may secures cabinet nod to brexit deal
Decision to protect jobs and the union: UK PM
london — British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday the cabinet has agreed on a draft Brexit deal with the European Union after an “impassioned” and marathon debate.
Addressing the press, May said the draft withdrawal agreement was the best that could have been negotiated. “The collective decision of the cabinet was that the government should support the draft withdrawal agreement,” she said.
“I firmly believe with my head and my heart that this is a decision that is in the best interests of the entire United Kingdom,” she said.
“The decision protects jobs and the union. This is a decision that will come under intense scrutiny, but the decision was to build a future for our country or to go back to square one and fail on the promise of the referendum.”
May said she will make a statement in parliament today. —
The deal protects jobs, protects the integrity of our United Kingdom and protects the security of people in this country
Theresa May, Britain PM
london — British Prime Minister Theresa May defended her anguished divorce deal with the European Union before rowdy lawmakers on Wednesday before trying to win the backing of her splintered cabinet.
On one of the biggest days of her political career and with the fate of her government at stake, a determined and composed May told parliament she had secured the best deal possible for Britain.
“What we have been negotiating is a deal that does deliver on the vote of the British people,” she told MPs in her first public comments since European Union and United Kingdom negotiators finally settled on a draft on Tuesday.
The deal “protects jobs, protects the integrity of our UK and protects the security of people in this country,” May said to jeers.
The framework agreement capped a year and a half of complex and bitter negotiations aimed at unwinding nearly 46 years of British European Union membership.
Suffering economic uncertainty in the wake of the global financial crisis and fearing an influx of migrants, Britons voted by a 52-48 margin in June 2016 to regain independence from Brussels. Should May survive a cabinet session that started later on Wednesday in which ministers were expected to either back the framework deal or quit, Britain and the bloc will hold a Brexit summit on November 25.
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said the date was agreed pending the United Kingdom cabinet’s approval, which will be followed Wednesday by the draft’s publication.
Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main opposition Labour Party who is seeking early elections, called the entire negotiations process “shambolic”.
“This government spent two years negotiating a bad deal that will leave the country in an indefinite half-way house,” he said.
And Conservative Party MP Peter Bone, a leading pro-Brexit lawmaker, accused May of “not delivering the Brexit people voted for”.
“Today you will lose the support of many Conservative MPs and millions of voters,” he warned the
British leader. May has faced constant criticism from Conservative MPs over her approach.
But more ominously, the Northern Irish party which props up her government threatened to break their alliance over reports of a special
arrangement for the British province. According to media reports, the final deal includes a socalled “backstop” arrangement in which the whole UK will remain in a customs arrangement with the European Union. —