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May says Brexit deal defeat could topple UK government
LONDON, Dec 9, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Prime Minister Theresa May warned on
Sunday that parliament’s rejection of her Brexit deal could leave Britain in
the European Union and bring the opposition Labour Party to power.
The embattled leader’s message came with her government fearing a heavy
defeat on Tuesday of the draft withdrawal agreement she signed with Brussels
last month.
Media reports said May is under pressure from her cabinet to delay the
vote and fly to Brussels to secure more concessions ahead of a planned summit
with 27 fellow EU leaders on Thursday and Friday.
But Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay told the BBC: “The vote is going
ahead.”
May said Britain “would truly be in uncharted waters” if the draft struck
after nearly two years of tough talks is voted down less than four months
before the March 29 Brexit date.
“It would mean grave uncertainty for the nation with a very real risk of
no Brexit,” she told the Mail on Sunday.
“We have a leader of the opposition who thinks of nothing but attempting
to bring about a general election, no matter what the cost to the country…
I believe Jeremy Corbyn getting his hands on power is a risk we cannot afford
to take.”
– ‘Out of control’ –
May is facing her biggest crisis since coming to power a month after the
nation voted by a 52-48 margin in June 2016 to leave the world’s largest
single market after 46 years.
She is under attack from more strident Brexit backers in her own party as
well as europhiles who want either a second referendum or a pact that
maintains stronger EU-UK ties than the one offered by May.
Her comments on Sunday are aimed at tamping down the hardline Conservative
Party revolt led by the likes of her former foreign minister Boris Johnson.
May’s team has been arguing for a number of days that her vision offers
the cleanest break between the UK and EU that Brexit supporters can hope for
at this late stage.
But Johnson used a column in the Sun on Sunday to argue that “the best way
to get a great deal is to prepare for no deal” by rejecting May’s draft.
Corbyn’s party is hoping that failure in parliament on Tuesday will
trigger a broader revolt that leads to early elections and returns Labour to
power for the first time since 2010.
“I think time is really running out for her and if you can tell me if she
will still be prime minister on Tuesday evening then perhaps I can tell you
what we do next,” Labour shadow minister John Trickett told Sky News.
“Maybe she doesn’t quite know either, by the way. I think things have run
out of control.”
European officials said they might be able to find a way to offer a token
concession in Brussels that May could take back to London and show rebellious
MPs.
But they added that such tinkering cannot alter the basis of the
withdrawal agreement itself.
“Theresa May will come to the European summit on December 13 and 14 to ask
for a renegotiation and the 27 will tell her no, the texts have been agreed,”
an informed European source told AFP on condition on anonymity.
“They will then retreat and work on the (accompanying) protocol or clarify
a point that is deemed important so that she can take it back to parliament.”
May would then be expected to submit the touched-up version for a second
vote at an unspecified date.
The European Court of Justice could inject still more drama into the
Brexit endgame when it rules on Monday whether Britain can unilaterally halt
its split from the bloc.
The ECJ could also decide Brexit can only be postponed or suspended by
unanimous agreement of the other 27 nations.
May has rejected the idea of putting the brakes on Brexit.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1924 hrs