Mon 09 September 2019:
UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson insisted Monday a new Brexit deal can be reached to ensure Britain leaves the European Union by the Oct. 31 deadline, as he acknowledged that withdrawing without one would be a “failure” for which he’d be partially to blame.
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar warned Johnson that “there’s no such thing as a clean break,” and if Britain crashed out, it would “cause severe disruption for British and Irish people alike.”
The two leaders met in Dublin as a showdown between the British government and lawmakers was reaching a climax in London. An opposition-backed measure designed to rule out a no-deal Brexit on Oct. 31 became law after receiving the formal assent of Queen Elizabeth II, hours before legislators were set to reject Johnson’s demand for a snap election to break the political deadlock engulfing the government.
Later Monday, the government is due to suspend Parliament for five weeks to try to curb rebellious lawmakers who have played havoc with Johnson’s Brexit plans.
Johnson, who insists Britain must leave the 28-nation EU in just over 50 days, come what may, said in Dublin that leaving without an agreement on divorce terms “would be a failure of statecraft for which we would all be responsible.”
Johnson said he would “overwhelmingly prefer to find an agreement” and believed a deal could be struck by Oct. 18, when EU leaders hold a summit in Brussels.
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