PM clears EU Brexit hurdle, faces obstacles in Parliament
BRUSSELS — Against tough odds, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson hammered out a last-minute compromise Brexit deal with his skeptical, fatigued European counterparts Thursday, raising the prospect that Britain could finally be out of the European Union by the end of the month.
Now the hardest part: Johnson will have to win approval for his draft deal in the fractious British Parliament, beginning with an extraordinary and rare sitting of the House of Commons on Saturday.
“This is a great deal for our country — the U.K. — and our friends in the EU,” Johnson said Thursday night in Brussels after his negotiators agreed to a 63-page draft text. “Now is the moment for our parliamentarians to get this done.”
To scare the House of Commons into submission, and to fulfill a political pledge, Johnson hoped his fellow leaders in Brussels would rule out any further delays beyond the Oct. 31 Brexit deadline. They refused.
The 27 ambassadors to the EU have been asked to stick around Brussels over the weekend so they can handle any fallout from the British Parliament votes. U.K. law requires Johnson to seek an extension if a deal isn’t approved by Saturday. And EU leaders would likely grant one, to avoid the potential economic chaos of a sudden break without a managed transition.
But they are also ready to be done with Brexit. Nobody in the EU capital seemed especially excited about the signal event of landing a deal. Nobody extolled. Even Johnson seemed to prefer to talk about his party’s plans for health care and railroads — anything but Brexit.
The leaders deflected questions Thursday about what-ifs.
“We didn’t negotiate an agreement with the idea it would be rejected by the British Parliament,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a news conference. “We haven’t focused on what will happen if the British Parliament doesn’t accept the withdrawal agreement.”
But there are some worrying signs for Johnson’s fortunes in London. Already, some Brexiteers are saying they will hold out against him, the Labour Party is opposed and Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party is in rebellion.
“It is our view that these arrangements would not be in Northern Ireland’s longterm interests,” the Democratic Unionist Party said in a statement. “Saturday’s vote in Parliament on the proposals will only be the start of a long process to get any withdrawal agreement bill through the House of Commons.”
Johnson said he was “convinced” that when lawmakers read it, “they will want to vote for it.”
Johnson said Brexit “hasn’t always been an easy experience for the U.K. It’s been long, it’s been painful, it’s been divisive.”
On Saturday, he is seeking a yes-no vote on the deal, asking lawmakers to support it or opt for a no-deal exit. Opposition lawmakers have indicated that they have other ideas. They are staging a series of votes on different amendments, including one that would require a public referendum.
Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour Party, said the agreement reached Thursday was an “even worse deal” than Theresa May’s — Johnson’s predecessor — and that the “best way to get Brexit sorted is to give the people the final say in a public vote.”
Under the deal, which focuses mostly on the split from the EU, not on how the sides will work together in the future, Britain would leave the bloc but would continue to apply EU rules until the end of 2020. EU and British negotiators would try to hammer out a trade deal and other elements of their future relationship in the meantime. The transition period could be extended up to two years if both sides agree.