LONDON: Britain’s Parliament sought a way out of the country’s Brexit morass on Monday, holding a series of votes that could soften or reverse the UK’s departure from the European Union if a majority of lawmakers can agree.

With just 12 days until the UK must come up with a new plan or crash out of the bloc in chaos, the House of Commons was considering four alternatives to Prime Minister Theresa May’s unpopular Brexit deal.

After May’s plan suffered three defeats in parliament, and with Britain due to leave the EU on April 12, lawmakers seized temporary control of the parliamentary agenda to try to find a way forward.

Two of the four options chosen by House of Commons Speaker John Bercow from eight submissions aim to keep Britain in a close economic relationship with the bloc after Brexit. One seeks continued membership in the EU’s customs union, guaranteeing smooth and tariff-free trade in goods. The second goes further, calling for Britain to stay in the EU’s borderless single market for both goods and services.

Both ideas have strong support among opposition lawmakers and some pro-EU members of the governing Conservatives, who think they would ease the economic shock of Brexit.

A third proposal calls for any Brexit deal Britain strikes with the EU to be put to a public referendum. The fourth would let Britain cancel Brexit if it came within two days of crashing out of the bloc without a deal.

Published in Dawn, April 2nd, 2019