May could survive – for now
Britain’s PM says she will stay as long as Tory lawmakers want her after botched election
THERESA May told Conservative MPs yesterday she would serve as prime minister as long as they wanted her after a botched election gamble cost the party its majority in parliament and weakened Britain’s hand days before formal Brexit negotiations.
With British politics thrust into the deepest turmoil since last June’s shock Brexit vote, EU leaders were left wondering how divorce talks would open next week.
Despite her party’s expectations of a landslide victory, May lost her majority in parliament, pushing her into rushed talks on a support agreement with a small eurosceptic Northern Irish Protestant party with 10 parliamentary seats.
May faced her politicians at a meeting of the 1922 Committee yesterday. Despite anger at the election, she was cheered briefly at the start..
“She said ‘I’m the person who got us into this mess and I’m the one who is going to get us out of it’,” one Conservative MP said after the meeting.
“She said she will serve us as long as we want her.”
Politicians, who by tradition not are named at such meetings, said there were no dissenting voices and that the party had no appetite for a leadership election.
May appeared contrite, sought to apologise for her failed election gamble and gave an explanation of what went wrong.
While some members of her party have said she will have to go eventually, May is expected to stay on as prime minister, at least for now.
May has promised to start the formal Brexit talks next week but her authority has collapsed since the election result and opponents took her woes as a chance to push back against her Brexit strategy.
During the campaign, May cast herself as the only leader competent enough to navigate the tortuous Brexit negotiations that will shape the future of the United Kingdom and its economy.
She mocked Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, a socialist, as incompetent and unrealistic, but his electoral campaign energised the youth vote and wiped out the Conservatives’ majority in parliament.
May plans a clean break from the EU, involving withdrawal from Europe’s single market and customs union and limits on immigration from the EU.
Her spokesman said her position on Brexit remained unchanged, but Scottish Conservatives were pushing for her to move the focus onto economic growth and away from immigration, sources in the Scottish branch of the party said.
EU talks might not begin on Monday as expected, Brexit Minister David Davis said, and the Queen’s Speech, due on the same day in which the government traditionally spells out its policy plans, has also been delayed, the BBC reported.
May wants to negotiate the divorce and the future trading relationship with the EU before Britain leaves in March 2019, followed by what she calls a phased implementation process to give business time to prepare for the impact of the split.
But her election failure means she must now go into Britain’s most complex negotiations since World War 2 with her eye firmly on the different factions within her party, which has been divided over EU membership for a generation.
Opponents of a sharp break include Ruth Davidson, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives who helped the party win 12 more seats in Scotland in contrast to losses elsewhere. She has called for a closer relationship with the EU after Brexit.
“There can be changes in the offer of Brexit as we go forward,” Davidson said in London after meeting May.
“What’s clear is that there is going to be a real imperative on the economic impact of Brexit – to make sure that Brexit works for the whole country, that we’re able to pursue free trade.”
May’s spokesman said it remained government policy to cut net migration to under 100 000 and Davis also said walking away without securing a deal with the remaining 27 EU states remained a possibility.
Before the government can do anything it must finalise a deal with the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).
May is due to meet its leader, Arlene Foster, today.