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UK's May seeks more time to find Brexit deal, tells lawmakers: Hold your nerve


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UK's May seeks more time to find Brexit deal, tells lawmakers: Hold your nerve

By Kylie MacLellan and William James

 

2019-02-12T153351Z_1_LYNXNPEF1B1B6_RTROPTP_4_BRITAIN-EU.JPG

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May addresses the media outside 10 Downing Street after it was announced that the Conservative Party will hold a vote of no confidence in her leadership, in London, Britain, December 12, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville/Files

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May told lawmakers on Tuesday to hold their nerve over Brexit and give her more time to negotiate a deal acceptable to both the European Union and the British parliament.

 

The United Kingdom is on course to leave the European Union on March 29 without a deal unless May can persuade the bloc to amend the divorce deal she agreed last year and get it approved by British lawmakers.

 

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

 

The leader of the opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, accused her of running down the clock with sham negotiations to pressure parliament into backing her deal.

 

After talks in Strasbourg at the European Parliament, UK Brexit minister Stephen Barclay said there was "a lot of goodwill on both sides" to achieve a deal.

 

However, Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament's Brexit pointman, said he has yet to hear of a proposal to break the deadlock.

 

"What are these negotiations at a 'crucial state' raised in the House of Commons? The way forward is cross-party, not kicking the can towards a disastrous no deal", he said on Twitter.

 

May's hopes of delivering an on-time Brexit were also undermined by an ITV news report which cited Britain's lead negotiator Olly Robbins as being overheard in a Brussels bar saying: "In the end, they (the EU) will probably just give us an extension".

 

British lawmakers rejected May's withdrawal deal last month, with the major sticking point being the Irish "backstop" - an insurance policy to prevent the return of a hard border between British province Northern Ireland and EU-member Ireland.

 

Critics of the backstop say it could leave Britain subject to EU rules for years after leaving the bloc or even indefinitely.

 

The EU says the backstop is vital to avoiding the return of border controls in Ireland and has refused to reopen the Brexit divorce deal, though May insists she can get legally binding changes to replace the most contentious parts of the backstop.

 

"By getting the changes we need to the backstop; by protecting and enhancing workers' rights and environmental protections; and by enhancing the role of parliament in the next phase of negotiations I believe we can reach a deal that this House can support", May said.

 

The EU's Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, said on Monday the bloc would agree to tweak the political declaration on post-Brexit EU-UK ties that forms part of the exit package, to reflect a plan for a closer future relationship that could remove the need for the backstop.

 

May is pursuing three options in talks with Brussels: negotiating a way for Britain to leave the backstop without needing EU agreement, agreeing a time limit to the backstop, or finding an alternative arrangement that replaces it altogether.

 

RUNNING DOWN THE CLOCK?

Parliament is to hold a debate on Brexit on Feb. 14 but with just 45 days until Britain leaves the bloc it is not expected to change the course of the exit process, and no date has been set for another vote to approve or reject May's deal.

 

May said that if she had not yet reached a deal in Brussels, she would deliver another progress report on Feb. 26 and provide another chance for parliament to express its opinion on her approach the following day.

 

She said she was prepared to speed up other parts of the ratification process of the Brexit deal if time gets too tight to pass legislation before exit day - a move some interpreted as a sign she was willing to keep negotiating until the last moment.

 

Opponents of Brexit argue May is deliberately delaying so lawmakers will be faced with the option of backing her agreement or leaving without a deal, a disorderly exit that businesses fear will cause widespread damage to the economy and jobs.

 

Labour lawmaker Yvette Cooper, one of the leading campaigners against Brexit without a deal, unveiled a new plan to ensure parliament has a chance to vote on ruling out a no-deal scenario.

 

Corbyn told parliament the prime minister has just one real tactic: "to run down the clock hoping Members of this House are blackmailed into supporting a deeply flawed deal".

 

"This is an irresponsible act. She is playing for time and playing with people's jobs, our economic security and the future of our industry"

May later told business leaders in a phone call that extending the Article 50 Brexit process would serve no purpose.

 

(Additional reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, Elizabeth Piper and James Davey in London and Alastair Macdonald in Strasbourg; editing by Janet Lawrence, Frances Kerry and G Crosse)

 

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-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-02-13
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She's done this before, pushed legislation through by delaying until a deadline needs to be met and something has to be done .

 

She's determined to get her crappy deal through by going no time to do anything else.

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Boris was spotted after his cloak of invisibility fell off but he did not mention the better deal out than in crap he was spouting pre referendum all other cloaks of leading  Brexiteers seam to be in place except Gove's chameleon one ????

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I follow this Brexit soap opera every day. Somehow I am surprised that the UK people are not in millions on the streets every day and demand something better than what their government does.

Wait, wait, and wait a little longer. And if we wait long enough something will change. Is that how competent people handle important problems?

The politicians should spend 24/7 to find a good solution. But what do they do? Basically nothing? Do they get paid for doing nothing?

So called first world countries like the UK and USA like to look down on the rest of the world. 555 How would the world look like if everybody would act like idiots like them?

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4 minutes ago, sammieuk1 said:

Boris was spotted after his cloak of invisibility fell off but he did not mention the better deal out than in crap he was spouting pre referendum all other cloaks of leading  Brexiteers seam to be in place except Gove's chameleon one ????

And there are still a lot of people who listen to Boris and support Boris...   I guess an two digit IQ helps to "understand" him.

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She's determined to get her crappy deal through by going no time to do anything else.

It’s been kicked out once already. None of them wanted it, even Remain MPs. She’s supposed to be finding ‘alternative arrangements’. If she and the EU can’t/won’t, then any reincarnation of the same surrender document must be kicked out again.
No Deal and out.


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27 minutes ago, bartender100 said:

I am a British citizen, I voted to leave in a majority, I don't want a deal, I want to leave.

 

The EU is collapsing around itself, I don't want to tie myself to that   

Perhaps you could explain how it would personally benefit you and your fellow UK citizens like myself, because I am struggling to think of anything that would personally benefit me - quite the contrary, in fact.

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Just now, stephenterry said:

Perhaps you could explain how it would personally benefit you and your fellow UK citizens like myself, because I am struggling to think of anything that would benefit me - quite the contrary, in fact.

Have you not looked at whats going on in France, Italy, Holland and to a certain extent Germany? People in the street are sick of un-elected  bureaucrats running their countries, making new laws to suit them self's.

Might not benefit me at all, but I would sooner have a few years of hardship maybe, to be free of them. In the long run people of the UK will be far better off under world trade rules, countries all over the world are itching to deals with us

 

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1085392/brexit-news-latest-no-deal-brexit-italy-trade-deal-bilateral-deal

 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/feb/11/uk-signs-brexit-trade-continuity-deal-with-switzerland

 

 

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6 minutes ago, stephenterry said:

Perhaps you could explain how it would personally benefit you and your fellow UK citizens like myself, because I am struggling to think of anything that would personally benefit me - quite the contrary, in fact.

Are all of your political persuasions based upon the short term benefits to you personally?

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3 hours ago, tebee said:

She's done this before, pushed legislation through by delaying until a deadline needs to be met and something has to be done .

 

She's determined to get her crappy deal through by going no time to do anything else.

I do agree with your comment but we have to give her ""some"" credit for running down the clock.... if it worked before maybe it will work again, I said it 3 weeks ago

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19 minutes ago, bartender100 said:

Have you not looked at whats going on in France, Italy, Holland and to a certain extent Germany? People in the street are sick of un-elected  bureaucrats running their countries, making new laws to suit them self's.

Might not benefit me at all, but I would sooner have a few years of hardship maybe, to be free of them. In the long run people of the UK will be far better off under world trade rules, countries all over the world are itching to deals with us

 

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1085392/brexit-news-latest-no-deal-brexit-italy-trade-deal-bilateral-deal

 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/feb/11/uk-signs-brexit-trade-continuity-deal-with-switzerland

 

 

The UK have an elected bunch of bureaucrats called politicians, with a government who have demonstrated that they are not fit to govern, mainly because they only care about themselves  - like EU bureaucrats  - and not UK citizens who will be collateral damage - and who should also be sick of them. 

 

As far as continuity trade deals go, the UK already has those in place by virtue of being in the single market, but a trade minister warned that not all continuity trade deals currently in place could be agreed before the Brexit withdrawal date. 

 

Just wait until there is a 50km tailback at Dover and at other UK ports for the reality of trade deals to sink in. The UK is proposing that everything from the EU will be waved through without any checks - I doubt that would happen to the UK's goods entering EU countries without imposing tariff costs. 

 

 

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1 hour ago, bartender100 said:

I am a British citizen, I voted to leave in a majority, I don't want a deal, I want to leave.

The one doesn’t have anything to do with the other. You get to leave; whether there’s a deal or not is up to the two parties involved and not what you want. 

 

1 hour ago, bartender100 said:

The EU is collapsing around itself, I don't want to tie myself to that   

No, it isn’t. 

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You cannot blame May for running down the clock. She is fighting for her (and her party) political life here. Most people would do the same in her place.

 

ITV journo overheard the chief negotiator saying it's either the WA or a delayed Brexit and that the vote will be in the last week of March.

 

Hoping it's a delayed Brexit. This will mean it will never happen. 70% of the UK don't want it anyway. 

 

If the UK stays then it gives me more options for retirement (dual AU/UK). I sure as hell ain't gonna live out my days in smoggy CM, nanny state AU or crappy climate UK.

 

As for those deluded, uneducated idiots who voted leave, they can go to hell for all I care.

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1 hour ago, bartender100 said:

Have you not looked at whats going on in France, Italy, Holland and to a certain extent Germany? People in the street are sick of un-elected  bureaucrats running their countries, making new laws to suit them self's.

Might not benefit me at all, but I would sooner have a few years of hardship maybe, to be free of them. In the long run people of the UK will be far better off under world trade rules, countries all over the world are itching to deals with us

 

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1085392/brexit-news-latest-no-deal-brexit-italy-trade-deal-bilateral-deal

 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/feb/11/uk-signs-brexit-trade-continuity-deal-with-switzerland

 

 

You do realise british bureaucrats are also unelected?

 

bureaucracy

/ˌbjʊ(ə)ˈrɒkrəsi/

noun

1. 

a system of government in which most of the important decisions are taken by state officials rather than by elected representatives.

synonyms:civil service, administration, government, directorate, the establishment, the system, the powers that be, corridors of power;

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2 hours ago, bartender100 said:

I am a British citizen, I voted to leave in a majority, I don't want a deal, I want to leave.

I am always confused by statements like this.

If you go out with a girl you can just leave the next morning.

If you live together with her with all your and her belongings in the same house, can you just leave?

How about if you have children, assets, a company together with your wife, can you just leave or are there things to work out like how to divide things, who takes care of the children, etc.?

I think we all heard about divorces and how complicated this can be - with less than 10 people involved.

And now we talk about a country with many millions of people, business relations, contracts, etc. "just leaving".

There is no such thing as just leaving. It's impossible! Why is that so difficult to understand?

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2 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I am always confused by statements like this.

If you go out with a girl you can just leave the next morning.

If you live together with her with all your and her belongings in the same house, can you just leave?

How about if you have children, assets, a company together with your wife, can you just leave or are there things to work out like how to divide things, who takes care of the children, etc.?

I think we all heard about divorces and how complicated this can be - with less than 10 people involved.

And now we talk about a country with many millions of people, business relations, contracts, etc. "just leaving".

There is no such thing as just leaving. It's impossible! Why is that so difficult to understand?

We'll pay a fair price but will expect full refund on monies owed to us.  Settling a figure may be difficult when the EU accounts have not been audited for a generation.

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1 hour ago, bartender100 said:

Have you not looked at whats going on in France, Italy, Holland and to a certain extent Germany? People in the street are sick of un-elected  bureaucrats running their countries, making new laws to suit them self's.

Might not benefit me at all, but I would sooner have a few years of hardship maybe, to be free of them. In the long run people of the UK will be far better off under world trade rules, countries all over the world are itching to deals with us

 

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1085392/brexit-news-latest-no-deal-brexit-italy-trade-deal-bilateral-deal

 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/feb/11/uk-signs-brexit-trade-continuity-deal-with-switzerland

 

 

The French in particular are rebelling against their own government NOT the EU. That is what we should have been doing this last decade. Brexiter morons are too stupid to understand. They will FEEL or smell or taste the truth if this proceeds.

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That’s a question that should be put to the hedge fund managers/owners and handful of businessmen who bank rolled Brexit.

Yes, those businessmen who don’t enjoy cheap EU Labour. They didn’t cough up enough. Vote Leave spent 6.7m
Dodgy Dave spent 9m on his govt Project Fear leaflet alone. Stronger on Europe was 7m too. The amount of free Remain propaganda from The beeb, Brussels Biased Collective and combined MSM must have been incalculable.


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4 minutes ago, nanglong218 said:

But they answer to elected Cabinet ministers who eventually must face the British electorate.

In much the same way as EU bureaucrats answer to the European parliament, whose elected European MPs must face the electorate...

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