London : British lawmakers were preparing to vote Wednesday on myriad options for leaving the European Union as they sought to end an impasse following the overwhelming defeat of the deal negotiated by Prime Minister Theresa May.
The House of Commons has scheduled a five-hour debate on a wide range of alternatives, after which lawmakers will be asked to vote for all of the options they could accept. The plan is for the most popular ideas to move to a second vote on Monday in hopes of finding one option that can command a majority.
The debate comes two days after lawmakers took control of the parliamentary agenda away from the government amid alarm that Britain was heading toward a chaotic Brexit within weeks with no exit plan in place.
May has said she will consider the outcome of the “indicative votes,” though she has refused to be bound by the result.
Lawmakers have submitted 16 different options for consideration, though House of Commons Speaker John Bercow is expected to whittle the number down to about half a dozen before debate begins. The proposals include leaving the EU without a deal, remaining in the bloc’s single market and customs union, and holding a new referendum on Britain’s membership in the bloc.
Almost three years after Britons voted to leave the EU, the date and terms of its departure are up in the air. Last week, the EU granted Britain a delay to the scheduled March 29 exit date, saying that if Parliament approved the proposed divorce deal, the U.K. would leave the EU on May 22. If not, the government has until April 12 to tell the 27 remaining EU countries what it plans to do — leave without a deal, cancel Brexit or propose a radically new path.
