May's Brexit hope ebbs
Top ally rejects deal as parliament set to vote on December 11
♦ Trump says deal would harm US-UK ties, benefit EU
♦ May and Corbyn agree to TV debate
♦ EU's top court moved to see if UK can unilaterally reverse Brexit
Theresa May's Brexit deal is "doomed" to fail, a former Tory cabinet minister has said, in the wake of warnings from Donald Trump that the blueprint could hinder trade with the US.
On her part, May rebuked Trump and insisted Britain could strike trade agreements outside the EU as she launched a nationwide tour yesterday to whip up support for the contested Brexit divorce deal.
Prime Minister May headed to Wales and Northern Ireland, hours after US President Trump said it seemed like a "great deal" for the European Union that could block Britain from forging its own trade agreements with the United States.
May has two weeks to convince the public, and, crucially, a divided parliament, before the December 11 vote in the House of Commons that risks ending in a humiliating defeat and sinking the deal.
Trump suggested May had made a mistake by signing an agreement that might impede a future trade deal between London and Washington. "Sounds like a great deal for the EU," he said at the White House.
May on Sunday closed 17 months of complex talks with Brussels by sealing Brexit arrangements with the 27 other EU heads of state and government.
But this tortuous chapter on ending Britain's 45-year involvement in the European project was just the beginning of another struggle. May runs a minority Conservative government and opposition parties, as well as many of her own MPs, are against the deal.
Opposition Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn called the deal "an act of national self-harm".
May, who ducked televised debates during the 2017 snap general election, challenged Corbyn to a TV contest, nominally planned for December 9. Corbyn accepted the challenge.
Meanwhile in Luxembourg, lawyers for a group of Scottish politicians argued before the top European court that the British parliament should have the unilateral power to halt the countdown to Brexit, set for March 29. A court source told AFP that the decision could well be made before the end of the year, but the judges must first decide if the ECJ even accepts jurisdiction in the case.
In a sign of the difficulties facing May, former defence secretary Michael Fallon, once an ultra-loyalist, said Tuesday that the deal gave Britain "the worst of all worlds" and vowed to vote against it on December 11 saying it is doomed to fail in the parliament.