Give me more time to get deal, urges UK’s premier

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LONDON, Feb 10, (AP): With Brexit just 47 days away, the British government asked lawmakers on Sunday to give Prime Minister Theresa May more time to rework her divorce deal with the European Union. Communities Secretary James Brokenshire said Parliament would get to pass judgment on May’s Brexit plan “no later than Feb 27.” The promise is a bid to avert a showdown on Thursday, when Parliament is set to debate and vote on next moves in the Brexit process.

Some lawmakers want to try to seize control and steer the country toward a softer exit from the bloc. Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29, but Parliament has rejected May’s divorce bill, leaving the prime minister to seek changes from the EU.

The UK’s bid for last-minute changes has exasperated EU leaders, who insist the legally binding withdrawal agreement can’t be changed. The impasse risks a chaotic “no deal” departure for Britain, which could be painful for businesses and ordinary people on both sides of the Channel. British businesses fear a nodeal Brexit will cause gridlock at ports by ripping up the trade rulebook and imposing tariffs, customs checks and other barriers between the UK and the EU, its biggest trading partner.

Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl told the BBC that a “disorderly exit” was now the most likely option. Opponents of the government accuse May of deliberately wasting time so that Parliament will face a last-minute choice between her deal and no deal.

Deal
Carolyn Fairbairn of business group the Confederation of British Industry said failure to secure a deal in good time was “negligence on behalf of our political institutions and leaders.”

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Theresa May will pledge this week to give parliament another chance to voice their opinions on Brexit by Feb 27 as she tries to buy more time to negotiate a new deal with the European Union. As the clock ticks down to Britain’s scheduled exit on March 29, May is trying to persuade the EU to change a deal that was agreed between London and Brussels late last year but overwhelmingly rejected by parliament in January. May wants to win over lawmakers in her Conservative Party with changes relating to the Northern Irish border, but the EU has refused to reopen that part of the deal and instead wants May to pursue a compromise with the main opposition Labour Party by agreeing closer UK-EU ties.

The impasse has left the world’s fifth largest economy facing an uncertain future, rattling financial markets and businesses about the prospect of a disorderly exit from the bloc that could damage the economy. Housing minster James Brokenshire said on Sunday May would commit to giving parliament another debate on Brexit with the chance to vote on alternative options, if a deal had not yet been agreed and voted upon by then.

May is already due to update parliament on her progress towards a deal on Wednesday and then on Thursday to give parliament a chance to express their opinion. The new pledge would be for a repeat of this process by Feb 27. “That gives that sense of timetable, clarity, and purpose on what we’re doing with the EU – taking that work forward and our determination to get a deal – but equally knowing that role that parliament very firmly has,” Brokenshire told the BBC. Brexit minister Stephen Barclay will meet EU negotiator Michel Barnier on Monday to discuss changes to the part of the exit deal relating to the ‘backstop’, an insurance policy against the return of a hard border between EU member Ireland and Britishruled Northern Ireland.

Labour’s Brexit policy chief Keir Starmer told the Sunday Times newspaper that his party would seek to use the debate in parliament this week to prevent May from waiting until the last minute to come back with a deal, and compel her to present a fresh accord for lawmakers to consider before Feb 26.

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