Brexit pressure weighs on May ahead of crucial votes in parliament

British Prime Minister, Theresa May, faces strong opposition as she tries
to persuade lawmakers to back her plans for Britain to withdraw from the European Union, local media reported on Tuesday.
Report says lawmakers will vote on several non-binding amendments to May’s plans, which she submitted
following a crushing defeat on the deal she has negotiated for Britain to leave the EU on March 29.
One key amendment seeks to commit the government to renegotiating a “backstop” arrangement designed to guarantee an open Irish border after Brexit, while another proposes extending the Brexit negotiating process beyond March.
The Commons, parliament’s main elected house, rejected the withdrawal deal by 432 votes to 202 on January 15, delivering the biggest-ever defeat to a British government.
Lawmakers are expected to press May during debate to indicate when a second vote might be held on the deal.
Dozens of Conservative eurosceptics and 10 lawmakers from Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, which has propped up May’s minority government since June 2017, voted against her deal recently.
They mainly oppose the backstop, which could place Northern Ireland under slightly different, indefinite arrangements from the rest of the UK.
After her defeat on Jan. 15, May said she would seek “consensus” on the way forward in talks with opposition leaders, business groups and trade unions.
Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who refused to meet May, branded the talks a “stunt”.
While other opposition lawmakers who met her said there was little sign of compromise.