A referendum may be the only way out. Right now is just kicking the can, and Junker isn’t having any of it. Here is a comment from the Bloomberg opinion section several months ago:
Now that the full consequences have come into view, though, popular opinion has shifted markedly. A Eurobarometer survey this week showed that if the Brexit referendum were held tomorrow, 53 percent of Britons would vote to remain — and only 35 percent would still want to leave. How they’d vote a second time around would depend on the options before them; what’s clear is that public support for the vote itself is substantial.
A referendum might give the politicians cover, but someone still has to draft and deliver whatever letter goes to the EU withdrawing the notification. That’s why I’m still leaning toward accidental hard brexit, simply because no one over there seems to have an act together.
Rachael Maddow reported this evening that trump’s (and Putin’s) good friend, Nigel Farage, is currently in Europe lobbying the E.U. member nations to vote no on the extension - so Brexit will have to take place by March 29th, like it or not.
Considering that he’s the same guy who denied that he was leaving for Germany, it would be smart for EU officials to ignore him or treat him as if he was Monsieur Paroles.
Howeva nothing really makes sense in this era, soooooooo…
But there was some good news for May, as lawmakers rejected an attempt to strip her of control over Brexit. They defeated by the narrowest of margins an opposition attempt let Parliament choose an alternative to May’s rejected divorce deal and force the government to negotiate it with the EU.
The House of Commons defeated the idea by just two votes, 314-312, leaving May least temporarily in charge of the Brexit agenda.
This, along with the defeat of the no-deal (hard) Brexit and the promotion of a three month extension which the EU may or may not agree to, tells me that (1) May is hanging to power by a thread, and (2) the UK is most likely going to end up staying in the EU. If May falls, that is the end of Brexit, because nobody else can bring the factions together to pull it off. The resulting government would be forced to choose between a hard Brexit and writing notice to the EU that the UK is not leaving the EU. I suspect that the EU does not want a hard Brexit, because of the immediate economic ramifications. The fact that LaFarge is lobbying the EU not to support the extension tells me that he most certainly is NOT a patriot. The Brits should ask themselves and investigate how LeFarge benefits from all this upheaval.
Who benefits from all this? Putin. Who spewed propaganda into the UK leading up to the vote on Brexit? Putin. Who was a huge supporter of Brexit? LaFarge and a few other useful idiots. LaFarge should strongly consider becoming a British expat, because there are plenty of people in the UK who see him in a very dark light now.
We have an election for the EU parlament in end of May. Will the Brit MEPs stand in it or just retire ?
If the brits are still in the EU when the european parliament opens in June, and they don’t have representatives, reports I’ve seen say that the whole enterprise grinds to a halt.
Putin must love that idea.