LONDON - British Prime Minister Theresa
May said she would not compromise with Brussels over her plans
for Brexit as a media report said rivals in her party were set
to publish their own proposal calling for a cleaner break with
the European Union.
With under two months before Britain and the EU want to
agree a deal to end over 40 years of union, May is struggling to
sell what she calls her business-friendly Brexit to her own
party and across a divided country.
The EU has tentatively welcomed what has become known as the
Chequers plan, which is designed to protect cross-border trade,
but difficult negotiations lie ahead.
"I will not be pushed into accepting compromises on the
Chequers proposals that are not in our national interest," May
wrote in the Sunday Telegraph newspaper.
"The coming months will be critical in shaping the future of
our country and I am clear about my mission."
May also said she would not hold a second referendum on
Britain's EU membership, reiterating a long-held position in an
attempt to counter increasingly vocal campaigning for another
public vote on the terms of the divorce.
"To ask the question all over again would be a gross
betrayal of our democracy," May said.
May's plan would keep Britain in a free-trade zone with the
EU for manufactured and agricultural goods. But some Brexit
supporters have said that would mean parts of the British
economy would still be subject to rules set in Brussels.
Two of May's most senior lawmakers - Boris Johnson and David
Davis - quit as foreign secretary and Brexit secretary
respectively in July in protest at May's plan, saying it did not
go far enough and would let down the millions of people who
voted to leave the EU in the 2016 referendum.
According to a report in the Sunday Times newspaper, leading
Brexiteer lawmakers in May's party are ready to publish their
own plan for Brexit ahead of the party's annual conference which
begins at the end of September.
That would be designed to heap pressure on May, who needs to
get any deal with Brussels through parliamentary votes in
Westminster before Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29
next year.
May reiterated that Britain would be ready to leave the EU
without a deal if the two sides cannot agree on the divorce
terms.