UK Prime Minister Theresa May announced last night that if her transition Brexit deal is approved by Parliament in a third and last vote this week, she will resign her post in order to make room for new leadership to dictate the tone of the further negotiations with the EU. May’s deal only covers the period between until the United Kingdom officially leaves the bloc, so in fact any new government that inherits the torch will still have to negotiate what a UK outside of the EU will look like.
Earlier this week May said that she did not have sufficient support for a third vote on her deal. However, she hopes that after the indicative votes and after her announcement that she is ready to step down, MPs will find the prospect of the deal a bit easier to swallow. Nevertheless, the DUP, who are in a coalition with May and on whose votes May’s cabinet counts, is still actively opposing the deal because they don’t want Northern Ireland to have a closer relationship to Ireland than to the rest of the UK.
Last night Parliament held the first round of indicative votes, which failed to produce a clear favorite. The top three proposals (most votes/least opposition) emerged as being: a referendum on any new deal reached, a custom’s union, or the Labour Party’s proposal for a soft Brexit. They will vote again next week, which will likely be more meaningful.
