Reaction as Brexit vote defeated

BBC political correspondent Chris Mason says there is lots more talk in Westminster tonight about a possible general election.

"There’s a recognition that there’s a lot of weariness about the potential trip to a polling station," he says.

But he says that "Parliament is running out of road – the prime minister used language to that effect today".

Some MPs have suggested that the prime minister should consider her position. But Mr Mason says: "Her character would suggest that she would want to see this through to some conclusion."

While it might be a "tall order" for her to get her deal through now, she may wait until "the point where she has self-evidently failed to do that and the UK ends up committed to a long delay" after 12 April.

If she does eventually trigger a leadership contest, a new leader "could seek a new mandate and try to get themselves a majority – and then we would be heading for another general election".