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May faces ministerial revolt over draft Brexit deal

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Bill Smith -


Embattled British Prime Minister Theresa May defended her draft Brexit deal with the EU on Thursday but faced criticism from all sides, with a leading rebel in her party warning that is was “impossible” to win a vote in parliament on the agreement.


Conservative leader May urged lawmakers not to block the withdrawal deal, in a speech defending her handling of what she admitted had been a “frustrating” Brexit process.


“Voting against a deal would take us all back to square one,” she told the Commons, Britain’s elected main house.


“It would mean more uncertainty, more division, and a failure to deliver on the decision of the British people that we should leave the EU,” added May, who could soon face a leadership challenge according to media reports.


May was rocked ahead of her speech by the resignations of two cabinet ministers, including her Brexit chief, in opposition to the draft agreement.


Two junior ministers and two parliamentary private secretaries also resigned on Thursday over the deal, which was agreed by May’s divided cabinet late Wednesday after a five-hour meeting.


“This is, at its heart, a matter of public trust,” Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab said in a copy of his resignation letter posted on Twitter.


Raab gave two main reasons for his decision, saying the proposed backstop to guarantee an open Irish border after Brexit — requiring a special arrangement for Northern Ireland — “presents a very real threat to the integrity of the United Kingdom.”


“Second, I cannot support an indefinite backstop arrangement, where the EU holds a veto over our ability to exit,” Raab wrote.


May told parliament that she was “acting in the national interest” by agreeing the backstop, which would only come into effect if a future trading agreement could not be reached.


She said EU officials had made “a number of concessions” during the Brexit negotiations, dropping their demand for a Northern Ireland-only customs arrangement.


The temporary, last-resort backstop is designed to ensure a free flow of goods and people across the border between the Republic of Ireland, which will remain in the EU, and Northern Ireland, which will leave with the rest of Britain in March.


Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn, who leads the main opposition Labour Party, also slammed the draft deal and said it “does not meet our six tests.”


Corbyn has said that Labour will vote against any deal that does not meet its tests.


May is expected to court votes from Labour rebels to try to get the deal through parliament, after a group of several dozen Conservative lawmakers vowed to vote against it.


Mark Francois, vice chair of the European Research Group of pro-Brexit Conservatives, told her it was “mathematically impossible” to win a vote in parliament.


At least 84 eurosceptics among the party’s 315 lawmakers planned to vote against the deal, Francois said.


Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, whose 10 lawmakers prop up May’s minority government, said it will also vote against the deal.


Without a transitional agreement in place, EU laws would no longer apply in Britain after the country leaves the bloc on March 29, 2019, potentially triggering bureaucratic chaos and economic damage in both Britain and the EU.


If British lawmakers bloc her deal, the future of her premiership would be further thrown into doubt and a no-deal Brexit would look most likely with no time realistically left for further negotiations.


Several lawmakers have demanded a second referendum on the deal, with the hope that it would lead to Britain not leaving the EU at all. — dpa


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