Britain's exit from the European Union hung on a knife-edge on Friday as Pr...
LONDON - Britain’s exit from the European Union hung on a knife-edge on Friday as Prime Minister Boris Johnson scrambled to persuade doubters to rally behind his last-minute European Union divorce deal in an extraordinary vote in parliament.
The numbers are too close to call: Johnson must garner 318 votes in the 650-seat parliament to get a deal approved. Yet his Northern Irish allies are opposed to a deal and the three main opposition parties have pledged to vote it down. The pound held at five-month highs of $1.2874 against the dollar, down from Thursday's peak of $1.2988Johnson won the top job by staking his career on getting Brexit done by the latest deadline of Oct. 31 after his predecessor, Theresa May, was forced to delay the departure date. Parliament rejected her deal three times, by margins of between 58 and 230 votes.
Parliament will sit from 0830 GMT on Saturday. Johnson will make a statement to lawmakers, after which there will be a 90-minute debate and then a vote.The Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party said it would oppose the deal and lobby a faction of around 28 hardline Brexit supporters in the Conservative Party to do the same.
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