News / Politics

UK says Brexit talks to go ahead as scheduled

Monday, 12 June 2017 1:38 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 13 June 2017 11:00 AM ]

British Prime Minister Theresa May (Photo by AFP)

Britain has announced its government’s unchanged resolve to part ways with the European Union.

This, despite the political turmoil caused in the British political scene by Prime Minister Theresa May's failure to win a clear majority in parliament.

"Our position is clearly set out, it is clearly set out in a number of places and there has been no change to that," May’s spokesperson said on Monday.

Earlier in the day, Britain’s secretary of state for exiting the EU (Brexit), David Davis, had threatened to walk away from the Brexit negotiations with no deal.

The prime minister's spokesperson clarified that the government’s position was in line with Davis’ statement.

"Obviously there will be discussions in cabinet but he (Davis) also set out very clearly that we have set out our plans clearly and there is no change to those," the PM spokesperson explained.

Davis had said earlier that walking away from the Brexit talks was one of Britain’s options in their negotiations.

He said the UK reserved the right to pull out from the talks in order to make the best deal over the terms of departure from the bloc.

Davis revealed that the UK government had sketched out contingency plans for a possible no-deal outcome.

The Britons plan to start Brexit talks as scheduled despite the ongoing political turmoil in the country.

The turmoil started when May decided to hold snap elections to gain more seats for her party, which already had majority in parliament, to strengthen her position in the upcoming Brexit talks scheduled for June 19.

However, her plan backfired and the Conservatives not only lost 12 parliamentary seats, but also lost their majority.

Following the disappointing results for the Conservative Party and the promising results for Labour in the June 8 general elections, many Britons are calling on May to resign and give way to the Labour Party to form a new government.

Labour has announced its readiness to form its own government and lead the Brexit talks.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn announced after results came out that he was ready to lead the country.

“We are ready to undertake negotiations on behalf of this country, to protect jobs and have a sensible free trade arrangement with Europe,” he said.