British Prime Minister Theresa May yesterday faced a chorus of calls to rip up her tattered Brexit blueprint and call an end to her embattled premiership after her attempt at compromise got the thumbs-down from both her own Conservative Party and opposition lawmakers.
May received a flurry of criticism and hostile questions in the British House of Commons as she implored lawmakers to support a bill implementing Britain’s departure from the EU that she plans to put to a vote in parliament next month.
Almost three years after British voters opted to leave the EU, May said “we need to see Brexit through, to honor the result of the referendum and to deliver the change the British people so clearly demanded.”
She said that if parliament rejected her deal, “all we have before us is division and deadlock.”
Acknowledging that her days as prime minister are numbered, May said she has a “duty” to ask lawmakers to try to pass the agreement she negotiated with the EU.
“While I’m here I have a duty to be clear with the house about the facts. If we’re going to deliver Brexit in this parliament we’re going to have to pass a Withdrawal Agreement Bill and we’re not going to be able to without holding votes on those issues that have divided us the most,’’ she said.
“I will put those decisions to this house because that’s my duty and it’s the only way we can deliver Brexit,” she said.
May said the Brexit withdrawal bill would be published tomorrow so that lawmakers can study it.
She said the bill would go to a vote after — the first week of June as planned.
However, as May made a key statement on her final Brexit offer to parliament, many Conservative lawmakers left the chamber. Those who did stay in the room were chatting to each other as May spoke rather than listening to what she said.
When she finished her prepared statement, hardly anyone cheered.
Lawmakers have already rejected May’s divorce deal with the other 27 EU countries on three occasions, and Britain’s long-scheduled departure date of March 29 passed with the country still in the bloc.
In a last-ditch bid to secure support for her Brexit plan, May on Tuesday announced concessions including a promise to give parliament a vote on whether to hold a new referendum on Britain’s EU membership — something she has long ruled out.
However, pro-Brexit Conservatives accused May of capitulating to pro-EU demands, and opposition Labour Party lawmakers dismissed her offer as too little too late.
“The rhetoric may have changed but the deal has not,” Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said. “She did not seek a compromise until after she had missed her own deadline to leave, and by the time she finally did she had lost the authority to deliver.”
May has said she would give a timetable for her departure once parliament has voted on her Brexit bill, but with defeat of that bill looking highly likely, a growing number of Conservatives is pressing her to quit even sooner.
However, Brexit-backing lawmaker Nigel Evans said he would urge the party committee that oversees leadership contests to change the rules when it met yesterday so that May could face a new challenge within days, or even yesterday.
“There is a growing discontent with the way Theresa May has handled this,” Evans said. “Let’s have somebody who has a clean sheet and will be able to reboot the [Brexit] negotiations.”
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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