LONDON—Britain’s last-minute scramble to shape its exit from the European Union, its biggest policy upheaval in half a century, hit the rocks Jan. 17 as Prime Minister Theresa May and opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn dug in their heels for competing visions.
After May’s two-year attempt to forge an amicable divorce with an independent trade policy was crushed by Parliament in the biggest defeat for a British leader in modern history, May asked party leaders to forget self-interest to find a solution.
