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Theresa May Promises to Step Down if U.K. Parliament Backs Brexit Plan
By Stephen Castle and Richard Pérez-Peña
LONDON — Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain told Conservative lawmakers on Wednesday that she would step down if Parliament approved her plan for withdrawal from the European Union.
“I have heard very clearly the mood of the parliamentary party,” Mrs. May told the lawmakers. “I know there is a desire for a new approach, and new leadership, in the second phase of the Brexit negotiations, and I won’t stand in the way of that.”
The prime minister did not specify when she would step down. But the European Union has said that it would approve an extension in the Brexit process to May 22, if her plan gained approval.
The decision to set a time for stepping down had been urged by her advisers as the only way to garner enough votes to get the plan through Parliament. Many Conservatives have been deeply frustrated with her leadership and say a new leader is needed ford the next phase of talks with Brussels.
The strategy shift seemed to pay dividends, with formerly fierce opponents of her plan, including Boris Johnson, the former foreign secretary, expected to declare that they would now vote in favor.
Mrs. May’s promise overshadowed what had already been a momentous day, as Parliament took control of the Brexit process and prepared to vote on a series of options.
The developments came amid a deepening crisis in British politics, with the government disintegrating, the cabinet paralyzed and Mrs. May shifting strategies seemingly by the day.
Parliament’s move could prove to be an extraordinary turning point, as members weigh alternatives that Mrs. May has refused to put before them. In the proess, a new consensus could emerge across party lines. Or, in the plausible event that the lawmakers prove unable to agree on anything, the voting may add to the chaos.
All of this is unfolding before an increasingly frustrated and cynical public that is asking questions about British democracy and the political elite, and whether either is capable of governing in the national interest. In the meantime, the world looks on at Britain’s follies in bewilderment.
“If you compared Britain to a sphinx, the sphinx would be an open book by comparison,” Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, told the European Parliament on Wednesday at a meeting in Strasbourg, France. “Let’s see how that book speaks over the next week or so.”
In another rebuff for Mrs. May, lawmakers saw off an effort by the government on Wednesday afternoon to stop the votes, defeating the measure by 331 votes to 287. The speaker of the house, John Bercow, selected eight Brexit plans to be voted on, including several that would keep Britain closely tied to the European Union, in a so-called soft Brexit. Others would see Britain leaving without any deal, require an exit agreement be confirmed in a referendum or cancel Brexit completely.
Mr. Bercow also repeated an earlier ruling that if Mrs. May tried to bring back her plan for a vote soon, she would have to satisfy him that it was different from the version that has failed. In his statement, Mr. Bercow warned that he would not allow procedural devices to circumvent his decision.
Lawmakers have already twice rejected the Brexit agreement that Mrs. May painstakingly negotiated with the European Union, each time by large margins. Last week, European Union leaders agreed to Britain’s request to delay its departure, which had been set to take effect on Friday, to avoid a chaotic exit without a deal in place.
But time is short, and Europe has grown frustrated with the deadlock. Under the terms of the postponement, if Parliament does not accept Mrs. May’s deal, the new deadline will be April 12.
The European Union is “expecting the United Kingdom to indicate a way forward,” Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, said at the meeting in Strasbourg.
But European leaders reiterated that they were still open to a long Brexit delay — perhaps two years — if, as Mr. Tusk said, “the U.K. wishes to rethink its Brexit strategy.” That delay would have to be agreed to by April 12, just 16 days away.
Mrs. May’s plan could return to Parliament later this week if she gets more pledges of support like that of Mr. Johnson’s. But most important for the plan’s fortunes is the opinion of the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland, or D.U.P., whose 10 lawmakers usually support the government but currently oppose Mrs. May’s Brexit blueprint.
Her plan is, in essence, a hard Brexit, since it would rule out Britain’s remaining in the European Union’s customs union and the single market, and put the country beyond the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. But it contains a “backstop” to ensure against a hard Irish border that the hard-Brexit crowd has found impossible to accept.
On Tuesday, Mrs. May gained important backing when Jacob Rees-Mogg, an influential leader of the hard Brexiteers, said he could support her plan if the D.U.P. went along. The party has vehemently resisted the backstop, saying it would lead to the dissolution of Great Britain and the unification of Ireland.
On Wednesday, as the D.U.P. showed few signs of capitulating, Mr. Rees-Mogg went further, saying he would support the May plan if the party merely abstained.
On Wednesday, the leader of the House of Commons, Andrea Leadsom, a Conservative lawmaker, told the BBC there was a “real possibility” that Mrs. May’s plan could return for a vote as soon as Thursday.
Still, a third attempt to pass it would be a very tall order: Mrs. May would need to win the support of about 70 lawmakers who have already voted against it twice. If she managed that, she would almost certainly have quashed Parliament’s rebellion and ensured that Brexit would take place soon and on her terms.
On Wednesday, the focus was on the extraordinary parliamentary proceedings, orchestrated by a multiparty group led by a veteran Conservative lawmaker, Oliver Letwin.
Lawmakers will be allowed to vote for as many of the eight options as they want. In the first instance, that is very unlikely to produce clarity, and another day of debate and votes will probably be required on Monday.
The government has said that it will not be bound by any result of these “indicative votes.” But some lawmakers are threatening that, if necessary, they will try to legislate to force the government to accept any consensus that ultimately emerges.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/27/world/europe/theresa-may-resignation.html
2019-03-27 18:13:10Z
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