British Prime Minister Theresa May faces another tough vote in parliament on Tuesday, with pro-EU lawmakers hoping to influence her plans to leave the European Union a day after she bowed to demands from Brexit campaigners.


May's vulnerability in parliament, where she lost her Conservative Party's majority in an ill-judged election last year, was laid bare on Monday, when her decision to accept demands of pro-Brexit lawmakers stirred a rebellion among those who want to keep the closest possible ties in the EU.

Conservative MP Anna Soubry, an opponent of Brexit, said the government’s negotiating platform with the EU, agreed only last week, had been "wrecked by caving in to the hard, no-deal Brexiteers".

On two of Monday's votes May’s majority was cut to three, suggesting that the leader will struggle to get Brexit legislation through a deeply divided parliament, which could possibly threaten the approval of any Brexit deal with the EU.

Tuesday's vote will also test her authority, with a source in the opposition Labour Party saying it would support an attempt to change the wording of her trade bill, voting alongside Conservative rebels to try to defeat the government.

‘We can’t please everybody’

May has vowed to stick to her plan to negotiate the closest possible trade ties with the EU, saying her strategy is the only one that can meet the government's aims for Brexit, the biggest shift in Britain's foreign and trade policy for decades.

May's spokesman said the leader would stand by her promise to leave such a customs union. The pro-EU Conservative lawmakers want to change the trade bill to force the negotiation of a customs union if attempts to agree a friction-free trade deal with the EU fail.

"The PM has set out on a number of occasions our position in relation to the customs union, which is that we will be leaving the customs union and she believes that that's what the British people voted for and it is important that we are free to strike independent trade deals around the world," the spokesman said.

But May’s plan so far has pleased very few, deepening those divisions in her Conservative Party that have so far hampered progress in talks with the EU, and triggering a bitter war of words between its Brexit-supporting and pro-EU factions.

"We can't please everybody. We have to have a compromise position that enables the country to get an agreement with the European Union," trade minister Liam Fox told BBC radio.

Tuesday's vote will be on the trade bill, which is focused on converting trade deals between the EU and third countries into bilateral deals with Britain. It is a technical bill and was not originally intended to define new trade policy.

Pro-EU lawmakers have tabled a change to the wording of the bill to try to force the government to pursue a customs union with the EU if ministers fail to reach an agreement which establishes "a frictionless free trade area for goods".

Brexit campaign faces police inquiry

In another twist on Tuesday, the officially designated Brexit campaign group, Vote Leave, was fined 61,000 pounds ($81,000) for breaching spending rules in the 2016 referendum and was referred to the police by the Electoral Commission.

The commission said Vote Leave, which was fronted by leading Brexiteers such as Boris Johnson, who resigned as foreign secretary last week, and Michael Gove, now environment minister, used an allied group to pay Aggregate IQ, a company which used social media data to target voters, and thus exceeded spending.

"We found substantial evidence that the two groups worked to a common plan, did not declare their joint working and did not adhere to the legal spending limits," said Bob Posner, the commission's director of political finance and regulation.

The move by the commission added to calls from opponents of Brexit for a re-run of the referendum, though May has repeatedly ruled out another vote.

(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS)