UK braces for make or break Brexit week
: It used to be said that a week is a long time in politics, but the next two days alone are likely to throw up rare scenarios: the Theresa May government losing the key vote on the EU withdrawal agreement on Tuesday and Labour tabling a no-confidence motion soon after.
Leading lights in the Brexit debate took to the news media on Sunday to reiterate their positions. May insisted in a column that failure to deliver Brexit would amount to “a catastrophic and unforgivable trust in our democracy”, urging support for the agreement. Former prime minister John Major wrote that revoking Article 50 (of the Lisbon Treaty that deals with an EU memberstate leaving the group) is the “only sensible”course.
: It used to be said that a week is a long time in politics, but the next two days alone are likely to throw up rare scenarios: the Theresa May government losing the key vote on the EU withdrawal agreement on Tuesday and Labour tabling a no-confidence motion soon after.
Leading lights in the Brexit debate took to the news media on Sunday to reiterate their positions. May insisted in a column that failure to deliver Brexit would amount to “a catastrophic and unforgivable breach of trust in our democracy,” urging support for the agreement.
Former prime minister John Major wrote that revoking Article 50 (of the Lisbon Treaty that deals with EU member states leaving the bloc) is the “only sensible” course. He wants another referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU.
Calling Tuesday’s vote the biggest in Parliament since the UK’s decision to join the Iraq war in 2003, London mayor Sadiq Khan wrote that May should resign and call a general election if the agreement is defeated on Tuesday; if not, he would campaign for another referendum.
“It appears increasingly likely that Theresa May’s bad Brexit deal will be rejected by Parliament – and rightly so. It’s a deal that would cause huge damage to the future of our country, putting jobs, prosperity and social mobility at grave risk,” he wrote. “If MPs reject the deal, then Theresa May should do the responsible thing: immediately step aside and call a general election. Sadly, the Tories have a long history of putting their party above the national interest, so if an election is not immediately called, I will step up my campaign for a public vote - with the option of remaining in the EU on the ballot paper.”
According to The Observer, messages have been sent to Labour MPs, “even those who are unwell, to ensure their presence both for the ‘meaningful vote’ on the prime minister’s Brexit blueprint on Tuesday and the following day.”
“Labour whips have told MPs the no-confidence vote is likely to be tabled within hours of a government loss, with the actual vote taking place on Wednesday,” it reported. May is expected to make a statement before the vote on Tuesday, setting out new details of clarifications she promised to secure from Brussels on the so-called ‘backstop’ applicable to Ireland-Northern Ireland, which faces the strongest objection from MPs.