London, March 28
Prime Minister Theresa May will put her twice-rejected Brexit divorce deal to a third parliamentary vote on Friday in a renewed bid to avoid a chaotic split from the European Union in two weeks.
May's throw of the dice comes a day after her dramatic pledge to resign in order to persuade her rivals to finally back her vision for breaking Britain's 46-year membership of the bloc. The PM’s back is against the wall as she tries to keeping Britain's economy from imploding and the pound from plunging when a post-Brexit border splits the two tight trading partners.
Andrea Leadsom, the government’s representative in Parliament, said the new vote gave recalcitrant lawmakers the chance to secure Britain’s delayed departure from the EU on May 22. “I encourage all MPs to support it and ensure that we leave the EU... giving people and businesses the certainty they need," she told MPs. The government is hoping that holding the vote on the day when Britain was meant to leave the bloc could win over some still sceptical MPs.
House of Commons Speaker John Bercow gave his approval to hold the vote after he had rejected a similar attempt last week, ruling then that May's text was essentially the same one that lawmakers had voted down. “(It) is new, substantially different and in conformity,” he said of the deal to be put to MPs on Friday’s vote, which will only cover the main withdrawal pact in May’s plan and not an accompanying political declaration for future EU ties.
Another House vote would be required before Brexit can actually go ahead. Any failure by lawmakers to pass the pact that was signed off last year by May and the 27 EU leaders could result in a feared “no-deal Brexit” scenario on April 12. Britain might then try to avoid crashing out by seeking a much longer extension that would force it to take part in European Parliament polls in May. — AFP
from The Tribune https://ift.tt/2CLxgoQ
via Today’s News Headlines
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