May blinks on Brexit deal vote

LONDON: British Prime Minister Theresa May yesterday abruptly decided to pull a parliamentary vote on her Brexit deal, throwing Britain’s plan to leave the European Union up in the air just before the vote after repeated warnings from lawmakers she faced a rout.

While there was no immediate official announcement, a source in Whitehall, the centre of British power, said the vote would be delayed, a decision the Government could take without having to get the approval of Parliament.

The move thrusts the United Kingdom’s divorce from the European Union into chaos, with possible options including a disorderly Brexit with no deal, another referendum on EU membership, or a lastminute renegotiation of May’s deal.

May’s own position could face a swift challenge. Main opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said the United Kingdom no longer had ‘‘a functioning government’’.

The Northern Irish DUP party which props up May’s Conservative minority government called the situation a shambles. Scottish nationalists

pledged to support a vote to bring the Government down.

Corbyn said: ‘‘The Government has decided Theresa May’s Brexit deal is so disastrous that it has taken the desperate step of delaying its own vote at the eleventh hour.’’

The Sterling currency skidded to its weakest level since June 2017, falling to $US1.26 ($NZ1.84).

The decision to halt the vote came just hours after the EU’s top court ruled that Britain could unilaterally withdraw its decision to leave the bloc on March 29.

May’s government called that ruling meaningless because Britain had no intention of halting Brexit. But critics of her plans said the ruling opened options, including delaying the exit for more talks, or calling it off if voters changed their minds.

After repeated warnings that the December 11 (UK time) vote in Parliament would humiliate her government as opponents and supporters of Brexit joined in opposition to her deal, May convened a conference call with senior ministers.

If May stays in power, she could seek to get a better deal from the EU at a summit tomorrow and on Friday, in the hope of putting it before

Parliament at a later date.

EU diplomats and officials said the part of the deal that is most contentious in Britain — a ‘‘backstop’’ to ensure no hard land border between Britishruled Northern Ireland and the EUmember Irish Republic — must remain in place. May’s opponents say the backstop could leave Britain subject indefinitely to EU rules, long after it gives up a say in drafting them.

‘‘Extremely hard to imagine any watering down of the backstop,’’ an EU diplomat dealing with Brexit said.

Brexit is Britain’s most important decision since World War 2. Supporters say it frees Britain to trade more widely with the rest of the world; opponents say it will make Britain poorer and divide a West grappling with Donald Trump’s unconventional presidency and growing assertiveness from Russia and China.

The ultimate outcome will shape Britain’s $US2.8 trillion economy and have farreaching consequences for the unity of the United Kingdom.— Reuters

PHOTO: . GETTY IMAGES Clear message . . . Anti Brexit protesters use illuminated signs outside the Houses of Parliament, Westminster, in London, before a Brexit vote was due.

PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES ProEU stance . . . An antiBrexit campaign bus parks outside the Houses of Parliament, Westminster, in London.

PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES Explicit . . . A caricature depicting Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and David Davis with the words ‘‘Brexit is a monstrosity’’ stands outside the Houses of Parliament in London.

PHOTO: REUTERS Border worries . . . A donkey stands in front of a disused customs hut on the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland in Carrickcarnon, Ireland.