UK needs to set out Brexit path, says Barnier

The British Government needs to explain how it intends to proceed with Brexit following the defeat of Theresa May’s plan in the Commons, the EU’s chief negotiator has said.
By The Newsroom
Published 16th Jan 2019, 07:34 BST
Updated 7th Feb 2019, 17:11 BST
European Council President Donald Tusk, left, shakes hands with European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier during a media conference. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)European Council President Donald Tusk, left, shakes hands with European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier during a media conference. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
European Council President Donald Tusk, left, shakes hands with European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier during a media conference. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Michel Barnier said he “profoundly” regretted the vote by MPs on Tuesday to reject the Withdrawal Agreement hammered out with Brussels.

Speaking in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, he said the vote showed the “political conditions” were not yet present in London to ratify the agreement.

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“It is up to the British authorities today or tomorrow to assess the outcome of this vote and up to the British Government to indicate how we are going to take things forward on March 29 to an orderly withdrawal,” he said.

Meanwhile, European Council President Donald Tusk has suggested that the UK should stay in the EU, after the prime minister’s Brexit deal was rejected in parliament.

“If a deal is impossible, and no one wants no deal, then who will finally have the courage to say what the only positive solution is?”, he tweeted.

MPs voted by 432 votes to 202 to reject the deal, which sets out the terms of Britain’s exit from the EU on 29 March.

Related topics:BrexitTheresa MayMPsLondon