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Uncertainty looms as Brexit talks fail

LONDON (AP) — Talks between Britain’s Conservative government and the opposition Labour Party seeking a compromise over Brexit broke down without agreement Friday, plunging the country back into a morass of uncertainty over its departure from the European Union.

Each side blamed the other for the collapse. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said the talks with Prime Minister Theresa May’s government had “gone as far as they can.”

“We have been unable to bridge important policy gaps between us,” Corbyn said in a letter to May released by Labour.

And with May set to announce within weeks that she plans to step down, Corbyn said divisions within the ruling Conservative Party meant “it’s a government that is negotiating with no authority and no ability, that I can see, to actually deliver anything.”

But May said divisions within the Labour Party had contributed to the breakdown.

“In particular, we have not been able to overcome the fact that there isn’t a common position in Labour about whether they want to deliver Brexit or hold a second referendum, which could reverse it,” she said.

May’s spokesman, James Slack, confirmed the two sides had not reached “complete agreement” and that no further talks were planned.

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