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BRITAIN-POLITICS-EU-BREXIT
Brexit ’50-50′ if May’s deal voted down: British minister
LONDON, Dec 30, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Britain’s chances of leaving the European
Union are only “50-50” if MPs reject Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit
deal, a senior minister warned Sunday.
Liam Fox, the international trade secretary and a vocal Brexit campaigner
during the 2016 referendum, warned colleagues planning on voting against May
that her plan was the only way to be “100 percent certain” that Britain would
leave.
“If we were not to vote for that, I’m not sure I would give it much more
than 50-50,” he told The Sunday Times.
May’s government is trying to persuade a sceptical British parliament to
endorse a broad withdrawal deal she struck with European leaders last month.
But the bill’s passage is far from certain, with May having to pull an
initial vote with a crushing defeat looking, rescheduling it for the week
beginning January 14.
Pro-Brexit supporters are particularly concerned about the deal’s so-called
“backstop” provision, which could keep Britain locked in a customs union with
the EU in order to avoid a “hard” border between British province Northern
Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
But Fox urged his colleagues to “put their own pride behind them” and take
what was on offer.
“The worst possible outcome of this process would be no Brexit,” he told
the paper.
“For me that would induce a sense that we had betrayed the people that
voted in the referendum.
“What you can be sure of is that if we vote for the prime minister’s deal
then its 100 percent certain that we will leave on March 29.”
He also warned parliament against trying to thwart the process through a
series of legislative procedures.
“Shattering that bond of trust between parliament and the people, I think,
would be incendiary,” he said.
BSS/AFP/FI/1635 hrs