At Tory meet, May says Brexit critics are playing politics

Chequers plan only proposal possible to strike EU deal: May

Prime Minister Theresa May on Sunday accused British Members of Parliament who refuse to support her Brexit strategy of playing politics with the country’s future.

In an interview with The Sunday Times as the threeday Conservative Party conference opened in Birmingham, Ms May reiterated that her so- called Chequers plan was the only proposal possible to strike a deal with the European Union ( EU) on Britain’s future relationship with the economic bloc once it has formally left in 2019.

She attacked the Opposition Labour Party for now backing the idea of a second referendum on the issue of Britain’s membership of the EU. “They said that they’d respect the referendum result. Yet now they appear to be wanting to ask people to have a second go at it. So, you can’t believe what they say. They’re playing politics with this issue,” she said.

To her own Conservative Party, which also remains divided over the issue, she said: “My message to the Conservative Party is going to be that, ‘ We are the party that always puts country first and puts the national interest first.’ This is about

They ( labour party) said that they’d respect the referendum result. Yet now they appear to be wanting to ask people to have a second go at it. They’re playing politics with this issue — Theresa May, British PM

a critical issue for the future of this country. And I think we naturally are a party that looks to the national interest.”

She challenged the EU again to put forward counterproposals instead of just turning down her plan as “unworkable”, adding that she was “not bluffing” when she said “no deal is better than a bad deal”.

The comments coincided with former foreign secretary Boris Johnson, one of the fiercest critics of May’s Brexit strategy who quit the Cabinet over the issue, launching his latest tirade against her leadership.

The annual Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, which runs until Wednesday, is being seen as the stage for the ruling party’s leadership hopefuls to lay out their credentials with some big ticket announcements.

The negotiations on the terms of the exit and future cooperation still at an impasse, the issue of Brexit is likely to dominate the agenda.

— AP Demonstrators protest against Brexit as the governing Conservative Party start their annual four- day party conference in Birmingham, England, on Sunday.