‘IT’S JUST AN AWFUL MUDDLE’
Brexit chaos as May delays vote
The message from the prime minister’s residence could not have been clearer. As Michael Gove, the minister for the environment, had confirmed on the radio on Monday morning, the vote on the Brexit deal was definitely “going ahead as planned.”
Later, at 11.07 a.m., the prime minister’s spokesman was eager to quash speculation of the vote being delayed, telling journalists who asked whether Theresa May was confident of winning the vote a bold “yes”.
Half an hour later, May was telling her cabinet the exact opposite. She had “listened to colleagues” and decided it would be “in the best interests of the country” to go back to Brussels “immediately” to get a better deal.
Rather than facing heavy defeat in Parliament, May had decided to seek a more “workable” solution that could command support from MPs. As ever when confronted with an intractable problem, she had decided to buy time hoping a solution would present itself, rather than grasping the nettle.
May cancelled the “meaningful vote” on her Brexit deal but insisted she would go to Brussels and demand “reassurances” over the Irish border “backstop” to get the agreement through Parliament. The backstop is an attempt to prevent a hard border developing between northern and southern Ireland. But it has angered many in Britain since it allows for Northern Ireland to remain in a union with the EU after Brexit.
The European Commission ruled out any renegotiation of the Brexit agreement while May was met with fury from lawmakers — many from her own party. Jacob Rees-Mogg, a leading pro-Brexit Conservative, expressed despair.
“It’s not really governing,” he said. “It’s just an awful muddle.
“We cannot continue like this. The prime minister must either govern or quit.”
“People watching this on TV will be confused and bemused and very angry at the way their own parliament has let them down,” said Mark Francois, a senior Tory Brexiteer.
Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said, “The government has lost control of events and is in complete disarray.”
On Sunday, May called the EU’s Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker, Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, Leo Varadkar, the Irish leader, and Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, seeking their help to get the deal through Parliament.
“The trouble was that, as ever, she didn’t really say what it was she wanted,” said one EU source.
Monday’s turmoil sent the pound to a 20-month low of $1.2550 against the U.S. dollar.
May insisted in the House of Commons that the agreement hammered out with the EU after a year and a half of negotiations was “the best deal that is negotiable.”
Derisive laughter erupted in the House when May claimed there was “broad support” for many aspects of the deal.
May said she would hold talks with EU leaders ahead of a summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday, seeking “further reassurances” over the backstop.
“Nothing should be off the table,” she said.
But Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said, “The deal is the deal. It’s taken two years to put together. It’s a fair deal for both sides.”
Despite May’s dogged determination to press on, the tumult leaves her in a precarious position. Conservative rivals are preparing for a potential leadership challenge, and Labour has threatened to call for a no-confidence motion in the government.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said her Scottish National Party would support an attempt to topple the government and trigger a new election.
“This shambles can’t go on — so how about it?” Sturgeon tweeted at Corbyn.
Corbyn stopped short of calling a no-confidence vote, but said if May could not renegotiate with the EU, “then she must make way.”
Adding to Monday’s drama, Labour lawmaker Lloyd Russell-Moyle was expelled from Parliament for the day after he grabbed the House of Commons’ ceremonial mace as a sign of protest.
The centuries-old gilded staff is the symbol of royal authority. Without it, the Commons can’t meet or pass laws.
Delays in approving the Brexit deal increase the chances of Britain crashing out of the EU with no agreement. The government and the Bank of England have warned that could bring logjams to British ports and plunge the country into its deepest recession in decades.
May said the government would step up preparations for a no-deal Brexit in order to mitigate its worst effects.
She has also warned that rejecting her deal could result in Britain not leaving the EU at all.
Some campaigners in the U.K. want just that. They got a boost Monday when the EU’s top court ruled that Britain can change its mind over Brexit if it wants.
And she urged lawmakers to unite in a spirit of conciliation — a plea that has, so far, fallen on deaf ears.
“There will be no enduring and successful Brexit without some compromise on both sides of the debate,” May said.