Friday 26 / April / 2024
London: U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May is to begin fighting to keep her Brexit bill intact after the House of Lords voted to add an amendment that protects the rights of European Union citizens already living in the U.K.
While the defeat for the government in the unelected upper house will prevent May from triggering Britain’s two-year withdrawal from the EU as soon as next week, it still leaves her on track to do so by the end of March.
The earliest she can now invoke Article 50 is likely to be March 15, although that is the day of the Dutch elections. Reuters reported that European governments have penciled in the first week of April for a summit to discuss the divorce.
Labour Party Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer said on Twitter his party will back the EU citizens amendment in the House of Commons, where May has a slim majority. To avoid the bill being bounced back and forth between the chambers, May could accept defeat and agree to give EU residents the unilateral guarantee, which she has so far resisted doing because she wants the EU to do the same for Britons abroad.
But if the Commons rejects the amendment, the Lords may not have the appetite to extend the fight. Securing the legal status of European employees living and working in the U.K. is a critical priority for businesses facing potential labor shortages.
Seeking Allies
Britain is turning to a nation that tried to invade it in 1588 as it seeks to find friends and influence them in Europe.
Having already embarked on a charm offensive with the smallest and newest members in the region’s east, May’s government has placed Spain in its sights as a potential ally in the Brexit talks
Spain is an ideal candidate as long as the thorny issue of Gibraltar can be resolved. For starters, there are deep trade and tourism ties between the two countries that Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will want to maintain as he confronts unemployment running at twice the bloc’s average. The U.K. and Spain also have a common interest in quelling independence movements in Scotland and Catalonia, respectively.
"In what relates to the core of Brexit - the U.K.’s departure from the interior market and the EU, and its re-connection as a trade partner - Spain will be a dove,” said Ignacio Molina, a senior analyst at Real Instituto Elcano, a Madrid-based think tank. While Spain won’t break European unity, "it is in the soft Brexit camp,” he said.
