LONDON (AP) —
British lawmakers battling Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plan to leave the European Union without a divorce deal took a big step Wednesday toward passing a law that could stop him from implementing his vow to deliver Brexit in less than two months, “do or die.”

In a second straight day of parliamentary turmoil, the House of Commons voted by 327-299 in favour of the bill, sending it to Parliament’s upper chamber, the House of Lords.

An earlier version was approved 329-300.

Even so, the bill’s fate is unsure.

Pro-Brexit peers in the Lords are threatening to try to stop it by filibustering until time runs out.

The manoeuvres are part of a head-on showdown between Johnson’s Brexit-at-all-costs administration and a Parliament worried about the economic and social damage that could be wrought by a messy divorce.

Johnson says Britain must leave the EU on October 31, with or without a deal, and plans to seek a national election if the opposition bill becomes law in hope of getting a less obstructive crop of legislators.

Opposition lawmakers, supported by rebels in Johnson’s Conservative Party, warn that crashing out of the bloc without a divorce agreement would cause irreparable economic harm.

“There is very little time left,” said Labour Party lawmaker Hilary Benn as he introduced the measure.

“The purpose of the bill is very simple: to ensure that the United Kingdom does not leave the European Union on the 31st of October without an agreement.”

The bill would require the government to ask the EU to delay Brexit until January. 31, 2020, if it can’t secure a deal with the bloc by late October.

The lawmakers hope to pass the bill into law — a process that can take months — by the end of the week, because Johnson plans to suspend Parliament at some point next week until October 14.

Johnson became prime minister in July by promising to lead Britain out of the EU, breaking the impasse that has paralysed the country’s politics since voters decided in June 2016 to leave the bloc.

But he is caught between the EU, which refuses to renegotiate the deal it stuck with his predecessor, Theresa May, and a majority of British lawmakers opposed to leaving without an agreement.

What if there is no deal?

Most economists say a no-deal Brexit would cause severe economic disruption and plunge the U.K. into recession.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson insisted Wednesday that talks with the EU on a revised deal were “making substantial progress.”

But the bloc says the U.K. has not submitted any substantial new proposals.

European Commission spokeswoman Mina Andreeva said “there is nothing new” from London.

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn accused Johnson of bad faith — pretending to negotiate but really frittering away time until a no-deal Brexit became inevitable.

“These negotiations are a sham. All he is doing is running down the clock,” Corbyn told lawmakers in the House of Commons.

Johnson condemned the opposition legislation as a “surrender bill” that would tie his hands and “wreck any chance” of Britain concluding successful negotiations with the EU.

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