UK’s Cross-party Talks on Brexit Deal Set to Fail on Finding Compromise
May’s cross-party talks with Labor seem to have achieved little more than angering her own party.
The cross-party talks between Britain’s ruling Conservative Party and the opposition Labor Party that were supposed to lead to a compromise ensuring the passage of Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal with the EU are set to end unsuccessfully.
The UK’s two largest political parties have been negotiating for six weeks after the British Parliament rejected the Brexit deal three times, and the EU granted the UK an extension on Brexit until October 31, 2019.
UK leader May is still hoping to get the deal passed and thus realize Brexit before the summer. However, she has now agreed to set a timetable for her resignation and the election of a successor as leader of the Conservatives as a result of intra-party pressure.
Not only are her talks with the Labor Party proving unsuccessful but they have caused substantial resentment among the Conservatives’ ranks, BBC News reports.
The main reason the Conservative – Labor talks on the Brexit deal are set to fail is a disagreement over the Labor Party’s demand that the UK secure itself a customs union with the EU.
A customs union would mean no internal tariffs between the UK and the EU regardless of Brexit.
However, many Brexit-supporting Tory MPs are adamantly opposed to that possibility, insisting that the EU must strike its own trade deals with other countries, which could not be done if it has a customs union with the EU.
While the customs union demand spelled out by Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn has infuriated many among the Tories, some on Labor’s shadow Cabinet asked for an immediate end to the cross-party talks.
That means that if he strikes a deal with the Conservatives, Corbyn might not even be able to guarantee his party’s support for it.
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