Hindustan Surkhiyan Desk: British Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to bring her EU withdrawal bill back to Parliament for a fourth vote, according to reports in UK media.
Downing Street refused to comment on the prospects of a fourth vote when contacted by CNN, but Conservative Party Chairman Brandon Lewis did not rule out the possibility in an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today program on Saturday.
Lewis said MPs must consider possible next steps given that the updated Brexit deadline of April 12 is approaching.
“Parliament will continue this process on Monday and we need to look at all the options,” he said.
May’s proposals have already been voted down three times in a bitterly divided Parliament, although the scale of each defeat has been falling. Friday marked the latest loss, by a margin of 58 votes, as the Brexit saga rumbles on amid a deepening political crisis.
Meanwhile, UK’s Independent newspaper yesterday reported that the country is veering towards a new general election after MPs voted down May’s Brexit deal.
Ministers told The Independent a new election was a clear possibility featuring in the prime minister’s thinking, with her likely to have one final attempt to push her deal through next week.
In a statement directly after her deal was defeated, May indicated that the parliamentary process was running out of road.
“I fear we are reaching the limits of this process in this House,” she said.
However she indicated that the government would allow the process of “indicative votes” — outside the control of ministers — to continue next week.
The idea of a fourth vote has caused outrage in some quarters, including The Guardian.
The newspaper claimed that a fourth vote would be “madness” and proposed that the deal should be subject to a “three strikes and out” rule.
On the other hand, The Sun said MPs who voted against the deal had “betrayed Brexit.”
the Daily Telegraph newspaper said May should step down immediately after negotiating a temporary extension to Britain’s European Union membership.
“She must now see – or must be told – that while she can meet with the EU to negotiate an extension for Brexit, that is the natural end of the road. She must then bow out, for the sake of Brexit, for her party and for democracy itself,” the newspaper said in an editorial column.
And pro-Brexit demonstrations around the Houses of Parliament in central London on Friday resulted in five arrests, as several groups of protesters converged, on the day that the UK was originally meant to leave the European Union.
Marchers carried placards, bearing slogans including “No deal is better than a bad deal,” “Every nation has the right to self-determination” and “Leave means Leave.”
May called a snap general election two years ago and ended up losing her Conservative majority. To hold another one would represent a big risk, but bookmakers Betfair say an election before Brexit takes place is odds on.
