The UK Prime Minister has issued a personal plea to the leader of the opposition following a backlash over her last-ditch compromise on Brexit.
The ten-point plan Theresa May announced yesterday has been dismissed by every group she was attempting to woo – including the UK Labour Party, the DUP and Tory Brexiteers.
She will continue to make her case in the House of Commons today; however, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said he won’t be backing a plan he described as a “rehash” of old ideas.
The plan has also upset a number of Conservative Party members – as it includes a pledge to allow MPs the chance to vote on whether to hold a second referendum.
Our new Brexit deal makes a ten-point offer to everyone in Parliament who wants to deliver the result of the referendum.#LetsGetThisDone https://t.co/oWERKA4adE pic.twitter.com/PMCpzlb0Wy
— Theresa May (@theresa_may) May 21, 2019
In her letter to the Labour leader, Mrs May warned that the upcoming vote on the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement was the “last chance” to deliver the UKs exit from the EU.
“I have shown today that I am willing to compromise to deliver Brexit for the British people,” she said.
“The WAB (Withdrawal Agreement Bill) is our last chance to do so.
“I ask you to compromise too so that we can deliver what both our parties promised in our manifesto and restore faith in our politics.”
Within hours of announcing the plan, the scale of the task in front of Mrs May became even clearer – with a number Tory MPs that has supported previous versions pledging to reject the latest attempt.
There were even those who questioned whether it would ever be tabled given the opposition.
Meanwhile, the DUP, which has been propping up Mrs May’s minority Government under a confidence and supply arrangement, said it remained opposed as it felt the deal still had “fatal flaws.”
Theresa May's new Brexit deal is a rehash of her old bad deal and Labour cannot support it. pic.twitter.com/C5W1jalDWU
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) May 21, 2019
Speaking last night, Mr Corbyn said Labour would not be backing the deal.
“We can’t support this bill because it is basically a rehash of what was discussed before,” he said.
“It doesn’t make any fundamental moves on market alignment on market alignment or the customs unions or indeed protection of rights – particularly in relation to consumer rights and the quality of the food that we will eat in the future.
“There is also, of course, the question of the deliverability of it.
“The prime minister has already indicated she is going to leave office; many of her own MPs have said they can’t support the bill; I can’t see how it can get through Parliament anyway.
“No, we will not be supporting it.”
The UK Parliament showdown is scheduled for the first week of June – when Mrs May attempts to get MPs to pass the WAB into law.
