MPs reject Brexit deal timetable
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson yesterday said he would pause efforts to pass his Brexit deal, after MPs gave their preliminary approval for it but rejected his timetable to push it through parliament this week.
“We will pause this legislation,” Johnson told lawmakers, adding he would consult with European Union leaders about a further Brexit delay but insisted Britain should still leave the bloc as scheduled on October 31, AFP reports.
The BBC added that earlier the PM had warned he would seek an election if MPs dismissed the plan and the EU granted an extension to 31 October Brexit deadline.
It said Johnson told MPs he was “disappointed” they had “voted for delay”, and said the UK “now faced further uncertainty”.
Johnson, however, maintains that the Brexit deal would go ahead at the end of the month.
The latest development comes after the EU said yesterday it believed it had done “all in our power” to ensure an orderly Brexit and that a new divorce deal now depended on the approval of British MPs before any European ratification.
Expressing regret that Britain planned to leave the EU on October 31, European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker earlier said dealing with Brexit during his five-year mandate was a “waste of time and energy.”
“At least we can look ourselves in the eyes and say that we have done all in our power to make sure that this departure is orderly,” he said.
He and European Council President Donald Tusk, addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg, said developments in the British parliament in Westminster would be decisive on how Brexit proceeds.
“We need now to watch events in Westminster very closely,” Juncker said. “It’s not possible, not imaginable that this (European) parliament will ratify the agreement before Westminster will have ratified the agreement.”
Tusk told the European Parliament that “the situation is quite complex” and he was consulting EU leaders on how to react.”
“It is obvious that the result of these consultations will very much depend on what the British parliament decides, or doesn’t decide. We should be ready for every scenario,” he said.
The UK is entering a cliffhanger finale to a drama that has divided families and embittered politics ever since voters backed a split from Britain’s 27 EU allies and trading partners in 2016.
Johnson has set himself a very high bar by promising that he will get Brexit done -- “do or die’” -- by the twice-delayed October 31 departure date.
The Conservative leader had hoped that the parliament would give initial support to a Brexit bill that translates the revised withdrawal agreement he struck with Brussels last week into UK law.
He also hoped that the lower House of Commons commits to passing the entire legislation in three days -- a heavy lift for a 110-page text designed to unwind 46 years of intricate EU-UK ties. Yesterday’s failure is a devastating blow to Johnson.
Parliament has already forced Johnson to request a three-month extension that European leaders will consider once they get a clearer picture of how the battles in parliament play out.
The extra time might allow opposition lawmakers to try and secure much closer future trade relations with the bloc than the firmer break envisioned by Johnson.
Pro-European Britons have also held massive rallies in London demanding a second Brexit referendum, which could allow for the result of the first to be overturned.
But the delay gives Johnson a fresh stab at an early election designed to give him the parliamentary majority needed to avoid these scenarios and get his legislation through.
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