A snap general election could take place in the United Kingdom if the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) refused to back Prime Minister Theresa May and the Conservative Party in a potential no confidence vote amid possible Brexit deal rejection, Robert Griffiths, the general secretary of the Communist Party of Britain (CPB), told Sputnik.
LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th November, 2018) A snap general election could take place in the United Kingdom if the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) refused to back Prime Minister Theresa May and the Conservative Party in a potential no confidence vote amid possible Brexit deal rejection, Robert Griffiths, the general secretary of the Communist Party of Britain (CPB), told Sputnik.The House of Commons is set to vote on the draft Brexit agreement on December 11, but Labour has already spoken out strongly against the deal, and other parties appear to have concerns as well.
"Provided Labour remains united around the position of rejecting May's deal, you can't see any other result than her losing that vote ... That would require her either to resign or for there to be a vote of confidence in the government, so again unless the DUP can be suitably bribed, it's hard to see how the government can win such a vote. So, before Christmas, we could be heading into general election territory," Griffiths said.
The general secretary of the Communist Party added that several dozen Conservative lawmakers seem unable to "stomach this particular deal."
PRIME MINISTER TO KEEP PUSHING DEAL THROUGH
John Petley, former operations manager at the Euroskeptic Campaign for an Independent Britain (CIB), believes that "figures seem to be stacked against the deal in its present form," but May will not give up on it.
"I think she is taken aback as to how strong the opposition is to her, but I don't think she'll give up if it fails at the first attempt ... I think she's trying to do as much arm twisting as she can. So far she's not had much joy against dissenting [members of the parliament] MPs, but I think she will try extremely hard and put a lot of pressure on MPs to go for it," Petley told Sputnik.
According to Petley, the goal of the DUP and Conservative Brexiteers is "to put a new leader in place that will deliver a decent Brexit."
In 2017, the DUP backed the Conservative party when the elections resulted in a hung parliament, but the party has already expressed its opposition to the latest draft deal.
The DUP is mainly concerned over the backstop solution for the Irish border, which would see the whole of the United Kingdom in a customs arrangement with the European Union. However, separate regulations in several areas would apply to Northern Ireland. The backstop would only enter force if the United Kingdom and the European Union failed to reach an agreement on the future relationship during the transition period. In addition, the transition period itself could be extended.
Griffiths believes that the issue of Irish border may have taken up too much space in the limelight.
"On the question of Northern Ireland it's quite right to point out that to a large extent the whole furore over the border question has been pushed by the European Union as a lever to retain economic control over Northern Ireland and extend that control over the whole of Britain if a so-called backstop is needed," Griffiths told Sputnik.
The general secretary of the Communist Party argued that technological solutions could help avoid hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
