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Good morning from the newsroom of the Financial Times.

Today is Wednesday, September 4th. Good morning from the newsroom of the Financial Times.

Today is Wednesday, September 4th,

and this is your FT news briefing.

Italy is one step closer to forming a new government. Walmart is introducing new restrictions on ammunition sales

that will more than have its share of the market.

And the U.S. manufacturing sector contracts for the first time in three years. But first, the F.T.

George Parker explains what happened in the UK Parliament yesterday and what it means for Brexit.

I'm Mark Filipino and here's the news you need to start your day.

MPs were trying to use a parliamentary device to stop Boris Johnson taking Britain out of the European Union without a deal.

A number of Conservative MPs and all the opposition parties think that would be a reckless thing to do damaging for the economy.

Boris Johnson thinks the threat of a no deal Brexit is one of the things that he needs and is negotiating armory to put pressure on the EU to strike a deal.

So this all came to a head at the House of Commons. MPs moved a motion

and it's an unusual device to take control of the order paper to allow them to pass emergency

legislation to stop a no-deal Brexit.

So the vote last night was about the MPs trying to take control of the order paper.

Boris Johnson lost this crucial vote by a margin of 27. That was a bigger defeat than many people expected.

21 Conservative MPs defied all the bullying and threats to vote against him. And that means that today

MPs are going to vote to put into law this emergency legislation,

which basically would require Boris Johnson to go back to the EU and ask for a delay to Brexit if he's unable to secure a deal, in other words to block a no-deal exit.

...