Exit delay to do incalculable harm, warn top Brexiteers

LONDON: Two leading Brexiteers on Sunday said any delay to Brexit would do “incalculable” harm to public trust in politics.

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Conservative MP Steve Baker and the Northern Irelandbased Democratic Unionist Party’s Nigel Dodds said the “extended uncertainty” would be a “political calamity”.

Renewed talks have not yielded change, but Prime Minister Theresa May is due to bring the EU withdrawal agreement again before parliament on Tuesday and follow it up with two more key votes, as the March 29 Brexit deadline draws near.

The agreement was voted down in January by a large margin in the House of Commons, forcing May to rush to Brussels for renewed talks on the so-called ‘backstop’ for IrelandNorthern Ireland.

But the talks in Brussels have not resulted in any progress. Serious questions hang over May’s bid to get the agreement through the house on March 12, as contending lobbies continue to press their versions of Brexit and others seek another referendum to decide the UK’s membership of the EU.

May has promised MPs more votes, besides the key one on March 12. If the agreement is again voted down, there will be a vote on March 13 whether the UK should leave the EU without a deal (considered the worst-case scenario due to its impact on the economy).

If MPs vote against leaving without an agreement, there will be a vote on March 14 to decide whether the UK should request Brussels for an extension beyond March 29.