British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt on Friday said if negotiations break down and Britain leaves the European Union without a deal, history will blame Brussels.
“Frankly, I think future generations, if this ends in acrimony, will say that the EU got this moment wrong and I really hope they don’t,’’ Hunt said in an interview with BBC radio.
He made the comments a day after the British government confirmed that the parliament’s lower house, the Commons, would hold a second vote on the Brexit divorce deal agreed with Brussels on Tuesday.
Lawmakers rejected the text by a massive margin in January. If it suffers another loss coming week, Prime Minister Theresa May would have to allow a vote in the same week on whether the country should leave the bloc on March 29 without a deal, or whether Brexit could be postponed.
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May announced that both these votes for next Wednesday and Thursday.
So far, talks between Britain and EU on possible changes that could make passage in the Commons more likely have not gone smoothly.
EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier called the most recent round of negotiations on Tuesday “difficult.” According to media report, British Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay and Attorney General Geoffrey Cox, May’s top negotiators, did not travel to Brussels.
However, British media are reporting that May could travel to Brussels in coming days.
A European Commission spokesman declined to comment Friday on plans for high-level talks in coming days, saying only that “technical discussions are ongoing.” (NAN)
