THE CLOCK TICKS:
■ May’s plea to party to back deal ends in humiliation ■ Dramatic scenes inside and outside Parliament
A POLITICAL odyssey that began with David Cameron’s formal announcement almost three years ago that the nation would decide on Britain’s future membership of the European Union came to an end with a humiliating defeat last night for his successor.
It was hardly unexpected, but Parliament’s decision to reject Theresa May’s deal for the UK’s exit from the EU has thrown up as many questions as there are answers.
The nation still faces a divorce from the remaining 27-state bloc in just 10 weeks and two days.
Mrs May, who became Prime Minister shortly after the 2016 referendum, is still caught firmly between trying to satiate the appetite of the House of Commons for a dramatically revised Brexit arrangement and the insistence from the EU that it is not for turning.
She closed the parliamentary debate in the Commons yesterday evening with an impassioned plea for MPs across the political divide to back the deal, stating: “The responsibility of each and every one of us at this moment is profound, for this is a historic decision that will set the future of our country for generations.”
However, the Withdrawal Agreement secured by the Prime Minister in Brussels in November fell to the heaviest Commons defeat in modern history, after a last-gasp appeal to Tory rebels failed.
Mrs May had earlier made it clear to the Cabinet that she would not back away from Brexit, telling members of her inner political sanctum that the Government is “the servant of the people” and must deliver on the result of the 2016 referendum in which voters opted to leave the EU by 52 per cent to 48 per cent.
The issue which has dominated the UK’s political landscape since Mrs May’s predecessor, Mr Cameron, formally announced on February 20, 2016, that a referendum would be held on June 23 that year as to whether Britain should remain or leave the EU came to a dramatic head with last night’s parliamentary vote.
Mrs May had told colleagues yesterday morning at the weekly Cabinet meeting in 10 Downing Street that she will respond “quickly” if her deal was rejected by MPs – but now reality has bitten, a speedy decision as to the next course of action is of paramount importance.
Throughout yesterday, Parliament was at the epicentre of demonstrations by both Pro and anti-EU campaigners as the world’s media spotlight fell on the House of Commons.
College Green was a cacophony of noise and a sea of colour as banner-waving protesters went head-to-head, with crowds swelling as the day wore on and chanting growing louder as the two factions tried to drown each other out.
Hundreds of people, bedecked in EU and Union flags and fancy dress, took the chanting to a crescendo above the passing traffic before Mrs May faced down the Commons ahead of last night’s key vote. But there was no repeat of last week’s ugly scenes when a Brexit-backing crowd surrounded Remain-supporting Tory MP Anna Soubry and accused her of being a Nazi.
Tensions did, however, rise when Brexiteers indulged in the burning of the EU flag. But the jostling that followed involved TV crews and photographers eager for shots of a police officer dispatched to deal with the small fire. However, the blaze that is burning beneath the bonfire of Brexit is itself far from extinguished – and is set to rage long after Britain’s planned exit from the EU on March 29 has come and gone.