Brexit: Ministers tell May to ask Corbyn for help if her deal fails

LONDON: Senior British ministers are said to be urging Theresa May to seek help from her arch rival - Jeremy Corbyn - if Parliament kills her Brexit deal in a crunch vote next week.

A group of mainly pro-european ministers want May to invite the opposition Labour Party leader to meet her for negotiations i n t he hope of agreeing a joint plan, according to people familiar with the matter.

May will ask Parliament to approve the divorce terms she’s negotiated with the European Union on January 15.

The problem she faces is that her Conservative Party has no overall majority in the House of Commons and scores of her own members hate the deal she’s struck with the EU and have vowed to oppose it.

The p r i me minis t e r has already pushed the crucial vote on ratifying the Brexit package back by a month in a bid to win people over. The tactical delay seems to have failed and May now looks set for a decisive defeat. The question is what she should do next.

If Parliament fails to agree on the terms of the divorce, Britain will be on course to lurch out of the 28-country bloc on March 29 wi t h o u t a n y n e w trading arrangement in place.

According to official analysis, such a chaotic split could see the pound fall as much as 25 percent and hit house prices by as much as 30 percent, risking a major recession.

While Brexit-backers argue that May should go back to the EU and renegotiate the most contentious parts of the deal, most other members of Parliament say this would be a pointless request to which Brussels would never agree.