Strasbourg, March 13 (IANS/AKI) Ahead of a crunch vote by British lawmakers Tuesday on Premier Theresa May's tweaked deal on the UK's planned withdrawal from the European Union, European Parliament President Antonio Tajani said he hoped "common sense" would win out.

"We have done everything possible to reassure the UK on Brexit. We hope for a positive outcome to the vote and that common sense will prevail," Tajani wrote in a tweet.

Britain's exit from the EU hung in the balance on Tuesday after the government's lawyer, Attorney General Geoffrey Cox, said last-minute "legally binding" assurances on the divorce deal that May won from the bloc left "unchanged" the risk of being trapped in the Irish 'backstop'.

Cox's advice said that the UK would have no legal means of exiting the backstop - an insurance policy aimed at avoiding controls on the border between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU-member Ireland - and would have to rely on agreement to leave the EU's orbit.

--IANS/AKI

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