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Parliament Seizes Control Amid Brexit Rift in May's Tories

U.K. lawmakers will seize control of Parliamentary proceedings on Monday for a second session to scrap May’s Brexit deal.

Parliament Seizes Control Amid Brexit Rift in May's Tories
British police officer pass the residence of the Prime Minister at number 10 Downing Street in London, U.K. (Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg)  

(Bloomberg) --

U.K. lawmakers will seize control of Parliamentary proceedings on Monday for a second session in a bid to scrap Prime Minister Theresa May’s thrice-rejected Brexit plan in favor of one they can support.

It’s the latest attempt to reach an orderly end to the U.K.’s increasingly chaotic divorce from the European Union. With less than two weeks left until Britain is due to leave, fears are growing in Brussels that an economically damaging split without an agreement could be impossible to avoid given the disarray in London.

Parliament Seizes Control Amid Brexit Rift in May's Tories

The House of Commons is likely to debate Brexit options including a customs union, the single market or a combination of both. They’ll also discuss holding a confirmatory referendum that would pit any Brexit plan against staying in the European Union. The aim is to secure a majority for the way forward after lawmakers debated -- and rejected -- eight proposals last week.

“We would have to consider very closely what Parliament decides,” Justice Secretary David Gauke told BBC TV on Sunday. “It’s not about just going for your first choice; sometimes you do have to accept your second or third choice in order to avoid an outcome that you consider to be even worse.”

Parliament Seizes Control Amid Brexit Rift in May's Tories

May is waiting to see the outcome of the votes before deciding on her next steps. Any vote for a softer Brexit would put the premier in a bind, because it risks splitting her warring Conservative Party. Some ministers are urging her to take the U.K. out of the EU without a deal on April 12, and others -- including Gauke, Business Secretary Greg Clark and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd -- say they’d quit if that becomes policy.

Other developments with 11 days before Britain’s scheduled EU departure include:

  • Conservative Party Deputy Chairman James Cleverly said the Tories are taking “pragmatic” steps to prepare for an election
  • Lawmakers will hold a non-binding debate Monday on three petitions related to Brexit, including one signed by more than 6 million people that urges May to cancel it
  • MPs are seeking to take control of business again on Wednesday
  • German Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to stage her most significant intervention in the Brexit process in more than two years with a visit to Ireland on Thursday

The exact motions to be debated on Monday will be announced by Commons Speaker John Bercow after the session opens at 2:30 p.m. There are eight listed on the House of Commons order paper, though the opposition Labour Party said it will also propose its own Brexit plan -- which was defeated last week -- today. Voting is scheduled for 8 p.m.

The process started Wednesday, when lawmakers usurped the government’s right to set proceedings so it could debate alternative Brexit plans.

Customs Union

Politicians then rejected all of the proposals, but the customs union plan fell short of a majority by only six votes -- narrower than any of the three losses for May’s proposal, which was defeated for a third time on Friday by 58 votes.

Opposition Labour Party lawmaker Lisa Nandy told Sky on Sunday that if May tilted toward a plan to stay in a customs union and guaranteed Parliament a say in negotiations on the future EU relationship, the premier’s departure deal could get over the line.

But leading Brexiteers Steve Baker and Anne-Marie Trevelyan pushed back against a customs union in the Sunday papers.

Speaking on BBC Radio on Monday, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liz Truss said it’s “not clear” there’s a parliamentary majority for a softer Brexit and said she’s opposed to a customs union as a way out of the impasse. That would prevent the U.K. from pursuing a post-Brexit independent trade policy, she said.

“We need to carry on looking at how we get support” for May’s deal, she said.

The Sun on Saturday also said about 170 Tories, including 11 Cabinet ministers, wrote to May on Friday urging a no-deal departure. Last Wednesday, 157 Tories voted to pursue that option -- half the Parliamentary Tory Party. Just 34 Conservatives backed the customs union proposal.

The government’s own analysis indicates a no-deal departure could crash the pound, damage the economy and strangle cross-border trade. While some Cabinet ministers are pushing for it, others reject it. “I don’t believe that it would be a responsible act to leave without a deal,” Gauke said.

Election Prospect

Most alternatives to May’s deal are unpalatable for her. Besides a no-deal Brexit and a softer departure, they include a lengthy delay requiring U.K. participation in fresh EU elections.

With that in mind, May could hold a fourth vote on her own deal later this week. She could circumvent Bercow’s demand that the deal must be altered first by incorporating pledges for Parliament to have a greater say in the next phase of negotiations. And ministers could present the deal to anti-EU Tory rebels as preferable to any softer Brexit approved by Parliament.

Also in May’s armory is the prospect of a general election. Cleverly on Sunday said it’s not the central plan, but the party is making preparations nonetheless. “We have got a minority government in a turbulent time, so just in terms of sensible pragmatic planning” the Tories are getting ready, he told Sky.

The next scheduled general election is in 2022. Former Tory Prime Minister John Major told the BBC that if any snap election fails to produce a conclusive result, there should be a government of national unity.

Leadership Battle

While the Labour Party has long pushed for an election to resolve the matter, it’s also increasingly embracing the idea of a confirmatory referendum. Deputy Leader Tom Watson told the BBC on Sunday it’s “the only way we can bring the country back together now.”

Parliament Seizes Control Amid Brexit Rift in May's Tories

Complicating the push for a resolution on Brexit is the internal jostling in the Tory Party among candidates seeking to succeed May after she promised last week to quit if she gets her deal approved.

Truss and former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab were among the contenders laying out their intentions in the weekend papers. Other potential candidates include former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, his successor, Jeremy Hunt, Home Secretary Sajid Javid and Environment Secretary Michael Gove.

With a leadership contest looming, pro-European Tories are seeking to act as a counterbalance to the Brexiteers in the European Research Group. Coordinated by Rudd, former Education Secretary Nicky Morgan, former Deputy Prime Minister Damian Green and influential rank-and-file Tory Nicholas Soames, grandson of Winston Churchill, the parliamentary grouping of “One Nation” Tories say they won’t back a candidate who favors a no-deal Brexit.

“We’ve allowed our voice to be drowned out in this very unfortunate and unpleasant debate over Brexit that has hijacked the agenda,” Soames said on Sunday. “We will be looking to find and support a candidate for the leadership who has a proper liberal conservative view that is fit for the 2020s and not the 1920s.”

--With assistance from Stuart Biggs and Jessica Shankleman.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Mark Niquette, Ros Krasny

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