UK Prime Minister Theresa May postponed the final vote on Brexit, thereby avoiding a parliamentary showdown, noting that she will head to Brussels to discuss \u201cclear concerns\u201d over the deal.<\/b>
\nThe Prime Minister confirmed in a statement to MPs that she had delayed the \u201cmeaningful vote\u201d on the Brexit agreement with the EU, which had been previously scheduled for Tuesday night, saying she will instead head to an EU summit in Brussels this week to discuss the \u00ab\u00a0clear concerns\u00a0\u00bb of MPs about her deal’s so-called backstop arrangement, Sky News reported.
\u201cIf we went ahead and held the vote tomorrow the deal would be rejected by a significant margin,\u201d May said, noting that the decision to defer the vote came in order to \u201cnot to divide the House at this time\u201d.
May, who reportedly spent the whole weekend holding telephone calls with a series of EU leaders, including European Council President Donald Tusk, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, still defended her deal. She said that if the House wants to leave the EU with a deal, it should be prepared to make compromises.
\u201cBecause there will be no enduring and successful Brexit without some compromise on both sides of the debate. Many of the most controversial aspects of this deal \u2014 including the backstop \u2014 are simply inescapable facts of having a negotiated Brexit,\u201d May outlined.
\u201cThis is a bad deal for Britain, a bad deal for our economy and a bad deal for our democracy. Our country deserves better than this,\u201d he said, cited by the Guardian.
The Northern Irish DUP party, which is in coalition with the Conservatives, was also left unsatisfied. DUP leader Arlene Foster claimed that the delay to a vote on the Brexit deal \u201csums up the chaotic nature of the government’s approach to these negotiations\u201d.
\u201cThe fundamentally flawed withdrawal agreement would have undermined our United Kingdom economy and the Union itself. The backstop would have left Northern Ireland trapped as a hostage to the European Union. The prime minister must get rid of the backstop. It is not needed. No one is building a ‘hard border’,\u201d she added.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon accused May of \u201cpathetic cowardice\u201d by avoiding the vote on the deal, noting that May chose the interests of her own party over the interests of the whole country.
\u201cThis is not governing, it risks putting Jeremy Corbyn into government by failing to deliver Brexit. We cannot continue like this. The prime minister must either govern or quit,\u201d he added.
The EU leaders had already warned that there will be no renegotiations of the deal, Sky News reported, citing Varadkar and a spokesperson for Juncker. The Irish government added that preparations in Brussels for a ‘no-deal’ outcome should \u201cintensify\u201d.
The House of Commons vote, which determines whether the terms for the UK\u2019s exit from the EU negotiated by May would be approved or rejected, was originally scheduled to take place on December 11.<\/p>\n