UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to abandon his recently renegotiated Brexit deal in Parliament, rather than to accept being in a customs union or seeking a second referendum, The Telegraphreports, citing warnings received by MPs on Monday night.
On Monday, UK House of Commons Speaker John Bercow blocked the government’s attempt to hold a “yes” or “no” vote on whether the new deal would be backed by MPs. This would have been a crucial moment to help in getting the agreement through the British Parliament by the 31 October deadline. Bercow called Johnson’s bid to get MPs to sign off on his revised version of the EU withdrawal agreement “repetitive and disorderly”.
Johnson was said to be disappointed by Bercow’s decision to block the vote, but still hoped to get the Parliament to approve the legislation package needed to ratify the new Brexit deal on Tuesday.
It is now unclear whether Johnson will seek to get the new Withdrawal Agreement Bill through Parliament by the end of the week or simply abandon it, but it was previously reported that the prime minister would try to force Brexit legislation through the House of Commons by Thursday evening in order to leave the EU by the end of October.
The Parliament earlier ordered the prime minister to request a three-month Brexit delay, which was sent to the EU but not signed by Johnson, who continues to insist on the previous Brexit deadline.
“The public doesn't want any more delays, neither do other European leaders and neither do I", Johnson said on Monday.
“Let's get Brexit done on 31 October and move on", prime minister added.
Britain has been trying to agree on how and when to leave the EU since the Brexit referendum took place in 2016. An earlier Brexit deal negotiated by Johnson's predecessor, Theresa May, was voted down by Parliament three times.