{"id":208898,"date":"2019-04-08T02:35:16","date_gmt":"2019-04-08T06:35:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=208898"},"modified":"2019-04-08T02:35:16","modified_gmt":"2019-04-08T06:35:16","slug":"uk-holds-out-hope-for-brexit-compromise-by-friday-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/04\/08\/uk-holds-out-hope-for-brexit-compromise-by-friday-deadline\/","title":{"rendered":"UK holds out hope for Brexit compromise by Friday deadline"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The bloc agreed last month to postpone Brexit day, originally set for March 29, and set April 12 as the new deadline under certain conditions. (Pixabay Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LONDON \u2014 Cross-party talks to jumpstart plans for Brexit are expected to resume before the U.K.’s Friday deadline for leaving the European Union, and the opposition Labour Party is hopeful the country’s political impasse can be resolved, a party negotiator said Sunday.<\/p>\n

British Prime Minister Theresa May reluctantly reached out to Labour lawmakers Tuesday after Parliament voted down her divorce deal with the EU for the third time. The move infuriated pro-Brexit lawmakers in her Conservative Party, and three days of bargaining with the opposition didn’t yield a compromise agreement.<\/p>\n

While Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn faulted the government, saying it showed no willingness to budge from its previous Brexit positions, Labour business minister Rebecca Long-Bailey held out hope and said further talks are expected.<\/p>\n

The discussions’ \u201coverall mood is quite a positive and hopeful one\u201d despite the government’s \u201cdisappointing\u201d failure to shift its stance on several issues, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sad thing is at the moment, we haven’t seen overall any real changes to the deal, but we are hopeful that will change in coming days, and we are willing to continue the talks as we know the government are,\u201d Long-Bailey told the BBC.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are currently waiting for the government to come back to us now to state whether they are prepared to move on any of their red lines,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

May acknowledged Saturday that the government had failed to get the withdrawal deal she struck with the EU through Parliament despite her best efforts and \u201cthere is no sign it can be passed in the near future.\u201d<\/p>\n

That left her with no choice but to reach out to the opposition, the prime minister said. May warned that any Brexit could \u201cslip through our fingers\u201d unless a cross-party compromise was found.<\/p>\n

Labour’s key demand is for a customs union with the EU post-Brexit to protect the flow of goods. Hard-line Brexiteers vehemently oppose any proposal that would continue to bind the U.K. to EU tariff rules and restrict Britain’s ability to strike its own free trade deals around the world.<\/p>\n

Long-Bailey insisted that Labour wants to avoid a no-deal Brexit \u201cin any situation\u201d and was prepared to cancel Brexit rather than see Britain crash out of the EU with no agreement in place, an outcome expected to wreak havoc on businesses and disrupt travel throughout Europe.<\/p>\n

But Conservative lawmaker Andrea Leadsom said Sunday a no-deal scenario wouldn’t be \u201cnearly as grim as many would advocate.\u201d She said the governing party was working \u201cthrough gritted teeth\u201d with Labour to find a compromise, but its bottom line is Britain leaving the EU.<\/p>\n

The bloc agreed last month to postpone Brexit day, originally set for March 29, and set April 12 as the new deadline under certain conditions.<\/p>\n

Britain has until Friday to approve the existing withdrawal agreement, to change course and seek a further delay to Brexit, or to crash out of the EU without an agreement.<\/p>\n

May has asked the remaining EU countries for another postponement that would extend to June 30, hoping to secure an alternative deal from the opposition negotiations and Parliament in a matter of weeks.<\/p>\n

Other European leaders are expected to respond to the delay request during a summit in Brussels scheduled for Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LONDON \u2014 Cross-party talks to jumpstart plans for Brexit are expected to resume before the U.K.’s Friday deadline for leaving …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":149663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-208898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-w","mauthors-sylvia-hui","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208898"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":208900,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208898\/revisions\/208900"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}