May asks lawmakers for more time on Brexit

LONDON (AP):

British Prime Minister Theresa May urged restive lawmakers yesterday to hold their nerve and give her more time to rework a Brexit divorce agreement with the European Union (EU).

With Britain’s departure from the bloc just 45 days away, May tried to avert a rebellion Thursday when Parliament votes again on Brexit by promising another series of votes two weeks later. That date, however, is just a month before the United Kingdom (UK) is due to leave the EU on March 29.

Some lawmakers want to use Thursday’s votes to impose conditions on May’s Conservative government in an attempt to rule out a cliff-edge ‘no deal’ Brexit that would see Britain crash out of the EU without a framework for smooth future relations.

May sought to buy time, telling lawmakers they would get another chance to alter her course on February 27 if she had not secured changes to the Brexit deal by then.

“We must agree a deal that this House can support, and that is what I am working to achieve,” she told the House of Commons in an update on Brexit negotiations.

“The talks are at a crucial stage,” May added. “We now all need to hold our nerve to get the changes this House requires and deliver Brexit on time.”

But the opposition was having none of this.

“Our country is facing the biggest crisis in a generation, and yet, the prime minister continues to recklessly run down the clock,” said Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Parliament last month rejected May’s Brexit deal with the EU, in part over a contentious plan to keep a seamless border between the UK’s Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland after Brexit.

Backstop

The measure, known as the backstop, is a safeguard that would keep the UK in a customs union with the EU and remove the need for checks along the border until a permanent new trading relationship is in place.

Pro-Brexit British lawmakers fear it could trap the UK in regulatory lockstep with the EU, unable to strike new trade deals around the world.

May and other Cabinet ministers are holding talks with senior EU officials in an attempt to add a time limit or an exit clause to the backstop.

But EU leaders insist the legally binding withdrawal agreement can’t be changed.