Brexit: UK PM May caught in bind, likely to face no-trust vote
LONDON : With March 2019 set as the deadline for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May is facing much heat from inside and outside her Conservative Party over lack of clarity on the nature of Brexit her government is aiming for.
A speech in Davos by chancellor Philip Hammond reopened rows between those keen to stay in the EU, those who would like to remain as close to the EU as possible after Brexit, and those who insist on what is called “hard Brexit”, a clean break.
The latest row triggered renewed speculation over May’s future as the Conservative Party leader and prime minister, with demands that she give up strategic ambiguity in the exit talks, clarify end positions, or face the mounting risk of a no-confidence vote within the party.
Given the Conservative Party’s strength in the House of Commons, 48 MPS have to submit letters seeking the confidence vote. Westminster is rife with claims that as many as 40 have already sent letters, with more on the way. Some claim May has three months to shape up or ship out. Hammond’s statement to top business leaders that there will be only a “modest” change in the relationship with the EU after Brexit raised hackles back home. Leading Brexiteers such as Jacob Rees-mogg have heaped much criticism on Hammond, seen as pro-eu. Senior Conservative MP Theresa Villiers went public. She wrote in the Sunday Telegraph that Britain risks remaining in the EU “in all but name”, and added: “Since the prime minister set out a bold vision in her Lancaster House speech, the direction of travel seems to have gone in only one single direction: towards a dilution of Brexit.