Tag: May’s Brexit compromise plan

UK PM May Faces Confidence Vote as Brexit Goes Down to the Line

Lawmakers voted 432-202 against her deal, the worst defeat in modern British history, triggering political chaos that could lead to a disorderly exit from the EU or even to a reversal of the 2016 decision to leave.

London: Prime Minister Theresa May‘s government faced a no confidence vote on Wednesday after the crushing defeat of her Brexit divorce deal by parliament left Britain’s exit from the European Union in disarray just 10 weeks before it is due to leave.

Lawmakers voted 432-202 against her deal, the worst defeat in modern British history, triggering political chaos that could lead to a disorderly exit from the EU or even to a reversal of the 2016 decision to leave. With the clock ticking down to March 29, the date set in law for Brexit, the UK is now in the deepest political crisis in half a century as it grapples with how, or even whether, to exit the European project it joined in 1973.

After the first British parliamentary defeat of a treaty since 1864, opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn called a vote of no confidence in May‘s government, to be held at 1900 GMT on Wednesday. The small Northern Irish DUP party which props up May‘s minority government and refused to back the deal said it would stand behind May in the no-confidence vote. Pro-Brexit Conservatives also said they would support her.

“I have no doubt that the prime minister will win that and then she can focus on trying to thrash out something with the EU and parliamentarians,” James Cleverly, a lawmaker and deputy chairman of the Conservative party, said.

“My fear is that parliament could lose its head and put the whole Brexit process at risk, which I think would be a catastrophic error,” said Cleverly who supports Brexit.

Germany, the most powerful member of the EU, called for new talks between Britain and the bloc, whose leaders warned of the dire consequences of a no-deal Brexit that business leaders fear will sow chaos through supply chains across Europe and beyond. Labour’s finance minister-in-waiting, John McDonnell, said May could eventually get a deal through parliament if she negotiated a compromise with his party.

Also Read: British PM May Warns of Catastrophe If Lawmakers Don’t Support Brexit Deal

New deal

That still leaves Brexit up in the air. May‘s humiliating loss appeared to catastrophically undermine her two-year strategy of forging an amicable divorce with close ties to the EU after the March 29 exit. Sterling jumped by more than a cent against the US dollar on news of May‘s defeat on Tuesday and was holding close to that level on Wednesday.

Ever since Britain voted by 52-48% to leave the EU in a referendum in June 2016, the political class has been debating how to leave the European project forged by France and Germany after the devastation of World War Two. While the country is divided over EU membership, most agree the world’s fifth largest economy is at a crossroads and its choices over Brexit will shape the prosperity of future generations for years to come.

Other members of the EU, which combined has about six times the economic might of the United Kingdom, called for discussion but indicated there was little chance of fundamental change to the deal May had negotiated. Germany’s Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said there was not much time left to find a Brexit solution and that “the time for playing games is now over.”

He told broadcaster Deutschlandfunk there needed to be new talks between Britain and the EU, adding that in the end the issue of a backstop solution for the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland needed to be discussed.

No Brexit

EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said a disorderly Brexit was more likely while Donald Tusk, the chairman of EU leaders, suggested Britain should now consider reversing Brexit altogether. Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage said Britain was probably heading for a delay and a another vote on EU membership.

“I think and I fear that we are headed on a path towards delay and probably, yes, a second vote,” Farage said.

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney speaks to lawmakers in parliament’s Treasury Committee on Wednesday. If parliament did vote that it had no confidence in May‘s government, there is a 14-day grace period in which to pass an act of confidence in a new government. If there is no vote of confidence in that new government, then a new election must be held within about 17 working days, according to the Institute of Government.

(Reuters)

Britain Agrees to Brexit Divorce Deal With EU, May’s Opponents Vow to Thwart It

Brexit will pitch the world’s fifth largest economy into the unknown and many fear it will serve to divide the West as it grapples with both the unconventional presidency of Donald Trump and growing assertiveness from Russia and China.

London: Britain struck a draft divorce deal with the European Union after more than a year of talks, thrusting Prime Minister Theresa May into a perilous battle over Brexit that could shape her country’s prosperity for generations to come.

While Brussels choreographs the first withdrawal of a sovereign state from the EU, May, a far from secure leader hemmed in by opponents in government and her own Conservative party, must now try to get the deal approved by her cabinet and, in the toughest test of all, by parliament.

Brexiteers in May’s party accused her of surrendering to the EU and said they would vote the deal down while the Northern Irish party which props up her minority government questioned whether she would be able to get parliamentary approval.

“These are momentous days and the decisions being taken will have long-lasting ramifications,” said Arlene Foster, leader of the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) which keeps the government in power.

“The prime minister must win the support of the cabinet and the House of Commons. Every individual vote will count.”

The British cabinet will meet at 1400 GMT on Wednesday to consider the draft withdrawal agreement, a Downing Street spokesman said after Irish and British media were leaked details of the agreement on the text.

Sterling, which has seesawed since reaching $1.50 just before Britain‘s 2016 referendum that saw a 52-48% margin for leaving the EU, surged on news of a deal but then erased some gains as opponents lined up to criticise May.

Brexit will pitch the world’s fifth largest economy into the unknown and many fear it will serve to divide the West as it grapples with both the unconventional presidency of Donald Trump and growing assertiveness from Russia and China.

Supporters of Brexit say that while the divorce might bring some short-term instability, in the longer term it will allow the UK to thrive and also enable deeper EU integration without such a powerful reluctant member.

Selling Brexit

A senior EU official confirmed that a draft text had been agreed. EU leaders could meet on November 25 for a summit to seal the Brexit deal if May’s cabinet approves the text, diplomatic sources said.

The EU and Britain need an agreement to keep trade flowing between the world’s biggest trading bloc and the UK, home to the biggest international financial centre.

But May, an initial opponent of Brexit who won the top job in the turmoil that followed the referendum, has struggled to untangle nearly 46 years of EU membership without damaging commerce or upsetting the lawmakers who will ultimately decide the fate of the divorce accord.

By seeking to leave the EU while preserving the closest possible ties, May’s compromise plan has upset Brexiteers, pro-Europeans, Scottish nationalists, the Northern Irish party that props up her government, and some of her own ministers.

It is unclear when parliament might vote on a deal. To get the deal approved she needs the votes of about 320 lawmakers in the 650-seat parliament. She faces a deeply divided government, party, parliament and country.

Brexit betrayal?

Prominent Brexiteers such as Conservative lawmaker Jacob Rees-Mogg and former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said May had sold out the UK and that they would oppose it.

“It is a failure of the government’s negotiating position, it is a failure to deliver on Brexit, and it is potentially dividing up the UK,” Conservative lawmaker Jacob Rees-Mogg said.

The opposition Labour Party, which has said it would oppose any agreement that does not retain “the exact same” economic benefits that it now has with the EU, said it was unlikely the announced deal was right for Britain.

“It is vassal state stuff,” Johnson said, adding that he would vote against such an unacceptable accord. “Chuck it out.”

Johnson’s brother, Jo, a pro-European, resigned from May’s government on Friday, calling for another referendum to avoid her Brexit plans unleashing Britain’s greatest crisis since World War Two.

Ireland

May formally began Britain’s divorce in March 2017, ushering in tortuous negotiations on everything from space exploration and fishing territories to selling complex financial products and the future of the land border on the island of Ireland.

As deadlines passed, officials such as Britain‘s Olly Robbins and the Commission’s Sabine Weyand, a German, raced to get a deal in late night sessions at the European Commission’s modernist Berlaymont building in Brussels.

With less than five months until Britain leaves the EU, the so-called Northern Irish backstop was the main sticking point.

The backstop is an insurance policy to avoid a return to controls on the border between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU member state Ireland if a future trading relationship is not agreed in time.

The British government supplied no immediate details on the Brexit deal text, which runs to hundreds of pages.

Three EU sources said the backstop would come in the form of a UK-wide customs arrangement, with specific provisions for Northern Ireland which go deeper on the issue of customs and alignment with the rules of the EU single market than for the rest of the United Kingdom.

It would include a review mechanism to bridge between EU demands that the insurance policy is permanently available and Britain‘s request to avoid being held in a customs alliance with the bloc perpetually.

The DUP has ruled out any deal that treats Northern Ireland differently.

(Reuters)