May to promise new Brexit debate
Pledge will be for a repeat of the process scheduled for this week
British Prime Minister Theresa May will pledge this week to give parliament another chance to voice their opinions on Brexit by February 27 as she tries to buy more time to negotiate a new deal with the EU.
British Prime Minister Theresa May will pledge this week to give parliament another chance to voice their opinions on Brexit by February 27 as she tries to buy more time to negotiate a new deal with the EU.
As the clock ticks down to Britain’s scheduled exit on March 29, May is trying to persuade the EU to change a deal that was agreed on between London and Brussels late last year but overwhelmingly rejected by parliament in January.
May wants to win over MPs in her Conservative Party with changes relating to the Northern Irish border, but the EU has refused to reopen that part of the deal and instead wants May to pursue a compromise with the main opposition Labour Party by agreeing to closer UK-EU ties.
The impasse has left the world’s fifth-largest economy facing an uncertain future, rattling financial markets and businesses about the prospect of a disorderly exit from the bloc.
Housing minister James Brokenshire said on Sunday that May would commit to giving parliament another debate on Brexit with the chance to vote on alternative options if a deal had not yet been agreed and voted on by then.
May is already due to update parliament on her progress towards a deal on Wednesday and then on Thursday to give parliament a chance to express its opinion. The new pledge would be for a repeat of this process by February 27.
“That gives that sense of timetable, clarity and purpose on what we’re doing with the EU
— taking that work forward and our determination to get a deal — but equally knowing that role that parliament very firmly has,” Brokenshire told the BBC.
Brexit minister Stephen Barclay will meet EU negotiator Michel Barnier on Monday to discuss changes to the part of the exit deal relating to the backstop, an insurance policy against the return of a hard border between Ireland and Britishruled Northern Ireland.
Labour’s Brexit policy chief, Keir Starmer, told the Sunday Times newspaper that his party would seek to use the debate in parliament this week to prevent May from waiting until the last minute to come back with a deal, and compel her to present a fresh accord for MPs to consider before February 26.
“We shouldn’t be put in a position where the clock is run down and the prime minister says it’s either my deal or even worse.
“That isn’t right in terms of the respect for parliament,” said Starmer.
The head of business lobby group the Confederation of British Industry warned that the chances of Britain leaving the EU next month without a deal had increased and the country had entered “the emergency zone”.
A government source said that May would ask MPs on Thursday to reaffirm that they supported her bid to renegotiate the backstop clause on Ireland. The backstop is the main obstacle to securing agreement on the terms of Britain’s withdrawal from the EU.
May’s opponents are expected to put forward a series of alternative approaches to be voted on, though it is unclear whether any will have sufficient support to pass, and if they do, whether they will force the government to act.
Labour’s plan, which has yet to be published in detail, will be among the options discussed on Thursday.
An opinion poll published in the Independent newspaper on Sunday showed 53% of British voters would support a delay in Brexit, and 33% would back a no-deal Brexit even if that harmed the economy.