MPs lay bill to force PM May to seek Brexit extension

LONDON

A cross-party group of British MPs on Tuesday published a motion in a last-ditch bid to stop a “highly likely” no-deal looming 10 days from now.

Labour MP Yvette Cooper and her allies are seeking to force Prime Minister Theresa May to request the EU give a further extension of Article 50, the section of the EU treaty under which Britain asked for an exit.

Cooper will get her motion voted on after a confirmatory vote Wednesday – another day the MPs will use the parliament time instead of the government in line with a vote last week, according to local media reports.

Parliament will then debate and vote Cooper’s bill on Thursday and if passed, it will be forwarded to the House of Lords.

John Bercow, of the House of Commons, ruled on Tuesday that all stages, including from the House of Lords, can be completed in a single day.

The proposed bill would force May to introduce a new plan to extend Article 50.

“We are now in a really dangerous situation with a serious and growing risk of no deal in 10 days’ time,” Cooper said of her bill.

She said the prime minister “has a responsibility to prevent that happening” and “she needs to put forward a proposal, including saying how long an extension she thinks we need to sort things out.”

“If the government won’t act urgently, then parliament has a responsibility to try to ensure that happens even though we are right up against the deadline,” she added.

Cooper said parliament has tried to jam into two days a process of finding that “I wish the prime minister had started two years ago.”

She added: “But right now nothing has been agreed.

“So that means that whatever happens in the next few days, the U.K. needs an extension beyond 12 April if we are to avoid the damage and chaos of no deal.

“For the sake of jobs, public services, and our national security, we need to avert no deal.”

'No one can be pleased'

Cooper’s move came a day after MPs failed to reach to find a majority behind any of alternative Brexit proposals Monday night.

Last night, one of the alternatives, which suggested that the U.K. leave the European Union but remain in the customs union, was narrowly defeated by three votes, 273-276.

Speaking after the results were announced, Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay said no solution had won a majority, but parliament can avoid a no-deal Brexit by approving May’s deal in a fourth vote this week.

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn underlined that one of the options was narrowly defeated and could be voted on again.

The EU announced last week that it would hold an emergency Brexit summit on April 10, two days before the Brexit date.

Michel Barnier, the chief EU negotiator, said on Tuesday that a no-deal Brexit is “very likely” and growing more likely by the day after the MPs rejected all alternative solutions to May’s three-time-rejected deal.

“No deal was never our desired or intended scenario,” Barnier said, speaking in Brussels.

“But the EU 27 is now prepared,” he added, referring to the bloc’s members besides Britain. “It becomes, day after day, more likely.”

“This is a serious crisis and no one can be pleased with what is happening in the U.K. currently,” he added.

Prime minister’s Brexit deal has been rejected by lawmakers in three votes so far.

UK voters decided to leave the bloc after a more than 40-year-long membership following a referendum in 2016.