British MPs step up opposition to mooted Brexit deal

LONDON: Talk of a Brexit deal getting closer has unleashed a fresh torrent of domestic opposition to the British prime minister’s plans, a reminder that any divorce may still be rejected in parliament.

Negotiations have been complicated throughout by the need to appease hardliners in Theresa May’s Conservative party and her Northern Irish allies, who are alert to any hint of compromise.

This weekend, a leading Brexitbacking Tory MP and a member of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) signed a joint letter demanding no concessions on Northern Ireland’s status in the UK.

“If the government makes the historic mistake of prioritising placating the EU over establishing an independent and whole UK, then regrettably we must vote against the deal,” Steve Baker and Sammy Wilson wrote in the Sunday Telegraph.

Opposition from the other side of the debate has also sharpened in recent days after pro-European junior transport minister Jo Johnson resigned, calling for a second referendum and saying the mooted deal with Brussels was a “terrible mistake”. He joined several other Conservatives who want to stay in the EU, in urging fellow MPs to vote down the deal when they can.

“The Commons resembles a cacophonous gathering of factions,” columnist Matthew d’Ancona wrote in The Guardian on Monday.

Over them “looms the clock doing its merciless work, draining the argument of reflection, caution and historical perspective.”

Britain faces the prospect of crashing out of the EU with no deal in place if there is no agreement signed and ratified by the time of the scheduled date of Brexit on March 29, 2019.

Meanwhile members of May’s cabinet, which has publicly backed her since the dramatic resignations of two eurosceptic ministers in July, are also beginning to speak out.

Aid minister Penny Mordaunt, a eurosceptic reported to have reservations about the Brexit deal, raised alarm bells on Monday by saying ministers would act as a “check” on the plan as much as parliament. The Conservative divisions had already meant that May would likely have to rely on opposition Labour votes to get the deal through -- despite that party also threatening to reject it -- but the numbers are looking increasingly hard to add up.

Warned

May has previously urged MPs to “act in the national interest” and privately warned her party that she cannot predict what might happen if it is rejected.

The government could seek to renegotiate the deal with Brussels, but defeat could also spark a political crisis, with May forced out and possibly a new general election.

Others hope a new Brexit vote could reverse the entire process, or Britain could simply leave the bloc with no deal at all, risking legal and economic chaos. No deal would mean “tin hats time,” one Conservative MP said.

With the support of the 10 MPs from Northern Ireland’s DUP, the Conservatives have a slim majority in the 650-seat House of Commons. But eurosceptic Conservative MPs, led by Jacob Rees-Mogg and former foreign secretary Boris Johnson, have been the most constant critics of May’s approach.

Around 50 MPs back the Stand Up 4 Brexit group opposing her plan to maintain close economic ties with the EU in future, while up to 70 are members of Rees-Mogg’s European Research Group.

Speculation in recent weeks suggests up to 30 or 40 hardline MPs could vote against the Brexit agreement, believing Britain would be better off leaving the EU with no deal.

The Labour Party claims the deal falls short of expectations and suggests it will reject it, eyeing a possible election in which it might win power.

But individual Labour MPs have indicated they could back the government, many of them representing manufacturing areas that they fear would suffer badly without a Brexit deal.

Full story @ timesofoman.com/world