British Secretary of State for Exiting the EU Dominic Raab resigned yesterday, saying he was unable to defend the deal struck by British Prime Minister Theresa May with the EU, a major blow to her authority and her ability to get the deal through parliament.
His resignation, which came a day after the Cabinet of which he was a member backed the draft divorce agreement, weakens May and is likely to embolden her rivals within her Conservative Party.
A leadership challenge is being openly discussed.
Photo: AFP
“I cannot in good conscience support the terms proposed for our deal with the EU,” Raab said in a letter posted on Twitter. “I cannot reconcile the terms of the proposed deal with the promises we made.”
Raab is the second secretary of state for exiting the EU that May has lost — David Davis, who like Raab backed Brexit in the referendum in June 2016, quit in July.
Raab’s departure is a further sign that many supporters of Brexit will not back May in any vote on the deal that comes to parliament.
May yesterday addressed lawmakers about the draft agreement, the culmination of about 20 months of negotiations between the two sides.
Before parliament votes on the deal, EU leaders have to give their backing. European Council President Donald Tusk called for a summit of leaders to take place on Nov. 25 so they can rubber-stamp the draft Brexit deal reached by officials earlier this week.
May has supporters in her party and some were arguing that the alternatives — leaving the trading bloc without a deal or a second vote on Brexit — were not realistic options.
“’No deal’ is not pretty,” British Secretary of State for Health Matt Hancock told BBC Radio 4. “A second referendum would be divisive, but not be decisive.”
The opposition parties, notably the Labour Party, have signaled that they would vote against the deal if and when it comes before them, most likely next month.
That is important as May’s government does not have enough lawmakers of its own to get a majority and relies on the support of the Democratic Unionist Party from Northern Ireland, which has also voiced opposition to the deal.
Labour Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer told the Good Morning Britain TV program that the deal was a “miserable failure of negotiation.”
Meanwhile in Brussels, Tusk heaped praise on the European Chief Negotiator for the UK Exiting the EU Michel Barnier, who had “achieved the two most important objectives” for the bloc — limiting the damage caused by Britain’s impending departure and maintaining the interests of the other 27 nations that would remain in the EU after Brexit.
“As much as I am sad to see you leave, I will do everything to make this farewell the least painful possible for both for you and for us,” Tusk said.
The deal also requires the consent of the European Parliament and Barnier was set to travel to Strasbourg, France, yesterday to win over legislators there.
The parliament’s chief Brexit official, Guy Verhofstadt, welcomed the draft withdrawal agreement late on Wednesday, but over the coming weeks, the British parliament would be the focal point of the Brexit process.
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