May warns of a divided U.K. in Brexit limbo if her EU deal fails
LONDON — British Prime Minister Theresa May told skeptical lawmakers on Wednesday that rejecting her divorce deal with the European Union would mean uncertainty and division.
She spoke out before a meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to help finalize the Brexit agreement.
May and Juncker held lateafternoon talks in Brussels as negotiators worked to pin down agreement on issues of contention so that EU leaders can meet in Brussels on Sunday to rubberstamp the package.
The U.K. and the European Union agreed last week on a 585page document sealing the terms of Britain’s departure, but are still working to nail down agreement on future relations.
With wrangling continuing on issues including Gibraltar and fishing rights, European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis said Wednesday that the political declaration on future relations was “not there yet.”
He said diplomats would meet Friday to prepare Sunday’s summit, and “they will need to see a final text before then.”
“The commission stands ready to consider the text and take any action at any time,” he said.
At home, May is under intense pressure from pro-Brexit and pro-EU British lawmakers, with large numbers on both sides of the debate opposing the divorce deal.
Brexiteers think it will leave the U.K. tied too closely to EU rules, while pro-Europeans say it will erect new barriers between Britain and the bloc, its neighbour and biggest trading partner.
May fended off a barrage of criticism from both opposition and government legislators Wednesday during her weekly Commons question-and-answer session dominated by Brexit.
Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn branded the agreement “half-baked.”
Conservative Andrew Rosindell urged May to ditch the plan and remove “the tentacles of the EU over our cherished island nation.”
May replied that “we want to ensure we continue to have a close trading relationship with the European Union.”
She said the alternative to the agreement was either “more uncertainty, more division or it could risk no Brexit at all.”
Madrid has raised objections to wording in the agreement about Gibraltar, the tiny territory at the tip of the Iberian Peninsula that was ceded to Britain in 1713 but is still claimed by Spain.
Last year’s EU guidelines on the Brexit negotiations effectively gave Spain veto powers over future relations between the bloc and the British overseas territory, and the Spanish government says it will vote against the Brexit deal if Gibraltar’s future isn’t considered a bilateral issue between Madrid and London.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Tuesday his government “cannot accept that what will happen to Gibraltar in the future depends on negotiations between the U.K. and the EU.”
But May reassured British lawmakers that “we will not exclude Gibraltar from our negotiations.”
Spain’s EU Affairs State Secretary, Luis Marco Aguiriano, said there was still time to “legally clarify” the agreement before Sunday.
The deal also needs to be approved by the European and British parliaments — a tough task for May, whose Conservatives lack a majority in the House of Commons.
May won a reprieve from some of her Conservative Party foes after pro-Brexit rebels acknowledged that a bid to trigger a noconfidence vote on May had failed, for now.