UKIP Leader Believes May Must Resign To Clear Way For Effective Brexit

LONDON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th November, 2018) UK Prime Minister Theresa May's efforts to steer the country out of the European Union have been insincere from the start, with her departure as head of government now necessary to obtain a more amicable deal and make Brexit happen, UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Gerard Batten told Sputnik.

The statement comes a day after May secured the cabinet's support for a provisional deal on the terms of UK withdrawal from the bloc after over a year of talks with Brussels. The deal, however, faced a harsh backlash both from the opposition and some cabinet ministers. In protest of the deal, Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Esther McVey, and junior minister for Norther Ireland Shailesh Vara announced their resignations. Some 50 members of the ruling Tory party favoring a harder Brexit requested a no confidence vote in the prime minister.

"The last two years have been an elaborate charade. The whole Brexit process under May has been argued on false premises, precisely to bring us where we are today. I have always said her mission was not to achieve our exit from the EU but to find a way of not making it happen. She has to go, and go now. Someone who actually wants to leave has to be Prime Minister in order to make Brexit happen," Batten said.

According to Batten, May's political longevity now looks short, as the deal secured by her government with Brussels is a compromise that nobody wanted in the country, regardless of whether they support remaining in the bloc or not.

"It's hard to see how Mrs May can survive this. It's a 'deal' no one wants, Leavers or Remainers. But maybe that's the whole point? Maybe her role was to deliver something so unwanted that it would help overturn the whole idea of leaving?" he argued.

Meanwhile, the withdrawal deal is yet to be put up for a meaningful vote in the parliament, which may turn out to be a challenging task. The 585-page withdrawal agreement contains a number of controversial points that both Remainers and Brexiteers have long been opposing. Perhaps the most contentious issue is the "backstop" provision, which potentially keeps the country indefinitely inside the EU customs union once the transition period is completed in late 2020.

Under such a scheme, the whole United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland, would remain tied to EU customs regulations in the event of a failure to negotiate an all-encompassing deal for the post-transition period. A prime point of contention is that London will not be able to exit such an arrangement unilaterally, instead being obligated to submit its concerns to a mediation committee for further negotiation.

The so-called "backstop" has consistently met with opposition from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), a key ally need to prop up May's narrow majority in the House of Commons, who fears such an arrangement could lead to Northern Ireland being coerced into an altogether different set of regulations with the bloc, threatening the country's constitutional and territorial integrity.