Brussels, Dec 14 (UNI) The UK government told the European Union it must compromise on its opposition to Prime Minister Theresa May’s plans or risk a “no deal” Brexit, as the timeline for reaching an agreement slipped back.
Theresa May appealed directly to EU leaders to help her save her Brexit deal, insisting that it is the only one that can win a majority in parliament — but offered no clear path for securing it, Politico reported
Addressing her fellow heads of government at the European Council summit in Brussels Thursday, May repeated her call for fresh assurances on the controversial backstop plan — a key component of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement designed to avoid the need for a hard border on the island of Ireland.
She said the EU could help change MPs' minds on the backstop with the right assurances and warned that unless attitudes among Conservative Brexiteers and the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party could be shifted, the U.K. risked an "accidental no deal, with all the disruption that would bring."
"But we have to change the perception that the backstop could be a trap from which the U.K. could not escape. Until we do, the deal — our deal — is at risk," she said, according to a Downing Street's briefing on her remarks.
UK officials said that anything they took back to parliament would need to have "legal force," but added that they kept an "open mind" as to how that might be achieved.
May is hoping this week's summit will provide the political instruction for a restart of technical negotiations between the two sides, with a view to bringing the deal back to parliament by January 21 at the latest.
With the clock ticking down to the UK's legally enshrined exit day March 29 2019, officials insisted May was not contemplating extending the Article 50 negotiating period, but admitted they wanted to start work on proposals May could take back to parliament "as soon as possible."
In a direct appeal to EU27 leaders, before they met to discuss Brexit without her over dinner, May called on them to trust her judgement.
“Over the last two years I hope I have shown that you can trust me to do what is right, not always what is easy, however difficult that might be for me politically," she said.
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