British Prime Minister Theresa May yesterday faced deadlock over a new Brexit plan, after narrowly surviving a no-confidence vote sparked by the crushing defeat of her EU withdrawal deal.
With the clock ticking, May has appealed to opposition leaders to meet for cross-party talks before she presents an alternative proposal to the UK parliament on Monday next week.
However, her opponents have set out a list of preconditions for cooperating — including ruling out the possibility that Britain would leave the EU in March without any deal at all.
May conceded that the divorce terms she struck with the EU had been roundly rejected, after members of parliament delivered the heaviest government defeat in parliament in modern British political history on Tuesday — 432 votes against 202.
“Now MPs have made clear what they don’t want, we must all work constructively together to set out what parliament does want,” May said in a TV address to the nation on Wednesday evening, after winning a no-confidence vote triggered by the Labour Party.
She set out a schedule of cross-party talks that began immediately with meetings with the leaders of the Scottish National Party (SNP), Plaid Cymru and Liberal Democrats.
“We must find solutions that are negotiable and command sufficient support in this House,” she had told parliament earlier.
However, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said that he would only meet May if she could “remove clearly, once and for all the prospect of the catastrophe of a no-deal Brexit.”
May said she was “disappointed” by Corbyn’s decision and stressed that “our door remains open.”
On Wednesday evening, her spokesman said that the possibility of “no deal” was still on the table.
SNP House of Commons group leader Ian Blackford said that his party would only participate if May were prepared to consider delaying Brexit, ruling out “no deal” and the option of holding a second referendum.
May has flatly rejected a second vote.
The prime minister is working to the tightest possible deadline as the UK prepares to leave the bloc that for half a century defined its economic and political relations with the rest of the world.
Her defeat sparked warnings from European leaders that the prospect of “no deal” had increased, with the potential for huge economic disruption on both sides of the English Channel.
May must return to parliament on Monday next week with a Plan B that she and her team intend to negotiate with various lawmakers through the weekend.
Her offer to meet with the opposition “rings hollow without evidence of her readiness to compromise on the substance of Brexit”, the Guardian said, pushing for a “menu of options” to be presented to parliament.
Meanwhile the Daily Telegraph said that parliament “may be planning a betrayal.”
“After two-and-a-half years, Plan B is to let parliament take over,” the Telegraph said. “At least it is a plan; but is parliament capable of delivering on the referendum result, or is this the start of a great betrayal of that vote?”
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