British Prime Minister Theresa May finally gave in to the parliament’s pressure to debate her plan on Brexit. However, she asked the lawmakers for more time to negotiate.
This decision resulted in a rise of the sterling calming down investors, who were unsure of her move.
The British Parliament will debate on Wednesday on the government’s negotiating procedure, a proposal put forward by the Labour Mps, but also supported by of some members of May’s Conservative Party.
British PM Theresa May has moved to allay concerns about a lack of scrutiny of the government’s Brexit plans, agreeing to demands for “a full and transparent” Commons debate before the Article 50 exit clause is activated.
May made the promise on Tuesday night ahead of a Commons debate on Wednesday, but crucially she has not promised to allow MPs a formal vote on the government’s negotiating strategy.
The Financial Times reported that May wants to keep her cards close to her chest before the formal start of EU exit talks, which will begin when she triggers Article 50. May has previously said that the process will start before the end of March 2017.
May does not want to put her negotiating demands into the public domain before that moment, leading to growing frustration from MPs in all parties that the House of Commons is not able to scrutinise her Brexit plan.
“HARD BREXIT”
May’s promise helped spur a sharp rally in the pound from a steep sell-off in New York trading on concerns about the prospect of a “hard Brexit” for Britain.
As London trading gathered pace, the pound had gained 1.5 per cent to $1.227 from its New York nadir, when it dropped as low as $1.2090.
There is a risk that May’s plan could be defeated by MPs if they believed it represented a so-called “hard Brexit”: a rupture from the single market and customs union without an acceptable fall-back position, reported the Financial Times.
COMMONS UNREST
Commons unrest was visible on Monday, with numerous Conservative MPs joining former Labour leader Ed Miliband and former Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg in demanding full scrutiny of the plan.
Labour is expected on Wednesday to try to exploit the government’s discomfort with a debate on a motion calling for “a full and transparent debate” to allow the Commons to “properly scrutinise” the government’s plans before Article 50 is activated.
Fearing that some Tory MPs would rally behind the apparently innocuous Labour motion, May added an amendment to the Labour motion on Tuesday conceding the need for such scrutiny.
However, the amendment carried the crucial rider that such scrutiny must “not undermine the negotiating position of the government” — an apparent get-out clause that could deny MPs either full scrutiny or a vote.
Emily Thornberry, Shadow Foreign Secretary, and Sir Keir Starmer, Shadow Brexit Minister, tabled 170 questions for the government to answer about its strategy before Article 50 is triggered.
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