British Parliament to vote on Brexit deal on December 11: Prime Minister Theresa May

British Parliament will vote on Brexit deal on December 11, said Prime Minister Theresa May. “I am looking ahead to December 11, when this House will be faced with the decision as to whether or not it wishes to deliver on the vote of the British people,” she told parliament on Monday. Earlier in the day, May on Monday told MPs that the deal she finalised with the European Union (EU) over the weekend is the best one that honours the June 2016 referendum in favour of Brexit.

#BREAKING British parliament to vote on Brexit deal on December 11, Prime Minister Theresa May says pic.twitter.com/FpP6IAw2LR

— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 26, 2018

With a statement to update the House of Commons on the European Council summit in Brussels on Sunday, where the so-called divorce pact with the EU was signed off by the remaining 27 member-states, May began her campaign to try and get the withdrawal agreement through the UK Parliament when it comes up for a vote in the coming weeks.

"I can say to the House with absolute certainty that there is not a better deal available, our duty, as a Parliament over these coming weeks - is to examine this deal in detail, to debate it respectfully, to listen to our constituents and decide what is in our national interest," she said.

"The British people want us to get on with a deal that honours the referendum and allows us to come together again as a country, whichever way we voted. This is that deal. A deal that delivers for the British people," she added.

The controversial agreement has been rejected by MPs from across party lines, including as many from May's own Conservative Party. Opponents of the deal on either side of the argument say it fails to deliver on what people voted for in the 2016 referendum or what the public were promised during the campaign and afterwards. Brexiteers argue that rather than taking back control, the UK is giving the EU too much of a say in key areas, including a controversial "backstop" customs arrangement, designed to avoid the need for physical checks of people and goods at the border on the island of Ireland. 

Britain is scheduled to leave the EU on March 29 next year under the Article 50 process set in motion after the 2016 referendum. Although the departure date is set down in law, Labour's Shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer said Parliament must find a way to stop Britain crashing out of the EU without any deal.

(With PTI inputs)