British gov't accused of failing to offer real compromise in Brexit talks with Labour

The Labour Party, the main opposition in Britain, on Friday accused the British government of failing to offer real change or compromise during the talks to end the current Brexit deadlock.

کد خبر: ۸۸۹۴۵۲

تاریخ: ۱۷ فروردين ۱۳۹۸ - ۰۸:۳۹

A Labour spokesperson said in a statement that "we are disappointed that the government has not offered real change or compromise."

The statement came at the end of the talks between British Prime Minister Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, which started on Wednesday.

The previous talks failed to result in a breakthrough although the two sides agreed to further discussions in a bid to put an end to the Brexit stalemate.

"We urge the prime minister to come forward with genuine changes to her deal in an effort to find an alternative that can win support in parliament and bring the country together," the statement said.

The statement from Downing Street is not available at this moment.

With five days to go before the prime minister must travel to Brussels to request a further Brexit delay from European Union (EU) leaders, little progress was reported to have been made on finding a compromise deal both the government and the Labour Party could back.

EU leaders will meet to decide on whether to give Britain an extension -- and how long it could be -- on Wednesday night.

Britain is currently due to leave the EU on April 12 and, as yet, no withdrawal deal has been approved by British lawmakers.

Labour wants Britain to remain a permanent member of a customs union with the EU, which would mean zero customs tariffs and a single joint trade policy. However, the Tories want to leave the customs union so that Britain can strike unilateral trade deals.

The Friday talks ended just hours after May wrote to Donald Tusk, the European Council president, to ask to delay Brexit until June 30, this year so that British MPs can agree a withdrawal deal.

However, Tusk has been formally telling officials from member countries to endorse a much longer extension -- until March 31, 2020.

Also on Friday, a poll result revealed by the Sky News said that a quarter of the British public would boycott European Parliament elections if they happen in Britain in May.

Some 26 percent of the surveyed British people said that they would sit out the elections in protest, while 47 percent said that they would vote in them, according to the data.

Meanwhile, 17 percent admitted that they would not vote in them anyway.