Future of British Union Becomes Battleground for No-Deal Brexit
Johnson, the front-runner to replace Theresa May as British PM, said delivering Brexit would be key to keeping the U.K. together.
(Bloomberg) --
Boris Johnson, the front-runner to replace Theresa May as British prime minister, said delivering Brexit would be key to keeping the U.K. together, just hours after May warned her successor not to put the union at risk with a no-deal Brexit.
Johnson told a campaign event in York, north England, on Thursday he would prioritize the union of the U.K. over leaving the European Union. But he also said failing to deliver Brexit could split the nation apart.
Both he and Jeremy Hunt, the other candidate running to replace May, have refused to rule out a no-deal exit. Johnson has said he will ensure the U.K. leaves by the Oct. 31 deadline “do or die”. On Thursday, Hunt told the campaign event that Brexit is “the ultimate test” of democracy in Britain.
But the next prime minister will be faced with the intractable question of how to deal with the boundary between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland after Brexit, as well as the Scottish National Party’s campaign for another independence referendum. Both Northern Ireland and Scotland voted to remain in the EU while England and Wales voted to leave.
A majority of rank and file Tory members would choose Brexit even if it meant abandoning the union, according to a YouGov poll in June. Asked if they’d stop Brexit if it led to Scotland and Northern Ireland breaking away from the U.K., 63% and 59% respectively said no.
“I think the union comes first, of course it does,” Johnson said during a question and answer session on Thursday evening. “But if we don’t get Brexit done, that will be the most prejudicial to the union.”
Speaking in Glasgow, Scotland on Thursday, May warned her successor to avoid an Irish border plan that would undermine the Good Friday, or Belfast, Agreement that ended the conflict between Ireland and Northern Ireland around two decades ago. Her own Brexit deal aimed to avoid the return of customs controls at the border over fears it could endanger the region’s peace process.
“There can and must be no false choice between honoring the solemn commitments of the Belfast Agreement and delivering on the decision of the British people in the EU referendum,” she said, while insisting she’d leave the issue to her successor who will enter Number 10 Downing Street on July 24.
May, who has suggested she could vote to stop a no-deal exit, said leaving without a deal would have “undoubted consequences for the economy and the union.”
After Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond on Wednesday indicated he’d fight any attempt to pursue a no-deal exit, Justice Minister David Gauke on Thursday issued another warning, saying a “way will be found” to block a no-deal Brexit. “I do think parliament will find other mechanisms to stop this from happening,” Gauke told The House magazine.
One option being considered is to amend a motion of no confidence in the government to force the new prime minister to stop no-deal, according to BBC’s Newsnight. That would enable Tory MPs to back a motion of no confidence without voting down their own government.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jessica Shankleman in London at jshankleman@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Philip Sanders, Colin Keatinge
©2019 Bloomberg L.P.