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UK’s May takes Brexit deal to cabinet as MPs revolt
LONDON, Nov 14, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – British Prime Minister Theresa May will
seek her cabinet’s approval Wednesday for a long-awaited divorce deal with
the EU, but hardline Brexiteer MPs warned they will seek to block it in
parliament.
After months of talks, May announced late Tuesday that negotiators had
finally struck a draft agreement on the terms of Britain’s withdrawal from
the European Union next March.
The pound surged on currency markets following the news, which came as
Brussels stepped up preparations for a potentially catastrophic “no deal”
exit.
But diplomats and officials warned the technical agreement, which runs to
hundreds of pages, still needs political approval.
Ambassadors from the other 27 EU member states will meet later in Brussels,
while May’s cabinet convenes at 1400 GMT.
If they approve the text, London is hoping for a special summit of EU
leaders later this month to seal the deal.
But May has faced constant criticism from her Conservative MPs over her
approach, and the deal had barely been announced, when they took to the
airwaves to denounce it.
Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson, who quit the cabinet over Brexit in
July, said the deal would leave Britain a “vassal state” and urged his former
colleagues to “chuck it out”.
Former Brexit minister David Davis, who quit at the same time, said:
“Cabinet and all Conservative MPs should stand up, be counted and say no to
this capitulation.”
Most ominously for May, the Northern Irish party which props up her
government threatened to break their alliance over reports of a special
arrangement for the British province.
“If this is the shape of the deal, we are probably ending up with no
agreement,” Sammy Wilson of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) told Sky News
television.
All eyes were on whether eurosceptic ministers including Brexit Secretary
Dominic Raab may join the chorus of disapproval and resign.
“We are clearly not out of the woods yet,” the London-based Capital
Economics research group said in a note to clients.
– Irish backstop –
British and EU negotiators had stepped up their talks ahead of a deadline
on Wednesday to get a deal in time to call the special summit for later this
month.
Failure would delay the final settlement until a formal Brussels summit in
mid-December, leaving little time for May to get the deal and associated
legislation through parliament.
The talks were stuck for months on how to avoid border checks between
British Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland, if and until London strikes a
new trade deal with Brussels.
Ireland’s RTE broadcaster reported that the final deal includes a so-called
“backstop” arrangement in which the whole United Kingdom remained in a
customs arrangement with the EU.
It provides for additional “deeper” provisions for Northern Ireland on
customs and regulations, risking anger from the DUP.
But it also reportedly allows for a review mechanism that Britain could use
to try to leave the backstop arrangement — a key demand of Conservative
eurosceptics.
Pro-Brexit MPs like Johnson fear Britain could end up being tied to the EU
indefinitely.
May’s deputy David Lidington had earlier promised the government would
publish legal analysis on the deal following pressure from Tories and the
main opposition Labour party.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he would wait for details, but suggested
the agreement was “unlikely to be a good deal for the country”.
Other elements of the divorce already agreed include Britain’s exit bill of
around o39 billion (45 billion euros, $50 billion) as well as a guarantee on
EU citizens’ rights.
It also provides for a 21-month transition after Brexit during which London
would follow EU rules, for both sides to negotiate a new trade relationship.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0927 hrs