Pro-EU protesters revel in parliament defeat of Brexit deal

Waving European Union flags, hundreds of anti-Brexit activists outside parliament roared with approval on Tuesday as the government's divorce deal was crushed by MPs.

Massed in front of two big screens airing live coverage of the pivotal vote, the crowd of fervent pro-Europeans erupted into cheers and clapping as the result was relayed.

"I'm so pleased -- but a bit concerned with what comes next," retiree Sarah Cuthbertson, 68, told AFP.

"I didn't think it would be such a big majority against," she said of the whopping 230-vote margin of defeat -- the largest ever in modern British political history.

Nearby, a smaller contingent of pro-Brexit activists were similarly cheered by the defeat of Prime Minister Theresa May's deal, but for different reasons.

"I'm ecstatic," said Reg Kerr-Bell, 55, a retired Londoner clasping a "Leave Means Leave" placard. "No-deal is what I want to see now." But he conceded that parliament's rejection of the government's plan puts Brexit in some ...