Wednesday, March 13, 2019

UK Parliament Rejects "No Deal" Brexit, Extension Next


The chaos in Westminster continues. By a four vote margin, 312 to 308, Parliament has rejected a "no deal" Brexit.

The vote revealed the deep fracture in Theresa May's Conservative caucus. Some pundits contend this is the end of the political trail for Theresa May. She's also in trouble when she heads to Brussels next week where some members of the European parliament are already speaking out against any request from the British government for a section 50 postponement. Their position is, if May's Parliament doesn't know what it wants, why should the EU cater to them?

Nigel Farage and his Leave camp are already calling May and the rest "traitors."  Farage is certainly inciting his mob, even on his LBC radio show this morning from his studio in Strasbourg.

It is chaos and that's going to continue, perhaps even worsen, in the weeks and months ahead.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

So, "no" to "deal" and "no" to "no deal." I guess that means "yes" to "the dog ate my homework, I need an extension." What happened to all the adults in the room?

Cap

The Mound of Sound said...


Cap, I've never seen chaos to match the fiasco underway in Britain's House of Commons. Nothing even close.

Anonymous said...

312 voted against a Hard Brexit,

308 voted for a Hard Brexit.

The Mound of Sound said...

Yeah, Anon, I started this piece with those numbers. I was listening when the count was announced by Speaker Bercow. Do you have anything to add?

Anonymous said...

Not sure that there’s much more to say than that.

49.6% of British MP’s voted FOR the immediate euthanasia of the entire UK.

The Mound of Sound said...


The UK, of course, is a relative stranger to direct democracy, i.e. referenda. The Brexit referendum was completely botched, probably because few could conceive it would result in a win for Leave.

If you haven't seen it, you should watch this interview with Fintan O'Toole of the Irish Times: https://the-mound-of-sound.blogspot.com/2019/02/if-you-want-to-understand-brexit-think.html

What we're seeing this week is the inevitable chaos that ensues when direct democracy, the Brexit vote, is processed through representative democracy, Parliament.

No one on the Leave campaign, especially Nigel Farage, had any continuing responsibility after the vote. MPs, however, do have a continuing responsibility both to their constituents and to the Union. They can't just tell Europe to fuck off. There are grave consequences whatever they do.

Leave carries risks and consequences. The Leave campaigners figure their job is done and couldn't care what befalls the nation. Some, like Farage, are plainly positioning to exploit the fallout.

James O'Brien hosts one of the better shows on radio LBC London. He's fielded hours of calls from Leave voters. He asks "why?" as he explores their motivations, what they believe Brexit means, their understanding of the consequences and their indifference. This morning he referred to them as a mixture of ignorance and mild xenophobia taken to the level of performance art.

The Brexit vote was rigged. We know that. Cambridge Analytica, owned by Robert Mercer and directed by Steve Bannon worked their magic and then there were enormous funding irregularities that tipped the scales. No matter, at least as far as May's Conservatives are concerned.

One thing apparent from O'Brien's callers is how vague they are on what they voted for. And now Theresa May intends to act on that nothingness. It's mad.