British Prime Minister
Theresa May has postponed a critical vote in the
House of Commons on her
Brexit deal with the
European Union as she tries to wring some last-minute concessions out of the EU.
The House of Commons was supposed to vote on the deal Tuesday evening, but it was widely expected to go down to a resounding defeat as nearly half of Ms. May’s Conservative Party colleagues opposed the deal, along with nearly all opposition MPs. In a statement to MPs on Monday, Ms. May said the vote will be deferred. She did not set a date for the vote, but it must be held by Jan. 21.
“From listening to those views, it is clear that while there is broad support for many of the key aspects of the deal, on one issue – the Northern Ireland backstop – there remains widespread and deep concern,” Ms. May said. “As a result, if we went ahead and held the vote tomorrow the deal would be rejected by a significant margin.”
It’s not clear what, if any, concessions Ms. May might be able to secure. She spent much of the weekend speaking with EU leaders including Donald Tusk, president of the EU Council, which represents the leaders, as well as Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
Ms. May has been trying to find some kind of modification to the Brexit deal that could appease her many critics. EU leaders are to meet this week in a regularly scheduled summit and Ms. May will likely be pressing her case.
Getting any changes won’t be easy. The deal includes two parts: a 585-page withdrawal agreement and a 26-page political declaration which outlines the framework for future negotiations on an agreement on trade, security, immigration and other matters (the U.K. would essentially remain within the EU while the talks progressed). Ms. May and the EU could tinker with the political declaration since it is not binding and only represents an overview for how the future negotiations should proceed. However, the withdrawal agreement is legally binding and the EU has insisted that it cannot be changed. But it’s that document that has caused the most difficulty for Ms. May, particularly among Tory MPs.
The main sticking point is the “backstop” provision. Under the withdrawal agreement, the backstop will be invoked if both sides can’t reach an agreement on the future relationship within three years of the U.K. leaving the EU on March 29. The backstop would keep the U.K. in a customs arrangement with the EU, governing the trade of goods, while talks continued. It would also tie Northern Ireland even closer to the EU to avoid a hard border with Ireland. Many Tory MPs argue the backstop would keep the U.K., and especially Northern Ireland, too closely bound to the EU for years, defeating the objective of Brexit. They also argue the U.K. could not unilaterally pull out of the arrangement and that it has no time limit.
Mr. Varadkar made it clear on Monday that the backstop cannot be changed. “The withdrawal agreement, including the Irish backstop, is the only agreement on the table. It’s not possible to reopen any aspect of that agreement without reopening all aspects,” he told reporters in Dublin.
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who has opposed Brexit, slammed Ms. May for delaying the vote. “Assuming these reports are accurate, this is a watershed moment and an act of pathetic cowardice by a Tory government which has run out of road and is now collapsing into utter chaos,” Ms. Sturgeon said in a statement on Monday. Ms. Sturgeon has also opposed the backstop provision, arguing that if Northern Ireland received special treatment so should Scotland.
Also on Monday, the European Court of Justice ruled that the U.K. can revoke the EU exit mechanism, known as Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, and return to the bloc at any time during the three-year withdrawal process. The court had been asked to rule on the issue by a group of Scottish politicians who had argued that the Article 50 clause wasn’t clear and that the U.K. had the right to revoke it unilaterally, without the consent of other EU members. The court agreed and ruled the U.K. can effectively change its mind and return as a full member.
“This historic ruling paves the way for the disastrous Brexit process to be brought to a halt,” said Catherine Stihler, a Scottish Labour member of the European Parliament who was among those who made the legal challenge. “We now know, beyond any doubt, that Westminster can revoke its withdrawal from the European Union.”
Ms. May and other cabinet ministers have insisted that Article 50 will not be revoked or delayed, and that the U.K. will leave the EU on March 29.