UK holds out hope for Brexit compromise by Friday deadline

Associated Press

LONDON

Cross-party talks to jumpstart plans for Brexit are expected to resume before the U.K.’s Friday deadline for leaving the European Union, and the opposition Labour Party is hopeful the country’s political impasse can be resolved, a party negotiator said Sunday.

British Prime Minister Theresa May reluctantly reached out to Labour lawmakers Tuesday after Parliament voted down her divorce deal with the EU for the third time. The move infuriated pro-Brexit lawmakers in her Conservative Party, and three days of bargaining with the opposition didn’t yield a compromise agreement.

While Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn faulted the government, saying it showed no willingness to budge from its previous Brexit positions, Labour business minister Rebecca Long-Bailey held out hope and said further talks are expected.

The discussions’ “overall mood is quite a positive and hopeful one” despite the government’s “disappointing” failure to shift its stance on several issues, she said.

May acknowledged Saturday that the government had failed to get the withdrawal deal she struck with the EU through Parliament despite her best efforts and “there is no sign it can be passed in the near future.”

That left her with no choice but to reach out to the opposition, the prime minister said.