Don’t throw Brexit into chaos, UK minister warns

Britain faces a chaotic exit from the European Union if lawmakers vote against legislation designed to sever political, financial and legal ties with the bloc, Britain’s Brexit minister David Davis said before a key parliamentary vote.

Parliament is due to hold a late-night vote on whether to let the central plank of Britain’s Brexit plan – the EU withdrawal bill – move to the next stage of the lawmaking process.

The government is expected to win the vote, but it is the most serious test yet of Prime Minister Theresa May’s leadership after she lost her parliamentary majority at a June 8 election and failed to win a clear mandate for her Brexit strategy.

The bill seeks largely to copy and paste EU law into British legislation to ensure the UK has functioning laws and the same regulatory framework as the bloc at the moment of Brexit, something the government says provides certainty for companies.

“A vote against this bill is a vote for a chaotic exit from the EU,” Davis said in a statement.

“Businesses and individuals need reassurance that there will be no unexpected changes to our laws after exit day and that is exactly what the repeal bill provides. Without it, we would be approaching a cliff edge of uncertainty which is not in the interest of anyone.”

Failure to clear the first of many hurdles in the lawmaking process would present a major problem for May, who now relies on the support of a small Northern Irish political party to govern and faces persistent questions about her future as leader.

“She needs to keep going, get this thing done ... we need to get this great ship launched,” Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson – a one-time rival for the leadership of the party and a prominent pro-Brexit campaigner told the BBC.