Home » As expected, Parliament votes to delay Brexit

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As expected, Parliament votes to delay Brexit — 15 Comments

  1. 1. Parliament passed legislation that “obliges” the government to request an extension. If Boris Johnson refuses to make that request, what will Parliament do . . . have a snap election? If they have an election, Boris will win.

    2. Article 50 section 3 of the Lisbon Treaty requires unanimous consent of the members to an extension of the time by which a member state could withdraw. The UK doesn’t get to vote in that decision, but there are member states (I’m looking at you, Hungary and Poland) who might wish to push back against the heavy-handed manner in which Brussels has treated them. The US could offer favorable tariffs to them.

  2. Why should the parilament’s votes be honored as they have shown votes of the people don’t need to be honored, in fact the parliament should be disbanded once since there is no reason to honor any election results that won them their seats

  3. I’ve not been able to follow what’s in the deal under consideration, way too complicated, but this piece provides some clarity (although it’s still rather murky to me). It seems to come down to how to handle the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland:

    Under the Johnson proposals, the Irish border would remain open to cross-border traffic and trade, and the new economic border between Britain and the EU would be placed squarely in the Irish Sea. To use an example, medical equipment produced in London could continue to be traded freely with Scottish companies in Edinburgh, but it would be subject to EU tariffs when it enters Belfast in Northern Ireland. Johnson has proposed a rebate system to help offset the costs British businesses will accrue trading with Northern Ireland, but that arrangement remains unclear.

    Then there’s this:

    The position of Johnson’s current Conservative-led U.K. government has been complicated by its relationship with the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), whose 10 votes in the House of Commons it has in recent years relied on to pass legislation. The DUP is adamantly opposed to any deal that appears to treat Northern Ireland differently from the rest of the U.K. …

    The DUP represents Northern Ireland’s unionists, a British Protestant community that is religiously devoted to the union linking Northern Ireland with Britain. The DUP has always been characterized by its uncompromising approach to politics, and its “not one inch” mentality has helped muddle Brexit negotiations to date.

    The party is pro-Brexit but wants to maintain a strong economic relationship with the Republic of Ireland. Its resolute opposition to any deal that appears to treat Northern Ireland differently from the rest of the U.K. is based on the belief that such an arrangement would weaken the union and make eventual political unification with the republic more likely. This has been the party’s red-line issue. …

    Johnson’s Northern Ireland arrangement crossed unionists’ red line, and in its official statement, the DUP rejected the deal because it is “not, in our view, beneficial to the economic well-being of Northern Ireland and [undermines] the integrity of the Union.”

  4. A V I has good note on who is fighting more fair, and clearly the pro-EU Parliament is not it.

    They don’t like Boris leading the gov’t, they can give him a no-confidence vote and have new elections. Passing a “law” that “obliges” the gov’t to do something it, meaning Boris the PM, doesn’t want to do can, when violated, mean only a snap election. Tho maybe the pro-EU courts will rule that Boris has to obey the law, or go to jail, but with no new election.

    What is best for Britain depends on the decisions of the decision makers afterwards, which can’t be known now. Nobody knows what’s best.

    Most don’t even realize there are tradeoffs for what’s economically best but not culturally best, what’s great for the elite but not so great for the median or 20% worker, what’s good for those in the cities but bad for rural — and vice versa.

    The EU has done good work. And bad work.
    With Brexit, the good can be duplicated and the bad avoided.

    There’s not agreement on what the “good” is.

  5. The Queen has already stated in writing that if the UK continues in the EU, she will no longer be a sovereign; what has not been stated but must be is that the British Commonwealth will also become subject to the EU; so will any British possessions. the EU will become the World’s largest empire ever.

  6. shouldn’t the result of the first referendum be honored first before any request for a second referendum can be made? seriously I don’t mind them getting a second referendum on whether to rejoin EU after brexit, the result of the first referendum has been delivered, but gee if the first result doesn’t get honored then why should anyone give a darn about the results of any subsequent referendums? reminds me of the paper scissor rock games that went on forever because the loser just keep moving the goalpost along the way by continuously claiming “no, 2 out of 3” “no, 3 out of 5” “no, 4 out of 7” on and on and on.

  7. This is the last gasp, in my opinion. One last shot at Johnson before voting for the deal. I think the EU knows it is over- I don’t think the extension will be granted for anything other than an actual vote on the deal put before them, and France may well just veto any extension at all.

  8. Where’s Oliver Cromwell when you really need him? And I’ve been wondering why the Queen doesn’t call out the Household Guard, storm the Parliament, and remove the ceremonial mace. But I think that the pro-Brexit forces will be able to prevail, very soon. This is just indicative of how a determined opposition can delay things, as we have seen over here with everything that President Trump does.

  9. [Even if solely in jest]

    Queen . . . Cromwell (regicide). . . somehow seem ill-fit, y’know?

    I mean one can readily imagine that on the whole Her Majesty would rather not trouble find such another.

  10. Making the transition as painful as possible still is a victory for the remainers even if they fail to stop brexit, any economic downturns that are really results of the delay will be blamed on brexit and be used to make their case of rejoining eu in the future.

  11. Recall the canonical rule of democracy: the loser of the vote has to agree peacefully to give up power…now, not in three years. Boris should say that: “Remainers have changed the rules of our democracy and have stipulated that voting doesn’t have consequences.“ “Therefore, I legitimately claim the power of the state as I am the last prime minister and there is no method—that you approve of—to remove me.”

  12. PM Johnson’s Brexit bill was passed into adoption by parliament today, when moments later the three day timetable to implementation was voted down. Parliament insists on a long slow timeline, which would require EU agreement, again delaying Brexit beyond the No Deal leave date Oct. 31.

    Once again through gameplaying nastiness parliament refuses the people’s desire to leave the EU. Terrible politics not merely on substance but with a view to any possible next election in Great Britain. The open contempt is quite amazing.

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