New threat for May’s Brexit

ODDS STACKED: OPPOSITION PUSHING FOR CONTEMPT

The December 11 vote will come at the end of brutal debate starting today.

British Prime Minister Theresa May’s government fought yesterday to defend its Brexit deal by outlining the legal basis for parliament to support its plan to leave the European Union (EU), but instead seemed to fan the flames of rebellion.

May faces an uphill struggle to secure parliament’s approval in a vote on December 11, when many Brexit supporters and opponents alike say they will reject her vision for leaving the EU, Britain’s biggest shift in foreign policy in over 40 years.

She has toured the country and TV studios to try to sell her deal, but a move to present her government’s legal advice to parliament seemed to backfire yesterday.

With several lawmakers doubling down on their criticism of the deal, the parliamentary speaker also said he would consider a request by the opposition Labour Party and other parties to consider launching contempt proceedings against May’s government for failing to release the full legal advice.

It was a threat that one government source shrugged off as just a “process row”.

At a rowdy session of parliament, Attorney General Geoffrey Cox outlined the legal advice he had given to the government, including over a “backstop” arrangement to prevent the return of a hard border between Northern Ireland and EU member state Ireland if a future UK-EU trading deal is not reached in time.

“This deal ... is the best way I firmly believe of ensuring that we leave the European Union on March 29,” Cox told parliament. “This is the deal that will ensure that happening in an orderly way with legal certainty.”

But his words did little to soothe some of the deal’s most caustic critics in parliament, where many Brexit supporters said the so-called backstop for Northern Ireland risked tying Britain into the EU’s customs union indefinitely.

Many lawmakers were also angry over being shown what they described as a summary, not the full legal advice on May’s deal which her government had seen.

The December 11 vote will come at the end of five days of bruising debate starting today.