(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Theresa May's Government could back a measure which would give ministers the power to change the Brexit departure date.
In a bid to avoid a repeat of her humiliating Commons defeat on Wednesday, the PM is said to have agreed a compromise deal within the ranks of her own party over calls to write the EU leaving date into law.
Another in-party revolt had been brewing over the government's plan to enshrine the Brexit deadline of March 29, 2019 into British legislation, a move which many rebel MPs believe could remove the option to extend talks.
But May might be able to see off a second revolt with the behind-the-scenes compromise.
The concession would still write the date into law but with the option to postpone it if negotiations with Brussels look set to take longer than expected.
Parliament would have to agree to allow ministers to change the date.
The government is understood to be 'looking closely at the amendment, tabled by MPs including Remain supporter Sir Oliver Letwin and Brexiteer Bernard Jenkin.
The suggestion has been supported by some of the rebels who voted against the government earlier this week.
On Wednesday the PM suffered her first major Commons defeat over the EU Withdrawal Bill after Parliament voted for an amendment which would give MPs a 'meaningful vote on the final Brexit deal.
Brexit Secretary David Davis had promised Parliament a 'take it or leave it vote over the agreement but Conservative backbenchers were not satisfied and wanted the vote guaranteed in law.
Former cabinet minister Nicky Morgan, one of the rebels who helped inflict May's first Commons defeat on Wednesday, gave her support to the compromise over the Brexit date.
She said the new amendment 'demonstrates how all Conservative MPs can work together to deliver the best possible Brexit and reflects the flexibility within the Article 50 withdrawal process.
The amendment also emphasises that 'Parliament will be fully involved in Brexit, she said.
But a senior Leave-supporting Tory said the rebels had now accepted that government ministers are in control of setting the Brexit date.
'It is very reasonable for the Bill to mirror Article 50 more closely, but they have had to give up scrapping the date altogether and to accept that the government remains in control of the date, the MP said.
In an apparent indication of the efforts to find a compromise, Tory Chief Whip Julian Smith sent a cryptic tweet of an image of a telephone with a reference to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding and the message 'great news and great example — agreeing the date shouldn't be hard. It comes hours after May received a boost in Brussels as the 27 other EU countries formally agreed to allow negotiations to proceed to their second phase.
Her target was described as 'realistic but 'dramatically difficult to achieve by the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk.
European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker had already warned the hardest part of the talks are still to come.
The EU27 confirmed Brussels' position that a final trade deal cannot be signed until the UK has formally left.
The four-page document also sets out the process for agreeing the terms of a transition period expected to last two years after the date of Brexit.
Yesterday, Tory eurosceptic Jacob Rees-Mogg warned the prime minister not to accept the two year transition deal which would leave the UK as a 'colony of Brussels.
'We cannot be a colony of the European Union for two years from 2019 to 2021, accepting new laws that are made without any say-so of the British people, parliament or government, he told BBC's Newsnight.
'That is not leaving the European Union, that is being a vassal state of the European Union, and I would be very surprised if that were government policy.
British finance minister Philip Hammond said yesterday it is likely Britain will want to negotiate a bespoke arrangement for a future trade deal with the European Union, rather than copying existing arrangements like the Canada-EU deal.
The European Union agreed on Friday to move Brexit talks onto trade and a transition pact but some leaders cautioned that the final year of divorce negotiations before Britain's exit could be fraught with peril.
Summit chair Donald Tusk said the world's biggest trading bloc would begin 'exploratory contacts with Britain on what London wants in a future trade relationship, as well as starting discussion on the immediate post-Brexit transition.
Speaking in Beijing, Hammond it was probably not helpful to think in terms of off-the-shelf models like the Canada-EU deal.
'We have a level of trade and commercial integration with the EU 27 which is unlike the situation of any trade partner that the EU has ever done a trade deal with before, he told reporters.
'And therefore it is likely that we will want to negotiate specific arrangements, bespoke arrangements, Hammond added.
'So I expect that we will develop something that is neither the Canada model nor an EEA model, but something which draws on the strength of our existing relationship.
MENAFN1612201700670000ID1096241465
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.