British Prime Minister Theresa May has suffered embarrassing defeats at the start of five days of debate over her plans to leave the European Union.
May wants to secure parliament's approval for her deal to keep close ties with the EU after leaving in March, but opposition is fierce, with Brexit supporters and opponents alike wanting to thwart or derail her plan.
On the first day of debate, before the main vote on December 11, her government was found in contempt of parliament and then a group of her own Conservative Party lawmakers won a challenge to hand more power to the House of Commons if her deal is voted down.
That could reduce the likelihood of Britain leaving the EU without any deal, prompting the sterling currency to recover some of its losses after the vote on contempt drove it down to levels not seen since June last year.
The debates and final vote on December 11 will determine how, and possibly even if, Britain leaves the EU as planned on March 29.
If lawmakers do not back her deal, May says, they could open the door either to Britain falling out of the EU without measures to soften the transition or to the possibility that Brexit does not happen.
The opposition Labour Party said May needed to get a better deal or step aside and let them govern.
"We still don't know what our long term relationship with Europe would look like and that's why so many MPs across parliament are not willing to vote for this blindfold Brexit and take a leap in the dark about Britain's future," Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told parliament.
Anxious to prevent a "no-deal" Brexit, a group of mainly pro-EU lawmakers from May's Conservative Party won a vote to make sure parliament gets more power to dictate any next steps the government takes if her exit plan fails.
For them, there may be another way out.
The formal advice from a European Court of Justice advocate general - not binding but usually heeded by the court - suggested to some lawmakers that revoking the "Article 50" divorce notice was an option.
If May loses the December 11 vote, she could call for a second vote on the deal.
But defeat would increase the chances of a "no-deal" exit, which could mean chaos for Britain's economy and businesses, and put her under fierce pressure to resign.
Defeat for May could also make it more likely that Britain would hold a second referendum on exiting the EU - which would almost certainly require it at least to defer its departure - three years after voting narrowly to leave.
The vote against the government over contempt proceedings, won by 311 votes to 293, was a smaller margin than some had predicted.
But the government lost the later vote on handing parliament more power by a bigger margin, 321 votes to 299, a move some Brexit campaigners said held little weight as it would not bind the government to take any proposed action.
