Will bipartisanship save Theresa May's Brexit deal?

European officials are conspicuously preparing for a chaotic no-deal divorce from Britain next week, Britain's Parliament is hopelessly deadlocked on a Brexit plan to avert a no-deal debacle, and on Tuesday, British Prime Minister Theresa May tried a new tactic: Bipartisanship.

In a televised statement after seven hours of Brexit talks with her Cabinet, May said she would ask the European Union for another short Brexit delay so she could "sit down with the leader of the opposition and to try to agree a plan — that we would both stick to — to ensure that we leave the European Union and that we do so with a deal." She said any deal reached with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn would have to include the exit deal she negotiated with the EU — and which Parliament rejected for a third time on Friday — but Britain's post-Brexit relationship with the EU was up for negotiation.

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May's outreach to Corbyn enraged hardline Brexit supporters in May's Conservative Party, but Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay insisted Wednesday that May had to "seek votes from the opposition benches because 35 of my own colleagues would not support the prime minister's deal." A soft Brexit "is undesirable," he told BBC News, "but it's the remorseless logic of the numbers of the House of Commons."

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In other words, May "tried delivering Brexit with Tory votes — Tory Brexiteers said 'No,'" explained BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg. "Now she's going to try to deliver Brexit with Labour votes. In a way, it is as simple as that." Corbyn said he learned of May's outreach via TV but was "very happy" to meet with her and recognized his responsibility to keep Britain from "crashing out" of the EU. Labour wants a customs union with the EU, worker and environmental protections, and no hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.

It's not clear when or even if May and Corbyn will meet, but Brexiteers are warning her outreach will split apart the Tories, who have been ambling toward a schism over Europe for 30 years.