LONDON - Prime Minister Theresa May
battled to win support for her plans for an orderly Brexit on
Tuesday, urging sceptical Conservative Party members to vote for
her deal or risk not leaving the European Union at all.
Hours before a vote on the deal in parliament, May had
failed to win over the main Brexit faction in her own party,
while Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which
props up her minority government, said it would vote against
her.
Nonetheless, May defended her plan as a good deal compared
to a series of unattractive alternatives.
"If this vote is not passed tonight, if this deal is not
passed, then Brexit could be lost," a hoarse-voiced May told
lawmakers in the House of Commons.
In a last-ditch bid to save her Brexit plan days before the
United Kingdom is due to leave, May rushed to Strasbourg on
Monday to agree legally binding assurances with European
Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
But Britain's attorney general, Geoffrey Cox, dealt a blow
to May's plans, saying the assurances she had been given still
meant the United kingdom could be locked in the bloc's orbit
after Brexit, the most controversial issue for Brexit-supporting
lawmakers.
"The legal risk remains unchanged," Cox said. "However, the
matter of law affecting withdrawal can only inform what is
essentially a political decision that each of us must make."
Sterling fell as much as 2 cents on Cox's advice, which was
seen as reducing the chance that May's deal will be approved by
parliament. It was trading at $1.3129 at 1500 GMT.
British lawmakers, who on Jan. 15 voted 432-202 against
May's deal, will vote at 1900 GMT. The main pro-Brexit faction
in May's party, the European Research Group, said it did not
recommend voting for her deal.
The main sticking point is the so-called Irish border
backstop, an insurance policy aimed at avoiding controls on the
border between the British province of Northern Ireland and
EU-member Ireland after Brexit.
Brexit-supporting lawmakers expressed suspicion at the haste
of May's last-minute assurances and suggested a delay to allow
sufficient analysis of them and Cox's advice.
"I am very, very suspicious and concerned about the time
scale," Conservative lawmaker Andrew Bridgen said. The ink isn't
even dry on the agreement... And we've got to vote on it today."
Nigel Dodds, the DUP's parliamentary leader, said the
assurances would still trap the United Kingdom in the EU's
orbit.
For its part, the EU fears that if there is no backstop, an
open border between the United Kingdom and Ireland will amount
to an open door into the EU.
If lawmakers vote down May's deal again, they will be given
a vote on Wednesday on leaving without a deal, for which there
is little support in parliament. If they turn down that option
they will vote on Thursday on delaying Brexit. May said there
was no guarantee the EU would agree to a delay.
MAY'S DEAL?
May had announced three documents - a joint instrument, a
joint statement and a unilateral declaration - which she said
were aimed at addressing the Irish backstop, the most
contentious part of the divorce deal she agreed with the EU in
November.
She said the assurances created an arbitration channel for
any disputes on the backstop, "entrenches in legally-binding
form" existing commitments that it will be temporary and binds
the UK and EU to starting work on replacing the backstop with
other arrangements by December 2020.
In essence, the assurances give the United Kingdom a
possible path out of the backstop through arbitration and
underscore the EU’s repeated pledges that it does not want to
trap the United Kingdom in the backstop.
The European Research Group said the verdict of its 'Star
Chamber' set up to analyse the assurances was that they did not
deliver legally binding changes to the Brexit deal or the Irish
backstop and did not provide an exit mechanism over which
Britain had control.
"In the light of our own legal analysis and others we do not
recommend accepting the government's motion today," William
Cash, a senior pro-Brexit Conservative Party lawmaker said.
After two-and-a-half years of haggling since the 2016 Brexit
referendum, Juncker cautioned this was Britain's last chance.
"It is this deal or Brexit might not happen at all," he said.