Observer Reports:

EU War-Gaming for Collapse of May Government

Date: 17 March 2019 - 21:19

News ID: ۶۴۳۵۱

LONDON (Reuters) -- The European Union is war-gaming for the collapse of Prime Minister Theresa May’s government after her Brexit divorce deal suffered two crushing defeats, the Observer newspaper reported.
EU officials are concerned that the prime minister has little chance of passing her divorce deal if she brings it back before parliament for a third time next week, the newspaper said.
A diplomatic note between European ambassadors and senior officials reveals an attempt to ensure that May’s successor would not be able to unpick the divorce deal agreed between Britain and the EU last year, the Observer said.
May’s government was scrambling on Sunday to get support in parliament for her Brexit deal at the third time of asking, aiming to persuade doubters with threats and promises to avoid any move to oust her.
After parliament backed a move to delay Brexit, May still has only three days to win approval for her deal to leave the European Union if she wants to go to a summit with the bloc’s leaders on Thursday with something to offer them in return for more time.
Stepping up the pressure on the prime minister, Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main opposition Labor Party, said he could trigger another confidence vote in May’s government if she fails again to get her deal approved by parliament.
Almost three years since Britain voted to leave the EU in a referendum, the country is no clearer about how and when it will leave the bloc, with several outcomes possible, from exiting without a deal to Brexit never happening at all.
May’s warning that if parliament again votes against her deal — which has already been crushed twice by lawmakers — that Britain could face a long delay and would need to take part in European elections in May seemed to be winning some over.
But her finance minister, Philip Hammond, said she was not in the clear yet.
"What has happened ... is that a significant number of colleagues ... have changed their view on this and decided that the alternatives are so unpalatable to them that they on reflection think the prime minister’s deal is the best way to deliver Brexit,” he told BBC’s Andrew Marr program.
Asked if the government had enough numbers yet, he replied: "Not yet, it is a work in progress.”