Brexit turmoil continues as lawmakers defy Johnson

LONDON (AP):

British lawmakers battling Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plan to leave the European Union without a divorce deal cleared their first big hurdle on Wednesday, approving in principle a bill to block his actions and sending it on for further debate.

In a second straight day of parliamentary turmoil, the House of Commons voted 329-300 in favour of the bill, setting the stage for another vote on it later in the day. If approved, it will be sent to Parliament’s upper chamber, the House of Lords.

Pro-Brexit peers are threatening to try to stop it by filibustering until time runs out.

Johnson says that Britain must leave the EU on October 31, with or without a deal, and plans to seek a national election if the opposition bill becomes law in hope of getting a less fractious crop of legislators.

Economic harm

Opposition lawmakers, supported by rebels in Johnson’s Conservative Party, warn that crashing out of the bloc without a divorce agreement would cause irreparable economic harm.

“There is very little time left,” said Labour Party lawmaker Hilary Benn as he introduced the measure. “The purpose of the bill is very simple: to ensure that the United Kingdom does not leave the European Union on the 31st of October without an agreement.”

The bill would require the government to ask the EU to delay Brexit until January 31, 2020, if it can’t secure a deal with the bloc by late October.

The lawmakers hope to pass the bill into law – a process that can take months – by the end of the week, because Johnson plans to suspend Parliament at some point next week until October 14.

Johnson became prime minister in July by promising to lead Britain out of the EU, breaking the impasse that has paralysed the country’s politics since voters decided in June 2016 to leave the bloc. But he is caught between the EU, which refuses to renegotiate the deal it stuck with his predecessor, Theresa May, and a majority of British lawmakers opposed to leaving without an agreement. Most economists say a no-deal Brexit would cause severe economic disruption and plunge the UK into recession.

Johnson insisted Wednesday that talks with the EU on a revised deal were “making substantial progress”.

But the bloc says that the UK has not submitted any substantial new proposals. European Commission spokeswoman Mina Andreeva said “there is nothing new” from London.

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn accused Johnson of bad faith — pretending to negotiate but really frittering away time until a no-deal Brexit became inevitable.

“These negotiations are a sham. All he is doing is running down the clock,” Corbyn told lawmakers in the House of Commons.

Johnson condemned the opposition legislation as a “surrender bill” that would tie his hands and “wreck any chance” of Britain concluding successful negotiations with the EU.

He said that if the bill passed this week, he would call a general election on October 15, taking his message directly to the people in his bid to deliver Brexit. But it is unclear whether Johnson has the votes to trigger an election, which needs the approval of two-thirds of the 650 House of Commons lawmakers.