EU-exit ‘Plan B’ includes staying in bloc’s market

LONDON — A senior minister said Saturday that a “Norway-plus” deal with the European Union would be an option for Britain if Prime Minister Theresa May fails to win lawmakers’ approval next week for her unpopular EU-exit deal.

Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd was the first minister to publicly discuss a “Plan B” should May’s divorce deal with the EU be defeated in a parliamentary vote on Tuesday.

Rudd, who backs May’s deal, said “anything could happen” — including a second referendum on whether Britain should leave the bloc.

She warned of a chaotic period for the country if the government is defeated in Parliament on the exit.

She told The Times on Saturday that none of the possible alternatives is better than the current exit deal. But she acknowledged that if the deal doesn’t pass, she would prefer a model similar to that of Norway, which is not an EU member but is part of the European Economic Area.

That would mean Britain stays part of the EU’s vast single market, with goods, services and people continuing to move within the bloc in the same way as before, limiting potential disruptions to the British economy.

Such an alternative “seems plausible, not just in terms of the country but in terms of where the MPs [lawmakers] are,” she added, although “nobody knows if it can be done.”

The divorce agreement that May struck with the EU is widely opposed by British lawmakers across the political spectrum, and her Conservative government must convince skeptical lawmakers that the deal is a good one ahead of Tuesday’s vote.

A heavy defeat would sink the agreement, leaving the U.K. facing a messy “nodeal” exit when it leaves the bloc on March 29, and could topple May and her government.

Pro-exit lawmakers say May’s deal keeps Britain bound too closely to the EU, while pro-EU politicians say it erects barriers between the U.K. and its biggest trading partner and leaves many details of the future relationship undecided.

Both sides also strongly object to a “backstop” provision in the exit agreement that would keep Britain in a customs union with the EU in order to guarantee an open border between EU member Ireland and the U.K.’s Northern Ireland.

Although the backstop is intended as a temporary measure, pro-exit lawmakers say it could leave Britain tied to the EU indefinitely and unable to strike new trade deals around the world.

Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, which props up May’s minority government, rejects the measure because it would treat Northern Ireland differently from the rest of the U.K.

An analysis by Britain’s Press Association showed that just 27 of the 163 British lawmakers who have spoken out indicated they would back May’s deal, compared with 122 — including 29 from May’s own Conservative Party — who say they will vote against it.

Pressure is mounting on May to delay the vote and ask for more concessions from the EU at a Brussels summit at the end of this week.

EU officials, however, have insisted that May’s exit deal is the best and only one on offer and said they will not renegotiate.