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As Prime Minister Theresa May meets her Cabinet to find a way out of the Brexit impasse, members of Parliament are maneuvering to try to prevent a no-deal split in 10 days. The latest twist could end up boosting May’s chances of getting her unpopular deal over the line if it convinces Brexiteers their choice is between the premier’s plan and a long delay.
Key Developments:
- MPs are trying to pass a bill that would prevent a no-deal exit (1 p.m.)
- May is meeting Cabinet to find way forward after Parliament failed to find a consensus
- PM still wants to put her deal to a fourth vote, her spokesman says (11:30 a.m.)
- Dutch PM Rutte says no-deal is a "probability," as EU sets its conditions for a delay
- Pound falls
Macron Says Long Extension Isn’t Automatic (3 p.m.)
French President Emmanuel Macron said a long Brexit extension is "not evident or automatic." But he’s open to new British proposals on the way forward, including new elections, a referendum, or a different future relationship such as a customs union with the bloc.
“We cannot spend months working out the modalities of a divorce," said the French president, who has tended to be among the most hardline leaders in discussions on Brexit. "We cannot be held hostage to a British political problem.”
Parliament’s failure to find a new consensus "puts us on a path to hard Brexit," Macron said in Paris, speaking alongside Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar.
Varadkar, echoing Macron and also comments from the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier, said changes can be made to the agreement covering the future relationship as a way out of the impasse. “If the United Kingdom changes its red lines, we can make changes to the future relationship.”
The trouble is, Parliament showed again on Monday that there’s no majority for any kind of Brexit as lawmakers are deeply split and increasingly entrenched.
Germans Lose Patience (2:40 p.m.)
“There has to be a decision now,” Ralph Brinkhaus, leader of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic-led caucus in the Bundestag, told reporters in Berlin. While the chancellor remains keen to avoid a no-deal Brexit, German lawmakers are saying enough is enough.
“We have reached a state where one has to conclude that the British parliamentarians are not fully doing justice to their responsibility anymore,” said Michael Grosse-Broemer, parliamentary whip for Merkel’s CDU.
What the Cooper-Letwin Move Means for May (1 p.m.)
Two high-profile lawmakers, Oliver Letwin and Yvette Cooper, are leading a push to force the government to extend the U.K.’s EU membership to avoid a disruptive no-deal divorce. The bill will be debated on Wednesday and, if it passes, by Thursday a no-deal Brexit could be a legal impossibility.
Businesses and markets, spooked by the risk of leaving the EU without an agreement, will welcome the development. But its also potentially good news for May and her chances of getting her unloved deal through Parliament at the fourth attempt.
The pro-Brexit hardliners are still holding out for a no-deal exit -- they want a clean break -- but if the bill takes that option off the table the choice they will face will be stark: a long extension which could end up reversing Brexit altogether, or May’s compromise deal.
And Speaker John Bercow just blocked the Brexiteers first attempt to stop the bill when he rejected Bill Cash’s claim that it would be "unconstitutional" for such a bill to be "rammed through in one day." Putting legislation through in one day "is not unusual at all,” Bercow said.
Cooper and Letwin Move to Stop No-Deal (12:30 p.m.)
A cross-party group of MPs will present a bill on Tuesday that would force the government to seek an extension to EU membership to avoid a no-deal exit.
Spearheaded by Labour’s Yvette Cooper and Tory Oliver Letwin, the move comes after Parliament failed to find a consensus that could rival May’s own Brexit deal. Letwin has already secured parliamentary time on Wednesday, which could be used to debate this bill.
Any extension would have to be agreed by the EU, which has said it will accept a delay as long as certain conditions are met.
May Keeps Fighting For Her Brexit Deal (11:30 a.m.)
May doesn’t want a long extension of EU membership and still rejects the idea of a second referendum, her spokesman James Slack told reporters on Tuesday. She’s determined to get the deal over the line.
May will put her deal back to Parliament again, but only if there’s a chance of success, he said. (He said the same before the last attempt, which then failed.)
Earlier:
Brexit Bulletin: No Way Out Europe Can’t Mitigate all Effects of a Hard Brexit: Dombrovskis
