May makes final appeal for Brexit

One day ahead of a vote on her Brexit plan that could go down to a humiliating defeat in Parliament, Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain was fighting Monday less to avert the loss than to limit its scale.

In that vein, May enlisted fresh promises from Europe’s mostsenior officials and warned supporters of Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union that the whole project would be threatened if her deal was voted down as expected.

Neither tactic looked likely to change the overall outcome, but if May can curb the magnitude of any defeat to manageable proportions, she could avert an immediate political meltdown.

Speaking in Stokeon-trent, an area that voted heavily to leave the European Union, May warned that Britain’s failure to withdraw from the bloc would risk “a subversion of the democratic process” and do “catastrophic harm” to faith in politics.

Though she didn't rule it out, May insisted she has no intention of seeking to extend the negotiating deadline of March 29.

Even in defeat, May wants to show that, in a Parliament paralyzed over Brexit, her plan still has more support than likely alternatives, like negotiating closer ties to the European Union, rethinking Brexit altogether through a second referendum or leaving without any deal at all.

The stakes are high because a crushing defeat Tuesday could destroy May’s strategy of keeping her plan alive in the hope that, as other options falter, lawmakers will support hers out of desperation. May