Under pressure, Britain's May scrambles to win support for Brexit deal

[webfact]

Under pressure, Britain's May scrambles to win support for Brexit deal

By Elizabeth Piper and Kate Holton

 

FILE PHOTO: British Prime Minister Theresa May listens ahead of a vote on Brexit in Parliament in London, Britain, March 13, 2019, in this screen grab taken from video. Reuters TV via REUTERS/File Photo

 

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May's government was scrambling on Sunday to get support in parliament for her Brexit deal at the third time of asking, aiming to persuade doubters with threats and promises to avoid any move to oust her.

 

After parliament backed a move to delay Brexit, May still has only three days to win approval for her deal to leave the European Union if she wants to go to a summit with the bloc's leaders on Thursday with something to offer them in return for more time.

 

Stepping up the pressure on the prime minister, Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main opposition Labour Party, said he could trigger another confidence vote in May's government if she fails again to get her deal approved by parliament.

 

Almost three years since Britain voted to leave the EU in a referendum, the country is no clearer about how and when it will leave the bloc, with several outcomes possible, from exiting without a deal to Brexit never happening at all.

 

May's warning that if parliament again votes against her deal -- which has already been crushed twice by lawmakers -- that Britain could face a long delay and would need to take part in European elections in May seemed to be winning some over.

 

But her finance minister, Philip Hammond, said she was not in the clear yet.

 

"What has happened ... is that a significant number of colleagues ... have changed their view on this and decided that the alternatives are so unpalatable to them that they on reflection think the prime minister's deal is the best way to deliver Brexit," he told BBC's Andrew Marr programme.

 

Asked if the government had enough numbers yet, he replied: "Not yet, it is a work in progress."

 

Many Brexit supporters in May's Conservative Party say the key to whether they will back her deal is the agreement of the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which props up the prime minister's minority government in parliament.

 

May needs 75 lawmakers to change their vote after it was crushed first in January by 230 lawmakers and then by 149 on March 12.

 

The DUP's 10 lawmakers could sway a large segment of a pro-Brexit Conservative grouping, several lawmakers say, but even then, she would still probably also have to get some Labour lawmakers on board as well.

 

NO MONEY

Hammond said talks were continuing with the DUP to find ways of reassuring the party that any future border arrangements with EU member Ireland would not mean that Northern Ireland might be split away from the rest of Britain.

 

He denied the government would offer the DUP money to back the deal.

 

Until it is clear that the support is there, trade minister Liam Fox said, the government will not have the vote, which is widely expected to be held on Tuesday.

 

"It would be difficult to justify having a vote if we knew we were going to lose it," Fox told Sky News.

 

With a threat that will no doubt focus ministers' minds, Corbyn said he would try to force a confidence vote against the government if the prime minister failed to win approval for it and tried to further run "down the clock".

 

"I think at that point a confidence motion would be appropriate. At that point we should say there has to be a general election," he said.

 

There were signs that some Brexit supporters were shifting their views, fearful that if the deal failed, Brexit would never take place.

 

"The choice before us is this deal or no Brexit whatsoever and to not have Brexit would go against the democratic vote of the people," said Esther McVey, a Brexit supporter who resigned from May's government last year in protest against May's deal.

 

"We're going to have to hold our nose and vote for it."

 

(Writing by Elizabeth Piper)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-03-18

[tebee]

Oddly enough, making May's deal palatable to the DUP - permanent alignment between UK/NI - should make it unpalatable to the likes of ERG as the backstop will result in that meaning permanent alignment to the EU as well.

 

 

I wonder if the ERG has sussed this out yet - BINO in it's worst possible form, just so the can say we got Brexit 

[Laughing Gravy]

Just do us all a favour and resign. It would be the only decent thing she could do unless you are working for the EU.

 

[Grouse]

38 minutes ago, Laughing Gravy said:

Just do us all a favour and resign. It would be the only decent thing she could do unless you are working for the EU.

 

Who? 

 

Everyone who doesn't agree with you?

 

We NEED consensus 

[Laughing Gravy]

2 hours ago, Grouse said:

Who? 

 

Everyone who doesn't agree with you?

 

We NEED consensus 

Have you woke up from the wrong side of the bed. Yes I would like her to go as I know many others would.  It would seem the HOC don't agree with her and it is now for a 3rd time she is trying to peddle her deal. 

 

Kicking the can down the road is definitely what she is doing.

You are just worried that a brexiteer would be PM.

 

Consensus, is that a term remainers use to try and stop a referendum result, because it looks like that to me.

[Thingamabob]

May and Hammond are Remainers and are working steadily to undermine the Leave majority. End result will be that the UK finishes up half in half out, ie May's deal, a disgrace that will sour relationships in the UK for years to come.

[soalbundy]

Her knees must be red raw, she's been on them more often than a bar girl in Pattaya.

[soalbundy]

3 hours ago, Grouse said:

Who? 

 

Everyone who doesn't agree with you?

 

We NEED consensus 

Or logic

[mike787]

breaking news: Under pressure, Britain's May scrambles to win support for Brexit deal...ok, so what?  Win or loose...life goes on!

[Kieran00001]

1 hour ago, Laughing Gravy said:

It would seem the HOC don't agree with her

 

The vote of no confidence she survived is not all that long ago, it would seem that although they do not agree with the deals she has presented they still do agree with her keeping her position.

[Kieran00001]

46 minutes ago, Thingamabob said:

May and Hammond are Remainers and are working steadily to undermine the Leave majority. End result will be that the UK finishes up half in half out, ie May's deal, a disgrace that will sour relationships in the UK for years to come.

 

More likely a long delay and then another referendum which ends this senseless pandering to what is now the minority.

[Laughing Gravy]

5 minutes ago, Kieran00001 said:

 

More likely a long delay and then another referendum which ends this senseless pandering to what is now the minority.

You are talking absolute rubbish. The Minority. Maybe with the MP's but they are self serving. Show us were this new evidence is and please don't show a YouGov poll that was probably conducted at the students union bar.

[Loiner]

 
The vote of no confidence she survived is not all that long ago, it would seem that although they do not agree with the deals she has presented they still do agree with her keeping her position.

Her last vote of confidence was only 325 to 306. It generally reflects the balance within the HOC. Of course they all reverted to simple party politics, so the Tories won.
Confidence and support of a third vote on her surrender document, which has proved over its last two outings to be a different kettle of fish, and would have to swing significantly to change from her previous disasters.


Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Kieran00001]

19 minutes ago, Laughing Gravy said:

You are talking absolute rubbish. The Minority. Maybe with the MP's but they are self serving. Show us were this new evidence is and please don't show a YouGov poll that was probably conducted at the students union bar.

 

This graph plots all the polls from January 2018 to March 2019, there's been loads, each dot represents a poll, the results are clear, Remain has been in the majority for the past 12 months.

 

[Laughing Gravy]

8 minutes ago, Kieran00001 said:

 

This graph plots all the polls from January 2018 to March 2019, there's been loads, each dot represents a poll, the results are clear, Remain has been in the majority for the past 12 months.

 

Would that be the same polls that has remain winning all the way through to the referendum, in 2016. I don't believe polls as they have historically been shown, to be false.

[Grouse]

2 hours ago, Laughing Gravy said:

Have you woke up from the wrong side of the bed. Yes I would like her to go as I know many others would.  It would seem the HOC don't agree with her and it is now for a 3rd time she is trying to peddle her deal. 

 

Kicking the can down the road is definitely what she is doing.

You are just worried that a brexiteer would be PM.

 

Consensus, is that a term remainers use to try and stop a referendum result, because it looks like that to me.

Ask Farage

 

 

????????????

[Laughing Gravy]

2 minutes ago, Grouse said:

Ask Farage

 



 

????????????

It will have to wait until I get home and use a VPN.

[sammieuk1]

Has Boris vaporised as this must his easy deal that keeps falling apart ???? 

[Basil B]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

May needs 75 lawmakers to change their vote after it was crushed first in January by 230 lawmakers and then by 149 on March 12.

She needs to turn 65 of 75 Tory MP's who voted against her last week if she can win over the DUP, else she needs to turn every single one of those 75...

 

But even then she is not out of the woods, that was with 4 independent and 3 Labour MP's I am sure the Labour rebels are being "whipped" back in to line too...

 

So assume if the DUP were just to abstain she is unlikely to win by more 2 votes.

 

Lost of if's and I would say at this time the result she had last week was the best she could have hoped for as it seems her party is now falling apart like a circus clowns car. 

 

Already talk of Tuesdays vote being put off unless the DUP is on side, more to the point she need every one of her MP's to walk through the "yes" lobby that is just not going to happen.

 

roll on Thursday... TM asks for an extension.

 

[malagateddy]

Roll on the 29th..then she and the rest of the backstabbers will get a taste of the truth from normal people who voted to LEAVE.


Sent from my SM-G7102 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Kieran00001]

1 hour ago, Laughing Gravy said:

Would that be the same polls that has remain winning all the way through to the referendum, in 2016. I don't believe polls as they have historically been shown, to be false.

 

Pray tell, what evidence were you expecting when you made your request?

[Kieran00001]

23 minutes ago, malagateddy said:

Roll on the 29th..then she and the rest of the backstabbers will get a taste of the truth from normal people who voted to LEAVE.


Sent from my SM-G7102 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

 

What is that supposed to mean?

[dick dasterdly]

"The choice before us is this deal or no Brexit whatsoever and to not have Brexit would go against the democratic vote of the people," said Esther McVey, a Brexit supporter who resigned from May's government last year in protest against May's deal.

"We're going to have to hold our nose and vote for it."

 

Really?  Precisely why?

 

[dick dasterdly]

1 hour ago, Kieran00001 said:

 

This graph plots all the polls from January 2018 to March 2019, there's been loads, each dot represents a poll, the results are clear, Remain has been in the majority for the past 12 months.

 

If MPs believed these polls, then why are the vast majority of MPs still not keen on another referendum?

 

Bearing in mind they support remain, you would have thought that they'd be jumping at the chance for another referendum!  And yet, for some reason they're not.....  It seems obvious (to me) that they're not as convinced as yourself by these polls.....

 

They've probably learned their lesson from the pre-referendum polls ????.  So now they need to learn that when they deliberately ignore a democratic referendum, they lose any little respect they previously held with the electorate.

[dick dasterdly]

46 minutes ago, Basil B said:

She needs to turn 65 of 75 Tory MP's who voted against her last week if she can win over the DUP, else she needs to turn every single one of those 75...

 

But even then she is not out of the woods, that was with 4 independent and 3 Labour MP's I am sure the Labour rebels are being "whipped" back in to line too...

 

So assume if the DUP were just to abstain she is unlikely to win by more 2 votes.

 

Lost of if's and I would say at this time the result she had last week was the best she could have hoped for as it seems her party is now falling apart like a circus clowns car. 

 

Already talk of Tuesdays vote being put off unless the DUP is on side, more to the point she need every one of her MP's to walk through the "yes" lobby that is just not going to happen.

 

roll on Thursday... TM asks for an extension.

 

Both tory and labour are falling apart like circus clowns.....

[dick dasterdly]

42 minutes ago, malagateddy said:

Roll on the 29th..then she and the rest of the backstabbers will get a taste of the truth from normal people who voted to LEAVE.


Sent from my SM-G7102 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

Possibly, but I expect the backlash will be more clear at the next GE.

[welovesundaysatspace]

47 minutes ago, malagateddy said:

Roll on the 29th..then she and the rest of the backstabbers will get a taste of the truth from normal people who voted to LEAVE.

 

[Basil B]

9 minutes ago, dick dasterdly said:

Both tory and labour are falling apart like circus clowns.....

I suppose you could say Brexit is falling a part like a Circus Clowns Car...

[dick dasterdly]

3 minutes ago, Basil B said:

I suppose you could say Brexit is falling a part like a Circus Clowns Car...

Yes, I agree with this to a certain extent.  Entirely due to MPs and the uk govt. doing everything in their power to stop a genuine brexit.

 

When even supposed leave MPs are talking about supporting the may/eu deal (even though both leavers and remainers agree that it is the worst deal possible) - it's time to get seriously annoyed!

[Basil B]

18 minutes ago, dick dasterdly said:

If MPs believed these polls, then why are the vast majority of MPs still not keen on another referendum?

 

Bearing in mind they support remain, you would have thought that they'd be jumping at the chance for another referendum!  And yet, for some reason they're not.....  It seems obvious (to me) that they're not as convinced as yourself by these polls.....

 

They've probably learned their lesson from the pre-referendum polls ????.  So now they need to learn that when they deliberately ignore a democratic referendum, they lose any little respect they previously held with the electorate.

Last week their was a proposed amendment calling for a Referendum, Labour MP's were told to vote it down.

Yet the week before Corbyn indicated they would support a referendum, and yesterday;

Quote

Labour’s tensions over Brexit look set to be exposed again this week, as the campaign for a second referendum reaches a moment of truth in parliament.

Jeremy Corbyn appeared to signal on Sunday that his party would back an amendment aimed at securing a second Brexit referendum, set to be tabled this week – but also stressed that Labour had not ruled out tabling another vote of no confidence and still hoped to secure its own, softer Brexit deal.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/mar/17/brexit-labour-likely-to-back-public-vote-on-mays-deal-says-corbyn