UK in deadlock over Brexit ‘Plan B’

LONDON, January 17 

Britain’s last-minute scramble to shape its exit from the EU,  its biggest policy upheaval in half a century, hit the rocks on Thursday as Prime Minister Theresa May and opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn dug in their heels for competing visions.

After May’s two-year attempt to forge an amicable divorce with an independent trade policy was crushed by Parliament in the biggest defeat for a British leader in modern history, May asked party leaders to forget self-interest to find a solution.

Yet there was little sign on Thursday that either of the two major parties, which together hold 88 per cent of the 650 seats in Parliament, were prepared to compromise on key demands.

Corbyn said May had sent Britain hurtling towards the cliff edge of a sudden exit on March 29 with no transition period, and urged her to ditch her “red lines”. But he repeated his own condition for talks: a pledge to block a no-deal Brexit.

“The government confirmed that she would not take ‘no-deal’ off the table,” Corbyn said in a speech in Hastings, scene of a battle in 1066 that ushered in the Norman conquest of England.

“So I say to the Prime Minister again: I am quite happy to talk, but the starting point for any talks about Brexit must be that the threat of a disastrous no-deal outcome is ruled out,” Corbyn said.

But the further May moves towards softening Brexit, the more she alienates dedicated Brexit supporters in her own Conservative party who think the threat of a no-deal exit is a crucial bargaining chip and should anyway not be feared.

If May fails to forge consensus, the world’s fifth-largest economy will drop out of the European Union on March 29 without a deal or will be forced to delay Brexit, possibly holding a national election or even another referendum.

Corbyn said that, under certain conditions, he would look at options including another referendum - a remark that increased expectations in financial markets that the political chaos would ultimately delay or stop Brexit.

May has refused to countenance another election, having lost her parliamentary majority in a snap poll in 2017 that left her reliant on the support of a small Northern Irish pro-Brexit party.

She has repeatedly said another referendum would corrode faith in democracy among the 17.4 million people who voted to leave the EU in 2016. “I believe it is my duty to deliver on the British people’s instruction to leave the European Union. And I intend to do so,” she said in a televised address.

Her spokesman said Britain had not raised the idea of delaying Britain’s exit with the EU, though former prime minister Tony Blair said a delay was now inevitable. — Reuters

What happens next? 

Jan 21: May gives her proposal

As Parliament is at an impasse after lawmakers rejected May’s deal, she has said she would meet with lawmakers from all parties to try and find a deal that could command the support of Parliament and was ‘genuinely negotiable’. May will make a statement and put forward a motion in Parliament on her proposed next steps on Brexit. Parliament will not debate the motion at this point.

Jan 21-29: MPs propose alternatives 

After May has published that motion, lawmakers will be able to propose amendments to it, setting out alternatives to the PM’s deal. Parliament is deeply divided over Brexit, with different factions of lawmakers supporting a wide range of options including leaving without a deal, holding a second referendum and seeking a customs union with the EU.

Jan 29: Parliament debates 

Parliament will hold a whole day of debate on May’s proposed steps, and the alternatives put forward by other lawmakers. They will not be asked to vote to approve a revised Brexit deal at this stage, but votes on the alternatives proposed by lawmakers should give an indication of whether there is any way forward which is supported by a majority in Parliament.

labour sets no-deal block as condition for talks

We are firmly of the opinion that the starting point for any talks about how to break the Brexit deadlock must be that the threat of a disastrous ‘no deal’ outcome is ruled out. With no-deal on the table, the prime minister will enter into phony talks just to run down the clock and try to blackmail MPs to vote through her botched deal on a second attempt by threatening the country with the chaos that no-deal would bring. —Jeremy Corbyn, labour leader