Boris loses critical ‘leave by Oct 31’ vote

LONDON: Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered a damaging setback on Tuesday in his quest to take Britain out of the European Union, losing a critical vote in Parliament and putting his plans for Brexit on hold, as Britain’s three-year struggle to resolve the issue continued to defy any solution.

Mr Johnson’s latest defeat came only 15 minutes after his first victory in Parliament. Lawmakers granted preliminary approval to the withdrawal deal he struck with the EU last week, a major step toward achieving the prime minister’s goal of Brexit and one that broke a string of defeats for him.

But the lawmakers refused in a crucial follow-up vote to put legislation enacting Britain’s departure on a fast track to passage, which could have enabled Mr Johnson to meet his deadline of leaving the EU by Oct 31.

By blocking Mr Johnson, Parliament has thrown the whole process into a legislative netherworld that could mean months of further delays to a process that the nation has long since wearied of and just wants to see end.

It is entirely conceivable that Mr Johnson’s deal will kick around Parliament for weeks, potentially becoming encumbered with amendments that either Mr Johnson or the EU would reject as unacceptable. The best option then, analysts said, would be to give the voters a chance to make themselves heard in a general election.

The back-to-back votes captured the one-step-forward, one-stepback nature of the Brexit saga. While lawmakers endorsed the contours of Mr Johnson’s plan — something they had never done for his predecessor, Theresa May — they balked at being stampeded into passing the necessary legislation in three days.

The EU will now have to decide how long an extension to grant Britain. Mr Johnson said after the votes that he would “pause” the legislation and call European leaders to deliver the message that Britain was not interested in another extension.

Earlier on Tuesday, he said that if the deadlock slipped into next year, he would rather pull the bill altogether and face the voters, calculating that he could still win a popular mandate for a swift Brexit. But if the EU offers only a short-term extension of a few weeks, Mr Johnson might well continue battling for passage of his Brexit blueprint, betting that the pressure would increase on Parliament to pass a deal that its members had already shown support for in principle.

Some critics noted that the legislation — which runs to 435 pages including annexes — was going to have less time for formal scrutiny than a recent bill prohibiting the use of wild animals in travelling circuses.