Theresa May clings to power as Brexit gambit backfires

[turbinetree]

Source: Reuters

World News
May 23, 2019 / 1:22 AM / Updated 5 minutes ago

Guy Faulconbridge, Kate Holton 6 Min Read

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May was clinging on to power on Thursday after her final Brexit gambit backfired, overshadowing a European election that has shown a United Kingdom still riven by division over its EU divorce.

May’s departure will deepen the Brexit crisis as a new leader is likely to want a more decisive split with the European Union, raising the chances of a confrontation with the bloc and an election which could usher in a socialist government.

In such a fluid situation, the world’s fifth largest economy faces an array of options including an orderly exit with a deal, a no-deal exit, an election or a second referendum which could ultimately reverse the 2016 decision to leave the EU.

May, who won the top job in the turmoil which followed the 2016 referendum on EU membership, has repeatedly failed to get parliament’s approval for the divorce deal she pitched as a way to heal the Brexit divisions of the country.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu/theresa-may-clings-to-power-as-brexit-gambit-backfires-idUSKCN1ST0EC?il=0

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Let's see the next fascist in line to implement the austerity program of racist bullshit from the Tories if she leaves, is Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage, (who apparently doesn't like Milkshakes along with his fellow Breixter's, and rides around in blue bus, so that he can be above the people)......................again what a "clusterfuck"......................

[brooklynite]

1. UPDATE: May close to abandoning Brexit bill amid growing cabinet backlash

The Guardian

In response to a question from Labour’s Valerie Vaz, Mark Spencer, the government whip, has just clarified two points about the EU withdrawal agreement bill (Wab).

Spencer said the Wab would now be published in the week beginning Monday 3 June. That is the second time this week it has been postponed. Yesterday morning Michael Gove, the environment secretary, said it would be published later that day. Then, in the afternoon, Theresa May said it would be published tomorrow. Spencer’s admission that publication has been postponed until June will increase suspicions that, in practice, it will never be published at all. May is under huge pressure to abandon the bill because it is so unpopular with backbenchers and ministers, and seems doomed to defeat.

Spencer said that the government was hoping to hold the second reading debate of the Wab on Friday 7 June but that it could not get announcement yet because it could not get agreement through “the usual channels”. That implies Labour are refusing to agree to get the Commons to sit on Friday when it was meant to be in recess.

[turbinetree]

2. That still is amazing........................

Thanks

[Jimvanhise]

3. BREXIT??

I'm trying to figure out just how things work in the UK. The vote was held in 2016 and the result proved controversial, and for the last three years they have been arguing about it as though the vote was just an opinion! Three years?! They act like something is just about to be decided and then the arguing starts again. What's that all about?

[JonLP24]

4. Cambridge Analytica was involved in that mess

I know a lot more about before the referendum. The Leave Campaign used Cambridge Analytical to target voters. They didn't have any real plans for an exit strategy which has been left to the politicians to negotiate a Brexit deal.

[Denzil_DC]

5. The referendum was advisory, so in that sense it WAS just a formal opinion poll.

The government, for its own reasons (internal splits, fear of UKIP taking votes), decided to treat it as binding. (Side note: had it been a legally binding referendum, it would have been declared illegal because of irregularities in how the campaign was conducted.)

No planning was carried out before the referendum to figure out what the impact of Brexit would be, how to cope with it and how to enact it. Civil servants in the various departments were actually forbidden by Cameron from committing any thoughts or plans to paper.

The Leave campaign was deliberately vague and contradictory about what form Brexit would take. Some of its prominent supporters insisted that it wouldn't mean leaving the single market, customs union etc., just a less formal trade-only relationship with the EU. Some treated it as a big bluff, expecting the EU to fold and give them whatever they wanted because the UK was indispensable to the EU - they insisted the UK could have its cake and eat it, basically being able to trade with the EU without having to comply with its rules.

May, on taking over from Cameron, interpreted the result as primarily meaning that freedom of movement (in the EU sense) would end, having been obsessed with immigration and her consistent failure to bring numbers of immigrants down during her term as Home Secretary. That red line was mainly what led to all the problems in the subsequent negotiations. The EU will not budge on the "four freedoms" principle (of free movement of goods, services, capital and people) that governs its closer trade relationships with countries that want access to the single market. Other than that, May continued to be vague about the shape of Brexit, coming out with platitudes such as "Brexit means Brexit" and that she wanted a "red, white and blue Brexit".

To make matters worse, Article 50 was triggered prematurely, before the UK had carried out any planning, even to the extent of what its aims in negotiations with the EU would be. Now, at this more than late stage, it's no clearer, because the splits in the country, parliament and the two main parties are so severe that no feasible deal can carry a majority, and any time efforts are made to nail down a path forward, it leads to stalemate. Last year, May finally called her Cabinet to Chequers (the prime minister's country retreat) to try to thrash out an agreement on what shape Brexit should take. Within barely a day, this triggered resignations from a number of her prominent ministers who had second thoughts. The resignations have continued since then as the mess has unfolded further.

The main sticking point - and a totally predictable one from the outset - was the issue of arrangements for the Northern Ireland-Ireland border (the interface between UK and EU jurisdiction, and an obvious potential flashpoint). That still hasn't been resolved, no deal is possible until it is, and even a no-deal Brexit wouldn't resolve it.

Basically, the prospectus adopted by the hard-line Leavers is undeliverable. Now they're reduced to spouting about the virtues of a no-deal Brexit and the wonders of trading on WTO rules, which would be severely disadvantageous to the UK economy, and the problems of which none of them seem to grasp, or if they do, they're lying about them.

[sandensea]

6. Anything to please The City (their 'Wall Street')

The old girl will even sacrifice her political career, just to deliver them their Brexit.

They no doubt have a 7-figure consulting gig waiting for her if it goes through.