MAY LOSES CRUCIAL VOTE
No clear path ahead for Brexit
British Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday suffered another crushing defeat over her Brexit plans, plunging the country into turmoil only 17 days before it is due to exit the European Union.
After three years of painstaking negotiations, Britain is no nearer to solving when, how — or even if — it will leave the EU.
Two votes over the next two days might provide some clarity, but little certainty.
On Wednesday, lawmakers will decide whether to take off the table the possibility of leaving the EU without a deal. If that is approved, another vote Thursday will seek to extend the March 29 date for leaving the EU.
However, pro-brexit lawmakers are reluctant to take the “no deal” option off the table, believing it is a valuable chip in negotiations with Europe. And May has also warned that Europe may not agree to extending the deadline unless Britain can offer some way out of the current impasse.
On Tuesday, European Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said the Withdrawal Agreement decided with May was the best possible, and suggested a chaotic no-deal scenario was increasingly likely.
“The impasse can only be solved in the U.K. Our ‘no-deal’ preparations are now more important than ever before,” he said.
Martin Selmayr, the European Commission’s powerful secretary-general, retweeted a message saying that “there will be no further talks” on Brexit.
The day began badly for May after a series of late meetings the night before with European officials about securing a better deal for Britain.
She believed the EU had made concessions on the so-called “Irish backstop,” a mechanism for creating a customs union between the U.K. and the EU that would prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and southern Ireland.
But in a devastating legal opinion delivered Tuesday, her attorney general, Geoffrey Cox, said even the new agreement might result in the U.K. being permanently tied to the EU.
If Britain and the EU were deadlocked “simply because of intractable differences,” then the U.K. would still have “no internationally lawful means of exiting the (Irish backstop) Protocol’s arrangements, save by agreement,” he wrote.
For Brexiteers, it was a damning indictment of May’s deal and clearly signalled its defeat.
Ominously, Jacob Reesmogg, chairman of the influential European Research Group (ERG) of Eurosceptic MPS, tweeted the Latin phrase: “Dies irae, dies illa” — roughly translated as “the day of wrath, that day will dissolve the world in ashes.”
May’s deal was defeated by 391 votes to 242. It was less severe than the 230-vote margin when the deal was first put to parliament in January, but it meant May had persuaded only 39 Tory MPS and one Labour MP to change their minds.
Afterwards she told the Commons, “Let me be clear: Voting against leaving without a deal and for an extension does not solve the problems we face.
“The EU will want to know what use we mean to make of such an extension and this House will have to answer that question.”
She said parliament would have to decide whether to revoke Article 50, the mechanism for leaving the EU; whether it wanted to hold a second referendum, or whether it wanted to leave with a deal but not her deal.
“These are unenviable choices but thanks to the decision that the House has made this evening, they are choices that must now be faced,” she said.
On Wednesday, lawmakers will vote on the motion: “This House declines to approve leaving the European Union without a Withdrawal Agreement and a framework on the future relationship on March 29, 2019, and notes that leaving without a deal remains the default in UK and EU law unless this House and the EU ratify an agreement.”
Over the past two years, May’s position has been that no deal was better than a bad deal. But she has now rejected that view and on Tuesday confirmed she would join those voting to block no-deal, telling the Commons she had “personally struggled with this choice” and “passionately believes” that leaving the EU with a deal was best for the country.
Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn said, “The prime minister has run down the clock and the clock has been run out on her. It’s time that we have a general election and the people can choose who their government should be.”
Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat leader, suggested Tories might now move against the prime minister.
He said: “I’m afraid her authority is completely shot. How she can continue with the same plan of action is incomprehensible. Something has got to give. I should imagine the Conservative party will just put an end to this.”
Speculation has been rife in the past few days that May might be forced to resign, but she has shown no sign that she is willing to quit.
Meanwhile, Carolyn Fairbairn, the director general of the Confederation of British Industry, said, “Enough is enough. This must be the last day of failed politics.
“A new approach is needed by all parties. Jobs and livelihoods depend on it.”