May could win backing of Northern Irish kingmakers in third Brexit vote: report

[rooster59]

May could win backing of Northern Irish kingmakers in third Brexit vote: report

By Andrew MacAskill

 

FILE PHOTO: British Prime Minister Theresa May walks outside Downing Street, as she faces a vote on Brexit, in London, Britain March 13, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls/File Photo

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May's hopes of getting a Brexit divorce deal through parliament were given a boost on Saturday after a report that the Northern Irish party propping up her government might move towards backing her deal.

 

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which has 10 lawmakers in parliament, is close to changing its position for the first time after receiving a promise that the government would put into law a requirement that there be no divergence between Northern Ireland and Britain, the Spectator magazine said.

 

A cabinet minister involved in the talks with the DUP told the Spectator the chances of the party backing the government's deal were around 60 percent.

 

After two-and-a-half years of tortuous divorce negotiations with the EU, the final outcome is still uncertain with options including a long delay, exiting with May's deal, a disorderly exit without a deal or even another referendum.

 

To get her deal passed through parliament, May must win over dozens of Brexit-supporting rebels in her own Conservative Party and the DUP lawmakers. She is expected bring back the deal for a third vote after two historic defeats.

 

The DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds said the party had good talks with British ministers, including the finance minister, on Friday to see what additional assurances would be needed for them to save her deal.

 

But the opposition Labour Party's finance policy chief John McDonnell said on Saturday he was concerned that Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond's presence during the talks means the government might have offered the DUP money to back the deal.

 

"It will rightfully be seen by the British electorate as corrupt politics and will demean our political system in the eyes of the world," McDonnell said.

 

As talks with the government continued, the DUP said there were still issues to addressed and denied that they were seeking money from the government.

 

The changes would address the DUP's concerns over the backstop - an insurance policy aimed at avoiding controls on the sensitive border between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland. The backstop is the most contentious part of the divorce deal the government has agreed with the EU.

 

THIRD TIME LUCKY?

 

After three dramatic days in parliament this week, lawmakers voted on Thursday to have the government ask the EU for a delay beyond the date Britain is scheduled to leave - March 29.

 

May says she wants to minimise any delay in leaving the EU to just three months, but to achieve that she will need parliament to back her deal at the third time of asking early next week, possibly Tuesday.

 

Her deal, an attempt to keep close relations with the EU while leaving the bloc's formal structures, was defeated by 230 votes in parliament on Jan. 15 and by 149 votes on March 12.

 

She needs 75 lawmakers to change their vote. If she can swing the DUP behind her, along with several dozen hardliners in her own party, she will be getting close to the numbers she needs.

 

Around 20 Conservatives lawmakers are unlikely ever to be satisfied but she may draw in a small number of opposition Labour lawmakers.

 

In another sign of how Brexit continues to reshape loyalties in Britain's politics, a senior Conservative lawmaker quit his local party on Saturday due to disagreements over Brexit.

 

Nick Boles, 53, has been critical of the government's threat to leave the EU without a deal and has faced calls from his local party to be ousted as its candidate for the next general election. {nL8N21308E}

 

Boles said he could remain aligned with the Conservatives in parliament if it is offered "on acceptable terms."

 

At the other end of the political spectrum, Nigel Farage, the politician who probably did more than anyone else to force Britain's referendum on membership of the European Union, joined protesters at the start of a 270-mile march over what they call a betrayal of the Brexit vote. [L8N21309Z]

 

In the pouring rain in Sunderland, northeast England, which was the first place in Britain to declare a vote to leave the EU, Farage, wearing a flat cap and carrying an umbrella, said Brexit was now in danger of being scuttled by the establishment.

 

"We are here in the very week when parliament is doing its utmost to betray the Brexit result," Farage said. "It is beginning to look like it doesn't want to leave and the message from this march is if you think you can walk all over us we will march straight back to you."

 

The march, which began with about 100 people, is due to end at parliament on March 29, the day the United Kingdom was supposed to leave the EU.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-03-17

[melvinmelvin]

Note the language Reuters is using,

29th the day the UK was supposed to leave

not

is supposed to leave

 

 

[Basil B]

3 hours ago, rooster59 said:

A cabinet minister involved in the talks with the DUP told the Spectator the chances of the party backing the government's deal were around 60 percent.

And the DUP say's...

 

More to the point she is still short of 130 odd votes.

[sammieuk1]

Arlene Foster for PM then at least she still plays the same tune on her worn out fiddle????

[Nigel Garvie]

May has taken politics down to a new low level. Using taxpayers money to bribe MPs to vote for her deal both the DUP, and Labour MPs in former "Leave" areas.  This should cause widespread fury, have we just become immune to the dishonesty, duplicity, and shear awfulness of our political leaders. Can the country afford to keep on bribing MPs till she gets her way?

[puipuitom]

1 hour ago, Nigel Garvie said:

Using taxpayers money to bribe MPs to vote for her deal both the DUP, and Labour MPs in former "Leave" areas.  This should cause widespread fury, have we just become immune to the dishonesty, duplicity, and shear awfulness of our political leaders. Can the country afford to keep on bribing MPs till she gets her way?

 

Can your country afford to continmue to disrespect 48,11% of the voters, and so many who felt betrayed, lied to etc?

[rocketman777]

The women is delusional !

[Basil B]

5 minutes ago, puipuitom said:

Can your country afford to continmue to disrespect 48,11% of the voters, and so many who felt betrayed, lied to etc?

Exactly, we save £9 billion,less than £175m half of the £350m per week the Brexiteers promised the NHS

[bomber]

1 hour ago, Nigel Garvie said:

May has taken politics down to a new low level. Using taxpayers money to bribe MPs to vote for her deal both the DUP, and Labour MPs in former "Leave" areas.  This should cause widespread fury, have we just become immune to the dishonesty, duplicity, and shear awfulness of our political leaders. Can the country afford to keep on bribing MPs till she gets her way?

Correct...brexit will go down as the biggest waste of money in UK history...no winners anywhere

[tebee]

So we are going to vote for a deal which neither side likes and cunniling combines the disadvantages of leaving with the disadvantages of remaining just because it is some form of Brexit and so the cons can say they have fulfilled the (illegitimate) democratic mandate ??

 

There is no end to Brexit madness

[Basil B]

7 minutes ago, rocketman777 said:

The women is delusional !

No she is playing poker, but the EU is wise to the fact she has an empty hand, she is threatening them with a disorderly exit and they are going to call her bluff.

[tebee]

31 minutes ago, rocketman777 said:

The women is delusional !

De Spiegel do a nice character assassination on her 

 

 http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/theresa-may-s-brexit-disaster-a-1258101-amp.html

[Baerboxer]

She's trying every dodge, trick, con and bribe in the book for push a crap deal, that's been rejected twice, that the vast majority know is crap and don't want, onto the British people.

 

Why?

 

The simple answer is because it's the only way of papering over the cracks in the Tory party and keeping them together as a party. And to those shysters, nothing else matters.

[joecoolfrog]

3 hours ago, Nigel Garvie said:

May has taken politics down to a new low level. Using taxpayers money to bribe MPs to vote for her deal both the DUP, and Labour MPs in former "Leave" areas.  This should cause widespread fury, have we just become immune to the dishonesty, duplicity, and shear awfulness of our political leaders. Can the country afford to keep on bribing MPs till she gets her way?

Because no other politician , including Farage , ever used the promise of riches to sway the electorate lol.

For all the condemnation of May , nobody has proposed an alternative deal . You either back her or wave goodbye to Brexit , thats the plain fact of the matter.

[joecoolfrog]

1 hour ago, rocketman777 said:

The women is delusional !

Really , it seems to me that the arch Brexiters who still fail to recognise the obvious , are the ones in denial.

[SheungWan]

10 hours ago, joecoolfrog said:

For all the condemnation of May , nobody has proposed an alternative deal . You either back her or wave goodbye to Brexit , thats the plain fact of the matter.

All the alternatives so far have been voted down. The other side of Withdrawal Extension should now look less inviting to the Brexiteers and therefore might concentrate MP's minds. Good to see the uber Brexiteers melting down in the face of this, though some Remainers having a touch of the vapors as well.

[Grouse]

On Andrew Marr yesterday, Hammond hinted that DUP would get even more money for NI if they come on board with May's deal.