Britain was no nearer to resolving the chaos surrounding its departure from the European Union after parliament failed on Monday to find a majority of its own for any alternative to Prime Minister Theresa May’s divorce deal.<\/p>\n
After a tumultuous week in which May’s divorce strategy was rejected by lawmakers for a third time, despite her offer to quit if it passed, the future direction of Brexit remains mired in confusion.<\/p>\n
In a bid to break the impasse, lawmakers on Monday voted on four last-minute alternative Brexit options for what is the United Kingdom’s most far-reaching policy change since World War Two. All were defeated.The option that came closest to getting a majority was a proposal to keep Britain in a customs union with the EU, which was defeated by three votes.<\/p>\n
A proposal for a confirmatory referendum on any deal got the most votes, but was defeated by 292-280.<\/p>\n
Brexit minister Steven Barclay said after the results were announced that the default position was still that Britain would leave the EU on April 12 without a deal, the nightmare scenario for many international businesses.<\/p>\n
“The only option is to find a way through which allows the UK to leave with a deal,” Barclay told parliament.<\/p>\n
He hinted that May could put her deal to a fourth vote this week in the hope of securing an orderly exit before European elections are held from May 23 onwards.<\/p>\n
“If the house were to agree a deal this week, it would still be possible to avoid holding European parliamentary elections,” Barclay said.<\/p>\n
Sterling fell almost 1 percent to $1.3048, after the vote results were read out by the speaker, John Bercow, to stand around 0.5 percent lower on the day.<\/p>\n
Last Friday, the third defeat of May’s own withdrawal agreement left one of the weakest British leaders in a generation facing a spiralling crisis over Brexit.<\/p>\n
Her government and her Conservative Party, which has been trying to contain a schism over Europe for 30 years, are now riven between those who are demanding that May pilot a decisive break with the bloc and those demanding that she rule out such an outcome.<\/p>\n
If May were to throw her weight behind either camp, she would risk tearing her party apart and bringing down the government. Some Conservative lawmakers have warned they will support a motion of no confidence if she accepts calls for a Brexit that maintains many of the existing close economic ties with the EU.<\/p>\n
Britain had been due to leave the EU on March 29 but the political deadlock in London forced May to ask the bloc for a delay. As things stand, Britain will now depart at 6:00 pm EST on April 12 – unless May comes up with another viable option.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Britain was no nearer to resolving the chaos surrounding its departure from the European Union […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n