Brexit deal could be done in "next few days", top Conservative says

By Elisabeth O'Leary and David Milliken

 

Britain's Secretary of State for Health Matt Hancock is seen outside Downing Street, as uncertainty over Brexit continues, in London, Britain April 8, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

 

ABERDEEN, Scotland/LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May could reach a Brexit deal with the opposition Labour Party within days, a leading Conservative Party figure said on Saturday, after senior ministers urged compromise following poor local election results.

 

Ruth Davidson, the Conservatives' leader in Scotland, told party members that a cross-partisan agreement on Brexit was needed before this month's European elections, or Britain's major parties would face an even bigger backlash from voters.

 

The Conservatives lost 1,332 seats on English local councils that were up for re-election, and Labour - which would typically aim to gain hundreds of seats in a mid-term vote - instead lost 81.

 

Many voters expressed frustration at May's failure to have taken Britain out of the European Union, almost three years after the country decided to leave in a referendum.

 

"If we thought yesterday's results were a wake-up call, just wait for the European elections on the 23rd of May," Davidson told a party conference in Aberdeen.

 

Speaking to reporters afterwards, she said there had been progress in the weeks of talks between the Conservatives and Labour to find a Brexit deal which passes parliamentary muster.

 

"There is a deal that could be done in the next few days ... and I really hope we can get to that point," she said, describing the results as "a kick up the backside".

 

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said on Friday there was now a huge impetus on every lawmaker to get a Brexit deal done.

 

But even if the Conservative and Labour Party leaderships reach a Brexit compromise, there is no guarantee that it will pass through parliament, which has roundly rejected May's proposals three times already.

 

In an indication of the hostility May faces from the most pro-Brexit wing of her party, former leader Iain Duncan Smith renewed his call for her to step down soon, calling her a "caretaker prime minister" after the local election losses.

 

Complicating the picture, the main beneficiaries of the swing against the two major UK parties were the pro-EU Liberal Democrats, who campaigned on a demand for a new referendum, aiming to reverse Brexit.

 

"MOOD FOR COMPROMISE"

 

Health minister Matt Hancock urged pragmatism in a BBC radio interview earlier on Saturday.

 

"I think we need to be in the mood for compromise," he said.

 

Foreign minister Jeremy Hunt also saw a "glimmer of hope" that there might be a deal with Labour soon.

 

But an EU customs union that prevented Britain from striking its own trade deals was not a viable long-term option for the world's fifth-largest economy, he said.

 

Earlier on Saturday, Buzzfeed News reported sources saying that May was optimistic about a deal, and that behind closed doors the government had already compromised on a customs union.

 

"In the last week government ministers and officials presented Labour with a new offer on a customs arrangement that would effectively see the UK remain in the key aspects of a customs union with the EU," the sources familiar with the talks said.

 

One source told Buzzfeed "the offer would be tantamount to the government accepting in full Labour's demands".

 

However, the sources did not think a deal was necessarily imminent, as Labour might wish to delay any agreement until after the European elections to maximise the damage to May.

 

The political editor of the Spectator magazine, which has close links to the Conservatives, said in a column for the Sun newspaper that there had been an agreement to an initial "comprehensive customs arrangement" very like a customs union.

 

Labour and the Conservatives would then leave open whether this would lead in future to Labour's preferred customs union, with EU consultation rights, or the looser arrangement favoured by the Conservatives.

 

It is unclear if the EU would approve a temporary customs deal, as border controls might later be needed between Ireland and Northern Ireland if the deal broke down.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-05-05

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8 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

Brexit deal could be done in "next few days", top Conservative says

How many times have we heard that before?

1 minute ago, darksidedog said:

How many times have we heard that before?

Yeah, there's more repeats than you'd get drinking a litre of Coke straight down.

After 3 wasted years, and British democracy in the worst state in 800 years, I hope May can not push through her Brexit in name only in the next couple of weeks. I want to see Farage and his Brexit party wipe the floor with the establishment on the 22nd May. As well as totally humiliating the liberal elites that thought they could overturn the referendum result, this will further inspire other nations to quit the sinking EU experiment. Ireland, Italy, Poland and others are all looking more Euro-skeptic.

 This is going to be fun.

4 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

This is going to be fun.

Seriously? This isn't some game for people you dislike to be embarrassed or humiliated. This is about the future of the UK and its standing in the world. Perhaps if there had been more cooperation and less of the bickering and fighting between the various contingents, this bloody mess would have been completed on time.

History has shown that revolution always trumps evolution when political systems such as the UK-my country of birth- needs to be changed for the better. Another swamp to be drained?  

1 hour ago, rooster59 said:

Ruth Davidson, the Conservatives' leader in Scotland, told party members that a cross-partisan agreement on Brexit was needed before this month's European elections, or Britain's major parties would face an even bigger backlash from voters.

So this really has nothing to do with respecting the wishes of the electorate and everything to do with trying to save their sorry <deleted> ..

fool me once, shame on you. fool me twice...

He said that did he ? or was he gone by then.

after having shown how democracy can be defeated, does it matter ?

I'm an American and I am sick of this shit. I say it time for you UK people to get your assault rifles out and... oh wait.  

2 hours ago, ThreeEyedRaven said:

 the future of the UK and its standing in the world. 

what future with no standing other than UK showed how democracy can be defeated ?

 

1 hour ago, Phuketshrew said:

So this really has nothing to do with respecting the wishes of the electorate and everything to do with trying to save their sorry <deleted> ..

Looks like it. They are really panicking now but the "deal" is the same as a surrender. A government that has the best interests of the UK in mind would insist on restarting negotiations - those that have already happened were obviously not even close to even handed - if the EU refuse then we should just go. 

3 hours ago, rooster59 said:

"There is a deal that could be done in the next few days ... and I really hope we can get to that point,"

For that to have any meaning is a No Brexit Deal.

Any restructuring of May's agreed deal with the EU requires unanimous 27-nation agreement and that's not going to occur just prior to EU elections. Otherwise any new deal proposed by May to the EU will be considered post election - October or November 2019?

1 hour ago, nauseus said:

Looks like it. They are really panicking now but the "deal" is the same as a surrender. A government that has the best interests of the UK in mind would insist on restarting negotiations - those that have already happened were obviously not even close to even handed - if the EU refuse then we should just go. 

Why didn’t you leave on the 29th? Do you really think restarting negotiations is a realistic option?

2 minutes ago, damascase said:

Why didn’t you leave on the 29th? Do you really think restarting negotiations is a realistic option?

Don't blame the Brit population for this FUBAR. 

 

Blame the 650 politicians in parliament who are the ones that own this mess

4 hours ago, darksidedog said:

How many times have we heard that before?

Actually none. All we have read about is the PM beating her head against a brick wall with her three attempts to pass the same 'deal' and the enduring impasse. At each count, the numbers opposing her dropped like she was hoping to wear down their increasingly fractured resolve. Then the English 'mid-terms' came a along and the man and woman on the street FINALLY managed to get everyone's attention.

 

I recall my years in school where simply being called a dunce didn't really make any difference, especially when you had company. But after the tests, when faced with proof-positive of one's indisputable thick-headedness, it generally made one pull one's socks up. Maybe public school is different from state school in that regard? In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

3 hours ago, damascase said:

Why didn’t you leave on the 29th? Do you really think restarting negotiations is a realistic option?

We didn’t leave on the 29th because the pro remain government has repeatedly offered up a lousy withdrawal agreement and our cretinous parliament has voted down the no deal route, despite the fact that this was one of two known outcomes since Article 50 was voted for (by the same cretinous parliament) and triggered.  

 

As the first attempt at negotiations was so poor, I think that restarting is the correct course to be followed. Unfortunately at this time and so late in the process, it is probably not a realistic option, if it is even an option at all. 

 

It's all a cluster <deleted> and May is primarily responsible for that. 

Shame !  Shame !  Shame! on these two party leaders.

 

Now they want to to any kind of deal out of pure political self interest. They think they can save their parties this way then they are sadly mistaken.

 

They may , if successful, avoid another humiliating defeat of their parties at the European MEP's election but they won't at the next general election .

 

As for getting rid of Teresa May  , call in a  priest to do an exorcism - perhaps that might work!

I prefer the much bigger picture. When the deal is struck and the UK finally walks away from the clutches of the EU... as she surely will, each remaining EU member nation will have a pretty clear-cut template, an Idiot's Guide if you will, on how not to proceed when they individually decide to pull the pin and leave the building... as they surely will.

We need another Cromwell or Thatcher to sort these traitorous MP's out!

 

 

5 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Theresa May could reach a Brexit deal with the opposition Labour Party within days, a 

Exactly..... COULD. 

How many times we listened to this already. 

Face the truth and tell UK people the truth :

Brexit is over 

23 minutes ago, Orton Rd said:

We need another Cromwell or Thatcher to sort these traitorous MP's out!

 

 

Here here!

20 minutes ago, sawadee1947 said:

Exactly..... COULD. 

How many times we listened to this already. 

Face the truth and tell UK people the truth :

Brexit is over 

It is?!! We've left?!!! When?!!!!

 

Bugger!... I must have missed it.

BS. This will not be Brexit, just a disgusting stitch up by two revolting people.

27 minutes ago, Thingamabob said:

BS. This will not be Brexit, just a disgusting stitch up by two revolting people.

you can't beat the establishment, it's silly to try

BS. This will not be Brexit, just a disgusting stitch up by two revolting people.

Correct..no guarantee it will win the house of horrors vote though

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5 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

you can't beat the establishment, it's silly to try

You can't beat democracy and referendum results. It's silly(and VERY dangerous) to try.

you can't beat the establishment, it's silly to try

So..you're quite content to be " less than a number ".

Maybe wait till an important court case is finished..terresa the apeesa may well be up to her neck in the smelly stuff.

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Quite correct..the genie is well and truly out of the bottle!!!

You can't beat democracy and referendum results. It's silly(and VERY dangerous) to try.

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