May plays for time
Theresa May urged MPS this week to “hold their nerve” over Brexit and give her more time to secure a deal. She promised to update MPS again on 26 February, allowing them another chance to debate the issue and vote on amendments, if an agreement that addressed critics’ concerns about the Irish backstop had not been struck by then. The Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn accused her of “running down the clock” in an effort to scare MPS into backing her deal rather than risk Britain leaving the EU without an agreement on the scheduled departure date of 29 March.
In an earlier letter to Corbyn, May had indicated her willingness to work with Labour to break the Brexit impasse, offering by way of concession new guarantees on environmental and employment laws. This was in response to a letter last week from Corbyn in which he set out Labour’s conditions for backing a Brexit deal, chief among which was a permanent customs union with the EU. Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, told the PM that Labour’s plans offered a promising route forward, but May ruled out the idea of a full customs union.
What the editorials said
If ever MPS needed to heed May’s call to “hold their nerve”, it’s now, said the Daily Mail. For a path to an orderly Brexit does appear to be opening up. Granted, May hasn’t yet persuaded EU leaders to “tweak the detested Irish backstop”, but there are signs that “Eurosceptic purists” will fall in behind her deal should she do so. The PM will never win the concessions that Brexiters want, said The Observer. Corbyn was right to put forward Labour’s alternative ideas last week, but as it’s clear May has no intention of embracing them, Corbyn must now back a fresh referendum.
May has bought herself “another fortnight’s grace” in her hunt for concessions, said The Daily Telegraph. Alas, this just means more damaging uncertainty for business. The real deadline for companies that trade with the Far East is not the end of March, but the end of this week. After that, these firms will be shipping goods without knowing what customs arrangements will be in place when these consignments arrive in six weeks’ time. The lack of clarity is making life ever more difficult for businesses, agreed the FT. The easiest way for May to help them would be “to rule out a no-deal Brexit”. If she won’t do that, then Parliament must “do it for her”.