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BRITAIN-EU-POLITICS
UK parliament debates Brexit deal ahead of crucial vote
LONDON, Jan 9, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – MPs will on Wednesday begin five days of
debate ahead of a historic vote on Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal,
which faces daunting opposition while the clock ticks down before Britain
leaves the European Union.
With the country on a knife-edge, MPs will vote next Tuesday on the
agreement that May negotiated with the EU, but Brexit supporters within her
party looked set to rebel over fears it could tie Britain indefinitely to
some kind of customs union with the bloc.
The prime minister has already pulled the vote once with defeat looming,
and a loss for the government would plunge Britain into “uncharted
territory”, according to May, putting the whole process up for grabs.
May is still seeking assurances from the EU on the most controversial
elements of the Brexit deal relating to Northern Ireland, in a bid to
convince critics to back the agreement.
These assurances are set to be delivered to lawmakers before they vote,
although not before they start their debate on Wednesday.
“The work to secure those assurances is ongoing. I think what’s important
is that if we are to secure assurances, MPs are aware of what they are before
the vote takes place,” a Downing Street spokesman said.
The government has recently made much-publicised preparations for leaving
without a deal, with Britain legally due to leave the EU on March 29,
regardless of whether May’s deal is approved.
MPs want to intervene to prevent this from happening, and they narrowly
voted on Tuesday for an amendment that would curtail the government’s tax
powers in the event of no deal.
“The amendment doesn’t affect the normal operations of the Treasury… but
it does make it harder for the government to drift into no deal without
parliament being able to direct it,” Yvette Cooper, the MP who introduced the
amendment, told the Guardian.
– Weakened May –
Other MPs would be in favour of a second referendum but such a move would
likely cause outrage among Brexit voters and raise the issue of the framing
of the question.
A PR battle has reached fever pitch as the deadline looms, with second
referendum campaigners setting up stalls at markets nationwide, while
Brexiteers are also touring the country pushing for a clean break.
May insists Britain will leave the EU in March whatever happens, but there
is growing talk of delaying the two-year Article 50 exit process to give her
some breathing space to get her deal agreed.
An EU diplomat told AFP on Tuesday that “we are convinced that Theresa May
will request a postponement after the agreement is rejected in the British
parliament.”
Sources in Brussels have told AFP for several weeks that Britain has been
discussing the possibility with European officials, while this was also
reported in the Daily Telegraph newspaper on Tuesday.
Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay denied the reports, saying “there are
people in the European Union who are discussing this issue, but that is not
the position of the UK government.”
The prime minister survived a half-hearted attempt by her party to oust
her before Christmas, but the level of rebellion has left her weakened.
The key sticking point is the deal’s so-called backstop solution, which
proposes some kind of customs union to prevent a hard border between the
British province of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Brexit supporters are worried that there is no mechanism for Britain to
unilaterally withdraw, meaning it could end up indefinitely stuck in the
union, hampering its ability to strike deals with the rest of the world.
Irish leader Leo Varadkar reportedly said Tuesday that the EU is “happy to
give” fresh assurances over the backstop.
“We don’t want to trap the UK into anything,” he told the Irish Times.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0922 hrs