UK PM May: intense week of Brexit talks ahead - Reuters

According to planned statements to be made by UK Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday which have been acquired by Reuters, the kingdom sees an intense week of Brexit talks as PM May races against the clock to secure a divorce deal from the EU before her own party can finish getting together the needed signatures to call for a no-confidence vote and cast out PM May.

Key quotes

May has had a tumultuous few days since unveiling a draft divorce deal with the European Union on Wednesday last week, with several ministers, including her Brexit minister, resigning and some of her own members of parliament seeking to oust her.

The British leader has vowed to fight on, on Sunday warning that toppling her risked delaying Britain’s EU exit, and has said the future partnership agreement will help ensure the government delivers on the 2016 Brexit vote.

“We now have an intense week of negotiations ahead of us in the run-up to the special European Council on Sunday,” May will say in a speech to the CBI business lobby group’s annual conference on Monday, according to advance extracts.

“During that time I expect us to hammer out the full and final details of the framework that will underpin our future relationship and I am confident that we can strike a deal at the council that I can take back to the House of Commons.”

May will say the withdrawal agreement set out last week, which has been strongly criticised by lawmakers on both sides of the EU debate, is a good deal for Britain.

Speaking at the same conference, opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will describe the deal as “a botched, worst-of-all-worlds deal which is bad for Britain, leaving the country in an indefinite halfway house without a real say”.

Corbyn, who has said his party will not support May’s deal when parliament is asked to vote on it, will say Labour’s plan for Brexit would include a new comprehensive and permanent customs union, and a “strong single market relationship”.