UK in pre-'Brexit' campaign mode

Elections may not have been called, but British Prime Minister Theresa May has turned the defence of her Brexit agreement into an electoral campaign before the debate and transcendental vote on the text in Parliament on December 11 .

May travelled to Wales and Northern Ireland yesterday to meet farmers, business owners and politicians and convince them of the benefits of her agreement, even being photographed with them as if it were election time. On Monday evening she also received around a hundred business owners at Downing Street.

In a way, with this vote May is gambling more than she would be in elections, since a defeat - meaning Parliament rejects the agreement that has already been approved by the European Union (EU) - would put her up against the ropes. At the moment, the numbers do not add up. All the opposition parties have said they will vote against it, as have her government allies in the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and 90 MPs in her own party, both pro-Europeans and Eurosceptics.

She has even challenged the opposition leader, Labourite Jeremy Corbyn, to a televised debate, which will be held on December 9, while the debate at the House of Commons is taking place.

This decision has amazed political commentators, because in the elections of June last year, when all the polls made her the winner, she refused to participate in a debate with her rivals. Scottish and Welsh nationalists, and liberal democrats, have also demanded to participate in the debate, as has Boris Johnson, representing the Brexiteers.

Meanwhile, former Defence Minister Michael Fallon has said that the May pact “is doomed to failure” and “contains the worst of both worlds.”