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Bloomberg
British Prime Minister Theresa May promised to renegotiate the most contentious part of her Brexit deal after it was ripped up by Parliament. She will now head to Brussels to face European Union officials who have already warned they won’t even consider her demands, with the threat of economic chaos still looming over her country.
In a series of votes, the House of Commons chose to dispatch May with a mission to change the so-called Irish backstop section of the Withdrawal Agreement she spent 18 months stitching together. The premier has two weeks to make enough progress to placate her divided Conservative Party before facing Parliament again.
Members of Parliament also rejected leaving the EU without an agreement in place, the “no-deal Brexit†that’s causing panic among executives and some ministers in May’s government. But politicians in the House of Commons stopped short of taking action to prevent a no-deal split, simply saying that they didn’t want that scenario. The pound fell, a recognition that such an outcome had become more likely.
However, Business Minister Richard Harrington on Wednesday said many ministers like him would resign if May failed to reach a new plan with the EU and opted for a no-deal exit in two weeks’ time.
“No deal is the worst of any evils. It’s an absolute disaster for this country and we’ve got to do anything we can to avoid it,†he told Sky News. May is expected to return to Brussels to begin her work this week. She promised to bring a deal back to Parliament for a say by February 13, or if not, to give members another opportunity to vote a day later.
Top of her list of changes is an overhaul of the back-up plan for the Irish border. This was always the most testy part of the exit package and minutes after
the votes May received a sharp reality check.