May to make MPs a final 'bold offer' on Brexit deal
LONDON (AFP) – British Prime Minister Theresa May said Sunday she was preparing to make a ''bold offer'' to MPs in one final attempt to get them to back her Brexit deal.
May said that when she brings the Withdrawal Agreement Bill before parliament early next month, it will come with a new package of measures attached that she hopes can command majority support.
''I still believe there is a majority in parliament to be won for leaving with a deal,'' May wrote in The Sunday Times newspaper.
MPs three times rejected the deal May struck with Brussels, forcing Britain's EU departure date to pushed back from March 29 to April 12 and again to October 31.
The bill is needed to ratify the divorce agreement struck with the European Union.
On Thursday, May agreed to set out a timetable for her departure following the vote in the week beginning June 3, regardless of whether MPs back her deal at the fourth time of asking.
It is thought that she will trigger a contest for the leadership of her governing Conservative Party once the bill either falls or completes all of its stages through parliament.
''When the Withdrawal Agreement Bill comes before MPs, it will represent a new, bold offer to MPs across the House of Commons, with an improved package of measures that I believe can win new support,'' she told the newspaper.
''Whatever the outcome of any votes, I will not be simply asking MPs to think again. Instead I will ask them to look at a new and improved deal with fresh pairs of eyes – and to give it their support.''
The bill is expected to include new measures on protecting workers' rights, future customs arrangements with the EU, and on the use of technology to avoid the need for border controls between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, an EU member state and the UK's only land neighbour.
It will not, however, seek to re-open the withdrawal agreement, which Brussels repeatedly insisted could not be renegotiated, despite many MPs voting it down due to concerns about its so-called ''backstop'' clauses on Northern Ireland.
May is expected to set out the details of her proposals in a speech later this month.