Peters: Soft option never going to be Brexit winner
May has only a few days to come up with something new
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says a “soft Brexit” was never really ever going to occur when it came to the UK’s exit from the European Union.
Yesterday, more than 430 MPs voted to reject British Prime Minister Theresa May’s deal, with only 200 backing it — the biggest Government defeat in the House in recent history.
This leaves Britain just over 70 days to hammer out a new deal, or face a “hard Brexit” — whereby it would be completely cut out of the EU, taking it out of the single market, but would have more control over its borders.
With a “soft Brexit”, Britain could gain special access to the EU’s single market, but it would have less control of its borders.
Peters said it was always unlikely that a soft Brexit could be achieved.
“In respect to the UK, the only outcome [which] was ever going to be [was] a hard landing Brexit — not one of those soft negotiated ones,” he told The Country.
“The sooner [British MPs] face the facts that it will be a hard landing and prepare for that and get on with the future, the better.”
Finance Minister Grant Robertson said yesterday’s vote added to the uncertainty from New Zealand’s perspective.
“Clearly tonight’s outcome adds to uncertainty . . . All we can do is make sure New Zealand is prepared for whatever outcome comes from the year — that’s what the Government has been doing for some time.”
But what happened with Brexit was in the hands of Britain’s politicians and people.
Options include a no-deal scenario, a managed deal and a second referendum. Robertson would not speculate, saying they were all “in play”.
“If there is going to be a Brexit, we need it to be one that is planned and orderly. Clearly, that is the preferred outcome for the whole planet.”
But the decisions were not in “our hands”, he said. “The thing we can control is the way in which our relationships work with both the UK and the remainder of the EU.”
Robertson said the Government had additional resources which focused on ensuring New Zealand was ready for “all eventualities”.
“We’re working with exporters around making sure that they are prepared for any eventuality as well.”
He stressed the Government had “good, strong relationships” with the UK and the rest of the European Union.
“We’re going to continue to build on those and develop those so that we’re ready for whatever happens next.”
He felt very positive and would talk more about the relationships in coming days.
Meanwhile, Opposition trade spokesman Todd McClay said the Government must do all it could to secure free trade agreements with the EU and Britain.
Theresa May’s stunning defeat has raised serious questions about how — and if — Britain will leave the European Union as promised at the end of March.
MPs overwhelmingly rejected — by a vote of 432 to 202 — the withdrawal deal painstakingly negotiated between the Prime Minister and her European counterparts.
The landslide vote was pure humiliation for a British leader who has spent the past two years trying to sell her vision of Brexit to a sceptical public.
Hardcore Brexiteers, such as former foreign secretary Boris Johnson, cheered the result as increasing the chances of Britain leaving the EU with no deal and no compromises — or with a much, much better deal than May or EU leaders say is realistic.
At the same time, those who want to see a second referendum on Brexit, and who want to stay in the union, think May’s loss gets them closer to their goal.
The political turmoil heightened fears among European leaders that Britain will crash out of the bloc in a chaotic, no-deal departure that would have harsh economic and humanitarian consequences on both sides of the English Channel.
“The risk of a disorderly withdrawal of the United Kingdom has increased with this evening’s vote,” European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said. “While we do not want this to happen, the European Commission will continue its contingency work to help ensure the EU is fully prepared.”
In the House of Commons, May stood almost alone, flashing defiance and frustration, as many in her own party abandoned their leader.
Historians had to go as far back as the Victorian age to find a comparable party split and parliamentary defeat — to Prime Minister William Gladstone’s support for Irish home rule in 1886, which cut the Liberal Party in two.
“The events in Parliament today are really quite remarkable,” said University of Cambridge political historian Luke Blaxill. “This doesn’t happen.”
Meaning, usually British parties fight with one another in Parliament — but members don’t tear their own parties apart.
Jeremy Corbyn, the Opposition Labour Party leader, called the loss “historic” and said May’s routine of “delay and denial” had led to disaster. “She cannot seriously believe after two years of failure she is capable of negotiating a good deal,” Corbyn said.
He then introduced a motion of noconfidence, to be debated and voted upon overnight NZT. Afterwards, leaders of Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, which props up May’s minority government, announced that they would support the Prime Minister, thereby making her ouster unlikely.
Rob Ford, a professor of politics at Manchester University, said these were indeed strange times. “Normally, if you were looking at a defeat of 50-plus votes on the No. 1 item on the government’s agenda, then that would be it. Game over. The prime minister would be gone, and the government would probably fall immediately. But that’s clearly not going to happen.”
May called yesterday’s vote in Parliament the most important in a
generation. She told MPs that the choice was plain: support her imperfect compromise deal — the only one Europe will abide, she stressed — or face the cliff edge of a no-deal Brexit.
Staring directly at Corbyn, May said that anyone who thought they could go to Brussels and get a better deal was deluding themselves. Moments after the result came in, May said: “The Government has heard what the House has said tonight.”
She has until Tuesday NZT to return with a Plan B. Her office has been tight-lipped about what alternatives she might offer. May said she would hold talks with MPs to find out what kind of Brexit deal, if any, they would endorse.
“What Theresa May does now will become less and less relevant to what outcome we get. The key thing to be watching is what Parliament does next and what Labour does next,” Ford said.
Other European leaders, who expected the deal to fail, said they saw little they could do to try to ease any agreement through the British Parliament. “Maybe we’ll make improvements on one or two things,” said French President Emmanuel Macron. “But I don’t really think so, because we’ve reached the maximum of what we could do with the deal, and we won’t, just to solve Britain’s domestic political issues, stop defending European interests.”
Guy Verhofstadt, the Brexit coordinator for the European Parliament, sounded especially frustrated.
“The House of Commons today said they don’t want this deal. I want to know what deal the House of Commons really does want? Because otherwise you can’t make an agreement.”
At least one prominent voice suggested that Britain might reconsider its divorce effort altogether. “If a deal is impossible, and no one wants no deal, then who will finally have the courage to say what the only positive solution is?” European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted.
Britain could ask to postpone Brexit beyond March 29 and try to buy more time to work out its problems. An extension would require unanimous consent from the remaining EU countries.
Outside Parliament, the scene was raucous. Thousands of protesters, many in costumes, gathered to shout at each other — illustrating how unsettled Brexit remains more than two years after voters opted in a 2016 June referendum to leave the EU.