MAY GOVT RISKS ‘TOTAL COLLAPSE’ OVER BREXIT
Newspaper reports at least 6 cabinet members will resign if she decides for no-deal Brexit
BRITISH Prime Minister Theresa May risks the “total collapse” of her government if she fails to get her battered Brexit deal through Parliament, the Sunday Times newspaper said, amid growing speculation that she might call an early election.
In a sign of how little room for manoeuvre May has to break the Brexit impasse, the Sunday Times said at least six pro-European Union members of May’s cabinet of senior ministers would resign if she decides to head for a no-deal Brexit.
But at the same time, Brexitsupporting ministers were threatening to quit if May backed the option of staying close to the EU with a customs union or if she sought a long delay to Brexit, the newspaper said.
May’s Brexit strategy is in tatters after the exit deal she agreed with other EU leaders was rejected for a third time by the House of Commons on Friday, the day that Britain was supposed to leave the bloc.
Nearly three years after Britons voted by 52-48 per cent to end the country’s EU membership, what
Brexit will look like or whether it will even happen remains up in the air.
May had said she would step down if she managed to get her Brexit deal through Parliament, paving the way for another leader to take charge of the next round of negotiations with Brussels about Britain’s future ties to the bloc.
But that last-gasp offer has failed to break the impasse, leading to talk of an election to break the deadlock.
newspaper on Sunday said May’s advisers were divided over whether she should call an early election if she failed to win support for her Brexit deal from Parliament in the coming week.
The newspaper said a possible “run-off ” vote could take place tomorrow in Parliament between May’s deal and whatever alternative emerges as the most popular from voting by lawmakers today.
That meant an election could be called as early as Wednesday, the newspaper said, without citing sources.