Brexit: May returns to Brussels but EU says nothing has changed | Policy

Theresa May has been granted a two-week deadline to revive her Brexit deal last night after yielding to eurosceptic conservatives and has pledged to return to Brussels to demand changes to Irish support.

Just 59 days from the day of the release, the MPs adopted a government-backed amendment tabled by senior Conservative Graham Brady, promising to replace Irish support with unspecified "alternative arrangements".

But in the minutes following the result of the House of Commons, the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, announced that the EU was not ready to reopen the agreement.

"The withdrawal agreement is and remains the best and only way to ensure an orderly withdrawal from the UK of the European Union," said a Tusk spokesman. "The backstop is part of the withdrawal agreement, and the withdrawal agreement is not open to renegotiation."

Leo Varadkar, a member of the Irish Irish Tennis Committee, said the EU should "hold our nerves".

On a dramatic day in Westminster, the House of Commons also said it would not support the government if it planned not to negotiate Brexit, undermining what May sees as one of its key strengths. trading in the coming days.

However, May said: "It is now clear that there is a way to ensure a substantial and sustainable majority in this House to be able to leave the EU, with an agreement."

She repeatedly insisted on protecting workers' rights, as well as on substantive changes in the hope of winning Labor MPs, and promised to continue "fighting for Britain".

Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said he would meet the prime minister after pbading the amendment to ban Brexit. Previously, he declined his invitation to talks until a non-agreement was removed from the table.

May badured MEPs that she would try to reinstate a renegotiated agreement that Parliament should approve, as part of a "meaningful vote", as soon as possible. If it fails to do so before February 13, the government will table a statement of what it plans to do next and allow members to vote on it on Valentine's Day.

The government has escaped a series of attempts by backbenchers to take control of the affairs of parliament in order to avoid a non-agreement. Fourteen Labor rebels helped May defeat Yvette Cooper's attempt to draft a bill that would force the government to extend section 50.

MEPs, however, narrowly adopted a simpler amendment tabled by Jack Dromey of the Labor Party and conservative Caroline Spelman, saying they would not accept the result of the no deal, by 318 votes in favor. 310.

May had repeatedly insisted that the 585-page withdrawal agreement signed by European leaders at an extraordinary summit in November was not open to renegotiation. But she urged her private members to support an amendment rejecting the toughest aspect of the deal: the Irish security system.

Deposited by Brady, the amendment was pbaded by 317 votes to 301, a majority out of 16. The US president had already said that a victory "would send a clear message to Brussels about what the chamber wants to see. change in the withdrawal agreement in order to be able to support it ".

Officials in Brussels hinted, even before the Brady amendment was pbaded, that it was impossible to reopen the withdrawal agreement. Some conservative backbenchers said May had been "played" by supporters of the right wing of his party, who had made it clear that they were reserving the right to vote against her in a fortnight, even if she had obtained changes.

Steve Baker, vice president of the European Backbench Research Group (ERG), announced that his members would vote in favor of the Brady amendment. He made it clear that they could always refuse any renegotiated agreement that she reportedly reported. "To vote the Brady amendment, it is vote to see if the Prime Minister can conclude an agreement that will work. Otherwise, we are not engaged, "he said.

The Prime Minister spoke by telephone with the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, by telephone to outline his intentions before the deputies begin to debate seven amendments that were pursuing a series of goals.

May strongly rejected two proposals to give MPs the opportunity to lead the next stage of the Brexit process, one presented by Cooper and Nick Boles, and the other by the former Attorney General Dominic Grieve.

She stated that they would seek "to create and exploit mechanisms that would allow Parliament to usurp the role of the executive," saying both approaches were "deeply flawed and not a responsible course of action ". Both were rejected, Grieve with a majority of 20 and Cooper at 23.

May said she could request security-related changes, including a time limit, a unilateral exit clause or an alternative plan presented by an unlikely group of conservative MPs, including Jacob Rees-Mogg and L & # 39; 39, former Secretary of Education Nicky Morgan.

"What I'm talking about is not a new exchange of letters, but a significant and legally binding change to the withdrawal agreement," said May. "Negotiating such a change will not be easy. This will involve the reopening of the withdrawal agreement, an initiative for which, I know, the appetite of our European partners is limited. "

May's cabinet had previously cautiously accommodated Malthouse's so-called compromise, named after the Housing Minister who had negotiated it, with Michael Gove particularly enthusiastic, according to conservative sources, while Greg Clark had a skeptical note.

He plans to avoid plans to revive border controls through the use of technology, long favored by the Brexiters, including Boris Johnson. But all the "alternative arrangements" proposed during the debate had already been categorically rejected by the EU negotiators.

In private, some ministers were reluctant, a cabinet source said: "I try not to pronounce the word 'unicorn'."

But the Prime Minister dismissed threats of revolt by the remaining ministers, who had threatened to back the Cooper-Boles amendment, by promising Parliament another chance to vote on the government's Brexit policy in February. A government source said, "This is a last effort; it's a chance to launch the tide of "we have not done enough". "

In addition to trying to revisit the controversial issue, May said she would continue discussions with unions and Labor MPs on how the government can offer more guarantees on workers' rights, including through of a legislation.

Brexit shadow secretary Keir Starmer accused the prime minister of reaching an impossible deal with Brussels in an effort to appease the rebels' demands on his own backs. "The danger is obvious: today, the Prime Minister can create a sense of temporary unity on his own benches, but in reality, he raises expectations that he will never be able to satisfy," he said. he declared.

Jeremy Corbyn had previously said that the real "obstacle to a solution" was May and his government. Labor tabled their own amendment asking MPs to vote on options, including Corbyn's Brexit policy, and a "public vote". He was defeated by 296 votes to 327.