AFP, London :
Prime Minister Theresa May has survived a frenzied fortnight of rebellion that threatened to unseat her, but must now sell her Brexit plan to voters and the European Union.
With a trip to Northern Ireland this week, May began a tour of Britain to convince voters to back her blueprint for close economic ties with the bloc after Brexit next March.
Her new Brexit minister Dominic Raab – appointed last week after his predecessor quit over the compromise proposal – also held his first talks in Brussels on Thursday where he vowed to “heat up” the withdrawal negotiations.
May still faces significant anger from her Conservative party over her plan to follow EU rules in trade on goods after Brexit, which has been called “Brexit in name only”.
But, while the danger of a leadership challenge remains, she has ridden out the resignation of two cabinet ministers and seen off a threatened parliamentary defeat by pro-Europeans.
“For the first time she’s got a cabinet united around her vision,” said Anand Menon, director of the UK in a Changing Europe think-tank based at King’s College London.
He said the resignations of Brexit minister David Davis and foreign minister Boris Johnson may actually help in persuading Brussels to take her plan seriously.
“It allows her credibly to turn around to the EU and say I’m taking these people on and I need some help,” he told AFP.
“The EU doesn’t like the (plan) but the muted reaction is evidence that they understand the need for sensitivity.”
·Britons voted to leave the EU in June 2016 but the government has been divided on what it wants from the future relationship.
With the clock ticking, May gathered her warring ministers on July 6 and persuaded them to back a new free trade area on goods.
It unleashed fury from those who want a clean break with the EU, and a string of junior aides followed Davis and Johnson out the door.
May faced open hostility from her own MPs, with one asking her in the House of Commons if she could explain “at what point it was decided that Brexit means remain?”
With an eye on dispersing MPs who may try to plot against her, May tried to bring forward parliament’s summer holidays, only to abandon the idea due to a lack of support.
However, she survived a crucial vote that would have forced her to try to keep Britain in a customs union with the EU, something she has repeatedly rejected.
And at a meeting of her MPs on Wednesday, she won pledges of support, with one even announcing that he was withdrawing his letter of no confidence tabled the week before. Simon Clarke told reporters that he still disliked May’s plan but had been shocked by the in-fighting.
“We have looked into the abyss in the last few days,” he said, adding: “A Conservative party civil war is not where we need to be.”
It is far from clear however that even if May sticks to her Brexit plan and
secures enough support to get it through parliament, it would be acceptable
Prime Minister Theresa May has survived a frenzied fortnight of rebellion that threatened to unseat her, but must now sell her Brexit plan to voters and the European Union.
With a trip to Northern Ireland this week, May began a tour of Britain to convince voters to back her blueprint for close economic ties with the bloc after Brexit next March.
Her new Brexit minister Dominic Raab – appointed last week after his predecessor quit over the compromise proposal – also held his first talks in Brussels on Thursday where he vowed to “heat up” the withdrawal negotiations.
May still faces significant anger from her Conservative party over her plan to follow EU rules in trade on goods after Brexit, which has been called “Brexit in name only”.
But, while the danger of a leadership challenge remains, she has ridden out the resignation of two cabinet ministers and seen off a threatened parliamentary defeat by pro-Europeans.
“For the first time she’s got a cabinet united around her vision,” said Anand Menon, director of the UK in a Changing Europe think-tank based at King’s College London.
He said the resignations of Brexit minister David Davis and foreign minister Boris Johnson may actually help in persuading Brussels to take her plan seriously.
“It allows her credibly to turn around to the EU and say I’m taking these people on and I need some help,” he told AFP.
“The EU doesn’t like the (plan) but the muted reaction is evidence that they understand the need for sensitivity.”
·Britons voted to leave the EU in June 2016 but the government has been divided on what it wants from the future relationship.
With the clock ticking, May gathered her warring ministers on July 6 and persuaded them to back a new free trade area on goods.
It unleashed fury from those who want a clean break with the EU, and a string of junior aides followed Davis and Johnson out the door.
May faced open hostility from her own MPs, with one asking her in the House of Commons if she could explain “at what point it was decided that Brexit means remain?”
With an eye on dispersing MPs who may try to plot against her, May tried to bring forward parliament’s summer holidays, only to abandon the idea due to a lack of support.
However, she survived a crucial vote that would have forced her to try to keep Britain in a customs union with the EU, something she has repeatedly rejected.
And at a meeting of her MPs on Wednesday, she won pledges of support, with one even announcing that he was withdrawing his letter of no confidence tabled the week before. Simon Clarke told reporters that he still disliked May’s plan but had been shocked by the in-fighting.
“We have looked into the abyss in the last few days,” he said, adding: “A Conservative party civil war is not where we need to be.”
It is far from clear however that even if May sticks to her Brexit plan and
secures enough support to get it through parliament, it would be acceptable
