HOW MUCH MORE OF THIS CAN BRITAIN TAKE?
Nearly 1,000 days after the nation voted to quit the EU, May suffers another defeat which looks certain to delay Brexit and crush the hopes of 17.4m people
BREXIT was hanging in the balance last night after Theresa May suffered a second crushing Commons defeat over her EU departure deal.
In a fresh shattering blow to the Prime Minister’s plans, MPs voted by a massive margin of 149 votes to reject the revamped Withdrawal Agreement she hammered out with top Eurocrat Jean-Claude Juncker less than 24 hours earlier.
Her latest rebuff means the Brexit date, March 29, is almost certain to be postponed, raising doubts about whether the UK
will ever be unshackled from
Brussels.
Mrs May admitted the result leaves the Commons facing “unenviable choices”. She even conceded that the possibility was growing of Remain-backing MPs triggering a second referendum in an attempt to overturn the 2016 result.
Today is 992 days since the EU referendum vote which saw 17.4 million voters back leaving the bloc.
Yet MPs, who have effectively now seized control of the Brexit process, are expected to vote to rule out a no-deal Brexit today before a further vote on extending the EU’s Article 50 departure process is held tomorrow. Mrs May, her voice croaky after days of punishing lastditch negotiations, last night challenged MPs to come up with a solution to the national crisis.
“Let me be clear – voting against leaving without a deal and for an extension does not solve the problems we face,” she said.
“The EU will want to know what use we mean to make of such an extension.
“This House will have to answer that question. Does it wish to revoke Article 50? Does it want to hold a second referendum? Or does it want to leave with a deal but not this deal? These are unenviable choices, but thanks to the decision the House has made this evening they must now be faced.”
The Prime Minister refused to drop her deal despite it having now been twice rejected by overwhelming votes.
She said: “I profoundly regret the decision that this House has taken tonight.
“I continue to believe that by far the best outcome is that the UK leaves the EU in an orderly fashion with a deal, and that the deal we have negotiated is the best and indeed the only deal available.” Hinting that the Government could bring the deal back before the Commons for a third attempt, she said: “I am passionate about delivering the result of the referendum.
“But I equally passionately believe that the best way to do that is to leave in an orderly way with a deal and I still believe there is a majority in the House for that course of action.”
The vote saw 75 Tories, including leading Brexiteers Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg, rebel against Mrs May’s deal.
Many made up their minds when Attorney General Geoffrey Cox published his advice to the Government confirming that fresh legal guarantees over the Irish border won by the Prime Minister this week did not rule out the danger of the UK being trapped in the EU’s customs union as a result of the socalled “backstop”.
But up to 40 former Tory rebels including former EU Exit Secretary David Davis switched to support the deal following fears that rejection could put Brexit in peril.
The margin of defeat was significantly less than an earlier Commons vote in January which Mrs May lost
by 230, it was still too big to give ministers much hope of winning a third attempt.
Ahead of the vote, Mrs May struggled through a speech imploring MPs to back her deal with her voice cracking and sucking on lozenges while making her appeal.
Her husband Philip May watched from a Commons gallery as she warned MPs that rejecting her deal could lead to Brexit being postponed or even cancelled.
sowed
She told MPs: “We cannot serve our country by overturning a democratic decision of the British people, we cannot serve by prolonging a debate the British people now wish to see settled, and we cannot serve by refusing to compromise – by reinforcing instead of healing the painful divisions we see within our society and across our country.”
But during the five-hour debate, a string of Tory Brexiteers claimed the changes she had won from Brussels did not go far enough.
Mr Johnson said of the Prime Minister’s deal: “The result is like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden – they have sowed an apron of fig leaves that does nothing to conceal the embarrassment and indignity of the UK.”
He said the deal had “reached the end of the road” and called for a no-deal exit.
‘these are unenviable choices, but thanks to the decision the house has made this evening they must now be faced.’ THERESA MAY
PARLIAMENT is now entering the endgame with Brexit. Whatever we take out of last night’s defeat for Theresa May’s deal with the European Union, we must acknowledge that. At some point soon a decision will be made over whether the British people’s decision to end Brussels rule in this country will be respected or not.
So it is important that this newspaper, which started the historic campaign to free this country from the EU, delivers a clear message on behalf of the 17.4 million who voted Leave.
Any decision made by Parliament that blocks Britain leaving the EU, tries to seek a second option from voters, or significantly delays departure in the hope we will all change our mind, will be treachery.
Within the Westminster bubble, which today feels more detached than ever from the views of the British populace, MPs must understand that the citizens of Britain voted to leave the institutions of the EU. If they reverse that in any way, there will be a crisis of trust in democracy greater than at any time in our history.
Not only was there a majority in the referendum to leave but both the Conservatives and Labour ran on manifestos in the 2017 general election to respect the result of the referendum.
The one person who is not to blame for this fiasco is Theresa May who has dutifully done her best to fulfil the wishes of the majority in Britain.
But she was undone by a fanatical EU bureaucracy that puts federalist ideology and power above the needs of the people of Europe.
Worse still she was undermined by a Remainer Parliament that has sought to thwart the will of the British people.
The Remainer ministers such as Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd, who deliberately and publicly prevented Mrs May from using the threat of no deal to force the EU into a reasonable position, are particularly at fault.
It meant there was no incentive for the EU to shift its position.
These ministers should never be forgiven for the contempt they have shown for the ordinary folk in Britain.
However, the Brexiteers who yesterday voted against the deal may have killed off the last chance for Britain to leave the EU.
In the end voters will not distinguish and all will be guilty by association.
A new prime minister or a general election is not the answer to resolve this crisis. MPs need to come together and ensure we end Brussels’ hold over our country once and for all.
This is what we voted for 992 days ago.