British Prime Minister Theresa May has renewed her call on members of the parliament to accept her European Union withdrawal agreement as she offers lawmakers, for a first time, a chance for holding a second referendum on Brexit.
In a speech on Tuesday, May said that her fourth attempt to go through the parliament with her Brexit deal, which would begin on June 3, would effectively be a reversal of many redlines she had set during negotiations with the EU over the past three years.
“I say with conviction to every MP or every party: I have compromised, now I ask you to compromise,” she said may, adding, “We have been given a clear instruction by the people we are supposed to represent, so help me find a way to honor that instruction, move our country and our politics and build the better future that all of us want to see.”
The remarks comes just two weeks before May is to submit her Withdrawal Agreement Bill, legislation to the House of Commons in a last-ditch attempt to secure a mechanism that would prevent Britain from crashing out of the EU.
May has failed on three occasions to secure the deal, prompting the EU to grant her government until the end of October to gain the approval of the parliament.
Experts believe May’s move to accept the possibility for a second Brexit referendum is mainly a gesture to attract the mostly pro-EU lawmakers from the opposition Labour party after she failed to win the support of pro-Brexit MPs in her ruling Conservative Party.
However, senior figures from Labour leadership have rejected claims that May’s new Brexit deal is different than the previous agreements submitted to the parliament, saying they would reject the deal in the parliament vote next month.
May has agreed to set out a timetable for her resignation once the debate about Brexit in parliament finishes in the first week of June. She had earlier suggested that she would resign once Brexit is fully settled.