British politicians shift ground on Brexit and new 'towns fund' criticised

British politicians shift ground on Brexit and new 'towns fund' criticised
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By Euronews
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Politicians in the UK continue to be locked in negotiations to try and get agreement on a Brexit deal, despite it being just over three weeks until Britain is scheduled to leave the EU.

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Politicians in the UK continue to be locked in negotiations to try and get agreement on a Brexit deal, despite it being just over three weeks until Britain is scheduled to leave the EU.

The opposition Labour Party has now said it would back a second referendum if MPs can’t reach consensus and some of the strongest eurosceptics are apparently softening their stance.

Even many of Prime Minister Theresa May's closest allies in government are beginning to talk about the possibility of an extension to the Brexit process.

However, much rests on talks that will take place between UK politicians over the next few days rather than their counterparts in Europe. Theresa May has consistently failed to get the agreement of enough MPs for her deal.

Some hard line Conservatives have eased off their pressure on the PM but she is still keen to win over voters in many northern areas who voted Labour but also support Brexit.

May intends to do this with a 1.87 million euro fund to help boost economic growth. It’s called the "Stronger Towns Fund" and will target many constituencies represented by Labour MPs.

Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, said the fund was "Brexit bribery".

"This towns fund smacks of desperation from a government reduced to bribing Members of Parliament to vote for their damaging flagship Brexit legislation," he said.

The government insisted that the fund would target places that had not shared fairly in the country's prosperity and would be used to create new jobs and boost economic activity.

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