May’s ‘Semi-Brexit’ approach likely cause behind UK parliament divisions: Communist party

UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s alleged sympathy for a “semi-Brexit” is the likely cause behind continued divisions in her ruling Conservative Party, with yet another defeat in the parliament on Thursday set to hamper efforts at achieving unity over the withdrawal process, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Britain Robert Griffiths told Sputnik.
UK lawmakers voted on Thursday to reject May’s motion asking the legislature to reaffirm support for her efforts to seek changes to the divorce agreement after the original deal was voted down on January 15th. May also once again failed to heal divisions within her own party, with Conservative lawmakers affiliated to the pro-Brexit European Research Group (ERG) refusing to support the motion.
“I know May said Brexit means Brexit but I suspect a lot of people didn’t really believe she was prepared to negotiate hard and the EU knew for a fact she wasn’t going to negotiate hard. They knew she was in basically in sympathy with staying in the EU or at the very least having a semi-Brexit,” Griffiths said.
According to the politician, May’s approach prevents her from achieving any sort of unity among pro- and anti-Brexit hardliners.
“I think all along the hard core of the ERG, like the European Commission, have known that all her talk of Brexit was a lot of hot air. Now she’s engaged in a reckless gamble to get this semi-Brexit through. So it seems to me that the hardliners on the Brexit side and on the Remain side seem to have gone back into their camps,” Griffiths stressed.
The Communist Party leader also noted the prime minister could be thinking that she might be able to call the Brexit off but May believes that it would come at an enormous cost for her party.
“May’s assessment appears to be that she honestly isn’t sure whether the whole [Brexit] thing can be reversed or not, not without great cost to the Tory party, so she’s opting for a sort of semi-exit. She’s doing what her business advisory council would want, which is if you can’t reverse it altogether, then try and keep us as closely aligned to the single market … as possible,” Griffiths argued.
The politician added that the only certainty at the moment was that unless the process of London’s withdrawal from the European Union is extended or revoked altogether, the United Kingdom would leave the bloc as scheduled, on March 29.
May is likely to face another showdown in the House of Commons on February 27, where lawmakers are expected to discuss and vote on further amendments to the withdrawal agreement in a bid to rush through a fully approved Brexit deal in time for the departure date. (UNI)