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UK’s May seeks changes to Brexit deal as EU stands firm

Published

6 years ago

5 minute read

LONDON — The British Parliament was set to vote on competing Brexit plans Tuesday, with Prime Minister Theresa May desperately seeking a mandate from lawmakers to help secure concessions from the European Union.

But amid political gridlock in London and with Brexit day just two months away, the EU shows few, if any, signs of renegotiating the divorce deal it struck with May late last year.

British legislators were delivering verdicts on proposals that have been submitted by both pro-Brexit and pro-EU legislators since Parliament rejected May’s divorce deal with the bloc two weeks ago, leaving Britain lurching toward a cliff-edge “no-deal” departure on March 29.

May insists her agreement can still win Parliament’s backing, if it is tweaked to alleviate concerns about a contentious Irish border provision. EU leaders are adamant that the measure can’t be renegotiated, whatever British lawmakers decide.

The border measure, known as the backstop, would keep the U.K. in a customs union with the EU in order to remove the need for checks along the frontier between the U.K.’s Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland after Britain leaves the bloc.

Opposition to the backstop by pro-Brexit lawmakers — who fear it will trap Britain in regulatory lockstep with the EU — helped sink May’s deal on Jan. 15, when Parliament rejected it by 432 votes to 202.

May has backed a proposal calling for the backstop to be replaced by “alternative arrangements,” and has called on all lawmakers from her Conservative Party to support it.

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said the amendment offered the best chance for Britain to avoid leaving the EU without a deal on future relations.

“I think we should send the prime minister back to Brussels with a strong mandate to be able to say ‘If you compromise with us on this one issue, on the backstop, we would be able to a get an agreement,'” he told the BBC.

But it’s far from certain the amendment can win support from a majority in the House of Commons. And the EU insists the legally binding withdrawal agreement cannot be renegotiated.

Ireland’s European Affairs Minister, Helen McEntee, said British politicians needed to show “a bit of realism.”

“There can be no change to the backstop. It was negotiated over 18 months with the U.K. and by the U.K.,” she said.

Though Parliament is overwhelmingly opposed to May’s deal, lawmakers are divided over what to do instead — whether to brace for a “no-deal” Brexit or to try and rule it out.

Much of the business world says a no-deal Brexit would cause economic chaos by eliminating existing EU trade agreements and imposing tariffs, customs checks and other barriers between the U.K. and its main export market.

To complicate matters further, the split between Brexiteers and pro-Europeans runs through both main parties, Conservatives and Labour.

Conservatives from rival wings of the party proposed a compromise Tuesday that calls for Britain to seek a “new backstop” and an extended transition period of almost three years after March 29 so that Britain and the EU can work out a permanent new trade deal.

But Sarah Wollaston, a pro-EU Conservative, dismissed the plan as “fantasy Brexit.”

She tweeted: “There won’t be any renegotiation of the Withdrawal Agreement & all the nonsense is a smokescreen whilst the clock runs down to No Deal. Parliament should vote to reject that catastrophe.”

The backstop proposal is one of more than a dozen amendments proposed by lawmakers that aim to alter the course of Britain’s departure.

Others, backed by the main opposition Labour Party, seek to rule out a no-deal Brexit so Britain can’t tumble out of the bloc on March 29 without an agreement in place to cushion the shock.

Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow will announce before Tuesday’s debate begins which amendments have been selected for votes.

EU leaders have repeatedly urged Britain to clarify what kind of Brexit it wants and are watching to see which proposals — if any — get the backing of Parliament.

“This is not a Brussels day, this is a London day,” said European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas. “We have the vote tonight and then we will take it from there.”

___

Follow AP’s full coverage of Brexit at: https://www.apnews.com/Brexit

Jill Lawless And Danica Kirka, The Associated Press






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Border Patrol Agent Lashes Out At Biden-Harris Admin, Calling Job ‘Migrant Concierge Service’ Amid Border Crisis

Published on September 14, 2024

By

From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Mariane Angela

The border agent stated he is prepared to risk his career to bring attention to what he views as grave mismanagement and potential dangers posed by current border policies.

A Border Patrol agent criticized the recent changes in his role under the Biden-Harris administration, condemning it as transforming into a “migrant concierge service,” according to The New York Post Friday.

Zachary Apotheker, who joined the force in 2020, voiced his frustration over the shift in his duties under the Biden administration from intercepting drug traffickers and apprehending illegal entrants to what he now sees as aiding migrant entry, in an interview with the NYP. Apotheker highlighted concerns about security and vetting under President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, noting that over 8 million migrants have crossed the southern border since January 2021, including members of the Venezuelan prison gang, Tren de Aragua.

“I don’t want to bring people into the country. That’s not what I signed up to do,” Apotheker told NYP. Apotheker’s distress is further compounded by over 1.7 million illegal migrants who have evaded capture since Jan. 2021, as he shared encounters with victims of migrant-committed crimes, naming individuals and emphasizing the personal toll on him.

“I’m an apolitical person and I just want to do my job and protect this country,” the agent said, the NYP reported. “When I see people from another country coming here, getting resources beyond what the American citizen can get, that’s where I have to draw the line. And then they’re going out and committing crimes and we’re still not removing them and American citizens are being killed, women are being raped.”

Apotheker and multiple Border Patrol sources have raised concerns to the NYP about the inadequate documentation for unaccompanied migrant children under 14, including missing biometric data, complicating their safe relocation to families or sponsors in the U.S. He highlighted a backlog in the immigration system, noting that 291,000 migrant children have been released in the U.S. without court dates, with an additional 32,000 failing to appear for their scheduled hearings.

The border agent stated he is prepared to risk his career to bring attention to what he views as grave mismanagement and potential dangers posed by current border policies. “However bad you think it is now, it’s only going to be worse,” he warned.

The White House and Border Patrol did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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Rumored deal with Bloc Quebec party could keep Trudeau Liberals in power, stave off election

Published on September 10, 2024

By

From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

“The federal government does not have a mandate to bargain with Quebec separatists at the expense of Alberta, the West and the rest of the country”

The possibility of an early Canadian election may not come to fruition after Bloc Québécois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet hinted that an alliance between the separatist party and the Liberals under Justin Trudeau could become a reality.

Rumors began to swirl that a Bloc-Liberal deal could happen after Bloc House leader Alain Therrien said Sunday that the party’s “objectives remain the same, but the means to get there will be much easier.”

“We will negotiate and seek gains for Quebec … our balance of power has improved, that’s for sure,” he said, as reported by the Canadian Press.

Therrien made the comments in light of the possibility of a federal election taking place before fall 2025 after New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh pulled his official support for Trudeau’s Liberals last week.

Late last month, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre called on Singh to pull his support for Trudeau’s Liberals so that an election could be held.

Therrien also noted that the NDP pulling its support of the Trudeau Liberals has created a “window of opportunity” that his party may exploit. The Canadian Press reported that a person close to the Bloc party said directly that the NDP had in essence handed the party the balance of power.

As it stands now, the Bloc has 32 seats to the NDP’s 24, which is more than enough to prop up the Liberals, who have 154 seats.

As for Blanchet, he told the media on Monday that he was feeling “good” about his party’s newfound power. He then took a shot at Poilievre, saying he is more or less like Trudeau. “There are plenty of issues on which (Poilievre’s) in the same position as Justin Trudeau,” Blanchet said.

“Show us that you’re different, Justin Trudeau, apart from being against abortion, then we’ll see what you have to offer,” he said.

While most Conservative MPs are pro-life, Poilievre supports abortion and has a poor track record when it comes to life and family issues, with Campaign Life Coalition having given him a “red light” rating.

News of a possible Bloc-Liberal deal to keep Trudeau in power drew the immediate ire of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.

“The federal government does not have a mandate to bargain with Quebec separatists at the expense of Alberta, the West and the rest of the country,” she wrote Monday on X. “If the Liberals go down this path, we need an election to be called immediately.”

On Tuesday, Blanchet responded to Smith’s comments to reporters by saying he found her remarks “funny,” adding that “Canadians are suddenly very interested in us.”

As for Trudeau, his woes continue to mount. LifeSiteNews recently reported how national elections campaign director for Canada’s federal Liberal Party announced he was stepping down because, according to sources close to the party, he does not think Trudeau can win a fourth consecutive election.

Recent polls show that the Conservatives under Poilievre would win a majority government in a landslide in an election held today. Singh’s NDP and Trudeau’s Liberals would lose a massive number of seats.

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