The Brexit Chronicles

Give Me Just A Little More Time...

Published on March 22nd, 2019.

MAY'S APPEAL FALLS FLAT AS EU SEIZES CONTROL OF BREXIT DATE - Yahoo News.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/mays-appeal-falls-flat-eu-221559215.html

So put a new date in your diary; April the 12th, 2019. Thanks to Treason May's abject pleading at the European summit, that is first of two dates the EU has set for the UK to leave the bloc, depending on domestic circumstances. This assumes of course that there is a way for the government to alter the March 29th date set in the EU Withdrawal Act, though I expect they can do so by means of a Statutory Instrument, and one would assume there may be provisions within the Act itself allowing such alterations should they be required in extremis.

But postponing the inevitable for two weeks does little to resolve the issue; in fact if the government argues that a change of exit date is permissible because that only alters the date upon which the Act is implemented, but not the content or intent of the Act, they will find that same line of reasoning used against any re-submission of the surrender document, as the only thing which has changed is the EU's offer to allow a brief Article 50 extension should the UK request one. It should be borne in mind that the EU decision does not have any legal effect on UK parliamentary procedure.

The problem is and remains the current parliamentary deadlock, and there appears to be no way around that. The Bloc has made clear there will be no renegotiation of the Withdrawal Agreement, and without any substantive changes there can be no re-submission to Parliament for a third vote. Even if some way were to be found to squirm past that obstacle, getting the deal approved is an all but insurmountable hurdle; May needs to win over 149 MPs to her cause, which is going to be difficult to say the least, her WA having suffered the first and fourth greatest defeats in parliamentary history! Nor is she doing herself any favours by acting as she does; her 'tired and emotional' Wednesday night statement when she attempted to shift the blame for impasse on the parliamentarians no doubt antagonised quite a few of those whos' support she will need. 

Failing an unlikely mass stampede her plan remains a dead duck, so what is to be achieved by a short extension?  Realistically it provides a brief amount of time for both the EU and UK to prepare for an unavoidable clean break. Away from the political theatre, binders of contingency plans are being read, sealed envelopes to be opened in the event of... distributed, and confidential emails sent.

A clean Brexit can be delayed, but not avoided. Thanks to that pathetic grey excuse for a Prime Minister the decision is no longer in our hands, but has been made for us by the European Union, and they have decided it isn't a case of if, but when.