Britain's May bows to Brexit

LONDON (Reuters) – Prime Minister Theresa May, president of the Conservative Party on Monday, accepting their changes to a customs bill that underpins Britain's departure from the European Union.

May, vulnerable in parliament after losing her party's majority at an ill-judged election last year Brexit plan, with one ex-minister calling it the "worst of all worlds".

Eurosceptic lawmakers had targeted her government's plans to leave it to the EU, but instead of facing down and fueling tensions, her spokesman said the government would accept their four amendments.

It was not clear the move would fundamentally change her plans – the changes do it more than to put a rule of law into law, her spokesman said – but it was a victory for those lawmakers who say May has betrayed them on Brexit The biggest shift in British trade and foreign policy for decades.

"We will be accepting those four amendments," the spokesman told reporters, saying the government believed they were "consistent" with the white paper policy document.

"We have accepted these amendments because we believe they are at the same time as the Checkers," he said.

May be to fight for cabinet ministers at home Checkers country residence for her vision for Britain's future ties with the EU, only for it to be undermined by the resignations secretary Boris Johnson.

The plan, only a starting point for the second phase of talks with the EU, who wants to make a commitment to the EU block.

The Cross-border Trade Bill, or customs bill, is unlikely to be the last one.

"WORST OF BOTH WORLDS"

On Monday, the other wing of May's Conservative Party – those lawmakers who want to keep the closest possible to the EU after Brexit – spoke up in the voice of education minister Justine Greening who called for a second referendum.

Greening said such a vote was the only way to break the stalemate in parliament over the best future relationship with the block and branded May's plan as a fudge I can not support. It's the worst of both worlds ".

May's spokesman said there would be no second referendum under any circumstances, and restated her position that the Checkers plan was only to deliver a Brexit that worked in the best interests of the country.

Another pro-EU lawmaker Dominic Grieve, who has made previous efforts to get the government to soften its Brexit stance, said the party needed to accept compromises "or accept that Brexit can not be implemented and think again about what we are doing" .

For now the impetus lies with the Brexit supporters.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, an arch eurosceptic who proposed the amendments, said he did not expect the bill, or another bill on trade to be debated on Tuesday, to be blocked outright by the 650-member parliament. Rees-Mogg said that he is more likely to be in a position of support for the government.

"I'm sure Theresa May does not want to split the Conservative Party and she will find that the inevitable consequence of the parliamentary arithmetic is that it will need to change it (the Brexit policy) to keep the party united, "Rees-Mogg said.