RTThu, 18 Jul 2019 10:12 UTC
© skynews/express.co.ukUK PM Theresa May • Michel Barnier
Theresa May and her ministers "never" used the threat of a no-deal Brexit in talks with the EU, according to chief negotiator Michel Barnier - despite the outgoing PM insisting the UK must keep the option 'on the table.'
In an interview with BBC
Panorama, to be aired on Thursday night at 9pm BST, Barnier revealed that May and her Brexit negotiating team
did not use 'no-deal' as a bargaining chip, claiming that UK officials always knew such a threat would not impress Brussels."I think that the UK side, which is well informed and competent and knows the way we work on the EU side, knew from the very beginning that we've never been impressed by such a threat. It's not useful to use it."
It's an admission that could anger many Brexiteers, who could see this as proof that Britain was never really serious about using it as a threat to get the best deal for the country.
May has always insisted in public that 'no-deal is better than a bad deal,' but this latest revelation puts into question whether she has ever genuinely believed in such sentiment.
The interview with Barnier was recorded in May, before the Tory leadership race got underway. It's a contest that has seen
both Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt pledge their commitment to leaving the EU on October 31 - deal or no deal.Barnier warned that if Britain decides to leave the bloc without a deal, then they will "face the consequences," insisting that May's deal, rejected three times by UK MPs, was the "only way to leave the EU in an orderly manner."
Comment: From
RT: Brexit's no-deal a no go? MPs bid to block Parliament shutdown
British lawmakers have voted in favor of a bid to stop the future Tory prime minister - hotly tipped to be Boris Johnson - from suspending the UK Parliament to ram through a no-deal Brexit.
MPs in the House of Commons backed an amendment by a majority of 41 (315-274) which blocks the suspension of Parliament between October 9 and December 18 unless a Northern Ireland executive is formed.
The vote is a blow for Johnson, who is the frontrunner to become Britain's next prime minister, who has refused to take the 'proroguing' (suspension) of Parliament off the table as a backup measure to see the UK leave the EU by October 31. It now becomes increasingly difficult for such drastic action to take place.
Seventeen Tories rebelled against Theresa May's government, including Minister for Digital and Creative Industries Margot James, who resigned. Other notable rebels included Chancellor Philip Hammond, Justice Secretary David Gauke and former Tory leadership contender Rory Stewart, who all abstained.
The amendment to the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) Bill means that if Parliament is suspended when the UK government publishes reports on the situation in the Northern Irish assembly, MPs must be recalled to debate them.
One of the key signatories to the amendment, former Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt, claimed that MPs had spoken very loudly and clearly with this vote to insist that they should not be bypassed, adding that "Parliament must be sitting in the run up to October 31."
Comment: From RT: Brexit's no-deal a no go? MPs bid to block Parliament shutdown