Brexit’s tricky journey
Repeal bill will test prime minister’s authority after June election catastrophe
BRITAIN published legislation yesterday to sever political, financial and legal ties with the European Union, an important step towards Brexit but one which the opposition said it would challenge.
The repeal bill is central to the government’s plan to exit the EU in 2019, disentangling Britain from more than 40 years of EU lawmaking and repealing the treaty that first made Britain a member in 1972.
Its passage through parliament could make or break Theresa May’s future as prime minister.
The election she called last month cost her an outright parliamentary majority and reopened the debate on the nature of Brexit.
“It is one of the most significant pieces of legislation that has ever passed through parliament and is a major milestone in the process of our withdrawal from the European Union,” Brexit Minister David Davis said.
The government also fleshed out its negotiating stance with the EU, publishing three position papers which underlined that Britain would quit nuclear body Euratom and leave the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.
May faces a battle even within her own Conservative Party to stick to her plan of a clean break.
Pro-Brexit lawmakers will give her little room for movement, while pro-Europeans are looking to soften the divorce terms.
The parliament has yet to set a date to debate the bill, which will be closely examined to see how the government plans to carry out the difficult and time-consuming technical exercise of transposing EU law.
On a state visit to Britain, King Felipe VI of Spain yesterday called for a swift resolution to Brexit, saying it had created uncertainty for both Spanish businesses and citizens.
“We cannot deny that the scenario created by Britain’s decision to leave the EU has created uncertainty and doubts for our major companies, and especially for our small and medium enterprises,” he said at a reception in the City of London business district.
“We must ensure that the negotiations reduce such uncertainty to the minimum.”
Britain is the top destination for Spanish investment in Europe. In sectors such as banking, Spain is the second-biggest investor in Britain behind the United States.
Conversely, Britain is the second-biggest investor in Spain, representing 12% of total foreign investment.
Meanwhile, May admitted yesterday she had shed a little tear after realising her election gamble last month had backfired spectacularly, but denied she had considered quitting.
In an interview marking one year in office, the Conservative leader said it had come as a complete shock to realise she had lost her parliamentary majority after calling a snap vote in expectation of a landslide.
The party lost 13 seats in the June 8 election and now holds 317 out of 650 in parliament, relying on support from Northern Ireland’s ultra-conservative Democratic Unionist Party to be able to govern.
She has since come under pressure to resign.
“I didn’t consider stepping down, because I felt there was a responsibility there to ensure the country still had a government,” May told BBC
‘ There was a responsibility to ensure the country still had a government
radio.
“It can be very easy with something like this just to walk away and to leave somebody else to deal with it.
“What I’ve said to my colleagues, is that I got us into this and I’m going to work to get us out.”