Reuters Insider - Reuters Today: Abstaining on May's Brexit deal 'never an option'

Union

28/03/2019 11:49

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Source: Reuters Insider

Description: Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster said abstaining on
UK Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal was 'never an option'. May has
offered her job to save her Brexit deal, as MPs failed to agree a way forward.
Short Link: https://reut.rs/2uFLNOJ

Video Transcript:

Good morning and welcome to Reuters Today. I'm Angeline Ong. The Brexit
stalemate deepens. British Prime Minister Theresa May offers her job to save
her Brexit deal as MPs fail to agree a way forward. UK lawmakers showed no
majority for any Brexit options on Wednesday. The alternatives which range
from a customs union with the EU and a referendum on any Brexit deal were
supposed to help find consensus. Instead, all it showed was that indecision
ruled the day. Brexit
Secretary Steven Barclay said it solidified the view that the
governments deal is the best way forward. 

The House has today considered a wide variety of options as a way forward. And
it demonstrates that there were no easy options here. There is no simple way
forward. The deal the 
governments has negotiated is a compromise, both with the EU and with members
across this House. That is the nature of complex negotiations. The results of
the process this House
has gone through today strengthens our view that the deal the
government has negotiated is the best option. 

Now after the outcome of yesterday's vote, the Democratic Unionist Party,
which props up May's government reaffirmed it would not support her deal even
if she promised to step down. A DUP says abstaining on May's deal was never an
option. The DUP has 10 members in Parliament. Its leader Arlene
Foster says the DUP wants to see Brexit delivered but one that kept the whole
of the UK together. 

Back in December of 2017, we warned about the dangers of the backstop. The
Prime Minister made a call and went ahead
in relation to that declaration. Then of course, came last November, the
withdrawal agreement. We warned her before she signed that withdrawal
agreement. We wrote to her, you will recall, in relation to all of these
matters. But she decided to go ahead. We cannot sign up to something that
would damage the Union.

Conservative Party lawmaker Oliver Letwin, the architect of the series of
votes on alternatives to May's Brexit plan, which took place yesterday, had
stern words in a BBC radio interview Letwin said a no-deal Brexit on April
12th is the UK's most likely option right now. Speaking in parliament
yesterday, Letwin said parliament could try again to find that
majority on Monday. 

It is of course a very great disappointment that the House has not chosen to
find a majority for any proposition. However, those of us who put this
proposal forward as a way of proceeding predicted that we would not, this
evening, reach a majority. And indeed for that very reason put forward a
business of the House motion designed to allow the House to reconsider these
matters on Monday.

Amid the spectacular display of indecision in Parliament, Goldman Sachs has
stuck to its Brexit odds the US bank still sees a 15% chance of a no-deal
Brexit, a 35% chance that Britain's decision to leave the EU is overturned,
and a 50% chance that lawmakers eventually agree on a close variant of the
current EU withdrawal agreement. Meanwhile in corporate news, Iceland's Wow
Airlines has gone bust and ceased all operations. All flights have been
cancelled as it becomes the latest budget airline to go out of business.
Earlier n the day, Wow said it had entered the final stages of an equity
raising with a group of investors. The plan had been to convert all bonds into
equity. To the movers and shakers as well. The outsourcer Mitie among the
biggest fallers after an update that suggests slower growth in professional
services and flat earnings in its engineering division. Sweden's economic
crime authority has widened it Swedbank investigation to include suspected
fraud as it pursues an inquiry into its handling of money laundering
allegations. Bayer fell after a US jury said It must pay $80 million to a man
in a
glyphosate-based weed killer cancer trial. On the rise, Imperial Brands after
an upgrade by Citi to "buy." The specialty chemicals company Johnson Matthey
is higher. It signed a 10-year deal to refine lithium hydroxide in a
partnership with a Canadian miner. UK cable and power cords manufacturer Volex
is up thanks to positive sales forecasts and the
resumption of dividend payments. To the markets and the export-oriented FTSE
100 is 0.6% higher, possibly boosted by Sterling which is at an intra-day low
amid the Brexit chaos. The STOXX 600 and the DAX and the CAC 40 in Paris are
also higher. And that's it for now. I'm Angeline Ong and this is Reuters