Brexit. Why do Brits want Out of the EU?

Theresa May has, for the record, told the House of Commons more than a hundred times that the UK “will be leaving the EU on the 29th March.” In fact, it might very well be that Thursday was the only time since becoming Prime Minister that she has come into the House of Commons and not said those words.

Stephen Barclay insists UK 'shouldn't be afraid' to leave without an agreement, despite parliament having voted to rule it out

It would be better for Britain to leave the EU with no deal than to seek a long delay to its departure, the Brexit secretary has said.

Stephen Barclay said the UK "shouldn't be afraid" to leave without an agreement, even after parliament voted to take the option off the table.

The Brexit secretary was one of seven cabinet ministers who on Thursday voted against a government motion proposing a delay to Brexit, despite the fact he had wrapped up the debate for the government and urged MPs to support the proposal.

His latest comments raise questions over his position in the cabinet if the government abides by parliament's decision to rule out no-deal.

Theresa May had given her MPs a free vote on the issue of a Brexit delay in order to avoid a mass rebellion by ministers, leading to dozens of ministers opposing her plan.

Explaining his decision to vote against the government, Mr Barclay told the BBC from his North East Cambridge constituency: "There were two parts of the motion: a short technical extension, which we need with a deal and we're pushing that, [but] that's separate from whether you just have a long extension rather than no deal.

"My views are long-standing: I support Brexit, this constituency voted in very large numbers for Brexit. We need a deal, we need to get that over the line, but if we don't have a deal then we should leave with no deal - that's always been my position and I voted as the constituency would expect me to do last night."

He added: "If we get the deal through, as I hope we still will, we will now need a short technical extension, but if not we shouldn't be afraid to leave with no deal."

Mr Barclay voted against Ms May’s motion despite having concluded the debate for the government and urged MPs to support the proposal.

He finished his speech to the Commons by saying: “It is time for this House to act in the national interest, it’s time to put forward an extension that is realistic. I commend the motion put forward by the government to the House.”

He then voted against it.

Nigel Farage and his bedraggled but defiant supporters set off from Sunderland to save Brexit from the elites

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Part of what’s confounding Parliament’s votes on how or when to leave the European Union is that, as in Fall River, British governance is shaped by two different elections that produced two different results.

The first of those elections, the 2016 referendum on whether to leave the European Union, recorded a slight majority of voters choosing to leave and a slight minority choosing to stay.

The second, a general election held in 2017, appeared to send a different message. The ruling Conservative party, whose members had championed Brexit, lost seats. But the opposition Labour party did not win enough to take power.

The results seemed to tell lawmakers that they do not have a mandate to follow the Conservative party. And they told Conservatives that they do not have a mandate to obey their prime minister.

That muddle is on full display in the votes in Parliament.

John Bercow has sensationally told Theresa May he will stop her making another attempt to pass her Brexit deal unless she has secured changes.

The Speaker said a further ‘meaningful vote’ would be ruled out of order if the motion was “the same or substantially the same’ – under an ancient convention to stop the government bullying parliament on issues MPs have rejected.

The decision is a major blow to the prime minister, who planned to pile pressure on MPs to change their minds with a third vote this week and, potentially, a fourth in the run-up to 29 March Brexit deadline.

Ms May has already admitted that the negotiations with the EU are over, making it hard for her to argue that a further meaningful vote will be on a different question.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain on Monday reached an a deal with Iceland and Norway to allow trade to continue unchanged if it leaves the European Union without a deal, trade minister Liam Fox said.

Britain is seeking to replicate around 40 EU bilateral trade deals ahead of its exit from the bloc.

With just 11 days until Britain is due in law to leave the bloc, the government has yet to win parliament’s backing for its Brexit deal with Brussels. Prime Minister Theresa May has said she will seek a delay to Brexit at a meeting of EU leaders this week but any extension has to be agreed unanimously.

Plans include 360 extra officers ready to step in if civil unrest or logistical issues arise

Police in Scotland will be ready to respond to any emergencies during an “unprecedented set of circumstances” after Brexit, a senior officer has said, with hundreds of officers ready to step in should protests or logistical issues arise.

Assistant chief constable Steve Johnson, Police Scotland’s EU exit tactical commander, said the force would be prepared to handle a range of potential challenges presented within the coming months.

It included having 360 officers on standby to cover unforeseen eventualities.

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With 11 days to go until Britain is due to leave the EU, May was forced to pull her plans for another meaningful vote because John Bercow said she could not ask MPs to pass the same deal, after they rejected it twice by huge margins. EU officials meanwhile were considering offering her a new date for a delayed Brexit to resolve the crisis.

Quoting from the guide to parliamentary procedure, Erskine May, Bercow said the question “may not be brought forward again during the same session” and that it was a “strong and longstanding convention” dating back to 1604. It must be “not different in terms of wording, but different in terms of substance”, he said, suggesting there must be a change in what the EU is offering.

Bercow’s surprise intervention means May is likely to have to go to Thursday’s Brussels summit with a request for a long extension to article 50, which could mean the UK has to spend more than £100m on participating in European parliament elections. She will write to Donald Tusk, the European council president, before the summit requesting a short delay if the deal is passed and a long delay if it is not approved by Wednesday.

During the delay, parliament would have to make a decision on how to break the deadlock, potentially with a second referendum, an election or a cross-party proposal for a softer Brexit. Alternatively, government sources suggested May could negotiate a lengthy extension with the EU, with a “get-out clause” enabling it to be cut short if her Brexit deal is passed by parliament before the European parliamentary elections.

One option under consideration is some kind of “paving vote” to set aside the convention if a majority in the House of Commons agreed they wanted to look at the deal again.

Sources in Brussels suggested the EU may offer May a helping hand by agreeing on a new delayed Brexit date at the summit, which could allow her to argue next week that the deal is sufficiently different to merit a third vote in parliament.

No 10 and ministers were locked in debate on how to get around the Speaker’s ruling in order to have another meaningful vote next week. The government was initially blindsided by Bercow’s pronouncement and unable to comment on what May would do next as it had not been “forewarned”. By Monday evening they would only say that the government “noted” the Speaker’s statement, adding: “This is something that requires proper consideration.”

But supporters of May’s deal were openly furious, with Robert Buckland, who as solicitor general is one of May’s chief law officers, saying it amounted to a “constitutional crisis”. He suggested No 10 might have to consider the drastic step of ending the parliamentary session early and restarting a new session, although government sources suggested this would not be an easy option.

“Frankly we could have done without this, but it’s something we’re going to have to negotiate with and deal with,” he told BBC News.

Another minister, Rory Stewart, appeared to liken the Speaker to Humpty Dumpty saying his attitude was that a rule “means just what I choose it to mean”. Other senior government figures described Downing St as being in a state of shock. “It’s miserable,” one said. “I think the first thing is the government having to come to terms with it.”
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Theresa May has admitted the country is in crisis as she prepares to write to the EU explaining her next steps with Britain heading towards a no-deal Brexit in ten days.

The prime minister's spokesman argued that a crisis had now "come to pass", as Ms May warned it would after the House of Commons rejected her Brexit deal last week.

She will now write to European Council president Donald Tusk setting out her next steps, a letter likely to involve some kind of request for a delay to Brexit.

The move follows a cabinet meeting with her ministers on Tuesday morning.

Donald Trump Jr and the US national security adviser, John Bolton, spoke out over Brexit on Tuesday in what appeared to be a coordinated intervention by the White House into British domestic politics.

Both the US president’s son and Bolton attacked British political leadership after Theresa May said she would ask the EU for a delay to the UK’s exit from the European Union; in line with parliament’s wish.

In an article for the Daily Telegraph, Trump Jr said May should have listened to his father’s advice over Brexit, saying that a “process that should have taken only a few short months has become a years-long stalemate, leaving the British people in limbo”. According to the prime minister, Trump advised her to “sue the EU – not go into negotiations”.

And, speaking to Sky News, Bolton accused UK politicians of failing to “give effect” to the Brexit referendum result. The UK has invoked article 50 – the formal process by which it can leave the EU – but is seeking a delay, after the terms upon which it would exit the bloc could not be agreed by parliament.

Bolton added: “The president has been clear that he wants a resolution of this issue that allows the United States and Britain to come to trade deals again. He sees huge opportunity if Britain’s status can be resolved.”

Last week, the US president said he was “surprised at how badly” the Brexit negotiations had gone for the UK, but added at that point: “I think we will stay right in our lane.”

Trump, who has sought to tear up many of the US’s existing trade agreements and seek terms he sees as more favourable to Washington, has previously said May’s Brexit withdrawal agreement “sounds like a great deal for the EU” and could prevent the UK from pursuing closer trade ties with the US.

Earlier this month, it was reported that Trump had met the hard-Brexiter and former Ukip leader Nigel Farage, who hinted that the US president was supportive of the UK leaving the EU without a deal in place.

Concerns have been expressed about the UK being forced to lower food safety standards in order to secure a free trade deal with the US post-Brexit.

Theresa May will make a direct plea to EU leaders later asking to postpone Brexit for three months, hours after telling the British public a delay was "a matter of great personal regret".

At an EU summit in Brussels, she will try to persuade the other 27 countries to delay the UK's exit beyond 29 March.

On Wednesday, the PM made a speech blaming the delay on MPs and telling the nation she was "on their side".

Meanwhile, Jeremy Corbyn is also due in Brussels for separate Brexit talks.

The Labour leader will meet the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, and the leaders of seven European countries to discuss alternatives to Mrs May's Brexit plan and to say that he believes a different deal can be struck.

default position for leaving is without a withdrawal agreement, or divorce deal.

Mrs May agreed a deal with the EU, but MPs have rejected it twice.

She has asked the EU for a short extension of the two-year Brexit process - Article 50 - until 30 June, in the hope that it is enough time for MPs to back her deal. However, any extension needs to be agreed to by all EU members.

European Council President Donald Tusk said he believed the EU would agree to a short extension, but this would only be if Mrs May's deal is signed off by MPs next week. Another EU summit next week could be called in an emergency if needed, he said.

Mr Tusk said the "question remains open" as to how long a delay the other EU leaders would support.

But, in her speech from Number 10 on Wednesday, Mrs May insisted she would not be willing to postpone Brexit any further than 30 June, despite appeals from some MPs for a longer extension to give time for a change in direction.

Cabinet ministers believe there is now a real risk of a no-deal Brexit, with sources close to them describing the mood in government as depressing and No 10 as “run by lunatics”.

Senior members of the cabinet from both sides of the Brexit argument are understood to think the chances of the UK leaving without a deal has substantially increased after the prime minister set herself against a longer extension to article 50.

One aide to a cabinet minister said No 10 was in “full on bunker mode” and the prime minister’s speech from Downing Street shows “they have all taken leave of their senses”.

Another soft Brexit cabinet source described the mood as “depressing” and said of no deal: “The risk is now very real.”

On the other side, one leave-supporting cabinet minister believes May has no intention of resigning if her deal fails to pass next Tuesday and that she would rather pivot to a position of supporting no deal than allowing a longer extension to article 50. They point to the fact that 63% of Conservative MPs opposed a delay to Brexit and opinion polls suggesting a shift in public opinion towards no deal.

In this scenario, the prime minister could attempt a fourth meaningful vote next Thursday in a high-stakes gamble that would challenge MPs to back her deal or face no deal at the last minute.

Before calling yet another vote, the government would either have to persuade John Bercow, the Speaker, that they were presenting a materially different deal to the Commons or overturn standing orders that prevent the same motion being repeatedly put to MPs.

The alternative at this point would be that parliament could potentially decide to revoke article 50 – but it is unclear how and whether that would be legally binding.

Some Labour MPs who fear a no deal are taking comfort from a leaked briefing note prepared for Kwasi Kwarteng, a Brexit minister, which said that if the vote fails then “MPs will have to decide how to proceed”.

They also point to a speech made by May in the House of Commons on 26 February in which she said: “We would only leave without a deal with the consent of parliament.”

However, there is little sense that the group of cabinet ministers opposing a no-deal Brexit have yet come up with a plan to stop it happening if May does change her mind.

Behind the scenes, there was fury among Tory MPs – and even the whips – about May’s speech blaming parliament at a time when she needs more votes to pass her Brexit deal.

Nick Boles, the Conservative MP leading efforts for a cross-party soft Brexit, joked it was an example of: “How to Win Friends and Influence People by Theresa May.”

The Conservative MP Sam Gyimah, who resigned as a minister over the withdrawal agreement, accused May of trying to blackmail MPs. “I think democracy loses when a prime minister who set herself against the House of Commons then blames MPs for doing their job,” he told the BBC.

One middle-ranking minister said “everyone is upset about it” and described it as the “completely wrong” approach at at time when she should be reaching out.

One source close to a cabinet minister said Downing Street was “run by lunatics” and blamed communications director Robbie Gibb for the decision to allow May to speak directly to the nation pitting MPs against the public.

A Downing Street spokeswoman would not comment on that claim, and when asked for a response to the angry reaction of Conservative MPs, she said: “The message was aimed at the public.”

Following the speech, there is degree of hopelessness among Conservative MPs that they have no idea what May plans to do next, beyond predicting that she will not resign willingly.

Chris Wilkins, a former speechwriter for May, said that he thought that she was finally running out of road as prime minister.

But he did not expect her to resign because of her dogged determination to carry on with her duties: “I think that if the entire cabinet resigned, she would not go because in her mind she cannot be forced out under party rules. If there was a cabinet of one, she would sit in it.”

The ex-No 10 aide added that he believed that May’s televised address was a mistake, because it attacked parliament at a time when she needs their support. It was characteristic of her core beliefs that “I’m the one who is the grown up” and that many other MPs did not undertake their jobs with sufficient seriousness, he added.

“One thing she says frequently is that ‘politics is not a game’. Others may be frivolous but in her mind she is the one who gets on with the job,” Wilkins said.

It is understood that May carried on like it was “business as usual” in meetings with senior Brexiters, including Boris Johnson, over the weekend and earlier this week, talking as though she would be continuing in office and promising a restructure of the Department for Exiting the EU at the next stage of negotiations.

Those MPs who have been in to Downing Street in the past week have been surprised by May’s resilience and intransigence despite the intensity of the crisis, giving one visitor the impression that she would be prepared to lead the Conservative party into another general election if it came before her stated departure date of 2022.

Publicly, May was supported by Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, who toured the broadcast studios to say that she had been frustrated by the need to delay Brexit and that she was “under extraordinary pressure”.

However, others sounded less supportive. When asked if the prime minister had been wise to set herself against MPs, Sajid Javid, the home secretary, told reporters in Essex: “I’ve just come from Westminster to get away from Brexit, so I don’t think it’s appropriate to answer that question.”

Britain’s military has set up a team in a nuclear bunker beneath the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to prepare for a no-deal Brexit.

Some 3,500 troops were being held “at readiness” to aid in contingency plans if the UK leaves the European Union (EU) without an agreement in place, a spokesperson said.

The mission, dubbed Operation Redford, was activated at the beginning of the week. It could see the armed forces working to transport food, fuel and other essentials around the UK.

The bunker, which sits underneath the main MoD building in Whitehall, has been used by the armed forces in wartime and during responses to national disasters such as flooding.

A spokesperson for the MoD said: “We are always willing to support wider government planning for any scenario, and we have committed to holding 3,500 troops at readiness to aid contingency plans. We will consider any requests from other government departments if they feel defence capability could contribute to their no-deal planning.”

MPs have been urged to take taxis home from Parliament and not travel alone in the coming days, over security fears.

Deputy Speaker Lindsay Hoyle has written to all MPs ahead of potentially crunch Brexit votes next week.

"I have never felt this level of tension during my time in the House and I am aware other colleagues feel the same," wrote Mr Hoyle.

He said regional police forces have been told to be aware of tensions both at Westminster and locally.

He added that the Metropolitan Police has been told it must take a lead to ensure MPs can vote without fear.

Special provisions to allow MPs to be collected from the Parliamentary estate by taxi have been introduced.

MPs have also been advised to travel with colleagues, rather than on their own.

Earlier, anti-Brexit Independent Group MP Anna Soubry said she was unable to go home this weekend because she was facing "serious" death threats.

MPs urged not to travel home alone as tensions rise

Quote:

MPs have been urged to take taxis home from Parliament and not travel alone in the coming days, over security fears.

Deputy Speaker Lindsay Hoyle has written to all MPs ahead of potentially crunch Brexit votes next week.

"I have never felt this level of tension during my time in the House and I am aware other colleagues feel the same," wrote Mr Hoyle.

He said regional police forces have been told to be aware of tensions both at Westminster and locally.

He added that the Metropolitan Police has been told it must take a lead to ensure MPs can vote without fear.

Special provisions to allow MPs to be collected from the Parliamentary estate by taxi have been introduced.

MPs have also been advised to travel with colleagues, rather than on their own.

Earlier, anti-Brexit Independent Group MP Anna Soubry said she was unable to go home this weekend because she was facing "serious" death threats.

Theresa May usually gets less than an hour to explain her Brexit plans to the EU’s 27 leaders at regular summits. Finally, with only eight days to go until the original deadline, the British prime minister was granted a full 90 minutes in the multi-coloured summit room in the Europa headquarters. For the EU, it was not time well spent.

“It was 90 minutes of nothing,” one EU source said. “She didn’t even give clarity if she is organising a vote. Asked three times what she would do if she lost the vote, she couldn’t say. It was ******* awful. Dreadful. Evasive even by her standards.”

Around a dozen EU leaders peppered the British prime minister with questions. Did she have a plan B? How was she going to gain a majority? When would she hold the vote? “She very much dodged these questions,” a second EU source said. A third source said: “She was not convincing. It was not clear if she had a plan B; it was not clear if she had a plan at all.”
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But it was the Brexit extension variations that took time to digest. The only thing the leaders found easy to agree is that there was “no ideal date”. Finally eight hours after arriving in the room – an EU debate on China pushed into Friday – the compromise emerged: a “flextension” that will force the UK to make a choice by 12 April, if the Brexit deal fails to pass.

In the closing press conference, Tusk, was asked whether, if MPs refused to vote for that deal, would more room be made in hell – a reference to his earlier remark about where those people who promoted Brexit “without a sketch of a plan” would go.

“According to our pope, hell is still empty and it means there are a lot of spaces.”

Juncker added: “Don’t go to hell.”