May ‘making progress on Brexit’ as Labour tilts towards a referendum

PRIME Minister Theresa May is making progress on winning Brexit concessions from the EU, a senior minister said yesterday, as British lawmakers plotted to delay Britain’s March 29 exit and the Labour Party tilted towards another referendum.

May is making a last-ditch effort to get changes to the divorce package before MPs try on Wednesday to grab control of Brexit in a vote.

While May insists Brexit will go ahead as planned, some of her senior ministers have openly threatened to side with rebels to stop a potentially disorderly no-deal exit and the opposition Labour Party said it could back another referendum.

The EU has ruled out reopening the Withdrawal Agreement, though both sides are looking at a possible legal addendum to reassure MPs who worry the Irish border backstop could keep Britain trapped in the EU’s orbit for years to come.

“It could be a time limit, I think it could be a unilateral exit mechanism,” said British Environment Secretary Michael Gove, adding that other options included a protocol or an addition to the treaty setting out that the UK would not be bound by the backstop indefinitely.

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said the wording of the future relationship declaration could be changed to help May get the deal through parliament.

May is attending an EU summit with the League of Arab States in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, where she will seek to make more progress before a potentially crucial series of votes in the British parliament on Wednesday.

The EU’s agriculture chief said he expected Britain to seek assistance to avoid disruption to food imports in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

Senior figures in the Labour Party said yesterday it was moving closer to supporting another Brexit referendum and could do so as early as this week.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has so far stuck to Labour policy to keep the option of a second referendum “on the table” if May’s government fails to secure a deal with Brussels that can break an impasse in parliament, preferring a new election or his own proposed deal.

But when asked whether this would be the week Labour comes out in support of a second referendum, the party’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, said: “We are heading in that direction.”