May’s Brexit plan headed for defeat?
LONDON — The Brexit debate heated up again on Wednesday, as Parliament resumed its discussion of the withdrawal agreement Prime Minister Theresa May negotiated with the European Union. But British lawmakers didn’t appear any closer to approving a deal than they were before the holidays.
“Not a single dot or comma has changed,” said Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour Party.
May is “recklessly wasting time, holding the country to ransom with the threat of no deal in a desperate attempt to blackmail MPs to vote for her hopelessly unpopular deal,” he said.
“The only way to avoid no deal,” May retorted, “is to vote for the deal.”
May’s compromise version of what withdrawal would look like is up for a parliamentary vote next Tuesday. It’s a vote May postponed in December when it was clear she would face a massive defeat.
May has said talks with the EU are ongoing and that she will present Parliament with fresh assurances before Tuesday. But the EU has said it is done negotiating, and Parliament is expected to reject the deal.
To speed up what happens next, lawmakers on Wednesday approved an amendment requiring May to put a Plan B up for a vote by Jan. 21.
“It’s the start, I think, of an essential dialogue between government and Parliament to try and find a way out of the difficulties we are facing,” Dominic Grieve, the Conservative lawmaker who tabled the amendment, told the BBC.
Britain is scheduled to leave the EU on March 29, and May has repeatedly insisted that Brexit will happen then. But now there are mutterings about extending the departure date.