Brexit deal will strengthen UK, says May, as MPs set date for vote

As Theresa May defends her Brexit deal to a sceptical UK ahead of a December 11 vote, one critic says it’s as “dead as a dodo”.

British PM Theresa May says her Brexit deal is in the national interest. Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn says it’s “an act of national self-harm”. Picture: AFP

British Prime Minister Theresa May has warned that Britain would be thrust into the unknown if parliament rejects the Brexit deal she has negotiated with the EU.

Under the deal secured with EU leaders, Britain will leave the bloc in March with continued close trade ties, but the odds now look stacked against May getting it approved by a divided British parliament.

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As May tried to win over her critics, MPs from both her own Conservatives and from opposition parties attacked the deal, warning that parliament would not support it, and urging her to set out an alternative plan.

“There is not a better deal available,” May told the House of Commons on Monday. “We can back this deal, deliver on the vote of the referendum and move on to building a brighter future … or this House can choose to reject this deal and go back to square one.”

“No-one knows what would happen if this deal doesn’t pass. It would open the door to more division and more uncertainty, with all the risks that will entail.”

Parliament will vote on the deal on December 11 after a total of five days of debate, May’s office said.

May has warned MPs that if they reject it, Britain could face leaving the EU without a deal — something businesses say would hurt the world’s fifth largest economy.

The EU has also been clear that there is very little appetite to reopen the Brexit negotiations if parliament votes it down.

Her plan faces opposition from both eurosceptics and europhiles among her party’s 314 MPs and around 313 MPs from opposition parties.

The 10 MPs of the Democratic Unionist Party, the Northern Irish group that props up May’s minority government, said at the weekend they will vote against the deal.

May needs to win a simple majority in parliament — 320 votes if all active MPs turn out and vote — but former whips, who have long studied parliamentary arithmetic, say the prime minister may end up needing only 305 votes if illnesses and abstentions are accounted for.

“This will never get through … it is as dead as a dodo,” Conservative MP Mark Francois said, adding he agreed with the Sun newspaper’s verdict that the deal was “a surrender”.

“Prime Minister I plead with you, the House of Commons has never ever surrendered to anybody and it won’t start now,” he said.

Asked if May was confident of getting a deal through parliament, her spokesman told reporters: “Yes”.

May said her deal was in the national interest, but opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said ploughing on with a deal that did not have the support of parliament was “an act of national self-harm”.

May’s de facto deputy David Lidington will meet Labour politicians on Monday to discuss the deal, her spokesman said, in a move seen by many as an attempt to win their support.

— Reuters