UK Needs Series Of Votes On Brexit Options, May Should Work Cross-Party - Leave Campaigner

The UK parliament should hold a series of "indicative" votes on a wide range of Brexit scenarios, such as no-deal or some form of staying in the common market, to find a consensus, with Prime Minister Theresa May needing to work cross-party to break the deadlock

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st March, 2019) The UK parliament should hold a series of "indicative" votes on a wide range of Brexit scenarios, such as no-deal or some form of staying in the common market, to find a consensus, with Prime Minister Theresa May needing to work cross-party to break the deadlock and ultimately secure support for a withdrawal deal, Brendan Chilton, the general secretary of the Labour Leave campaign group, told Sputnik.

The House of Commons has already rejected May's divorce deal twice, but it has also voted to rule out a no-deal Brexit last week. Following the defeats of the withdrawal agreement in parliament, House of Commons Speaker John Bercow blocked any new vote on May's deal, unless it was resubmitted in a fundamentally different form. The prime minister has, however, said that she was still planning to bring the deal for a new vote despite Bercow's intervention.

"The way out of the deadlock is for the House of Commons to have a series of indicative votes on various options that the United Kingdom could follow, whether that's common market plus, no-deal - whatever it is, a series of votes just to establish where the consensus is in the House of Commons. I also think that the best way out from this would be for the Parliament to actually deliver what the British people voted for - namely, to leave," Chilton said.

According to Chilton, May needs to "try work cross-party in the House of Commons," and it is something that "she should have done from the day one" if the prime minister wanted her deal to command parliamentary support.

Now, the "best thing" that May can do is to resign, he claimed, adding that it is actually unlikely to happen.

"I think, however, that she will continue to show contempt to the House of Commons by forcing them to vote and vote again [on her initial deal] until she gets the answer she wants. But I do not believe the House of Commons will do that, and certainly the speaker, Mr. Bercow, has said that the government would not be able to bring a motion back unless there are substantial changes," he suggested.

After the House of Commons rejected the idea of leaving the bloc without a withdrawal agreement last week, it supported extending the withdrawal deadline until June 30 if the deal with Brussels was approved by March 20. The European Union is yet to endorse the Brexit extension. European Council President Donald Tusk, however, said that the extension was conditional on a positive vote on the withdrawal agreement in the UK parliament.