British Prime Minister Theresa May repeated her stand that Britain would not be able to get a better deal from the EU. She, however, declined to say whether she believes the controversial withdrawal deal would make Britain better off than it would without any deal.
Earlier in the day, former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab told the BBC he believes the withdrawal agreement — which he resigned over — represented worse terms than staying in the EU under existing terms. During a radio phone in, the Prime Minister repeatedly declined to specifically answer one caller’s question on this, insisting the deal simply represented a “different” future for the U.K.
She was delivering on what people had voted for, Ms. May insisted, adding that if the deal didn’t go through, Britain ended up at ‘Square One’ with “more uncertainty and division”.
While insisting that she was not threatening Brexit supporting MPs who are warning they could vote against the deal, she pointed to people within Parliament who she said wanted to “frustrate Brexit and stop Brexit”.
“It’s important that they know that.” However, she insisted that from her perspective, there was no question of ‘no Brexit’.
Despite the Prime Minister reaching agreements with EU negotiators on both a draft withdrawal pact and a non-binding draft political declaration setting out the terms of the future relationship, her problems have mounted amid criticism from within the U.K. and outside it.
While the Labour Party has described the deal as “botched” and pledged to vote against it on the grounds that it fails to deliver on its six tests of a good Brexit, there are plenty within the Conservative Party who have also opposed the deal, mainly because of the proposed backstop — or insurance policy — to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland.
