May makes last-ditch bid to seal Brexit deal
Vote today first in week that will shape UK’s future with EU
British Prime Minister Theresa May will find out this morning if her lastminute efforts were enough. In an 11th-hour round of negotiations yesterday, May managed to wrest new statements and language from European Union leaders that she hoped would help her sell her unpopular Brexit deal to a sceptical Parliament.
At a news conference at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, May said she had secured “legally binding” assurances that the Brexit withdrawal agreement will not trap Britain “indefinitely” in European Union rules and regulations, even if the sides cannot agree in the future how else to keep the border between Northern ireland and Ireland free and open.
This morning, British lawmakers are scheduled to vote again on May’s withdrawal agreement, along with the supplemental statements. A possible series of votes this week could help determine whether Britain will depart on schedule on March 29 — or whether there will be more uncertainty, division and delay.
“Today we have secured legal changes. Now is the time to come together, to back this improved Brexit deal, and to deliver on the instruction of the British people,” May said. Britain voted 51.89 per cent to 48.11 per cent to leave the EU in a referendum in June, 2016.
But whether the additional language in the deal would be enough to win over a divided House of Commons was unclear.
Keir Starmer, the opposition Labour Party’s point person on Brexit, responded, saying the changes announced were not a breakthrough. Waving a letter in the air that was sent from EU chiefs to May in January, he said, “It’s not new. That’s not today, that was in the letter.”
Steve Baker, a prominent Brexiteer, told the BBC that it was “very good gloss” on something that “falls short” of expectations.
May’s Brexit deal, negotiated over two years with the EU, was rejected by Parliament in January by a vote of 432 to 202. Since then, she has pressed for adjustments that might induce support from hardline Brexiteers in her Conservative Party.
This deal is only about the terms of departure and does not include what the future relationship between Britain and the EU would look like. It sets out the US$50 billion ($73b) divorce settlement that Britain would pay; it allows for a two-year transition period, when things would remain essentially as they are now in terms of trade, migration, security and travel; and it seeks a guarantee to preserve the free and open border on the island of Ireland.
It is that guarantee — the Irish backstop — that is at the heart of the impasse. Many British lawmakers fear that it would limit their country’s sovereignty, requiring them to continue to abide by European rules and regulations on customs and trade forever, without having any say. Some had hoped for a sunset clause, or a provision allowing Britain to
unilaterally terminate the backstop.
If Parliament accepts May’s deal today, then Britain will leave the European Union on March 29.
If Parliament rejects her deal, lawmakers are expected to vote tomorrow on whether to allow Britain to leave the EU without a deal, a scenario that many hardline Brexiteers embrace, but one that others warn could send shock waves through the British and European economies.
If the lawmakers decide they still want to try for a managed withdrawal, they’re expected to vote on Friday on whether to postpone Brexit. Delaying Britain’s departure would require permission from EU leaders.
May said earlier that if such a delay were necessary, it would be granted only once, and that it shouldn’t go beyond the end of June.