Postponed vote on Brexit deal yet another blow for UK retail

In what seems like the metaphorical cherry on top of a year of
uncertainty for UK retail, Theresa May cancelled Parliament’s vote on her
EU Withdrawal Agreement on Monday, just a day before it was set to go
ahead. The Prime Minister is holding talks with Dutch PM Mark Rutte and
Germany’s Angela Merkel today in the hopes of saving her Brexit deal.

Speaking in the House of Commons on Monday, the Prime Minister said
that despite MPs offering “broad support for many key aspects of the deal”
– a point that was met by laughter from the opposition – she had made the
decision to postpone the crucial vote due to continued “deep and widespread
concern” over the Northern Ireland backstop.

May said that she believed by addressing these concerns in the next few
days she would still be able to get the deal through by “looking closely at new ways of empowering the House of
Commons to ensure that any provision for a backstop has democratic
legitimacy”.

May postpones Brexit deal vote over Northern Ireland backstop
concerns

The news – quite unsurprisingly – didn’t go down too well in Parliament.
Commenting on the news in a Facebook page, Jeremy Corbyn said: “The
Government has decided Theresa May’s Brexit deal is so disastrous that it
has taken the desperate step of delaying its own vote at the eleventh
hour.

“We have known for at least two weeks that Theresa May’s worst of all
worlds deal was going to be rejected by Parliament because it is damaging
for Britain. Instead, she ploughed ahead when she should have gone back to
Brussels to renegotiate or called an election so the public could elect a
new government that could do so.

“We don’t have a functioning government,” he added.

Commons speaker David Bercow didn’t mince his words either, describing
May’s last-minute decision to postpone the vote – despite “no fewer than 164
colleagues [taking] the trouble to contribute” – as “deeply
discourteous.”

European Council President Donald Tusk said the 27 remaining EU
countries would not “renegotiate” the deal.

Unwelcome news for UK retail

The news comes as yet another blow for UK retail. The country has been
struggling with continued uncertainty surrounding the UK’s exit of the
European Union, and this extension has only added to concern. As more time
passes without May’s Brexit deal being agreed, the likelihood of a
hard Brexit continues to mount.

Last month, conducted by Retail Economics and Squire
Patton Boggs found that more than a third of UK retailers aren’t fully
prepared for the potential outcome of a no-deal Brexit.

“With just over three months to go until the UK leaves the EU, any delay
to a future agreement is particularly concerning,” BRC chief executive
Helen Dickinson said in a statement.

“Retailers urgently need certainty about what our future trading
relationship with our neighbours on the continent will be.

“A no-deal outcome would harm consumers, resulting in higher prices and
less choice on the shelves. We call on Parliament to urgently find a
workable proposal to avoid a catastrophic no-deal Brexit. Time is running
out.”

has declined in every month of
2018 according to retail intelligence company Springboard, with the rate
of decline increasing in magnitude in each month since August.

Earlier this month, the Bank of England estimated that a no-deal Brexit
could drive up UK shop prices by as much as 10 per cent.

So what now?

Well, Theresa May is now looking to make changes to her deal to ensure
it is passed in the House of Commons as pressure continues to grow with the
increasing likelihood of a no-deal Brexit. When that will be, no one is
sure. While May often cited a 21 January deadline for coming back to the
Commons with a deal, the House of Commons announced during a Monday evening
#AskTheCommons Q&A session on Twitter that the latest date for the
government to reach a deal would be 28 March.

According to a Sky News analysis, before the scheduled Brexit deal vote,
184 MPs were expected to vote for Mrs May’s deal, while 395 are expected to
vote against it. The figures show only one Labour MP would have supported
the deal.