Reuters, London :
Prime Minister Theresa May was clinging on to power on Thursday after her final Brexit gambit backfired, overshadowing a European election that has shown a United Kingdom still riven by division over its EU divorce.
May’s departure will deepen the Brexit crisis as a new leader is likely to want a more decisive split with the European Union, raising the chances of a confrontation with the bloc and an election which could usher in a socialist government.
In such a fluid situation, the world’s fifth largest economy faces an array of options including an orderly exit with a deal, a no-deal exit, an election or a second referendum which could ultimately reverse the 2016 decision to leave the EU.
May, who won the top job in the turmoil which followed the 2016 referendum on EU membership, has repeatedly failed to get parliament’s approval for the divorce deal she pitched as a way to heal the Brexit divisions of the country.
But her last gambit, offering a possible second referendum and closer trading arrangements with the EU, triggered a revolt by some Brexit-supporting ministers. She is now under pressure to name her departure date.
House of Commons leader Andrea Leadsom resigned, saying she felt May’s approach would not deliver Brexit. The BBC said more ministers could follow. “May set to go after Brexit fiasco,” read The Sun newspaper’s front page, while The Times said: “May prepares to quit after cabinet mutiny.”
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said May would still be prime minister when U.S. President Donald Trump arrives for a state visit on June 3. “Theresa May will be prime minister to welcome him, and rightly so,” Hunt said.
While the country remains deeply divided over Brexit, most agree that it will shape the future of the United Kingdom for generations to come.
Pro-Europeans fear Brexit will undermine London’s position as one of the world’s top two financial capitals and weaken the West as it grapples with Trump’s unpredictable presidency and growing assertiveness from Russia and China.
The loss of Britain for the EU is the biggest blow yet to more than 60 years of effort to forge European unity after two world wars, though the 27 other members of the bloc have shown surprising unity during the tortuous negotiations.
May, who has shown obduracy during one of the most tumultuous premierships of recent British history, had promised to leave office if lawmakers approved her Brexit deal but she is now under intense pressure to name a date.
Nearly three years after the United Kingdom voted 52% to 48% to leave the EU, it remains unclear how, when or even if it will leave the European club it joined in 1973.
The current deadline to leave is Oct. 31.
When May goes, her Conservative Party will elect a leader who is likely to want to renegotiate the deal May agreed with the EU in November, raising the chances of a confrontation with the bloc and a national election.
The bookmakers’ favorite to succeed May is Boris Johnson, the face of the official campaign to leave the EU, who has said he wants a more decisive split with the bloc. More than a dozen others are seen as potential candidates.
