The U.K. government has been warned that dozens of its members could quit in an effort to prevent the country leaving the European Union without a withdrawal agreement.
With less than 40 days to go until the country leaves the bloc, Prime Minister Theresa May is scrambling to save the divisive Brexit deal that was overwhelmingly rejected by parliament in January.
But the PM has refused to rule out a no-deal Brexit if she cannot secure the concessions required to have the deal signed off at the second time of asking.
Amid fears of the impact that leaving the world’s largest trading bloc without a deal could have on the U.K. economy, a breakaway group of MPs has formed in protest at the direction of the Brexit process.
Initially launched by seven disgruntled MPs from the opposition Labour Party, The Independent Group has since been joined by members of May’s ruling Conservatives.
Now, a group of Conservative MPs that includes both Europhiles and euroskeptics has warned it could also rebel in a bid to prevent no-deal, the BBC reports.
May met with European Commission president Jean Claude Juncker this week in a bid to break the deadlock in renegotiations. The talks were described as “constructive,” though there was little sign of any significant breakthrough.
The U.K. government’s Department for Exiting the European Union, meanwhile, is advertising a number of high-profile policy adviser jobs, highlighting gaps in resources even at this late hour in the Brexit process.
DeXEU is looking for senior policy advisers, a regulatory cooperation head and team leaders able “to provide strategic direction, influential management, [and] agile thinking”.
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