Theresa May wins 'legally binding' Brexit assurances from EU ahead of crucial votes

[webfact]

Theresa May wins 'legally binding' Brexit assurances from EU ahead of crucial votes

By Alistair Smout, Kylie MacLellan and Gabriela Baczynska

 

British Prime Minister Theresa May meets with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Strasbourg, France March 11, 2019. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler/Pool

 

LONDON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May clinched legally binding Brexit assurances from the European Union on Monday in a last ditch attempt to win over rebellious British lawmakers who have threatened to vote down her divorce deal again.

 

Scrambling to plot an orderly path out of the Brexit maze just days before the United Kingdom is due to leave on March 29, May rushed to Strasbourg to agree additional assurances with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

 

Brexiteers in May's party accuse her of surrendering to the EU and it was not clear if the assurances she agreed would be enough to win over the 116 additional lawmakers she needs turn around the crushing defeat her deal suffered on Jan. 15.

 

May has secured "legally binding changes that strengthen and improve the Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration," Cabinet Office Minister David Lidington, who is Prime Minister Theresa May's de facto deputy, told parliament.

 

Lidington said the sides had agreed a joint legally binding instrument on the Withdrawal Agreement and Protocol on Northern Ireland that confirms the EU cannot try to "trap" the United Kingdom in the Irish backstop indefinitely.

 

The backstop, an emergency fix aimed at avoiding controls on the sensitive border between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland, was the most contentious part of the deal May agreed in November.

 

"The EU cannot try to trap the UK in the backstop indefinitely, and that doing so would be an explicit breach of the legally binding commitments that both sides have agreed," Lidington said.

 

The EU and Britain have also agreed a joint statement to supplement the Political Declaration, Lidington said.

 

Sterling, which has see-sawed on Brexit news, jumped 0.8 percent to $1.3250 in Asian trade.

 

BREXIT VOTE

The United Kingdom’s tortuous crisis over EU membership is approaching its finale with an extraordinary array of outcomes still possible, including a delay, a last-minute deal, a no-deal Brexit, a snap election or even another referendum. The country voted to leave the EU in a 2016 plebiscite.

 

In January the British parliament voted to reject May's deal by 230 votes, the biggest defeat for a government in modern British history.

 

May has promised lawmakers a vote on her deal on Tuesday.

 

If she loses that vote, she has said lawmakers will get a vote on Wednesday on whether to leave without a deal and, if they reject that, then a vote on whether to ask for a limited delay to Brexit.

 

Many British lawmakers object to the backstop on the grounds that it could leave Britain subject to EU rules indefinitely or cleave Northern Ireland away from the rest of the United Kingdom.

 

Brexit-supporting lawmakers said they would look at what May achieves but that she would have to show a clear way for the backstop to end.

 

"Deal fever abounds tonight, but the crucial point is: will this backstop come to an end?" Conservative lawmaker Steve Baker said ahead of Lidington's statement to parliament.

 

Brexit will pitch the world's fifth largest economy into the unknown and many fear it will serve to divide the West as it grapples with both the unconventional presidency of Donald Trump and growing assertiveness from Russia and China.

 

Supporters of Brexit say that while the divorce might bring some short-term instability, in the longer term it will allow the United Kingdom to thrive and also enable deeper EU integration without such a powerful reluctant member.

 

(Additional reporting by Elizabeth Piper, William James, Alistair Smout, William Schomberg and Andrew MacAskill in London; Padraic Halpin in Dublin and Alastair MacDonald and Jan Strupczewski in Brussels; Editing by Janet Lawrence, Frances Kerry and Guy Faulconbridge)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-03-12

[Laughing Gravy]

Yes lets wait and see what the Remainer has done. Will it be good enough to get her crappy deal through!

 

If it is and the UK leave the EU on tghen29th March then there will be a lot of TV posters crying in their breakfasts.????

 

Either way for me the UK and the EU friendship has hit rock bottom and will be difficult to repair. I know of friends who won't buy anything from the EU countries now. Wine from Chile instead of France and Germany. They are not anti European countries, just anti EU. Seeing the way the EU have demonised, insulted and ridiculed the people of the UK, will not be forgotten for a long time.

 

Either way TM should go.

 

[GinBoy2]

Without wanting to derail this discussion.

 

But you entered a trading block, essentially no different to NAFTA.

 

Wouldn't it have better to have all this discussion before you ratified the Maastricht Treaty, which was a commitment to political union?

Wasn't it Thatcher that signed that? That would have been the time you should have had your referendum  

[welovesundaysatspace]

Great, hope that ends the whole circus and the UK leaves the EU for good and we can all move on. 

 

From an European perspective, that’s my first priority, and ideally I’d like it to happen under a deal. Even better would be if the deal was ratified not only by parliament but also by the people, of course. But a referendum would very likely mean that the UK would remain in the EU and that would be my biggest nightmare given how deeply divided, dysfunctional and full of clowns the UK is at the moment, unfortunately. The UK has always been half in and half out, and was never fully committed to the European idea, unfortunately. 

 

Of course, I understand that’s not what the people of the UK want. For them the best would be to remain. However, our doors will stay open and we will welcome back the UK as a fully committed member once it got rid of all the Brexit cancer. Trying to find something positive in Brexit in  light of businesses leaving and politicians making a fool of themselves, the people will now be able to experience and learn firsthand what happens when you listen to the lies and false promises of some manipulating extremists. 

[Grouse]

You can put as much lipstick on a pig as you like;  it's still a pig.

[malagateddy]

Will that be the Yorkshire variety??[emoji6]

You can put as much lipstick on a pig as you like;  it's still a pig.

Sent from my SM-G7102 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Basil B]

Lets see what happens tonight, still think shes going to get a hammering again... The backstop is not the only issue.

[Grouse]

1 hour ago, malagateddy said:

Will that be the Yorkshire variety??

 

Sent from my SM-G7102 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

 

Lipstick or pig?

[Loiner]

Regardless of the backstop there are far too many other tricks in her agreement for it to be accepted.
More political machinations from tomorrow.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[Chomper Higgot]

2 hours ago, Laughing Gravy said:

Yes lets wait and see what the Remainer has done. Will it be good enough to get her crappy deal through!

 

If it is and the UK leave the EU on tghen29th March then there will be a lot of TV posters crying in their breakfasts.????

 

Either way for me the UK and the EU friendship has hit rock bottom and will be difficult to repair. I know of friends who won't buy anything from the EU countries now. Wine from Chile instead of France and Germany. They are not anti European countries, just anti EU. Seeing the way the EU have demonised, insulted and ridiculed the people of the UK, will not be forgotten for a long time.

 

Either way TM should go.

 

A pittty none of your ‘Brexiteers’ were man enough to take the lead.

 

Regardless, your assertions regarding the UK/EU relationship are baseless.

 

Europe (with the exception of little Englanders) got over two world wars, Brexit ‘problems’ is nothing more than right wing propaganda.

 

The adults in the room don’t get wound up by Johnson’s or Farage’s insults nor anything in the righting press.

 

 

[Chomper Higgot]

1 hour ago, Grouse said:

You can put as much lipstick on a pig as you like;  it's still a pig.

 But it might catch the eye of the idiot that kicked off this nonsense.

[sammieuk1]

4 minutes ago, Grouse said:

Lipstick or pig?

Said David Cameron????

[Basil B]

Still think Thursday MP's will be voting for an extension...

[malagateddy]

Both..met a few many moons ago..benidorm..algarve etc..rather loud but very fit[emoji6]

Lipstick or pig?

Sent from my SM-G7102 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Loiner]

Who knows at this stage if the changes are legally binding or not. The AG opinion will be politically motivated, so suspect. How long will it take him to produce the report this time? He obviously didn’t want to with the last one. Will someone in his department give a clear analysis again, or be swayed to fit their agenda?


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[LucysDad]

1 hour ago, welovesundaysatspace said:

Great, hope that ends the whole circus and the UK leaves the EU for good and we can all move on. 

 

From an European perspective, that’s my first priority, and ideally I’d like it to happen under a deal. Even better would be if the deal was ratified not only by parliament but also by the people, of course. But a referendum would very likely mean that the UK would remain in the EU and that would be my biggest nightmare given how deeply divided, dysfunctional and full of clowns the UK is at the moment, unfortunately. The UK has always been half in and half out, and was never fully committed to the European idea, unfortunately. 

 

Of course, I understand that’s not what the people of the UK want. For them the best would be to remain. However, our doors will stay open and we will welcome back the UK as a fully committed member once it got rid of all the Brexit cancer. Trying to find something positive in Brexit in  light of businesses leaving and politicians making a fool of themselves, the people will now be able to experience and learn firsthand what happens when you listen to the lies and false promises of some manipulating extremists. 

 

 

What a shame your post didn't stop after the first paragraph.

 

The rest was cr4p and inaccurate.

[nauseus]

2 hours ago, GinBoy2 said:

Without wanting to derail this discussion.

 

But you entered a trading block, essentially no different to NAFTA.

 

Wouldn't it have better to have all this discussion before you ratified the Maastricht Treaty, which was a commitment to political union?

Wasn't it Thatcher that signed that? That would have been the time you should have had your referendum  

Major signed it. Yes, of course it would have been better to have referendums before Maastricht.

[smedly]

2 hours ago, Grouse said:

You can put as much lipstick on a pig as you like;  it's still a pig.

wow very positive coming from you

 

PS. are you into pork

[nauseus]

38 minutes ago, Grouse said:

Lipstick or pig?

Stuck pig?

[smedly]

38 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Europe (with the exception of little Englanders) got over two world wars, Brexit ‘problems’ is nothing more than right wing propaganda.

yes the French Germans and Italians are our favourite people - ask anyone

[smedly]

35 minutes ago, Basil B said:

Still think Thursday MP's will be voting for an extension...

an extension is likely if this deal passes for technical reasons

[Thingamabob]

I can see this gradually moving to no deal on WTO terms, by default. 

[dick dasterdly]

38 minutes ago, Loiner said:

Who knows at this stage if the changes are legally binding or not. The AG opinion will be politically motivated, so suspect. How long will it take him to produce the report this time? He obviously didn’t want to with the last one. Will someone in his department give a clear analysis again, or be swayed to fit their agenda?


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

Yes, I too am looking forward to learning exactly how the agreement has been amended.  Not that it matters much from my POV, as the agreement is BRINO plus paying 39 bn for the privilege!

 

Lidington says it "confirms the EU cannot try to "trap" the United Kingdom in the Irish backstop indefinitely" - which means precisely nothing as of course the eu would deny trying to "trap" the uk into staying indefinitely....

[GinBoy2]

12 minutes ago, nauseus said:

Major signed it. Yes, of course it would have been better to have referendums before Maastricht.

Not that good on British PM's timeline. 

I couldn't even remember the name John Major until I did a google search, but I was in the right time ballpark at least.

 

I just looked it up. France which I would have thought was one of the most pro EU countries held a referendum to ratify Maastricht. It barely passed with 51% 

[LucysDad]

2 minutes ago, Thingamabob said:

I can see this gradually moving to no deal on WTO terms, by default. 

 

 

Many would be happy with that.

 

 

But not the parliamentarians; that is why I believe that they will vote for this deal - knowing that nothing better is available.

[sammieuk1]

If the back stop impasse is over!! its just the front stop, side stop, full stop, and never ending stop to go until I get my pound back ????

[Laughing Gravy]

1 hour ago, Chomper Higgot said:

A pittty none of your ‘Brexiteers’ were man enough to take the lead.

Still banging on about the same rubbish. For the last time the HoC and cons are full of remainers. it has nothing to do with manning up which seems an obsession of yours. Those who went for the leadership who were leavers were pushed out by remainers. Anyone with the slightest intellect knows that.

 

1 hour ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Regardless, your assertions regarding the UK/EU relationship are baseless.

I said it was what friends told me. What do you want a signed confession or are you waiting for another YouGov poll or an Irish times one.

 

1 hour ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Europe (with the exception of little Englanders) got over two world wars, Brexit ‘problems’ is nothing more than right wing propaganda.

Where has anyone mentioned the war. you must be on the 'egg nogs' or having an inferior melt down.

1 hour ago, Chomper Higgot said:

The adults in the room don’t get wound up by Johnson’s or Farage’s insults nor anything in the righting press.

That's hilarious as you like many on here are crapping it of Nigel Farage. At any opportunity you try and discredit him citing the fact his two kids are getting German passports, because their mother is German.

 

Lets wait and see what happens but sending insults just seems to be a typical trait from you, as a poster.

[Laughing Gravy]

25 minutes ago, LucysDad said:

 

 

Many would be happy with that.

 

 

But not the parliamentarians; that is why I believe that they will vote for this deal - knowing that nothing better is available.

I agree with you but wait until the next GE. There will be a cull of MP's from Westminster and hopefully a party that follows on with the referendum result.

[Chomper Higgot]

18 minutes ago, Laughing Gravy said:

Still banging on about the same rubbish. For the last time the HoC and cons are full of remainers. it has nothing to do with manning up which seems an obsession of yours. Those who went for the leadership who were leavers were pushed out by remainers. Anyone with the slightest intellect knows that.

 

I said it was what friends told me. What do you want a signed confession or are you waiting for another YouGov poll or an Irish times one.

 

Where has anyone mentioned the war. you must be on the 'egg nogs' or having an inferior melt down.

That's hilarious as you like many on here are crapping it of Nigel Farage. At any opportunity you try and discredit him citing the fact his two kids are getting German passports, because their mother is German.

 

Lets wait and see what happens but sending insults just seems to be a typical trait from you, as a poster.

I’m very much enjoying the wait to see what happens.

 

While we are waiting, back up the claim you just made by providing a link to anything whatsoever I have ever said about Farage’s children or his wife.

 

Alternatively retract the slur.

 

Or if that’s too much of an ask for you, tell us it’s something your friend told you.

[ExpatOilWorker]

4 hours ago, Laughing Gravy said:

Yes lets wait and see what the Remainer has done. Will it be good enough to get her crappy deal through!

 

If it is and the UK leave the EU on tghen29th March then there will be a lot of TV posters crying in their breakfasts.????

 

Either way for me the UK and the EU friendship has hit rock bottom and will be difficult to repair. I know of friends who won't buy anything from the EU countries now. Wine from Chile instead of France and Germany. They are not anti European countries, just anti EU. Seeing the way the EU have demonised, insulted and ridiculed the people of the UK, will not be forgotten for a long time.

 

Either way TM should go.

 

We wish your friend a nice dinner.