesday (NZT). But postponing the vote is a fresh humiliation for May, who became prime minister after Britain's 2016 decision to leave the EU.

May has been battling on Brexit ever since — first to strike a divorce deal with the bloc, then to sell it to skeptical British lawmakers before the UK leaves the bloc on March 29.

Both Conservative and opposition Labour Party lawmakers have said they would not back the divorce deal that May and EU leaders agreed on last month.