Brexit deal won’t pass – former MP

STOPGAP AGREEMENT AS BRIDGE

British Prime Minister Theresa May’s deal to leave the European Union (EU) will be voted down in parliament, her former Brexit minister Dominic Raab said yesterday, adding that alternative stopgap agreements could provide a bridge in a no-deal scenario.

European Union negotiators met yesterday to try to clear the last hurdle before a summit tomorrow is due to endorse the Brexit deal, but Spain’s 11th-hour objections over Gibraltar mean the final text could not be ready until the last minute.

Four months before Britain leaves the EU, the legal divorce treaty and an accompanying political declaration on the two sides’ future ties are ready to be rubber-stamped by May and the leaders of the 27 union states staying on together after Brexit.

Gibraltar has worked with Spain to reach agreement over its place in the Brexit withdrawal agreement, its chief minister said, adding that any revision of the enclave’s place in the deal would reopen the whole agreement to renegotiation.

“We’ve worked very hard and have in fact reached agreement with Spanish colleagues in respect of Gibraltar’s role in the withdrawal process ... in good faith, we’ve worked together and we’ve delivered,” Fabian Picardo told BBC radio, adding that Spain did not need to use a “veto” to bring Gibraltar to the table.

“If (the withdrawal agreement is) opened for one comma or one full-stop on Gibraltar, it’s going to be re-opened on any of the other issues. We will I think inevitably see parliament vote this deal down, and then I think some of those other alternatives will need to come into play,” Raab said.

Meanwhile, Germany hopes that Britain will leave the European Union in an orderly manner, but Berlin is also prepared for Britain crashing out of the bloc without a mutually agreed divorce deal, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said yesterday.

Britain and the EU have agreed a draft text setting out a close post-Brexit relationship, though wrangling with Spain over control of Gibraltar must still be settled before EU leaders meet tomorrow to rubber-stamp the pact.

“An unregulated Brexit would be the worst outcome for Europe, but especially for Britain, because it would hit the British economy hard,” Scholz told Passauer

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An unregulated Brexit would be the worst outcome

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