After MPs turns down proposed deal, May turns to Brexit 'Plan B'

May would present a plan to ditch the Irish 'backstop' to gain the support of Tory rebels and the DUP, which backs Britain's minority government, reports said.

Image: AFP

New Delhi: Days after British MPs rejected Prime Minister Theresa May’s EU separation deal, she is set to unveil her “Plan B” in front of the legislators on Monday.  On March 29, Britain will leave the European Union without a deal unless MPs can force a delay or come up in time with an alternative plan that Brussels is also happy with. As per media reports, May plans to reject a cross-party consensus on Brexit in favour of avoiding a Conservative split. May would present a plan to ditch the Irish 'backstop' to gain the support of Tory rebels and the DUP, which backs Britain's minority government, Sky News reported. It said that May held a conference call with her Cabinet. May on Friday spoke to Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday and to EU leaders Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk by telephone to discuss where to go next on Brexit, AFP reported. The EU leaders have so far rejected renegotiating the agreement but have signaled they could postpone the withdrawal if May changes her “red lines” on leaving the EU’s customs union and blocking free movement of citizens, it said. London and Brussels have spent the best part of two years working on a divorce agreement but MPs in Parliament’s lower House of Commons comprehensively rejected it on Tuesday. She lost the voter on her Brexit deal by a whopping 230 votes, with more than a third of her Tories joining the opposition to reject the withdrawal agreement, that she claimed was the best and the only deal. The world’s fifth largest economy could lose preferential access to its largest export market overnight, affecting every sector, leading to rising costs and disruption at British ports. The next day, however, the Conservative lawmakers supported her and she survived a confidence vote on Wednesday. Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn however maintained that a “no-deal” departure from EU must be ruled out first- something that May says is impossible.