British Prime Minister Theresa May Begins Brexit Deal Showdown With Lawmakers
CRUNCH TIME
Trying to persuade divided cabinet to back her deal.
Reuters / Simon Dawson
British Prime Minister Theresa May is facing the most difficult days of her leadership as she attempts to persuade her cabinet to back the draft deal she’s thrashed out with the European Union on the U.K.’s exit from the bloc. She’s faced harsh criticism from pro-Brexit members of her government—who say the deal would leave the U.K. too closely aligned with the EU—and pro-EU lawmakers have said it would seriously damage the U.K.’s influence. May has been holding one-on-one meetings with key members of the cabinet Wednesday morning and will chair a difficult meeting of the full cabinet at 2 p.m. local time (9 a.m. ET). According to the BBC, the prime minister is attempting to dissuade cabinet members from resigning by telling them that the agreement is as good as it can get. Even if it’s backed by her cabinet, May would then face an uphill struggle to have it backed by the British parliament—some lawmakers from her own Conservative party have vowed to vote against it, and it’s been severely criticized by all opposition parties.
