May’s gambit: My deal or none
Prime minister trying to counter Brexit plan foes
LONDON — British Prime Minister Theresa May has warned opponents of her blueprint for Brexit that rejecting it means crashing out of the European Union without a deal, an outcome the International Monetary Fund said Monday would have “very large” economic costs.
May told the BBC that if rebel lawmakers shoot down a deal between her government and the EU, “the alternative to that will be having no deal.”
Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29. The two sides still have big gaps to bridge in divorce negotiations, and May’s Conservative government remains divided over how close an economic relationship to seek with the bloc.
The two sides hope to strike a deal on divorce terms and the outlines of future trade by November.
May is calculating that, faced with a stark choice between an imperfect agreement and the unknown territory of “no deal,” many lawmakers will grudgingly back her proposals.
“I think Parliament will vote for a deal because I think people will see the importance of a deal that maintains a good trading relationship with the EU but also maintains good cooperation in other areas, but gives us the freedom to take the benefits and opportunities of Brexit,” she said in an interview broadcast Monday.
That outcome is far from certain. Although the prime minister insists the choice will be between her deal and no deal, pro-eu lawmakers want further negotiations, or even remaining in the bloc, to be options. Anti-brexit campaigners are also pushing for a public referendum on the divorce agreement.
Meanwhile, a “hard Brexit” Conservative faction says leaving without a deal is preferable to May’s proposed terms because it would leave Britain free to strike new trade deals around the world.
Ex-brexit Secretary David Davis and Former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson both quit May’s Cabinet in July out of opposition to her plan. Johnson wrote in Monday’s Daily Telegraph that May’s Brexit negotiations were heading for a “spectacular political car crash” that would leave Britain in “the ditch with a total write-off of Brexit.”
Many economists say leaving the EU without a deal would be economically devastating for Britain.
IMF chief Christine Lagarde said Monday that “all the likely Brexit scenarios will have costs for the
U.K. economy,” and a no-deal Brexit “would impose very large costs.”