JUDY WOODRUFF: It was another day of high
drama for Brexit, as British Prime Minister
Theresa May traveled to Brussels to meet European
Union leaders.
She's seeking an extension beyond next Friday's
March 29 deadline for the United Kingdom to
exit the bloc.
As Nick Schifrin reports, many options, some
more painful than others, lie ahead in this
next crucial week.
NICK SCHIFRIN: In these divorce proceedings,
one side knows what it wants.
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor
Angela Merkel, and Dutch Prime Minister Mark
Rutte all endorsed a short Brexit extension,
if, and only if, British Parliament endorses
the Brexit plan.
MARK RUTTE, Prime Minister of the Netherlands:
We will put it fairly and squarely again at
the door of the British Parliament, because
it is then for them to say yes to the whole
thing.
NICK SCHIFRIN: But breaking up is really,
really hard, when the other side is infighting.
Last night, British Prime Minister Theresa
May blamed Britain's Brexit paralysis on Parliament.
THERESA MAY, British Prime Minister: So far,
Parliament has done everything possible to
avoid making a choice.
NICK SCHIFRIN: But much of Parliament blames
her.
Nonpartisan Parliament Speaker John Bercow:
JOHN BERCOW, Speaker, House of Commons: None
of you is a traitor.
All of you are doing your best.
And I believe passionately in the institution
of Parliament, in the rights of members of
this House, and in their commitment to their
duty.
DOMINIC GRIEVE, British Parliament Member:
At no stage did she pause to consider whether
it is the way she is leading this government.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Dominic Grieve, a member of
Theresa May's Tory Party.
DOMINIC GRIEVE: She was now simply zigzagging
all over the place, rather than standing up
for what the national interest must be.
NICK SCHIFRIN: But Britain's political parties
can't agree within themselves where that national
interest is, says former Deputy Assistant
Secretary of State for Europe Heather Conley.
HEATHER CONLEY, Director, Europe Program,
Center for Strategic and International Studies:
The challenge with Brexit is that it's no
longer keeping parties together.
It's, in fact, breaking them apart.
NICK SCHIFRIN: This will all come to a head
over the next week.
Today and tomorrow, the U.K. and European
leaders meet in Brussels.
On Monday and Tuesday, Prime Minister May
will ask Parliament, for the third time, to
endorse her Brexit plan.
Option one, May loses 30 to 40 of her own
Conservatives, but gains support she hasn't
had from Northern Irish coalition partners,
the Democratic Unionist Party, and 30 to 40
opposition Labor members, Brexit proceeds,
but at great political cost.
HEATHER CONLEY: What happens to the Conservative
Party?
It is likely potentially to break apart after
this deal is signed, because there's such
deep division between those who wish to remain
in the E.U. and those who wish to leave within
the Conservative Party.
But the Labor Party is equally as strange,
and they will fracture along the lines of
whether to remain close to the E.U. or leave
it without a deal.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Option number two, the deal
fails, at which point there are more unknowns.
HEATHER CONLEY: We don't know whether she
will resign if that vote is lost.
We do not know whether there will be a motion
to call for a new election.
We don't know whether we can turn to the European
Union to see if they would consider a much
longer extension.
NICK SCHIFRIN: That leads to options three
and four, the U.K. asks for a longer extension
to try to come to consensus, or the U.K. leaves
the European Union next Friday, as scheduled,
without a deal.
HEATHER CONLEY: The European Union is going
to have to make a decision, whether they're
going to allow a no-deal crash-out, harming
the European Union economy, as the U.K. economy,
or they're going to give you an extension
to the end of the year, or nine months.
But in order to do that, the United Kingdom
is going have to participate in the European
Parliament elections.
Again, that decision will split the Conservative
Party deeply.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Which means, no matter what
happens, the infighting will continue, as
will the damage to Britain that Theresa May
leads, admits Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.
JEREMY HUNT, British Foreign Secretary: A
Brexit paralysis is incredibly damaging for
the country.
And so she's appealing to M.P.s and saying,
all of us in Parliament have a special responsibility
to actually make sure we resolve this process.
QUESTION: Is a delay to Brexit acceptable?
NICK SCHIFRIN: Today, a reporter tried to
ask Brexit defender Boris Johnson to comment
on the mess.
Sometimes, it's easier to ride away.
QUESTION: Anything?
Mr. Johnson?
NICK SCHIFRIN: For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm
Nick Schifrin.
