Johnson seeks support for deal
Boris Johnson has been working behind the scenes to build enough support to push his new Brexit deal through parliament and pave the way for Britain to leave the European Union in two weeks.
The British prime minister’s message to allies and opponents alike yesterday was to approve the agreement he struck with Brussels on Friday so the country can finally put the tortuous, three-year Brexit saga behind it.
After returning from an EU summit in Brussels where he sealed the divorce deal, Johnson held a busy day of meetings and phone calls as part of his push to persuade parliament to ratify the pact.
He also met with his Cabinet ahead of what was expected to be a knife-edge House of Commons vote during a rare Saturday sitting.
‘‘I want colleagues on all sides of the house to think about a world tomorrow night in which we’ve got this thing done and we’ve got it over the line,’’ he told ITV.
Johnson’s Conservative Party holds only 288 seats in the 650-seat House of Commons, so he will have to rely on support from rival parties and independent MPs to get over the line.
Many of these are determined to rule out the possibility that the United Kingdom could crash out of the bloc without a deal on the October 31 deadline – a prospect economists say would disrupt trade and spark a recession.
One proposed amendment, from MP Sir Oliver Letwin, would withhold approval of the deal until all the necessary legislation to implement it has been passed.
The deal’s fate could largely rest on a group of 21 Conservative MPs expelled earlier this year for voting against the government, and on the main opposition Labour Party, which has told its 244 MPs to reject the deal. However, about 20 Labour MPs, mainly representing proBrexit parts of the country, have previously indicated a desire to back a deal to honour the referendum result.
EU leaders, including Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, have applied pressure by suggesting that there is no guarantee they would grant another delay if the latest deal is rejected.
Johnson’s hopes were dealt a blow yesterday when his government’s Northern Ireland ally, the Democratic Unionist Party, said it would not back him.
The DUP’s Brexit spokesman, Sammy Wilson, said Johnson’s Brexit package – which carves out a special status for Northern Ireland to keep an open border with EU member Ireland – was bad for his region and its bonds with the rest of the UK.
Johnson could be forced to write to the EU requesting a Brexit extension, even if he succeeds in winning Commons support for his deal, under the terms of the Benn Act, which requires the prime minister to seek an extension to the withdrawal date in certain circumstances. However, he could sabotage any extension by ‘‘empty chairing’’ the next EU summit and refusing to appoint a new European commissioner.
Johnson agreed this month that he would not ‘‘frustrate’’ an extension request, after AttorneyGeneral Geoffrey Cox threatened to resign.
However, he could simply refuse to attend an EU summit at which European leaders discuss his request. He could also refuse to appoint a commissioner for the extension period as a statement of defiance.