British Prime Minister Theresa May yesterday acknowledged the “reality” of her weakened position by appealing to other parties to help implement Brexit, as she sought to relaunch her year-old prime ministry.
One month after losing her parliamentary majority in a snap election, the Conservative leader said she was still committed to “bold action” to fulfil her promises of change.
However, as fresh rumors swirled of plans to oust her, May accepted that “the reality I now face as prime minister is rather different” than it was.
Her comments came in excerpts of a speech due to be delivered today, the anniversary of her winning the Conservative Party leadership race after last year’s referendum vote to leave the EU.
“In this new context, it will be even more important to make the case for our policies and our values, and to win the battle of ideas both in parliament as well as in the country,” May is to say. “So I say to the other parties in the House of Commons ... come forward with your own views and ideas about how we can tackle these challenges as a country.”
May has been struggling to maintain her authority since the June 8 election, which she called three years early only to lose seats, leaving her with a minority government.
The Mail on Sunday reported that former Conservative chief whip Andrew Mitchell had told a private meeting of MPs that May was “dead in the water” and must quit.
British Secretary of State for Justice David Lidington said this and other rumors were the result of politicians enjoying “too much sun and too much warm Prosecco” at summer parties.
May’s de facto deputy, Damian Green, yesterday insisted that her call for cross-party cooperation was a “grown-up way of doing politics.”
May had been accused of stifling dissent over her plans to take Britain out of Europe’s single market, end jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice and leave the bloc without a deal in place.
However, members of her Cabinet have been increasingly outspoken since the election, particularly British Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, who favors a more conciliatory approach amid fears of the damage a clean break could do to business.
A new cross-party parliamentary group was launched yesterday calling for the “closest possible relationship” with the EU and demanding that “all options are kept on the table” in the negotiations, which began last month.
Separately yesterday, Green expressed confidence that May’s government can get legislation to begin the process of transferring EU law into British law through parliament.
The Repeal Bill, which the government says will help achieve a smooth transition as Britain leaves the EU, will transpose EU law and also repeal the 1972 European Communities Act which formalizes Britain’s EU membership.
“I’m confident that we can get this legislation through parliament,” Green told Sky News, adding that he expected lots of debate along the way.
Green said although the bill, which is due to be presented to parliament this week, was complex from a legislative point of view, it was a simple concept.
Additional reporting by Reuters
‘EYE FOR AN EYE’: Two of the men were shot by a male relative of the victims, whose families turned down the opportunity to offer them amnesty, the Supreme Court said Four men were yesterday publicly executed in Afghanistan, the Supreme Court said, the highest number of executions to be carried out in one day since the Taliban’s return to power. The executions in three separate provinces brought to 10 the number of men publicly put to death since 2021, according to an Agence France-Presse tally. Public executions were common during the Taliban’s first rule from 1996 to 2001, with most of them carried out publicly in sports stadiums. Two men were shot around six or seven times by a male relative of the victims in front of spectators in Qala-i-Naw, the center
Incumbent Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa on Sunday claimed a runaway victory in the nation’s presidential election, after voters endorsed the young leader’s “iron fist” approach to rampant cartel violence. With more than 90 percent of the votes counted, the National Election Council said Noboa had an unassailable 12-point lead over his leftist rival Luisa Gonzalez. Official results showed Noboa with 56 percent of the vote, against Gonzalez’s 44 percent — a far bigger winning margin than expected after a virtual tie in the first round. Speaking to jubilant supporters in his hometown of Olon, the 37-year-old president claimed a “historic victory.” “A huge hug
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is leaning into his banking background as his country fights a trade war with the US, but his financial ties have also made him a target for conspiracy theories. Incorporating tropes familiar to followers of the far-right QAnon movement, conspiratorial social media posts about the Liberal leader have surged ahead of the country’s April 28 election. Posts range from false claims he recited a “satanic chant” at a campaign event to artificial intelligence (AI)-generated images of him in a pool with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. “He’s the ideal person to be targeted here, for sure, due to
DISPUTE: Beijing seeks global support against Trump’s tariffs, but many governments remain hesitant to align, including India, ASEAN countries and Australia China is reaching out to other nations as the US layers on more tariffs, in what appears to be an attempt by Beijing to form a united front to compel Washington to retreat. Days into the effort, it is meeting only partial success from countries unwilling to ally with the main target of US President Donald Trump’s trade war. Facing the cratering of global markets, Trump on Wednesday backed off his tariffs on most nations for 90 days, saying countries were lining up to negotiate more favorable conditions. China has refused to seek talks, saying the US was insincere and that it
RSS