May’s final bid to salvage Brexit appears doomed
Published on: Thursday, May 23, 2019
LONDON: British Prime Minister Theresa May’s final bid to salvage her EU divorce deal appeared doomed as pro-Brexit Conservatives and the opposition Labour Party rejected her attempts at compromise.
May is likely to face an intense session at Prime Minister’s Questions in parliament Wednesday, a day before Britain votes in EU elections it had not expected to take part in three years after the Brexit referendum.
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The embattled leader promised to give lawmakers a vote on holding a second Brexit referendum and dangled a package of sweeteners she hoped could resolve the Brexit crisis.
MPs have already rejected her Brexit deal three times.
May has already said she will leave office shortly after the measures she outlined are put up for a vote early next month—no matter the outcome.
In her televised address, she promised to give lawmakers a chance to set a confirmatory referendum on whatever version of Brexit they end up approving in the weeks or months to come.
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“I recognise the genuine and sincere strength of feeling across the house on this important issue,” May said.
The measure is a key demand of the main opposition Labour Party but is bitterly opposed by Brexit-supporting Conservatives whose votes May also needs if she is to get her deal passed.
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May’s offer comes as Britain votes in EU elections Thursday with the two main parties trailing behind the Brexit Party and the pro-EU Liberal Democrats, according to a YouGov poll.
“This is now about far more than leaving the European Union. This is about a bigger, more fundamental question of democracy,” Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage told crowds of cheering supporters at a final rally.
“If we win big on Thursday, we will kill off any prospect of parliament forcing a second referendum upon us because they know they would lose!”
On Wednesday, Farage will debate head-to-head with Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable.
“A vote for the Liberal Democrats is a vote for an international, outward-looking Britain. A vote for the Liberal Democrats is a vote to stop Brexit,” Cable told a party gathering.
The pro-EU party’s outright rejection of Brexit appears to be resonating with Remain voters who would normally back Labour or the Conservatives.
May said her proposals were this parliament’s “last chance” to end political deadlock that has already delayed Brexit past its original March deadline and caused huge public anger.
She called them “a new Brexit deal” that Britain must now rally behind.
The government is aiming for the law to be approved by the time parliament’s summer recess begins on July 20, which would allow Britain to leave the EU at the end of that month—as long as MPs reject a second referendum.
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