London: Prime Minister Theresa May will plead Tuesday with MPs to give her more time for talks with EU officials on her Brexit deal, telling them they must hold their nerve.
May is set to update British Parliament on her latest meetings in Brussels and Dublin aimed at securing a divorce agreement with the EU, with Britain due to leave the bloc, March 29.
“The talks are at a crucial stage,” May will say, according to extracts from her statement to Parliament released in advance by her Downing Street office.
MPs last month had overwhelmingly rejected the deal struck between May and Brussels and the British premier has since been attempting to secure changes that would satisfy Parliament’s lower House of Commons.
Brexiteer MPs in her Conservative Party are particularly unhappy with the so-called backstop provision intended to keep the border with Ireland free-flowing.
Some fear it could leave Britain trapped in the European Union’s trade rules with no unilateral way out – but would back a deal if the backstop was time-limited or replaced with alternative arrangements.
“We now all need to hold our nerve to get the changes this house has required and deliver Brexit on time,” May is due to tell MPs.
“By getting the changes we need to the backstop; by protecting and enhancing workers’ rights and environmental protections; and by enhancing the role of parliament in the next phase of negotiations I believe we can reach a deal that this house can support.”
Commons Leader Andrea said Monday ‘BBC’ radio that May was not simply ‘running down the clock’ until March 29. “What the Prime Minister wants is a bit more time,” she said.
Andrea added that May would promise MPs they could hold a series of votes February 27 in an attempt to influence her Brexit strategy if she has not agreed a new deal by then.
Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay and David Lidington, May’s de facto deputy, are currently in Strasbourg meeting members of the European Parliament, while British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt is in Paris as part of a diplomatic offensive.
AFP