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News > United Kingdom

Brexit Vote Due Today As May's Plan Expected to Lose

  • Pro-Brexit protesters demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain, Jan. 15, 2019.

    Pro-Brexit protesters demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain, Jan. 15, 2019. | Photo: REUTERS

Published 15 January 2019
Opinion

Two-and-a-half months before Britain is due to leave the EU, May's hopes of keeping her plan alive will hinge on the scale of her expected loss.

Prime Minister Theresa May faced the prospect of defeat in a historic vote on her Brexit deal in parliament Tuesday, potentially leaving Britain in limbo about the biggest political and economic change for the country in decades.

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A day after May urged lawmakers to take a second look at her plan, parliament looked set to reject it in a voting session due to start at 7:00 p.m. GMT.

Two-and-a-half months before Britain is due to leave the EU, May's hopes of keeping her plan alive will hinge on the scale of her expected loss.

Avoiding a heavy defeat could give her the chance to ask Brussels for more concessions before attempting to get the plan through parliament in another vote.

But a humiliating outcome could pressure her to delay Britain's scheduled March 29 departure from the EU and potentially open up other options, ranging from a second referendum to leaving the EU with no deal.

One of May's senior ministers, Environment Secretary Michael Gove, called on lawmakers to respect the outcome of the 2016 Brexit referendum decision, or risk undermining democracy.

"The British people have placed a responsibility on us," Gove told BBC radio. "Are we going to live up to that responsibility and vote to leave the European Union or are we going to disappoint them and damage our democracy by not voting to leave the EU?"

But many Brexit-supporting lawmakers from May's Conservative Party reject the deal's "backstop" requirement that Northern Ireland stay closely aligned to EU rules to avoid the return of a hard border with EU member Ireland if a broader trade deal cannot be struck.

Dominic Raab, who resigned as May's Brexit minister in November in protest at her plans, said the government should not lose its nerve over the possibility of a no-deal Brexit, something many employers fear would mean chaos for business.

"It's time for us, through this vote, to make clear not just that the current terms are unacceptable, but that we are not just throwing our hands up in the air," he said.

"We are going to leave on March 29."

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The head of eurozone finance ministers, Mario Centeno, also said Tuesday that Europe and Britain could talk further and adjust their positions to avoid a no-deal Brexit in case Britain's parliament rejects the deal agreed between London and Brussels.

"We will see the result (of the vote) today and we can adjust our trajectory," he told SIC television channel in Strasbourg. "We can open all the dossiers ... We need to take informed decisions with total calm and avoid a no-deal exit. Practically anything is better than a no-deal exit."

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