British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Monday that she intended to re-schedule a delayed vote in parliament on her Brexit plan in the week starting on Jan. 14.
"Many members of this house are concerned that we need to take a decision soon," May told lawmakers in the House of Commons. "We intend to return to the 'Meaningful Vote' debate in the week commencing seventh of January, and hold the vote the following week."
Last week she postponed a vote on the plan in the face of deep opposition within her own Conservative Party.
After a tumultuous week in which she survived a confidence vote and sought last-minute changes to a Brexit agreement reached with Brussels last month, May faces deadlock over her deal in the British parliament.
With the EU offering little in the way of concessions to win over lawmakers, an increasing number of politicians are calling for a second referendum - something some of her ministers say could be avoided if the government tested Brexit scenarios in parliamentary votes.
Parliament is deeply divided, with factions pressing for different options for future ties, exiting without a deal or remaining in the EU.
May and her ministers have repeatedly ruled out a replay of the referendum, saying it would deepen rifts and betray voters who backed Brexit by 52 percent to 48 percent in 2016.
That increases the risk of Britain leaving without a deal on March 29, a scenario some businesses fear would be catastrophic for the world's fifth largest economy.
The political and economic uncertainty over Brexit is having an impact, with data on Monday showing a drop in consumer spending, falling house prices and growing pessimism in household finances.
Several members of May's cabinet team, including Education Minister Damian Hinds, said at the weekend they were open to putting the range of options to parliament to gauge whether there was a majority for any of them.
May used a visit to Brussels last week to call on EU leaders to offer assurances over the so-called Northern Irish "backstop" - an insurance policy to prevent the return of a hard border between the British province and EU-member Ireland that its critics fear will tie Britain to the bloc in the long term.
But while EU leaders said they were willing to help May, they warned the British prime minister she could not renegotiate the deal.
"What the prime minister is focused on is securing the extra assurances which are required to get the deal through the House of Commons," her spokesman said.
