Britain’s ruling Conservatives barred two of their own lawmakers in the European Parliament after they broke the party whip and voted for a motion demanding London do more to meet EU demands in Brexit talks, reported Reuters. 

Prime Minister Theresa May supported the move. A government source said the two had behaved “totally irresponsibly”.

Girling, who like Ashworth and Fox opposed Brexit during last year’s referendum, defended her decision to vote with the overwhelming majority in Strasbourg on Tuesday on a non-binding resolution which urged EU leaders not to accept London’s request for talks on post-Brexit trade without further concessions.

“I did not vote to prevent trade talks,” she said, noting she called for such negotiations. However, she said in a statement that it was “patently obvious” that the EU’s test of “sufficient progress” on key divorce issues were not yet met.

Her vote, she said, put the interests of her constituents over party discipline and referred to support on the far-right for Britain to walk out without a deal: “I have never agreed to silently acquiesce as our country heads towards a cliff edge,” she said, describing that as “wanton economic self-harm”.

Her Brexit minister David Davis is due back in Brussels this week for further talks. The party statement said Davis had written to leaders of the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties to complain after most British MEPs voted with the majority. He urged Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to suspend most of his MEPs.

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