British MPs want to enable parliament to veto 'no deal' Brexit
British MPs plan to give parliament the ability to veto the final outcome of Brexit talks if the government cannot clinch a deal with the European Union or negotiates a bad deal.
Among the MPs are Conservative, Labour, SNP, Liberal Democrat and Green politicians with former Tory Chancellor Kenneth Clarke being a key player in the newly-emerged House of Commons cabal.
One of the proposals put forward requires a parliamentary approval of any final move on Brexit whose fifth round of talks with EU diplomats ended in stalemate since Brussels wanted the UK to improve its opening offer of a £20 billion “divorce bill.”
Another proposal calls for a mandatory two-year transition period after Brexit during which EU regulations continue to apply in Britain.
The other proposal demands a bill, apart from the initial Brexit legislation, to make the MPs’ vote binding.
The shadow chancellor said Labour is against the idea of Britain leaving the bloc without a deal.
“I will not countenance no deal. I am not willing to countenance that. I don’t think it is a realistic option. It’s not going to happen,” John McDonnell (pictured below) said in an interview with BBC One.
He also said, “I don’t think there is a majority in Parliament for no deal. I think on a cross-party basis you will see in the debates in the coming weeks, the government will get the message, there will be a deal.”
The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, said Thursday that “there had not been any great steps forward on central issues.”
The European Council will decide next week whether sufficient progress has been made on Brexit talks to begin trade discussions, as the UK wants.
The EU has decided that current negotiations should aim to resolve the status of EU nationals living in the UK; the amount Britain will have to pay for the departure; and the question of what should happen to the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland after Brexit.
Only if EU leaders approve there has been "sufficient progress" on these three issues would negotiators be allowed to move towards the more complex issue of future trade ties between the EU and Britain.
May invoked the formal notice for EU departure on March 29 to begin the two-year process. She has promised to take the UK out of the EU even if it requires a hard Brexit.
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