The UK government has stepped up preparations for leaving the European Union without a deal, a spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May said Monday.
LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th December, 2018) The UK government has stepped up preparations for leaving the European Union without a deal, a spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May said Monday."Yes. We are leaving the EU on March 29... [Theresa May] is prepared to take the UK out of the EU with no deal," a spokesman told reporters, adding that Downing Street was still working to get a deal.
Last Tuesday, May called off a vote in parliament on the terms of the exit from the union after it became clear that her hard-negotiated Brexit deal would be overwhelmingly rejected.
She went to Brussels on Thursday to get further assurances from 27 EU leaders that the backstop plan to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland - the most contentious issue - would not be indefinite.
EU leaders vowed to help May facilitate the ratification but said they would not renegotiate the withdrawal agreement. The summit ended without any breakthrough and May went home to face the parliament empty-handed.
A spokeswoman for the prime minister said earlier that the parliament would have a chance to vote on May's Brexit plan well before January 21 but not until Christmas break. It will reconvene on January 7.
