Brit PM ‘driving at rocks’
EU braces for Brexit push
LONDON — The U.K. and the European Union plowed ahead Monday with plans to have their divorce deal signed, sealed and delivered within days as British Prime Minister Theresa May waited to see whether rebel lawmakers opposed to the agreement had the numbers to challenge her leadership.
The draft agreement reached last week triggered an avalanche of criticism in Britain and left May fighting to keep her job even as British and EU negotiators raced to firm up a final deal before a weekend summit where EU leaders hope to rubber-stamp it.
The 585-page, legally binding withdrawal agreement is as good as complete, but Britain and the EU still need to flesh out a far less detailed seven-page declaration on their future relations.
May said that “an intense week of negotiations” lay ahead to finalize the framework.
The deal has infuriated pro-Brexit lawmakers in May’s Conservative Party.
The Brexiteers want a clean break with the bloc and argue that the close trade ties called for in the agreement May’s government agreed would leave Britain a vassal state, bound to EU rules it has no say in making.
Two Cabinet ministers, including Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, resigned in protest, and rebels are trying to gather the signatures of 48 lawmakers needed to trigger a no-confidence vote.
One pro-Brexit Conservative lawmaker, Simon Clarke, on Monday urged wavering colleagues to join the rebellion, saying: “It is quite clear to me that the captain is driving the ship at the rocks.”
Even if May sees off such a challenge, she still has to get the deal approved by Parliament.
Her Conservatives don’t have a parliamentary majority, and it’s not clear whether she can persuade enough lawmakers to back the agreement.
May argues that abandoning the plan, with Britain’s withdrawal just over four months away on March 29, could lead to Brexit being delayed or abandoned, or to a disorderly and economically damaging “no deal” Brexit.
But Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said his lawmakers would vote against May’s agreement and also try to block a “no-deal” exit.
He said that “Labour will not countenance a no-deal Brexit,” which could cause upheaval for businesses and people. But it’s unclear what would happen if Parliament rejected the deal when it’s put to a vote, likely next month.
Some Conservative “Brexiteers” say the PM should try to renegotiate the Brexit deal — something May and other EU leaders insist is impossible.
The agreement also must be approved by the European Parliament.
Manfred Weber, who leads the EU legislature’s largest group, the centre-right European People’s Party, said its initial assessment of the deal is “very encouraging, very positive.”
“It must be clear to our British partners that there will be no renegotiation of this text that is now on the table,” Weber said in Berlin.