Britain’s tumultuous divorce from the European Union was again in disarray on Friday after the opposition Labour Party declared last-ditch talks dead due to Prime Minister Theresa May’s crumbling government.
Nearly three years after the United Kingdom voted 52% to 48% in a referendum to leave the EU, it remains unclear how, when or even if it will leave the European club it joined in 1973. The current deadline to leave is Oct. 31.
Brexit talks between May’s Conservative Party and Labour collapsed hours after May agreed on Thursday to set out in early June a timetable for her departure.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn wrote to May on Friday informing her that the Brexit talks, which began on April 3, had “gone as far as they can” due to the instability of her government.
“We have been unable to bridge important policy gaps between us,” Corbyn, a socialist who voted against joining the predecessor of the EU in 1975, wrote to May.
“Even more crucially, the increasing weakness and instability of your government means there cannot be confidence in securing whatever might be agreed between us,” Corbyn said.
He said Labour would oppose May’s deal when it returns to parliament early next month. He later told reporters there was no chance of getting even part of a Brexit deal ratified by the end of July.
The divorce deal, which May agreed last year with the EU, has been rejected three times by parliament. May will put part of her deal, contained in the Withdrawal Agreement Bill, to a vote in parliament in early June.
A source in May’s office said the bill will contain new features to reflect some lawmakers’ concerns.
After she puts her deal to a vote in the week of June 3, when U.S. President Donald Trump is due to make a state visit to Britain, May has said she will agree a timetable for the election of her successor.
Boris Johnson, the face of the campaign for Britain to leave the EU, said he would be standing as a candidate to replace May as Conservative leader.
“As we look to the future, we have to listen to the public,” Simon Clarke, a Conservative lawmaker, said on Twitter. “Boris Johnson is the only candidate who increases likelihood to vote Conservative among both our 2017 voters & people planning to vote (for the newly formed) Brexit Party.”
