May in peril as Brexit compromise blasted
Print Edition
British Prime Minister Theresa May faced a chorus of calls yesterday to rip up her tattered Brexit blueprint and call an end to her embattled premiership after her attempt at compromise got the thumbs-down from both her own Conservative Party and opposition lawmakers.
May received a flurry of criticism and hostile questions in the House of Commons as she implored lawmakers to support a bill implementing Britain鈥檚 departure from the European Union that she plans to put to a vote in Parliament in June.
Almost three years after British voters opted to leave the EU, May said: 鈥淲e need to see Brexit through, to honor the result of the referendum and to deliver the change the British people so clearly demanded.鈥
She said that if Parliament rejected her deal, 鈥渁ll we have before us is division and deadlock.鈥
That鈥檚 a fair summary of the current situation.
Lawmakers have already rejected May鈥檚 divorce deal with the other 27 EU countries on three occasions, and Britain鈥檚 long-scheduled departure date of March 29 passed with the country still in the bloc.
In a last-ditch bid to secure support for her Brexit plan, May on Tuesday announced concessions, including a promise to give Parliament a vote on whether to hold a new referendum on Britain鈥檚 EU membership 鈥 something she has long ruled out. 鈥淚 have compromised. Now I ask you to compromise too,鈥 she said.
But there was little sign her plea was being heeded. Pro-EU and pro-Brexit lawmakers have only hardened their positions during months of political trench warfare and are in no mood to compromise.
Pro-Brexit Conservatives accused May of capitulating to pro-EU demands and opposition Labour Party lawmakers dismissed her offer as too little too late.
鈥淭he rhetoric may have changed but the deal has not,鈥 said Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. 鈥淪he did not seek a compromise until after she had missed her own deadline to leave and by the time she finally did she had lost the authority to deliver.鈥
May鈥檚 authority as Tory leader has been shredded by her loss of the party鈥檚 parliamentary majority in a 2017 election and her failure to lead Britain out of the EU as promised.
The party鈥檚 powerful euroskeptic wing wants to oust May and replace her with a staunch Brexit supporter such as ex-Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.
May has said she will announce a timetable for her exit once Parliament has voted on her Brexit bill. But with the defeat of that bill looking highly likely, a growing number of Conservatives is pressing her to cancel the vote and quit even sooner.
May survived a no-confidence vote among Conservative lawmakers in December, leaving her safe from the challenge for 12 months under party rules.
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