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| UK parliament to vote on Brexit delay, PM seeks to revive her deal. |
Two weeks before Britain is due to leave the European Union, May is using the threat of a long extension to the Brexit deadline to push eurosceptic rebels in her Conservative Party to finally back her deal. That vote could come next week.
May’s authority hit an all-time low this week after a series of parliamentary defeats and rebellions, but finance minister Philip Hammond said her plan was back on the agenda.
That plan, struck by May after two-and-a-half years of negotiations with the EU, was defeated heavily in parliament in January and again on Tuesday.
“Quite a number of colleagues changed their mind on this issue between the January vote and the vote earlier this week,” Hammond told Sky News.
“It’s clear that the House of Commons has to find a consensus around something, and if it isn’t the prime minister’s deal I think it is likely to be something which is much less to the taste of those on the hard Brexit wing of my party.”
Britons voted by 52-48 percent in a 2016 referendum to leave the EU, a decision that has divided the main political parties and exposed deep rifts in British society.
Although parliament on Wednesday voted against the prospect of a no-deal Brexit, the default position if nothing else is agreed remains that Britain will exit without a transition arrangement on March 29, a scenario business leaders warn would bring chaos to markets and supply chains. Brexit supporters say in the longer term it would allow Britain to thrive and forge trade deals across the world.
May will put her deal to another vote if the circumstances are right, her spokesman said.
“If it was felt that it were worthwhile to bring back a new vote, then that’s what we would do. But that’s a decision we would have to judge on circumstances at the time,” he said.
European Union leaders meeting next week will consider pressing Britain to delay Brexit by at least a year to find a way through its domestic deadlock, an EU official said.
“I will appeal to the EU27 to be open to a long extension if the UK finds it necessary to rethink its Brexit strategy and build consensus around it,” European Council President Donald Tusk said, referring to EU leaders who will meet May next Thursday and must agree to any extension.
But there was no sign the prospect of a long delay - which could lead to Britain having closer ties to the EU than planned by May or even a second Brexit referendum - was causing a major shift in the views of pro-Brexit lawmakers who have so far thwarted May.
