Brexit. Why do Brits want Out of the EU?

Few observers missed that the Oct. 31 deadline coincides with Halloween.

"They're not trying to be funny, but I think it's totally appropriate given that, the way Brexit has gone, said NPR's Frank Langfitt on All Things Considered. "It has been pretty much a horror story from early on."

The government has stood down an army of 6,000 civil servants who had been preparing for a no-deal Brexit, at an estimated cost of £1.5bn.

The civil servants who had been seconded from elsewhere will now return to their normal duties, but there is no clear role for an estimated 4,500 new recruits after article 50 was extended until Halloween.

More than 16,000 civil servants in total have been working on Brexit.
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The Cabinet Office made the decision to reverse the no-deal plans at a meeting on Thursday morning.

“In common with the rest of government, we have stood down our no-deal operational planning with immediate effect. This morning, at a meeting chaired by the cabinet secretary, we agreed that the objective is to ensure we wind down our no-deal planning in a careful, considered and orderly way,” said a letter leaked to Sky News.

A Downing Street spokesman said: “As a responsible government, we’ve been preparing for over two years to minimise any disruption in the event of no deal. In light of this week’s developments, departments will make sensible decisions about the timing and pace at which some of this work is progressing given that the date we leave the EU has changed, but we will absolutely continue to make all necessary preparations.”

Brexiter Conservative MP Steve Baker branded the decision to stand down the no-deal operations as “sheer spite”.

because incomplete details and a lack of transparency had violated the freedom of the vote

Anti-Brexit campaigners have seized a website domain for Nigel Farage’s new party in a bid to disrupt his European election campaign.

The Led By Donkeys group claimed that the former Ukip leader forgot to register the URL for The Brexit Party before its launch.

The group has now set up its own page at thebrexitparty.com with the banner “No Brexit Party – Nigel Farage Doesn’t Represent Britain”.

It features a series of Led By Donkeys tweets about their use of political billboards to taunt Mr Farage and the March to Leave from Sunderland to London.

“Nigel Farage wants to register a huge victory in the European elections, but he can’t even register his own website,” the group said.

Nigel Farage has said he hopes his new Brexit party will be largely funded by small donations, and would not take any money from Arron Banks, the millionaire who bankrolled Ukip.

Speaking before the party’s launch on Friday, the former Ukip leader said: “In the first 10 days of the Brexit party, we’ve raised £750,000 in donations online, all in small sums of less than £500. I’ve never in my 25 years in British politics seen anything like it. And we’ve done that before we’ve even launched.”

He added: “We haven’t asked Arron Banks for any money; he’s not going to give any money. He’s been very badly burned by what happened since the referendum, outrageous though it was,” referring to accusations that Banks may have helped funnel dark money into the pro-Brexit campaign.

Speaking on the Today programme, Farage took a swipe at his former party colleagues, saying that while there was “no difference between the Brexit party and Ukip in terms of policy, in terms of personnel, there’s a vast difference,” and that Ukip has “allowed the far right to join it and effectively take it over and I’m afraid the brand is now tarnished”.

Pro-EU parties, including the Liberal Democrats, the Greens and the Independent Group, will not form pacts or alliances at the forthcoming EU elections, hoping to use the poll as a “soft referendum” to show a surge in support for remain.

If no Brexit deal is passed by parliament, the UK will be required to hold the poll on 23 May. The Lib Dems, the mainstream party hoping to capitalise most on anti-Brexit discontent, has almost finalised its manifesto and plans a huge operation of ground campaigning targeting remain voters.

“We want to use the momentum from the locals, which very few other parties will have, as a springboard for European elections,” a party source said. “Voters across all of Great Britain want to vote for a pro-remain party. We’re going to give them all the chance to vote Lib Dem.”

The TIG MP Chuka Umunna claimed his new party – Change UK – would be “the leading option on the ballot paper” arguing for a second referendum.

The breakaway group of former Labour and Tory MPs has invited its network of supporters to apply to be MEP candidates “to give the British people a real choice”.

The timeframe for potential candidates will require final applications to be submitted by Monday morning and interviews later next week. In its email to supporters, the group said it was expecting a high number of applications and potential candidates should be prepared for a significant commitment.

The party intends to carry out “background verification checks” on candidates, who must provide all their social media handles, in the hope of avoiding the embarrassments that have plagued many start-up parties.

Candidates will also be asked to “outline your perspective on why politics is broken and how it needs to change”, as well as setting out their commitments to the Nolan principles of public life – selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership.

The group’s interim leader, Heidi Allen, a former Tory MP, said they would encourage “anyone who wants to see a people’s vote on Brexit, who wants to remain a full member of the European Union, and who wants to shake up and change our broken politics”.

The Green party is also hoping to capitalise on running with an explicitly pro-remain stance. Party co-leader Siân Berry said the Greens would “mobilise one of the strongest pro-EU movements anywhere” and would stress the importance of the elections to send a message.

“We will not let the government downplay how important these elections are. This isn’t just about the European Union – it’s about the country we live in,” she said.

“One thing we can agree on is that our politics is broken, and has failed to fix the intolerable inequality and insecurity which caused the Brexit vote. A vote for the Greens is a vote against this chaos, a vote for change, a vote to remain and a vote for an open and confident Britain.”

Renew, another emerging new party that has fought local elections, will also run pro-EU candidates in the EU elections. The party leader, Annabel Mullin, said the elections would be “seen by many as a soft referendum on EU membership”.

The two major parties are also likely to see applicants hoping to run on a remain platform. Stanley Johnson, the father of Boris Johnson and a former Tory MEP, has announced his wish to stand again for the party to make a pro-European case.

A majority of people who voted to leave the EU are ready to back UKIP or Brexit Party if (when) the May elections go ahead:
The Independent:Conservatives face European election drubbing as support 'slumps to lowest point in six years'

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The message from Richard Corbett, who leads Labour’s 20 MEPs, comes amid growing fears at the top of the party that it could lose a generation of young, pro-EU voters if it does not guarantee another public vote.

That age group, as well as many other Remainers, MPs say, could turn instead to unambiguously anti-Brexit parties, including the fledgling independent group Change UK, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens and the SNP.

Corbett said: “If Labour does not re-confirm its support for a confirmatory public vote on any Brexit deal in its manifesto then it will haemorrhage votes to parties who do have a clear message. If on the other hand we do offer clarity and a confirmatory ballot we could do very well.”
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Jeremy Corbyn is on course to sweep into No 10 after Theresa May failed to deliver on her promise to take the UK out of the EU by March 29, a major polling analysis reveals.

The Conservatives would lose 59 seats in the event of a general election, making Labour the largest party in the Commons, according to an exclusive poll of polls for The Sunday Telegraph.

Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader, and Amber Rudd, the Work and Pensions Secretary, would be at “high risk” of being voted out.
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