UK: Ahead of no-confidence vote, Theresa May says fresh polls will be ‘worst thing’ for Britain
The Parliament is set to hold a no-confidence vote called by Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday said conducting fresh elections would be the “worst thing” Britain could do in the scenario of Brexit, Reuters reported. She made the statement in Parliament before a no-confidence vote is held against her government at 19.00 GMT (1 am in India).
May said she is confident of winning the vote called by Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. “It [fresh elections] would deepen division when we need unity, it would bring chaos when we need certainty and it would bring delay when we need to move forward,” May told the House.
On Tuesday, British lawmakers rejected May’s Brexit deal, voting against it by 432 to 202. It is believed to be the biggest defeat ever suffered by a British prime minister in Parliament since 1918.
The legislators who voted against the agreement, struck between the European Union and the United Kingdom government, included MPs of May’s own Conservative Party. The agreement sets out terms of Britain’s exit from the European Union on March 29.
If the government is voted out, it will have 14 days to overturn the result or face a national election. However, May is likely to survive the vote, unless MPs from her own party vote her out of power, reports said.
British and European Union leaders in November committed to avoiding a “hard border” between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland after Brexit. The backstop is a “safety net” which will preserve a border without customs and regulatory checks through a series of measures. There are differences between the United Kingdom and the European Union over the terms of this backstop.
The prime minister has said she will hold talks with the Opposition and Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party to see what would be required to ensure the support of the House. However, if no withdrawal agreement is finalised before March 29, the United Kingdom will leave the European Union without a deal. This will mean European Union laws and customs and the free movement of people, goods and services will cease overnight.
