Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been defeated after a motion to take control of the House of Commons was passed by MPs.
Mr Johnson has now confirmed he will table a motion calling for an election.
The motion was passed by 328 votes to 301.
The way has been paved for a bill to prevent a no-deal Brexit, which would further delay the timescale for the UK leaving the EU.
It follows Tory rebels joining forces with Labour to prevent the UK from crashing out of the EU without a deal on October 31.
A total of 21 Tories rebelled to support the motion.
Former Cabinet ministers Philip Hammond, Rory Stewart, Ken Clarke, David Gauke and Greg Clark were among the Tories who rebelled in the key vote.
A Downing Street spokesman said: “The Chief Whip is speaking with those Tory MPs who did not vote with the Government this evening. They will have the whip removed.”
Mr Johnson said he would table a motion under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act.
But Labour indicated that they would not support the move until chances of a no-deal Brexit were taken off the table.
The Prime Minister told the House of Commons after he was defeated in his first vote: “The consequences of this vote tonight means that Parliament is on the brink of wrecking any deal that we might be able to get in Brussels.
“It will hand control of the negotiations to the EU.”
He continued: “I don’t want an election but if MPs vote tomorrow to stop the negotiations and to compel another pointless delay of Brexit, potentially for years, then that will be the only way to resolve this.”
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told the Prime Minister: “He wants to table a motion for a general election, fine.
“Get the bill through first in order to take no deal off the table.”
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon welcomed the result in a tweet and said the SNP were “ready” for a general election.
But Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson had a word of caution at the prospect of the public going to the polls.
She told the Commons: “People have been protesting because they are worried.
“They are worried about the Prime Minister riding roughshod over our Parliamentary democracy and tonight, the House of Commons has spoken and said that we will not let that happen.
“It is vital, much as I relish the opportunity to take on the Prime Minister in a general election, it is vital that this House acts with responsibility and does not tip our country into an election at a point where there is any risk that we will crash out of the European Union during that election campaign or immediately after.
“We must act responsibly.”
