Tuesday’s Brexit vote will go ahead as planned, says May’s spokesman

UK now sees six months of border chaos in nodeal Brexit — ‘The Sun’

The British parliament will hold its crucial vote on Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal on Tuesday as planned, her spokesman said yesterday, following speculation that it could be delayed.

May is expected to lose the vote on Dec. 11 after lawmakers in her own Conservative Party and from other parties objected to the Withdrawal Agreement with Brussels. Media reports have said senior ministers urged May to delay the deal. Britain’s government has revised its worst-case Brexit scenario estimates for chaos at the country’s borders, which it now expects to last for six months rather than six weeks, the political editor of The Sun newspaper said.

The government was due to send the revised estimates to “stakeholders” yesterday, Tom Newton Dunn said on Twitter.

Meanwhile, John McDonnell has rejected warnings from Len McCluskey, the Unite leader, that Labour members would see support for a second Brexit referendum as a betrayal, adding that in a choice between Theresa May’s deal and staying in the EU he would vote remain.

McCluskey, who wields substantial influence in the party, told a group of Labour MPs this week that they could alienate supporters by backing a fresh referendum, and urged them to stick to Labour’s alternative Brexit plan.

Asked during a visit to Glasgow yesterday whether he agreed with McCluskey, McDonnell said: “No.”