Momentum gathers behind British MPs’ bid to stop no-deal Brexit

LONDON: An attempt by British lawmakers to prevent a no-deal Brexit was gaining momentum on Wednesday after the opposition Labour Party said it was highly likely to throw its parliamentary weight behind the bid.

The United Kingdom, in the deepest political crisis since World War Two, is due according to law to leave the European Union at 2300 GMT on March 29 yet it has no approved deal on how the divorce will take place.

Prime Minister Theresa May is battling to break the deadlock after last week’s crushing defeat of her two-year attempt to forge an orderly divorce with close post-Brexit ties with the EU has raised the prospect of an exit without a deal.

In a step that could overturn centuries of constitutional convention, some British lawmakers are trying to grab control of Brexit from the government in an attempt to prevent what they say would be an economically disastrous no-deal Brexit.

The opposition Labour Party is “highly likely” to back one such attempt, an amendment proposed by Labour lawmaker Yvette Cooper that could result in May being given until Feb. 26 to get a deal approved by parliament or face a parliamentary vote on delaying Brexit.

“Yvette Cooper has put an amendment down which I think is sensible,” John McDonnell, the second most powerful man in the Labour Party, told the BBC.

When asked whether Labour would back the amendment, he said: “Highly likely.”

Sterling rose to a two-month high of $1.3005.

As the United Kingdom’s tortuous two-and-a-half year crisis over EU membership approaches its finale, the options for the world’s fifth largest economy include a no-deal Brexit, a last-minute deal, a snap election or a delay to Brexit.

May has warned that thwarting Brexit will threaten social cohesion because it will undermine the belief in British democracy while police cautioned the “febrile” atmosphere could be exploited by far-right extremists.

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