May warns rebels: Back me or risk ‘no Brexit at all’

London, July 15 

British Prime Minister Theresa May warned her divided party on Sunday that there may be “no Brexit at all” if they wrecked her plan to forge a close relationship with the European Union after leaving the world’s biggest trading bloc.

“My message to the country this weekend is simple: we need to keep our eyes on the prize,” May wrote on Facebook. “If we don’t, we risk ending up with no Brexit at all.” Linking the fate of Brexit to her own survival in such an explicit way indicates just how precarious May’s position remains after her government was thrust into crisis and US President Donald Trump publicly criticised her Brexit strategy.

With less than nine months to go before the United Kingdom is due to leave the EU on March 29, 2019, the country, the political elite and business leaders are still deeply divided over what form Brexit should take.

By warning that Brexit itself is in danger, May is sending a blunt message to the dozens of hardline Brexiteers in her party that if they sink her premiership then they risk squandering the victory of an EU exit that they have dreamed about for decades. Some pro-Brexit Conservatives fear that a deal could emerge that leaves Britain tightly bound to EU rules and represents a Brexit in name only. The British government has also stepped up planning for a so called “no deal” Brexit that could spook financial markets and dislocate trade flows across Europe and beyond.

May has repeatedly said Brexit will happen and has ruled out a rerun of the 2016 referendum, although French President Emmanuel Macron and billionaire investor George Soros have suggested that Britain could still change its mind.

Brexiteer rebels are unlikely to have enough support in Parliament to win a vote, but the debate will show how many in May’s party are prepared to vote against her at a time when some are looking to gather the numbers needed to challenge her leadership. — Reuters

Trump asked me to sue EU over Brexit: PM

British Prime Minister Theresa May on SUnday revealed that US President Donald Trump had suggested she “sue” the European Union instead of negotiating with the economic bloc on Brexit. During a joint press conference at the British PM’s Chequers retreat on Friday, Trump had told reporters that he had given May a suggestion on how to deal with the EU but she probably found that “brutal” and “too tough”. “He told me I should sue the EU - not go into negotiations,” May told the BBC, on being asked what that suggestion was.