Theresa May has ‘no option’ but to put her Brexit deal to Parliament again

With the future of Brexit now ‘in the hands’ of the EU and with the UK now expected to ask Brussels for an extension to Article 50, Peter Dixon from Commerzbank told IG that the Theresa May now has no option but to put her revised Brexit deal to parliament for a third time.

If the EU says no to May and does not grant an extension, May will have to put her withdrawal agreement to MPs in Westminster yet again as the only option to prevent a cliff edge Brexit on March 29, Dixon said.

If this chain of events does happen, Eurosceptic MPs may be forced to accept May’s revised proposal in a last-ditch effort to salvage Brexit.

Majority of MPs against a second referendum

Dixon expects that most MPs are against the idea of a second referendum, according to opinion polling data, with it the least likely option moving forward.

Another option left on the table is for parliament to unilaterally withdraw Article 50, but with such short timeframe to do so and the idea of scrapping Brexit highly divisive among the electorate the chances of it happening are slim, he said.

General election a ‘possibility’

Dixon believes that a general election is a possibility, but says it is unclear whether there is significant support in parliament to trigger such an event. ‘At the moment, it looks like [Britain] will be struggling along for the next few months,’ he said.

In terms of the economy, Dixon says that avoiding the cliff edge Brexit is ‘good news’, but any delay will see the uncertainty continue, meaning sterling and investment will fall.