May feels more heat over EU’s customs union

LONDON: British lawmakers stepped up pressure on Prime Minister Theresa May over her Brexit strategy on Thursday, criticising her refusal to pursue a customs union with the European Union.

But many prominent anti-EU campaigners did not show up to a parliamentary debate on urging the government to press for the negotiation of "an effective customs union" with the bloc after Brexit, after May ruled out any change in her stance.

Their absence meant an expected showdown was shaping up to be little more than a painful reminder for May that she is far from winning the argument on Brexit even in her Conservative Party, and could be defeated in parliament later this year.

The, or a, customs union is one of the main flashpoints in the debate over Britain´s impending exit from the EU. It was not clear whether parliament would take what would only be a symbolic vote on Thursday, but continued support for the customs union among some Conservative lawmakers is a blow to May.

May says Britain must leave the EU customs union, which sets external tariffs for goods imported into the bloc, so that it can independently negotiate trade deals with other countries. Brexit supporters say that remaining in any EU grouping will reduce Britain to a "vassal state". "I think there is a possibility of a consensus around the customs union," Yvette Cooper, a member of the opposition Labour Party, said, airing a view that there were enough lawmakers to vote against the government later in the year.

"It´s no good pretending to be in a parallel universe in which all of things we might want to be true just simply aren´t. "She was joined by several Conservative lawmakers, who have long said that May´s insistence that Britain will leave the EU´s single market and customs union could isolate and harm the world´s fifth largest economy.