BREXIT FUTURE IN MPS’ HANDS: MAY
It is up to House to decide whether Britain leaves EU next March: PM
LONDON: Prime Minister Theresa May said on Thursday it was up to MPS to decide whether Britain leaves the European Union next March with no deal despite the potentially catastrophic impact.
Speaking to a parliamentary committee, May was asked several times whether she would personally allow a disorderly Brexit to happen if — as looks increasingly likely — MPS vote down the deal she has struck with the EU.
“Knowing you For 20 years, I Just don’t believe that if your deal goes down, you are the kind of person who would contemplate taking this country into a no-deal situation. Am I wrong?” asked opposition Labour MP Yvette Cooper.
May answered: “It will be a decision for parliament... I’ve negotiated what I believe truly to be a good deal for the UK.”
She also rejected calls for either a second referendum on Brexit or to delay Britain’s departure if the deal is rejected in the Dec.11 vote.
“WE would simply ind ourselves In a period of more uncertainty and division,” she said, adding: “It is absolutely important that we deliver on the vote that people gave.”
The prime minister was also asked repeatedly whether she had a back-up plan.
“I think it is important members of parliament focus on the nature of this vote. This is an important point in our history,” she said.
She added, however, that if the deal is rejected, “some people would need to take some practical steps in relation to no deal.”
The government on Wednesday published an assessment of the economic impact of Brexit, showing Britain would be worse off in any scenario outside the EU.
The Bank of England also warned that leaving without a deal would trigGER A inancial Crisis.
May said: “Being inside the EU is not an option, so what we have to look at is what is the best option outside the EU because people have voted to leave the EU.”
The European Union’s Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier told Britain on Thursday the Brexit deal the bloc agreed with May was the only one possible.
Barnier was speaking to a nearlyempty EU parliament chamber as the bloc awaits the verdict from London where May is trying to sell the deal to her divided parliament.
The EU insists the Brexit accord sealed after 18 months of talks will not be renegotiated.
“GIVEN THE Dificult Circumstances of this negotiation and given the extreme complexity of all the issues of the British withdrawal, the deal that is on the table ... this deal is the only one and the best possible,” Barnier said.
“Now Is THE time For ratiication,” he said.
“It’s not a question of winners and losers because Brexit is a lose-lose. There is no added value,” Barnier said.
“I am convinced we will be able to work together for a real and unprecedented partnership,” he said of Britain’s future relationship with the EU, talks on which will start after Brexit day on MARCH 29, 2019.
During the EU parliamentary debate on Thursday, Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage said May’s deal would be voted down in the British parliament as “the worst deal in history.”
The leader of the Northern Irish party that props up Britain’s Conservative government said it was open to alternatives to May’s Brexit deal with the European Union, which it does not support.
“Our one red line was that we shouldn’t be differentiated from the rest of the United kingdom in terms of customs and in terms of regulatory alignment,” Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster told BBC radio when asked about the so called Norway plus option which includes a customs union.
MIGRATION
Roughly 273,000 more people moved to Britain than left during the year to June 2018, Driven mostly By Citizens from countries outside the European Union, OFICIAL DATA showed on Thursday.
THE OFICE For National Statistics said net migration into Britain of EU Citizens stood At 74,000 In THE year to June 2018, THE lowest Estimate SINCE 2012 AND Continuing A DECLINING trend SINCE THE 2016 Brexit vote.
By contrast, net migration to Britain of non-eu Citizens rose to 248,000, THE ONS SAID, THE HIGHEST SINCE 2004.