Theresa May offers a sweeter ‘new deal’ to end Brexit stalemate

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Theresa May. Photo: ABC News

Prime Minister of the UK Theresa May has outlined a “new deal” for Brexit that includes offers for a possible second referendum on the decision to leave.

This marks her fourth attempt to broker a deal that will satisfy all corners of Parliament and deliver to outcome that was voted for by a slim majority in 2016. Since then, Mrs May’s attempts to make an organised departure from Brexit a reality have been plagued with an array of disputes, particularly over the fate of the Irish border.

Now, two months removed from the original departure date, Mrs May is mustering all of the political capital she can to leave her office with a positive legacy of having facilitated a workable Brexit deal. While she has offered compromises that she described as “significant”, it seems that most MPs are set in their position to vote against the Withdrawal Agreement Bill, which officially implements Britain’s exit from the European Union.

There is a sense of general fear and confusion regarding Brexit for average UK citizens, with doubt over how prices on imported consumer goods and logistical legalities will be handled. Despite this, Mrs May has tried to reassure the public and Parliament that effective trade agreements with the EU can be established.

She said to MPs that “I have compromised, now I ask you to compromise,”

“We have been given a clear instruction by the people we are supposed to represent, so help me find a way to honour that instruction, move our country and our politics and build the better future that all of us want to see.”

Her offer of a second Brexit referendum and compromises on trade agreements gives Mrs May some hope she can win over Labour MPs – votes she will need to defeat opposition within her own party.

However, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn described Mrs May’s reworked offer as “largely a rehash of the Government’s position”

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