May faces knife-edge Brexit vote

LONDON: British Prime Minister Theresa May faced a knife-edge vote in parliament yesterday on her centrepiece Brexit legislation, despite her last-minute warning that defeat risks undermining her negotiations with Brussels.

MPs in the lower House of Commons will vote on a raft of amendments produced by the upper House of Lords, including one at around 3pm local time that would give parliament an effective veto over Brexit.

Just hours before the vote, the pressure on Ms May cranked up when a pro-EU junior minister quit the government so he could back the veto proposal.

Philip Lee said a choice between “bad and worse” options was not giving MPs a meaningful vote.

Other flashpoints in the parliamentary votes include proposals to keep Britain tightly aligned with the EU’s economy.

Ms May has said a government defeat would weaken its hand in exit talks with the EU.

“We must think about the message parliament will send to the European Union this week,” Ms May told MPs in her centreright Conservative Party late on Monday.

The front pages of Leave-backing British newspapers said accepting the amendments would betray the 52% who backed Brexit in the seismic 2016 referendum.

The Daily Express featured the British flag as its front page with the headline: “Ignore the will of the people at your peril.”

“The time has come for our elected representatives to decide — are you or are you not the servants of the people?”

The Sun had a front page of British icons including Stonehenge, a fish and chip shop, a London bus and a football, saying “Great Britain or Great Betrayal”.

“Remainer MPs have a simple choice: trust the people of Great Britain … or trigger a shameful betrayal.”

Ms May’s minority Conservative government relies on the support of Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party for a slender working majority in the 650member Commons.

“I am trying to negotiate the best deal for Britain. I am confident I can get a deal that allows us to strike our own trade deals while having a border with the EU which is as frictionless as possible,” she said.

“But if the Lords amendments are allowed to stand, that negotiating position will be undermined.”