Theresa May signs up for last-ditch Brexit deal, but A-G has doubts
British Prime Minister Theresa May hopes her last-gasp fresh concession from the EU will be enough to have her Brexit bill get through parliament today.
British Prime Minister Theresa May was hoping her last-gasp fresh concession from the EU was enough to have allowed her Brexit bill to pass through parliament this morning, calling for the country to be united.
But last night Mrs May’s Attorney-General, Geoffrey Cox, delivered his assessmenton the latest legal agreement between the EU and the UK and it failed to provide the clarity Mrs May had been looking for to win over scores of wavering MPs before this morning’s vote, scheduled for 6am (AEDT).
Mr Cox said the legal risk remained “unchanged”, adding that if there were “intractable” differences between the parties, the UK would have “no internationally lawful means of exiting” the backstop. However, he added the new joint instrument was legally binding and he had no doubt that it reinforced the substantive and binding reinforcement of the legal rights available to Britain.
“I consider the legally binding provisions reduce the risk that the UK could be indefinitely and involuntary detained if it is bought about by bad faith,’’ he said in his opinion. But he added: “The legal risk remains unchanged if, because of no demonstrable failure of either party but simply because of intractable differences that situation does arise, the UK would have at least, while the fundamental circumstances remained the same, no internationally lawful means of exiting the protocols arrangements, save by agreement.’’
The DUP and hard-core Brexiteers will seize on Mr Cox’s opinion that the fresh documents only reduce the risk, and not eliminate it.
The EU leaders have warned that this is the final chance for Brexit: European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said there would be no third chance and mirrored Mrs May’s threats that the choice was for this Brexit or none at all.
“In politics, sometimes you get a second chance,’’ Mr Juncker said. “There will be no third chance.” He added a warning: “It is this deal or Brexit might not happen at all.’’
On the eve of this morning’s vote, there was much anger that Mrs May had failed to completely rid the Brexit bill of European control if the Irish backstop is implemented. Overnight, there was expected to be much wrangling as various camps of Leavers and Remainers sought the votes of the uncertain. The result was expected to be much closer than the 230-margin defeat of January’s first meaningful vote.
Mrs May had flown to Strasbourg on Monday night to meet with Mr Juncker and in a last-ditch deal after many weeks of bruising encounters the two agreed to a new legal document.
Mrs May insisted that the legal text would allow Britain to complain and exit the backstop if the EU sought to trap it and that Britain could unilaterally leave the backstop if talks on a future relationship broke down.
Others suggested the legal document was nothing more than “gloss’’. Democratic Unionist MP Jim Shannon said the legal document was the “emperor’s new clothes’’. “We just hope the emperor’s clothes won’t reveal something very embarrassing for the Prime Minister,’’ he said.
Irish leader Leo Varadkar told Mr Juncker he was prepared to back the new legal documents “in the interests of an overall deal’’.
Hours before the vote due to be held at 6am AEDT, the most vocal critics of the Brexit deal, the European Research Group within the Conservative Party and the DUP, were still considering their response to the last-minute developments.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the agreement with the European Commission “does not contain anything approaching the changes Mrs May promised parliament, and whipped her MPs to vote for’ … Since her Brexit deal was so overwhelmingly rejected, the Prime Minister has recklessly run down the clock, failed to effectively negotiate with the EU and refused to find common ground for a deal parliament could support.’’
If the withdrawal bill is not passed, parliament will this week debate whether to eliminate a no-deal Brexit, which comes into effect on March 29.
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