Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Party proposes revote on EU exit
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt — Britain’s main opposition party took a big step Monday toward backing a second referendum on exiting the European Union.
The Labor Party did not specify whether any future referendum might ask voters if they now prefer to stay in the bloc. However, the party’s latest position has the potential to alter the course of the nation a little more than a month before the scheduled withdrawal day.
The EU warned Britain it faces the prospect of delaying its planned March 29 departure or the consequences of crashing out without a deal. European Council President Donald Tusk, who chairs meetings of EU nation leaders, said Monday it would be “rational” to postpone the divorce date.
Labor has proposed its own withdrawal plan as an alternative to the government’s deal with the EU. The party said Monday it would back a second public vote if the House of Commons rejects its plan this week, as is widely expected.
Labor’s exit plan envisions far closer economic ties between Britain and the EU than the agreement Prime Minister Theresa May negotiated, which lawmakers overwhelmingly voted down last month.
Leader Jeremy Corbyn told Labor lawmakers the party “will do everything in our power” to prevent Britain from leaving the EU without a deal outlining its future relationship with the remaining 27 members.
But Corbyn also said Labor would oppose any agreement based on the “overwhelmingly rejected” deal that May is trying to resuscitate.
As a result, Labor plans to put forward or support an amendment in Parliament “to prevent a damaging Tory Brexit being forced on the country,” Corbyn said, using the colloquial terms for the governing Conservative Party and the British exit.
Voters narrowly approved the June 2016 referendum to pull Britain out of the EU. Labor has said it would only support a second referendum as a last resort if it could not secure a new general election or make changes to May’s divorce deal.
The party leadership has been reluctant to change tack, not least because majorities in many of the districts Labor lawmakers represent, particularly in northern England, voted in favor of leaving the EU.
The change in approach follows the resignations of eight Labor lawmakers last week, partly over the party’s failure to back another referendum on leaving the EU. It is likely to cheer many party members, who have backed calls for a so-called people’s vote.
While there is little chance of a second referendum taking place without the support of Labor, the path to another vote on whether to leave or remain is far from clear. It would require the support of numerous lawmakers from the Conservative Party, for example.
Should Britain leave the EU without a deal, the country would likely face new tariffs on British exports and serious disruption to trade between the two sides. The Bank of England has warned that the British economy could shrink by 8 percent in the months after a disorderly departure from the bloc.
May has said a new vote on any revised exit deal won’t be held this week and could come as late as March 12.
A number of British lawmakers are seeking to wrest control of the process from the government and are looking to get support for an amendment that would require May to seek an extension to the divorce date if Parliament fails to back her deal.
“I don’t see how businesses can plan. I don’t see how public services can plan, and I think it’s just deeply damaging,” Labor lawmaker Yvette Cooper, one of those behind the move, told the BBC.
May insists a deal in time is possible.
“It is within our grasp to leave with a deal on 29th of March, and I think that that is where all of our energies should be focused,” May said.
She added that “any delay is a delay. It doesn’t address the issue.”
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte warned May against “sleepwalking” into a chaotic exit from the bloc next month.
“It’s absolutely unacceptable. And I think your best friends have to warn you for that,” Rutte told the BBC. “Wake up. This is real.”