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UK Lawmakers Hold Crucial Vote On Brexit Deal

  MPs were holding a momentous third vote Friday on Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit divorce deal, which could end a months-long crisis or risk … Continue reading UK Lawmakers Hold Crucial Vote On Brexit Deal


A video grab from footage broadcast by the UK Parliament’s Parliamentary Recording Unit (PRU) shows MP’s waiting for the result of the second meaningful vote on the government’s Brexit deal, in the House of Commons in London on March 12, 2019. PRU / AFP
MP’s waiting for the result of the second meaningful vote on the government’s Brexit deal, in the House of Commons in London on March 12, 2019. PRU / AFP

 

MPs were holding a momentous third vote Friday on Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit divorce deal, which could end a months-long crisis or risk Britain crashing out of the EU in two weeks.

Parliament has twice rejected May’s withdrawal agreement, both times by large margins, but has been unable to agree any alternative — and time is running out.

The pivotal vote is taking place on the day Britain was supposed to leave the European Union until May asked the bloc’s leaders last week for more time.

“This is the last opportunity to guarantee Brexit,” May told parliament as she closed several hours of debate.

“It avoids a long extension which would at least delay and could destroy Brexit.”

But Labour opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn said his party would oppose the deal.

“The Labour Party will not play roulette with this country’s future,” he said.

In a last-ditch bid to garner the support of discontented Conservative colleagues, May dramatically promised Wednesday to resign if the deal passed.

She appealed to Brexit supporters to back her, saying that under the postponement plan agreed with Brussels, approval on Friday could see Britain out of the bloc on May 22.

 ‘Painful vote’ 

But if the deal falls again, she must set out a new plan to EU leaders — with the options including a potentially catastrophic “no deal” Brexit as early as April 12, or a lengthy delay.

Her sacrifice swayed some of her critics, including former foreign minister Boris Johnson, a potential leadership contender.

He had objected in particular to the deal’s “backstop” provisions to keep the Irish border free-flowing after Brexit.

“It is very painful to vote for this deal. But I hope we can now work together to remedy its defects, avoid the backstop trap and strive to deliver the Brexit people voted for,” Johnson wrote on Twitter.

Meanwhile former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, who in November resigned in opposition to the agreement and is also eyeing a leadership bid, said he also would now back it.

“I cannot countenance an even longer extension and I cannot countenance having European elections in May,” he told MPs.

But more than a dozen Conservative lawmakers still publicly oppose May’s deal.

Her Northern Irish allies, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), also continue to insist its arrangements for the Irish border are unacceptable.

 ‘National emergency’ 

Britain is leaving the EU after 46 years of membership following a divisive 2016 referendum in which voters decided 52 to 48 percent for Brexit.

But MPs are gridlocked on how to implement the result, reflecting the nationwide divisions that persist on the issue.

Protesters from both sides of the divide massed under clear blue skies in Westminster on Friday, with flags, banners and Scottish pipe bands creating a colourful scene.

Around 1,000 ardent Leave supporters on a two-week, 270-mile (435-kilometre) march from northeast England were also set to arrive outside parliament.

“There is a democratic mandate to leave on the 29th of March,” marcher Kate Abley, a 53-year-old former teacher, told AFP as the group neared their final destination.

Outside the British parliament, the political chaos has led business leaders and trade unions to warn of a “national emergency”.

May admits her agreement, reached last November during more than 18 months of negotiations, is a compromise but insists it is the best available.

It covers citizens’ rights, Britain’s financial settlement, plans for the Irish border and a transition period to the end of 2020.

 ‘Completely blind’ 

MPs were not originally due to sit on Friday but the government called an emergency session.

Lacking DUP support, May will have to rely on opposition Labour votes to get her deal through, but leader Jeremy Corbyn has vowed to vote against her.

The government has decided to put only one part of the Brexit package to MPs Friday, separating out the withdrawal terms from an accompanying political declaration on future ties.

Another vote on the political declaration, which is not legally binding, will be required for Brexit to happen.

The government said Friday that would happen “within the next few days”.

AFP