May’s Brussels gains eclipsed by domestic Brexit challenge

Bloomberg

Theresa May’s battle to get her Brexit legislation through Parliament hit a new roadblock as the opposition Labour Party threatened to unite with rebels among her Conservatives, eclipsing the small victory she brought home from a summit of European Union leaders. The UK prime minister returned from Brussels bolstered by encouraging words from her European counterparts, who signaled that a breakthrough in Brexit talks may be possible by year-end — as long as she can convince her fractious cabinet to let her pay the EU a bigger divorce bill.
Her political fragility was underlined when Labour’s Brexit spokesman, Keir Starmer, issued her with an ultimatum: accept major changes to her landmark legislation, or risk defeat. His proposals would give Parliament a veto over the divorce deal, potentially undermining her negotiating strategy. “I believe there is a consensus in Parliament for these changes,” Starmer wrote in the Sunday Times newspaper.
May leads a minority government, and her party is deeply divided over Brexit, with some lawmakers calling for a swift departure without a deal and others fighting to keep the closest possible links to Europe. While fighting rebels in Parliament, May also needs to convince the cabinet to support her next steps in divorce talks, which will remain deadlocked until she agrees to pay the EU billions more as an exit settlement.
Just two weeks ago, May was facing down an attempt to oust her. Her vulnerability at home helped convince European leaders to offer her warm words of support, according to EU officials. Now back home, she needs to figure out how to make concessions in Parliament and to Europe without it costing her job.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who has been mooted as a possible replacement for May, offered his support to the beleaguered prime minister on Monday and said he was “glad” of the more positive than expected attitude among EU leaders at last week’s summit. “The UK has made what we consider to be a pretty good offer,” Johnson said after a speech to a conference in central London. “I suggest to our friends and partners in Brussels that now is the time to get on with it.”
Starmer seeks to enshrine in the legislation the government’s plan for a two-year transition period after Brexit. For now, it’s just a verbal proposal and one that the business sector wants swiftly confirmed. His changes would also weaken provisions that hand sweeping powers to ministers to change laws, protect rights for workers and consumers as well as environmental standards deriving from the EU.
He also wants to ensure that powers coming back from the EU are handed to the semi-autonomous administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. With former Tory cabinet ministers including Ken Clarke, Dominic Grieve and Nicky Morgan backing amendments that align with Labour’s demands, May is likely to offer compromises to secure passage of the bill. The bill was due to be debated last week, until the government said the volume of proposed amendments meant it needed more time. No date has been set for the start of eight days of
debate that it’s been allocated.