British prime minister Theresa May is updating the UK parliament on her special Brexit negotiations in Brussels, reports VOA News.
She also expected to talk about recent calls for a second referendum amid a deadlock in the UK parliament.
May survived a confidence vote brought by her own political party last week and then travelled to Brussels to seek last-minute changes to the Brexit agreement her government reached with the EU last month.
But the British PM still faces deadlock over her deal, which is not backed by enough MPs to pass a vote in parliament.
The EU refused to renegotiate the Brexit deal, only offering clarifications on what has been agreed, which led many British MPs to call for a second referendum. Some of May’s ministers have proposed that parliament tests voting on different Brexit scenarios to avoid a new referendum, but there are no plans to hold such an indicative vote, a spokesperson for the British parliament has said.
May has rejected calls for a second referendum, saying it would do ‘irreparable damage’ to UK politics and would betray the British voters who voted to leave the EU in 2016, by 52% to 48%.
The PM’s refusal to replay the referendum increases the risk of Britain leaving the EU without a deal on March 29, a scenario that experts say could be catastrophic for the country.
The president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, has said that the EU will step up preparations for a no-deal scenario.
The UK’s continuing uncertainty over Brexit is already having an impact: data on Monday showed a drop in the country’s consumer spending and falling house prices.
Last week, May cancelled the parliamentary vote on her Brexit deal with the EU, which was planned for December 11. It has yet to be rescheduled to a precise date, but will take place before 21 January, Downing Street has said.