May forced to publish Brexit advice
london — The British government received a historic rebuke from lawmakers on Tuesday over its Brexit plans — an inauspicious sign for Prime Minister Theresa May as she opened an epic debate in Parliament that will decide the fate of her divorce deal with the European Union.
Legislators in the House of Commons found the government in contempt of Parliament for refusing to publish in full the advice it had received from the country’s top law officer about the terms of Britain’s departure from the EU.
The vote has little direct impact on the Brexit debate, but reflects mounting tension between the government and Parliament over the next steps in the UK’s exit. The reprimand, by 311 votes to 293, marks the first time a British government has been found in contempt of Parliament.
Labour Party Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer said the contempt finding was “unprecedented.” The government said that in light of the vote it would publish the advice from Attorney General Geoffrey Cox on Wednesday.
The parliamentary showdown delayed for several hours the start of debate on the Brexit deal. Lawmakers are due to hold five days of discussion before voting Dec. 11 on whether to accept or reject the agreement, which lays out the terms of Britain’s departure from the bloc on March 29 and sets the framework for future relations with the EU. Defeat would leave the UK
facing a chaotic “no-deal” Brexit and could topple the prime minister, her government, or both.
May planned open the debate by arguing that members of Parliament must back the agreement to deliver on the voters’ decision to leave the EU and “create a new role for our country in the world.”
But her chances of winning majority backing for the deal look slim. Politicians on both sides of Britain’s EU membership debate
oppose the agreement that May struck with the bloc — pro-Brexit ones because it keeps Britain bound closely to the EU, and pro-EU politicians because it erects barriers between the U.K. and its biggest trading partner.
“The numbers in the Houses of Parliament look pretty formidable for Theresa May,” said Alan Wager, a research associate at the UK at the Changing Europe think tank. “Over 100 Conservative MPs have said
they are not going to back the deal, the Labour Party have said they are not going to back the deal. So it looks like the deal won’t pass next week.”
Leaving the EU without a deal would end more than 40 years of free trade and disrupt the flow of goods and services between UK and the EU. The Bank of England warned lthat a no-deal Brexit could plunge Britain into a severe recession, with the economy shrinking by 8 per cent in the months after March 29. —