UK admits Brexit talks in deadlock

Bloomberg

Theresa May’s government declared Brexit talks are “deadlocked” as ministers urged the European Union to make a last minute concession to stop the deal being thrown out by Parliament this week.
May’s office said on Monday that she spoke to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker by telephone late on Sunday, but the prime minister is not planning to travel to Brussels because no progress is being made in the negotiations.
The gloomy assessment from Downing Street followed appeals from Cabinet minister Andrea Leadsom, a leading Brexit supporter, for “one last heave” by British and EU negotiators to help win a crucial vote on the exit deal in Parliament on Tuesday.
Leadsom appealed to Labour, Conservative and Scottish Nationalist Party members to back the deal and defer seeking changes until they debate legislation in the weeks ahead.
“I think we all need to support the prime minister,” Leadsom said in an interview. That would mean “that we can move on” while leaving open the possibility to “potentially amend how we do this,” she said. While negotiations are continuing, the stalemate follows an offer from the EU on Friday, which was instantly rejected by the British side.
If May’s deal is voted down this week, Parliament will then get a vote on whether to delay Brexit to avoid a chaotic no-deal exit. Pound investors are already pricing in postponement, which could allow lawmakers time to push for a softer Brexit, or even scrap the divorce altogether.
Some members of Parliament are telling May to pull the vote because they expect a defeat on a similar scale to the historic defeat she suffered in January, the Times reported. The prime minister has warned that a defeat risks scuttling her blueprint for Brexit and replacing it with a scaled-down plan, potentially keeping the UK inside the EU’s single market and customs union.