Brexit. Why do Brits want Out of the EU?

Theresa May has called for MPs to “come together” to back her deal after claiming to have secured the legally binding changes parliament wanted to ensure the EU cannot trap the UK in the Irish backstop and a permanent customs union.

But within minutes of the start of a late-night joint press conference in Strasbourg, those words rang hollow, as Jean-Claude Juncker, the European commission president, conceded the EU had not agreed to the prime minister’s central demand.

Juncker told reporters that a freshly negotiated legal add-on to the Brexit deal, emphasising the temporary nature of the Irish backstop, “complements the withdrawal agreement without reopening it”.

He added that the new text was in “spirit and letter by letter” in accord with the EU’s commitment to an insurance policy from which he has repeatedly insisted neither side could unilaterally withdraw.

he commission president nevertheless rallied to May’s defence by warning MPs that Brussels would not be offering any further “reassurances or clarifications”.

“In politics sometimes you get a second chance, it is what we do with this second chance that counts because there there will be no third chance,” Juncker said. “There will be no further interpretation of the interpretation. No further assurances on the reassurances if the meaningful vote fails tomorrow.”

In an echo of the prime minister’s own warning to her Brexiter MPs, Juncker added: “Let us speak crystal clear about the choice: it is this deal, or Brexit might not happen at all.”
... ... ...

The prime minister immediately gave a statement, saying she was “profoundly disappointed” that her deal had been rejected again.

She said the government would table a motion, so that MPs can debate on Wednesday whether the UK should leave the EU without a deal on 29 March, and that she would offer her MPs a free vote on that decision.

There will then be another vote on Thursday, on whether to request an extension to article 50.

But May insisted: “Voting against leaving without a deal, and for an extension, does not solve the problems we face. The EU will want to know what use we want to make of that extension. The house will have to answer that question.”

With her voice cracked and fading, the prime minister had earlier pleaded with the House of Commons: “This is the moment and this is the time – time for us to come together, back this motion and get the deal done. Because only then can we can get on with what we need to do, what we were sent here to do.”

Some Conservatives who rejected the deal in January, when May lost by a record majority of 230, did switch sides; many feared Brexit would be delayed or reversed if they didn’t support the agreement.

But most Labour MPs trooped through the voting lobbies with the DUP, the pro-Brexit European Research Group (ERG), and remain-supporting Tories, to sink the deal.

Jeremy Corbyn said Labour would now press for a softer Brexit. “I believe there is a majority in this house for the sort of sensible, credible and negotiable deal that Labour has set out. I look forward to parliament taking back control so that we can succeed where this government has so blatantly failed,” he said.

The former foreign secretary Boris Johnson said the vote should mark “the end of the road” for May’s deal.

May’s defeat came despite her late-night dash to Strasbourg on Monday, during which Jean-Claude Juncker signed off on three additions to the agreement struck in November.

These included a joint interpretative instrument fleshing out both sides’ obligations to negotiate in good faith, a joint statement that they would work on alternative arrangements, and a unilateral statement by the UK that there would be nothing to stop Britain seeking to “disapply” the backstop if negotiations broke down.

Earlier, the attorney general, Geoffrey Cox, had called on his colleagues to treat the vote as a “political judgment”, after his much-anticipated legal advice offered little comfort to those concerned about the backstop.

In his statement, he suggested the changes reduced the risk of the UK being trapped indefinitely in the Northern Ireland backstop – but did not eliminate it.

Cox’s verdict was echoed in a statement published by a self-styled “star chamber” of leave-supporting lawyers, assembled by the ERG and including the DUP’s Nigel Dodds and the former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab.

They said the changes offered only “faint and remote prospects of escaping” from the backstop, and “do not materially change the position the UK would find itself in if it were to ratify the withdrawal agreement”.

[...]
May is now a leader in name only. Lino. Too weak even to sack ministers who abstained or voted against her three-line whip. The Commons has descended into near anarchy, a wild west with every man and woman for themselves. Particularly on the Tory benches, where party loyalty has almost completely broken down. So much so that virtually every vote is now in effect a free vote.
[...]
Then came the vote. Things fall apart. Again. The entire country reduced to a third-rate reality freak show. An international laughing stock. Anarchy in the UK. We mean it, man!

Donald Trump has made a last-minute Brexit intervention - claiming his administration is looking forward to "negotiating a large scale Trade Deal with the UK" - after reportedly being lobbied to do so by Nigel Farage.

The former Ukip leader is said to have asked the American president to support the UK leaving the EU without a deal during a meeting in Washington this month.

And just hours after parliament voted to rule out a no-deal Brexit - and hours before further votes on a potential extension of Article 50 - Mr Trump posted an early morning tweet which will be interpreted by many as meeting Mr Farage's request.

He wrote: "My Administration looks forward to negotiating a large scale Trade Deal with the United Kingdom. The potential is unlimited!"

High-profile Brexiteers have long claimed a trade deal with the US would be one of the key benefits to breaking with the EU, but critics have cautioned any agreement would likely take years and result in lowered food and agriculture standards, as well as further privatisation of the NHS.

The US trade representative's office had said it would launch talks with Britain after what was initially its planned exit from the EU on 29 March. Last month it laid out its objectives for a deal that included reduced tariff and non-tariff barriers for US industrial and agricultural goods.

Mr Trump has made the US economy and trade a cornerstone of his presidency in line with his "America First" campaign, and has sought to renegotiate pacts with China, Canada and Mexico as well as the EU.

Mr Farage said he made the request to the president at the Conservative Political Action Conference (Cpac) in the capital last week.

The pair were pictured at the meeting, smiling with their thumbs raised.

"I was talking to him about Vietnam, where he had said that a bad deal was on the table so sometimes you have to walk. That was the exact quote from Trump." Mr Farage told The Daily Telegraph.

He added: "This American administration firmly believes in the nation state, not supranational structures and this administration are hugely keen on the defence, security and indeed business relationships that exist between our two countries.

"And I think it's fair to say they see Brexit as a great opportunity."

Mr Trump became friends during his campaign when the former Ukip leader, dubbed "Mr Brexit", was greeted at a rally in Mississippi before the 2016 election.

The two were also pictured just after the election, at Trump tower in New York, where Mr Farage appeared to be spearheading a new relationship between the UK and US.

Mr Trump has spoken highly of Mr Farage in the past, stating that he would do "a great job" as British ambassador to the US.

• By the narrowest of margins, Prime Minister Theresa May beat back a power play by lawmakers who wanted to wrest control of the Brexit process from her. They also voted against holding a second referendum on the matter.