E-Paper
Facing logjam, Brexit-bound UK to hold EU elections now
Unable to resolve the Brexit impasse, the United Kingdom will now be forced to hold elections to the European parliament on May 23.
Unable to resolve the Brexit impasse, the United Kingdom will now be forced to hold elections to the European parliament on May 23, a situation that Prime Minister Theresa May and others hoped would not arise if MPs were able to agree on the withdrawal agreement.
David Lidington, effectively the deputy prime minister, said on Tuesday that ‘regrettably’ the government is unable to complete the process of cross-party talks to arrive at a consensus before the scheduled date of the European elections on May 23.
Having to hold elections to the European parliament in a bitterly divided member-state that has already voted to leave the European Union reflects the failure of Westminster politics that has agonised for nearly three years on leaving the 28-member group.
Referring to the occasions that the withdrawal deal was voted down and the cross-party talks, Lidington said: “(It) is regrettably not going to be possible to finish that process before the date that is legally due for European parliamentary elections”.
“We very much hoped that we would be able to get our exit sorted and have the treaty concluded so that those elections did not have to take place. But legally, they do have to take place - unless our withdrawal has been given legal effect - so those will now go ahead”.
May has been grappling on at least two fronts: dealing with growing voices within her party against her leadership and trying to reach a consensus with the opposition Labour on the Brexit agreement. Results of the European elections are likely to further deepen faultiness.
The UK was scheduled to leave the EU on March 29, but when the agreement was repeatedly voted down in the House of Commons, Brussels agreed to extend the deadline to October 31.
If the UK does not leave by May 23, which it now admits is not possible, it remains a member-state and is legally obliged to take part in the elections and send Members of European Parliament to Brussels.
The UK sends 73 MEPs to the European Parliament. Various parties will put up candidates, including the newly-formed Brexit party comprising mainly leaders and members of the UK Independence Party, which campaigned predominantly for the UK leaving the EU.
