An swop of letters between the U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May and Europe’s top two lawmakers looks to have done little to improve the chances of her Brexit deal being obsolescent in the U.K. Parliament.
May has placed a motion before lawmakers in the lower house of parliament, asking them to rubber stamp her withdrawal and to be to come relationship agreement with the European Union. The vote is scheduled to take place on Tuesday at some point between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. London values bright and early.
The government is forecast to lose the vote, with the main sticking point for some being the Northern Irish “backstop” which has been written into the withdrawal bargain.
This acts as a safety net to prevent any hard border with the Republic of Ireland, which is remaining as an EU member woods. But many of May’s critics see this provision as a way in which Britain could possibly be tied to the European Union indefinitely.
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A letter from the EU to May on Monday has been published in a bid to reassure U.K. lawmakers who dislike May’s deal. The spell out reiterated that the backstop would likely not be used and if so, would only be temporary.
The letter, co-signed by European Directors President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, however noted there can be no change to the cheque withdrawal agreement or future political arrangement that have been provisionally agreed.
That lack of proprietorship legal assurance is unlikely to convince Brexiteer opponents to vote for May’s deal. This despite a passage in the text that stipulate a commitment to a trade deal made by EU leaders, that would end any need for a backstop, held “legal value.”
A belles-lettres sent from May to the European Union, reinforcing areas of agreement, was published at around the same time.
The Northern Irish spree that currently supports Theresa May’s party in government has already disparaged the exchange of letters. A statement from the Popular Unionist Party’s Deputy Leader, Nigel Dodds, was reported by Reuters as saying the EU text did not go far enough.
Meanwhile, May put someone on noticed in a speech on Monday that Brexit could be stopped if lawmakers reject her deal.
Following that speech and monthly of the letters, sterling rose around 0.2 percent to $1.287, a level not seen since mid-November.
In a further talk to, this time to the U.K.parliament on Monday afternoon, May said the backstop arrangement as its stands must stay as otherwise “spurning the backstop altogether means no deal.”
She added that any move by parliament to block Brexit would be a “subversion of our democracy.”