British Prime Minister Theresa May yesterday was seeking her Cabinet’s approval for a long-awaited divorce deal with the EU, but hardline Brexiteer lawmakers warned they would seek to block it in parliament.
After months of talks, May late on Tuesday announced that negotiators had finally struck a draft agreement on the terms of Britain’s withdrawal from the EU in March.
The British pound surged on currency markets following the news, which came as Brussels stepped up preparations for a potentially catastrophic “no deal” exit, but diplomats and officials warned the technical agreement, which runs to hundreds of pages, still needed political approval.
Ambassadors from the other 27 EU member states were to meet later yesterday in Brussels, while May’s Cabinet was to convene at 2pm in London.
If it approves the text, London is hoping for a special summit of EU leaders later this month to seal the deal, but May has faced constant criticism from her Conservative lawmakers over her approach and the deal had barely been announced when they took to the airwaves to denounce it.
Former British secretary of state for foreign and Commonwealth affairs Boris Johnson, who quit the Cabinet over Brexit in July, said the deal would leave Britain a “vassal state” and urged his former colleagues to “chuck it out.”
“Cabinet and all Conservative MPs should stand up, be counted and say no to this capitulation,” said former British secretary of state for exiting the EU David Davis, who quit at the same time.
Most ominously for May, Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which props up her government, threatened to break their alliance over reports of a special arrangement for the British province.
“If this is the shape of the deal, we are probably ending up with no agreement,” Sammy Wilson of the DUP told Sky News television.
All eyes were on whether euroskeptic ministers, including British Secretary of State for Exiting the EU Dominic Raab, would join the chorus of disapproval and resign.
“We are clearly not out of the woods yet,” the London-based Capital Economics research group said in a note to clients.
British and EU negotiators had stepped up their talks ahead of a deadline yesterday to get a deal in time to call a special summit for later this month.
Failure would delay the final settlement until a formal Brussels summit in the middle of next month, leaving little time for May to get the deal and associated legislation through parliament.
The talks were stuck for months on how to avoid border checks between Northern Ireland and EU member the Republic of Ireland, if and until London strikes a new trade deal with Brussels.
Ireland’s RTE broadcaster reported that the final deal includes a so-called “backstop” arrangement in which the whole UK remained in a customs arrangement with the EU.
It provides for additional “deeper” provisions for Northern Ireland on customs and regulations, risking anger from the DUP, but it also reportedly allows for a review mechanism that Britain could use to try to leave the backstop arrangement — a key demand of Conservative euroskeptics.
Pro-Brexit lawmakers such as Johnson fear Britain could end up being tied to the EU indefinitely.
May’s deputy, British Minister for the Cabinet Office David Lidington, had earlier promised the government would publish legal analysis on the deal following pressure from lawmakers.
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said he would wait for details, but suggested the deal was “unlikely to be a good deal for the country.”
Other elements of the divorce already agreed include Britain’s exit bill of about ￡39 billion (US$50 billion), as well as a guarantee on EU citizens’ rights.
It also provides for a 21-month transition after Brexit during which London would follow EU rules, for both sides to negotiate a new trade relationship.
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