May Takes Demand For Brexit Renegotiation to Brussels

By Staff, Reuters

British Prime Minister Theresa May was in Brussels on Thursday to plead with EU leaders to change the Brexit divorce deal she negotiated last year, in order to get it through parliament, after they offered little hope they were willing to do so.

The cool handshake for the cameras with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker did little to conceal the tension, just 50 days before the UK could leave the European Union without measures in place to keep trade flowing freely.

The parliament, which rejected May's agreement by the biggest majority in modern British history, voted to renegotiate the deal, replacing a provision that some fear could keep British-ruled Northern Ireland under EU rules indefinitely.

EU leaders repeatedly said it would be impossible to replace the provision, known as the "backstop", because it is required to ensure no hard border, once a focus for sectarian violence, between Northern Ireland and EU-member Ireland.