May Says Successor Will Need to Find Compromise: Brexit Update
Hunt Warns No-Deal Would Be ‘Suicide’ for Tories: Brexit Update
(Bloomberg) --
Rivals to be the next Conservative leader and prime minister are setting out their pitches following the party’s disastrous showing in European elections. Theresa May is in Brussels for the EU summit.
Key Developments:
- Brexit Party showing in European elections is putting pressure on Tory leadership candidates to back a no-deal Brexit
- Environment Secretary Michael Gove offers U.K. citizenship to EU nationals if he succeeds May
- Senior Labour figures are calling for the party to unequivocally push for a second referendum
Cleverly Joins Leadership Race: Guardian (4:30 p.m.)
Junior Brexit minister James Cleverly will run for the Tory leadership, the Guardian newspaper reported, bringing the total number of candidates vying to succeed Theresa May to 11. Cleverly is expected to announce his plan on Wednesday, according to the report.
May: Brexit Is Now Matter for Successor (4:15 p.m.)
Theresa May told reporters in Brussels that Brexit is now a matter for her successor, who will need to find a compromise among members of Parliament to ensure the U.K. leaves the bloc with a deal. She declined to comment on the various Brexit stances taken by rivals to succeed her.
She also said her failure to deliver on Brexit was a “matter of great regret.” The U.K. would continue to play a “constructive role” while it is still a member of the bloc, she said.
Brexit “is now for my successor and they will have to find a way of addressing the very strongly held views on both sides of this issue, and to do that and to get a majority in Parliament, as I said on Friday, I think will require compromise,” she said.
May Unlikely to Put Withdrawal Bill to MPs (11:50 a.m.)
The government is unlikely to put its Withdrawal Agreement Bill to Parliament next week, Theresa May’s spokesman, James Slack, indicated on Tuesday.
Before May announced she would step down, the government had said it would update the House of Commons on the publication and introduction of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement Bill after Parliament recess -- so the week of June 3.
Asked if that was still the case following May’s statement last week, Slack said: “We now have to reflect on the fact that we’re in a different position.” Asked if that meant the bill wouldn’t be put to MPs, he repeated the line.
Slack was then asked if the easier bits of the bill -- those that may garner a majority -- might be put to Parliament, replying that he’s “not aware” of any such plans. He noted, though, that “if we are to complete the process of leaving the EU, we do have to pass the entirety of the Withdrawal Agreement.”
May to Meet EU’s Tusk Ahead of Summit (11:30 a.m.)
Theresa May will meet European Council President Donald Tusk in Brussels ahead of Tuesday’s summit, her spokesman, James Slack, told reporters. The meeting will be an opportunity for the prime minister to update the EU on her decision to step down.
Slack said the U.K. would “continue to be as constructive a partner as possible” to the EU, adding that the government had promised not to seek to reopen the Brexit deal when the two sides agreed the Oct. 31 extension.
Jeremy Hunt, a candidate to succeed May, earlier said he would try to renegotiate the contentious Irish backstop (see 9 a.m.) in talks with the EU.
Hunt: No-Deal Would Be ‘Suicide’ for Tories (9 a.m.)
The Brexit Party’s performance in the EU elections is dominating the race to succeed Theresa May as leader of the Conservative Party. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt wrote in the Telegraph that pursuing a no-deal Brexit in October -- the strategy advocated by Nigel Farage -- would be “political suicide” and could lead to the Tories being “annihilated” in a general election.
In a BBC radio interview on Tuesday, Hunt said that if was elected leader, he would seek to re-open the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement and form a negotiating team that included Tory Brexiteers and the Democratic Unionist Party, which props up the Conservatives in Parliament -- as well as representatives from Scotland and Wales. That would reassure the EU that the govt could secure a majority for the outcome in Parliament, he said.
Hunt said that while he still believes the U.K. would prosper even with a no-deal Brexit, Parliament had made its opposition clear. “The biggest risk to Brexit’’ is a general election, he said.
Earlier:
To contact the reporters on this story: Kitty Donaldson in London at kdonaldson1@bloomberg.net;Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net;Jessica Shankleman in London at jshankleman@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Stuart Biggs
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