LONDON, Feb 11, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The British government is seeking to win
more time to secure EU concessions on Brexit that could pass parliament and
avert a chaotic split from the bloc on March 29.
Businesses and governments are on edge because Britain is just weeks away
from its scheduled departure from the European project after 46 years and
still has no firm arrangements in place.
The UK parliament last month roundly rejected a Brexit deal Prime Minister
Theresa May had sealed with the remaining 27 EU leaders.
MPs are set to vote again on Britain’s Brexit options on February 14. But a
member of May’s cabinet pledged Sunday to give parliament a further ballot
two weeks later — a measure meant to give the premier more time for talks
with the EU.
Her meetings in Brussels on Thursday made no breakthrough and fears of a
“no-deal” scenario that gridlocks trade are running high.
May’s housing minister James Brokenshire insisted Sunday that the
government had a clear strategy and timeline aimed at getting an agreement
that Britain’s splintered parliament can pass.
“What gives certainty is a deal, and that’s why we want to see people
getting behind us, getting behind this process that we now have,” Brokenshire
told the BBC.
He pledged to give parliament a fresh vote on Britain’s options by February
27 if May does not come back with new concessions before then.
In the vote this week lawmakers are set to have their say on amendments
that could limit May’s options and give parliament a broader say over the
Brexit process.
Brokenshire’s promise of another vote two weeks later is designed to
discourage lawmakers from binding the government’s hands this week.
It is also meant to postpone a revolt by cabinet ministers who want to take
a no-deal Brexit off the table for good.
– ‘My deal or worse’ –
The opposition Labour party has denounced May’s strategy as time-wasting
aimed at forcing parliament to vote through a deal at the last moment.
“We shouldn’t be put in a position where the clock is run down and the
prime minister says it’s either my deal or even worse,” Labour’s Brexit
pointman Keir Starmer told The Sunday Times.
In a letter to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn dated Sunday, May opposed his
party’s appeal for the country to remain in a customs union with Brussels.
But in efforts to build cross-party support for a Brexit deal, she offered
flexibility on Corbyn’s calls to keep up with EU measures to protect the
environment and workers’ rights, asking for further talks with Labour “as
soon as possible”.
There are few signs of concessions coming May’s way from Brussels.
May’s Brexit minister Stephen Barclay will meet EU negotiator Michel
Barnier on Monday and foreign minister Jeremy Hunt will visit Paris and
Warsaw this week.
The British premier is set to meet European Commission chief Jean-Claude
Juncker again before the end of the month.
The sides are stuck on the issue of how to keep the Irish border open after
Britain leaves.
Brexit backers in May’s party think the so-called “backstop” arrangement in
the current deal would keep Britain indefinitely tied to EU rules.
May’s Northern Irish coalition party also argue that it will splinter their
province from mainland Britain.
But Brussels calls the arrangement essential for both keeping the border
open and preserving the European Union’s integrity.
May has been trying to win a legal assurance giving Britain the right
eventually to drop the backstop and negotiate its own trade deals.