May prepares to stare down Parliament in ‘Brexit’ standoff
LONDON — Against a backdrop of rising political acrimony, Theresa May, the British prime minister, warned critics Sunday not to thwart her timetable for withdrawal from the European Union, as she prepared for a standoff with lawmakers that could prompt calls for an early general election here.
May, who wants to start the formal process of leaving the bloc by the end of March, has a serious fight on her hands, after several months in which she faced relatively little challenge over her plans for British withdrawal, known as “Brexit.”
Judges in Britain’s High Court ruled last week that she could not start exit negotiations by invoking Article 50 of the European Union’s treaty, without first consulting Parliament, where the government’s majority is slim.
The government is appealing the case to the Supreme Court, but if it loses, and then finds itself constrained by lawmakers, the temptation to seek an early general election may become overwhelming for May.
For now, the government is playing down that prospect. May insisted on Sunday that she had a mandate to pursue Britain’s exit without consulting Parliament, following the referendum decision in June, in which about 52 percent of voters elected to quit the bloc.
“The British people, the majority of the British people, voted to leave the European Union,” May said at Heathrow Airport. “The government is now getting on with that.”
May knows, however, that after the court ruling there is a good chance that she may not be able to do so with the free hand that she wants. So far she has specified almost no detail about her objectives, arguing that she wants to keep her negotiating position as strong as possible.
At the heart of the dispute lies an ambiguity inherent in a referendum that asked voters to say whether they wanted to quit the European Union but did not seek their views on what relationship should replace it.
Supporters of Brexit contend that opponents want to thwart the will of the people as expressed in the referendum. Critics fear that the country may lurch into a damaging economic rupture with the bloc.