U.K.’s May fights fires at home as Brexit deadline looming

LONDON — United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May is battling to put out multiple political fires at home as she prepares for a meeting in Brussels that she hopes will end the deadlock in Brexit talks.

Euro-skeptics including members of May’s Conservative party set out new “red lines” for the negotiations before a meeting she’ll have today with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

Meanwhile, the government’s social mobility advisers quit en masse, saying May has failed to improve the lives of the poorest people in the U.K, while her deputy Damian Green is facing fresh calls to resign over allegations of sexual misconduct.

The storm of trouble around May’s leadership intensified just as Brexit negotiations reach their most sensitive stage. The European Union set a deadline for today for May to make a better offer on the terms of the U.K.’s withdrawal from the European Union, negotiations on which are currently stuck. Disagreements include the so-called exit bill, legal protection for the rights of EU nationals, and avoiding a new hard border between the U.K. and Ireland.

If May fails to persuade the other 27 EU countries that her new offer on all three issues is acceptable, May will not be allowed to begin negotiating the new free-trade deal she wants with the EU, or the transition period that businesses want.

Both sides want talks to move on from the exit terms to a second phase Dec. 14, focusing on future relations at a summit of European leaders. Without a separation deal by year-end, U.K. officials fear the talks will collapse.