May faces fury from parliament

BREXIT: VOTE ON DEAL TO BE HELD ON DECEMBER 11

British Prime Minister Theresa May faced parliamentary fury yesterday as she set off on the tricky task of convincing mutinous lawmakers to back her divorce deal with the EU.

The British leader crowned nearly two years of painful talks with Brussels that threatened to fall apart many times by sealing Brexit arrangements on Sunday with the 27 EU heads of state.

But this difficult chapter was always going to be the easy part.

May must now navigate the deal through a divided chamber in which she holds the slimmest working majority – and where lawmakers oppose it on all sides.

She announced the vote on the deal will be on December 11.

The beleaguered leader got a taste of just how tough her job will be as she briefed lawmakers on the outcome of her Brussels visit.

Opposition Labour Party chief Jeremy Corbyn called the withdrawal deal and accompanying political declaration on future relations “an act of national selfharm”.

He said: “For the good of the nation, the House has very little choice but to reject this deal.” Yet May might be more disconcerted by the seemingly growing and clearly more vocal chorus of resentment from her own Conservative Party.

Conservative MP Mark Francois told May her deal was “as dead as a Dodo”.

Former May loyalist Michael Fallon said the government was asking parliament to “take a huge gamble” and “surrendering our (EU) vote and our veto without any firm commitment to frictionless trade”.

More than an hour passed before the first member of her party stood up to voice her support for the prime minister.