National Post

DUMPING ME WON’T HELP: MAY.

- Sylvia hui

LONDON • Britain’s besieged Prime Minister Theresa May warned Sunday that a leadership change wouldn’t make Brexit negotiatio­ns easier, as opponents in her Conservati­ve Party threaten to unseat her.

As furious Conservati­ve rebels try to gather the numbers to trigger a no-confidence vote, May insisted she hadn’t considered quitting.

“A change of leadership at this point isn’t going to make the negotiatio­ns any easier and it isn’t going to change the parliament­ary arithmetic,” she told Sky News in an interview.

May added that the next seven days “are going to be critical” for successful Brexit talks, and that she will be travelling to Brussels to meet with EU leaders before an emergency European Council summit on Nov. 25.

An announceme­nt this week that Britain has struck a draft divorce agreement with the EU triggered a political crisis in Britain, with the deal roundly savaged by both the opposition and large chunks of May’s own Conservati­ves. Two Cabinet ministers and several junior government members quit, and more than 20 lawmakers have submitted letters of no confidence in May. Fortyeight such letters — or 15 per cent of Conservati­ve lawmakers — are needed for a leadership challenge vote.

Asked about the attacks directed at her, May said: “It doesn’t distract me. Politics is a tough business and I’ve been in it for a long time.”

Dominic Raab, who quit Thursday as Brexit secretary, said “there is one thing missing and that is political will and resolve.

“If we cannot close this deal on reasonable terms, we need to be very honest with the country that we will not be bribed and blackmaile­d or bullied and we will walk away,” he told the Sunday Times.

Many pro-Brexit Conservati­ves want a clean break with the EU and argue that the close trade ties between the U.K. and the EU called for in the deal would leave Britain a vassal state, with no way to independen­tly disentangl­e itself from the bloc.

The draft agreement envisions Britain leaving the EU as planned on March 29, but remaining inside the bloc’s single market and bound by its rules until the end of December 2020.

It also commits the two sides to the contentiou­s “backstop” solution, which would keep the U.K. in a customs arrangemen­t with the EU until a permanent trade treaty is worked out. That will serve to guarantee that the border between the U.K.’s Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland remained free of customs checkpoint­s after Brexit.

Both Britain and the EU want to ensure Northern Ireland’s hard-won peace process isn’t undermined.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Canada