Britain faces calls for unity govt amid Brexit impasse

Associated Press

LONDON

The U.K. may be forced to create a national unity government to end the impasse over Britain leaving the European Union, as Prime Minister Theresa May clings to the Brexit divorce agreement that Parliament has rejected three times, a senior Conservative suggested Saturday.

Former Education Secretary Nicky Morgan’s comments came a day after the House of Commons rebuffed the prime minister’s call for lawmakers to “put aside self and party,” sending her Brexit deal to its latest defeat. The rejection leaves the U.K. facing the stark prospect of a chaotic departure from the EU in just two weeks – unless squabbling politicians can put aside their differences and engineer a long delay in the process of leaving the bloc.

The British Parliament will vote Monday on a variety of Brexit alternatives in an attempt to find an idea that can command a majority. But May’s government is considering a fourth vote on her deal, bolstered by their success in narrowing her margin of defeat to 58 votes Friday from 230 votes in January.

It is unclear now how Britain’s political parties would agree to cooperate on an issue such as Brexit, which has split the country and its two major political parties, May’s ruling Conservatives and the opposition Labour Party.