May's Resignation As UK Prime Minister Could Pave Way For New Brexit Approach

The resignation of UK Prime Minister Theresa May, whose term has largely been defined by Brexit struggle, could bring about a new direction for the UK policy on divorce from the European Union

BRUSSELS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th May, 2019) The resignation of UK Prime Minister Theresa May, whose term has largely been defined by Brexit struggle, could bring about a new direction for the UK policy on divorce from the European Union.

The embattled prime minister, who has spent the last two years seeking a compromise Brexit deal that would be accepted by the European Union and the UK parliament, was fighting back tears at the end of her speech on Friday. She said she was regretting her failure to deliver Brexit. The EU-UK divorce, indeed, became the key issue during May's term as prime minister.

May herself backed Remain campaign prior to the 2016 referendum, but after winning the Conservative Party leadership shortly after the fateful vote, she began work on the divorce deal. The negotiations took months.

Her government hammered out an agreement with the European Union by the fall 2018, but the victory was short-lived as the UK parliament's lower chamber rejected the deal.

In the UK parliament, the deal would have to somehow satisfy those who wanted extremely close alignment with the European Union or better yet, a new referendum and those who wanted to break away from the bloc. In addition, the land border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland emerged as one of the most contentious points. The European Union wanted no hard border between the two. However, a backstop solution facilitating frictionless trade between them risked either introducing checks between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom or trapping the whole of the United Kingdom in a customs union with the European Union, possibly indefinitely.

The European Union has been adamant since November that it would not renegotiate the withdrawal deal, although it said that the political declaration on future relations might be reviewed.

After the deal was rejected twice in the UK parliament, a series of indicative votes was held in an attempt to find out what the lawmakers wanted. The parliament voted against a no-deal Brexit. May kept insisting that the best way to avoid a no-deal exit would be to vote on her deal. However, the third vote in late March did not bring the result she wanted.

"I hope that the next prime minister will have the guts to cut Britain away, clean from all the strings that the European Union is trying to put on the United Kingdom before departure," Mireille d'Ornano, a French member of the European parliament, told Sputnik.

May's successor will be elected by July.

The prime minister said she would resign as the party leader on June 7 but remain prime minister until a new one was elected.

"I think the best that could happen is that the next prime minister, a conservative since they are still there until 2022 normally, goes for a hard Brexit: the UK leaves, refuses to pay anything to Europe and they take two years, the EU and the UK to negotiate the minimum trade tariffs to be established on both sides of the Channel. The UK should be in a European free trade area with countries such as Norway or Switzerland and the European Union. It is in the interest of everybody," Yasmine Dehaene, the lead candidate for Belgium's People's Party (PP) at the EU elections, told Sputnik.

Boris Johnson, who served as a foreign secretary under May and resigned over Brexit differences, is tipped as a potential favorite to replace May, according to a recent YouGov poll.

Johnson, if elected, could reach an agreement with Nigel Farage, a staunch Brexit supporter, who led the Leave campaign in the run-up to the referendum, according to Aldo Carcaci, a member of the Belgian parliament.

"I am sure that Johnson and Farage could agree, and by common efforts, persuade Brexistters in the other parties to join them in getting a hard Brexit through parliament. They will anyway have two years to negotiate the terms afterwards. During that period, the present situation could continue to apply and minimal trade tariffs only be imposed at the end of the two years. The United Kingdom would then have relations with the European Union, comparable to that of Switzerland or Norway. Not a disaster, is it?" Carcaci told Sputnik.

Steven Woolfe, an independent member of the European parliament from the United Kingdom, suggested the departure of May could become "the signal for a new Brexit movement, drawn from all parties, to be united in demanding from our Government a real Brexit."

"It is time for a new movement drawn from all parties, after the vote on Thursday. It is time to be loyal to our national self-determination, no matter what party we belong to. We must join together to get the United Kingdom out of all EU control. We hope for a Brexiteer to replace Theresa May. It would only be fair," Woolfe said.

Meanwhile, opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn has already urged the new Conservative prime minister, whomever they may be, to call for an early general election. A snap poll by YouGov suggests that 46 percent of the British back the idea.