Brexit: All heat and no light

Politics 2 Minutes

The media yesterday were full of Theresa May’s “crunch vote” on her Brexit deal — the same deal that was rejected earlier this year. And to no-one’s great surprise, it was rejected again, this time by 149 votes.

The press today is full of commentary as to what this all means, and so much of this is just noise.

Parliament will vote today on whether they want to exit the EU without a deal, and the expectation is that a no deal Brexit will be rejected. This amounts to little more than empty posturing and won’t change the fact that the UK is due to leave the EU on March 29th and, if no deal is agreed, the UK will crash out of the EU with no deal.

Tomorrow, assuming Parliament votes against no deal, they will all get together again to decide to request an extension to the Article 50 negotiating period. The rest of EU are already asking what would be the point of such an extension given that the UK is still unable to decide what it wants to achieve. And if there is no point to delaying Brexit, no delay will be forthcoming.

Since the Withdrawal Agreement was signed off, there have been three options on the table: Ratify the Withdrawal Agreement, crash out with no deal, or revoke Article 50 and cancel Brexit. This was the case in January, it was the case yesterday and it will still be the case tomorrow.

The ongoing mess that is Brexit has already damaged the UK. Firms are leaving the country, jobs are going to be lost and the fantasy trade deals promised by the Government aren’t going to come close to replacing any of this. If Brexit goes ahead, with a deal or without, Britain will become smaller, poorer and forced to accept any conditions imposed by any potential trading partner.

And it still won’t be over, because leaving the EU isn’t the end of this mess, it’s the start of the next one in which the UK continues to fail at everything (trade, travel, security, etc.) that could, until now, be taken for granted.

The only way to stop the mess, limit the damage and bring this whole screaming clusterfuck to an end is to revoke Article 50 and remain in the EU.

Published by Paul

Reader of books, watcher of films, player of games. British father of three, now living in Belgium and making a living from building interfaces.

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6 thoughts on “Brexit: All heat and no light”

    1. From the way things are going it’s going to be a disaster followed by a catastrophe. Everyone who raises the subject here does so with an expression of utter disbelief that a country like Britain can do deliberately wreck it’s own economy.

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  2. Do you think if this should happen, would be granted a second referendum? I seriously doubt it. Theresa May is looking to work with Jeremy Corbyn, but I don’t know how that will pan out. Although, now that I think of it, it is quite a cunning move on May’s part. Jeremy Corbyn hasn’t been a fan of anything she puts forward and the divisions in government has ensured failure after failure. If they work together, May offering a conciliatory hand, there’ll be more MP’s willing to back a deal that two leaders propose because they’re supporting two leading parties now. But it worries me that Corbyn might eagerly buy into this and forget that we must leave, if we leave, with a good deal. At this rate, all this heightens the possibility of leaving with a deal without it promising to be a good deal.

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    1. What worries me is that, with Parliament unable to reach a decision; the UK is going to end up crashing out of the EU without a deal. This would be the worst possible outcome. If the politicians want to avoid this, and can’t agree to the deal they have, then the only remaining option is to stay in the EU.

      Quite honestly, I think Theresa May should have reached out and tried to build a cross-party consensus two years ago — preferably before triggering Article 50 and certainly after her disaster of an election in 2017. So reaching out to Corbyn now feels a bit late and smacks of desperation.

      Leaving with a deal is obviously better than crashing out but I’m not optimistic as neither May nor Corbyn have been particularly flexible until now.

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      1. I think that is what a lot of the MP’s are doing, delaying so we don’t have to leave or until one of them can be in a position to negotiate with EU leaders to get us a better deal.

        It’ll definitely make Corbyn a lot sweeter now because it gives him more power. My goodness, what a mess. David Cameron is the absolute worst. In a sense, I do quite pity May because she was left a problem that she didn’t create.

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        1. Cameron certainly left truly horrific a mess behind him, but I also think that Theresa May did a lot to compound the problem.

          She could have tried to build a consensus, but instead decided that she would allow the extreme wing of the Tory party drag her into ever more unrealistic positions.

          It would have helped, as well, if she’d taken a bit of time to try and figure out what she wanted to achieve with Brexit before triggering Article 50. All the arguments that we’re seeing now really should have been addressed two years ago, if not earlier.

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