May wants EU’s respect amid stalemate
Theresa May hit back at the European Union for flatly rejecting her Brexit plans and demanded the bloc treat the U.K. with respect, as the stalemate in negotiations deepened.
The prime minister revived a warning that no deal is better than a bad deal on Friday, a day after EU leaders bluntly told her that her Brexit divorce blueprint won’t work. In a statement in London, May told them it was “not acceptable to simply reject” her plan.
The pound fell as much as 1.6 percent against the dollar, the most on a clos- ing basis since June last year.
Earlier this week, May was left looking isolated after leaders told her to re-work her plans, and set her a dead- line of next month to come back with new ideas. British officials had been hop- ing for warmer words from them at a summit in Salz- burg, Austria, to bolster the premier as she prepares for what is likely to be a con- tentious Conservative Party conference in a fortnight.
“Throughout this process I have treated the EU with nothing but respect. The U.K. expects the same. A good relationship at the end of this process depends on it,” May said in a televised state- ment in her Downing Street residence. “At this late stage in the negotiations, it’s not acceptable to simply reject the other side’s proposals without a detailed explana- tion and counterproposals.”
In response, U.K. businesses warned both sides to end their “posturing” and finish the job of getting a deal. “Businesses across the U.K. want the negotiators to knuckle down and deliver tangible results that enable them to plan for the future,” said Adam Marshall, direc- tor general of the British Chambers of Commerce, in an emailed statement.
The prime minister said in March that she wouldn’t be “buffeted” by calls to walk away from talks, but as the tone of negotiations deteriorated on Thursday, she hinted she might have changed her mind. She said the U.K. would continue to prepare for a no deal exit.
Britain is due to leave the bloc in March next year, with or without a deal. If there’s no divorce agreement, there will be no transition — a twoyear grace period designed to prevent the country and its businesses tumbling into a legal limbo.
On Friday, May appeared to offer further reassurance to EU citizens living in Britain, promising that even in the event of a no-deal Brexit, their rights would be protected.
May is going into a politically perilous period as her party prepares for its confer- ence. She’s facing increas- ing calls to dump her vision of what the future trading relationsh ip should be, and speculation is rife that some in her party will try to oust her. She doesn’t have a majority in Parliament, and lawmakers are lining up to threaten that if she doesn’t change tack, they will vote against the final deal she brings back.
In Salzburg, the message from EU leaders instead handed ammunition to May’s critics at home. They met over lunch Thursday without her to discuss Brexit and European Council President Donald Tusk subsequently briefed her in what May described as a “frank” conversation.
Tory Brexiteer Ja c ob Rees-Mogg said the summit showed the EU “is not acting in good faith” and welcomed May’s “strong and forthright” words. But he warned that her Brexit plan won’t work for either the U.K. or EU.