LONDON (AP) — British lawmakers were voting Thursday on whether to scuttle the already dwindling chances the U.K. will leave the European Union this month as scheduled, but EU officials warned they would only allow a delay if the country made a fundamental shift in its approach to Brexit.
The vote in Parliament was on whether to seek a delay of at least three months to Brexit, which currently is due to take place March 29. The legislative defeats have shredded May’s authority and obliterated her control of a fractious Conservative minority government. On Wednesday, a dozen government ministers abstained rather than support May’s bid to keep a no-deal Brexit as an option, while another voted against, and resigned.
Prime Minister Theresa May grudgingly granted the vote after Parliament twice rejected her EU divorce deal and also ruled out leaving the EU without an agreement. Withdrawing from the EU without a deal could mean major disruptions for businesses and people in the U.K. and the 27 remaining countries.
Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said the EU needed «more decisions» from London. May’s British opponents are trying to break the deadlock by grabbing the Brexit controls away from her, although it’s far from clear if Britain’s divided Parliament can agree on a way forward.
May has refused to abandon her unpopular deal, and is seeking to win over opponents in her own party and its Northern Irish political ally, the Democratic Unionist Party. Alan Wager, a researcher at the U.K. in a Changing Europe think tank, said May faced a struggle to overturn a 149-vote margin of defeat in Parliament this week. ard.
Britain’s debate over leaving the EU was «tearing the country apart.» The EU, meanwhile, is reluctant to postpone Brexit beyond the late May elections for the European Parliament, because that would mean Britain taking part even as it prepares to leave.
The bloc is more open to a long delay to allow Britain to radically change course — an idea favored by pro-EU British lawmakers who want to maintain close ties with the EU. European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted that he will appeal to EU leaders «to be open to a long extension if the U.K. finds it necessary to rethink its Brexit strategy and build consensus about it.» The EU has also warned that Parliament voting against no-deal Brexit isn’t enough to stop it. By law, Britain will leave the EU on March 29, with or without a deal, unless it cancels Brexit or secures a delay.
Conservative lawmaker George Freeman suggested that May had been so damaged by Brexit that she should promise to quit to get her deal through. «This chaos can’t continue,» Freeman said in a tweet. «Something has to give.»
Associated Press writer Raf Casert in Brussels contributed. Photo made by >Associated Press.
