Feb. 10 (UPI) — Prime Minister Theresa May plans a “meaningful vote” if no deal on Brexit is reached by the end of this month but the Labor Party is accusing her of “running down the clock.”
May needs Parliament to approve a deal on departing the European Union by March 29.
May will ask the ministers for more time to get legally-binding changes to the hard border with Ireland, which she believes will be enough to secure a majority, the BBC reported Sunday.
And instead of a “meaningful” vote, ministers could be given another series of non-binding votes on possible Brexit alternatives by Feb. 27 with the final vote on whether to approve or reject the deal delayed until the following month.
Housing secretary James Brokenshire it would allowing her more time to come up with a compromise . “I think that gives that sense of timetable, clarity and purpose on what we are doing with the EU — taking that work forward and our determination to get a deal — but equally knowing that role that Parliament very firmly has,” he said on BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.
The Labor Party will attempt to force the government to hold the final, “meaningful vote” by Feb. 26.
Keir Starmer, who is Labor’s shadow Brexit secretary, says he believes the prime minister is “pretending to make progress” on the Irish backstop issue.
