Brexit chaos rolls on in wake of cancelled vote
Prime Minister Theresa May
(CNS): The former British prime minister, David Cameron, said he had no regrets about calling the referendum asking British voters if they wanted to remain or leave the European Union, even as the political chaos created by the result mounted Tuesday. The current PM, Theresa May, cancelled the parliamentary vote, which had been due today, on her Brexit deal in the face of certain defeat, and polls suggest that the British people may have plenty of regrets now they know the potential disaster that could unfold as the UK’s exit from its 40-year relationship with the EU spirals out of control.
As the Cayman Islands delegation heads home from London, following its own constitutional negotiations and the annual Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council meeting, where the uncertainty of Brexit loomed over the talks, the cancellation of the vote and May’s last-ditch attempt to save her deal threw UK politics into rougher-than-ever uncharted waters. While Cayman and the other overseas territories can only watch and wait, like many other jurisdictions on the periphery of Brexit, they will all be impacted in some way without really knowing how.
Pundits, experts and talking heads appearing on the media across Britain have run out of superlatives and clichés about the current situation, conceding that what happens next is anyone’s guess. May could save the deal, she could be ousted in a no confidence vote, there could be a leadership contest or even a new election before the supposed deadline of 31 March next year, when, if there is no deal or other intervention in place, the UK will crash out of Europe into an economic, social and security black hole.
Calls are mounting for May to revoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty or at least stall the exit, or even hold a second referendum, and it is unlikely the European Union would object, especially after the court found that if the UK changes its collective mind about Brexit, it can do so without the need for approval from the other 27 nations in the Union. But fears about reneging on the June 2016 referendum result appear to be just as high as fears about a no-deal Brexit for many in UK politics at present.
Nevertheless, a number of leading politicians are beginning to point to a second referendum on Brexit as the only true way to resolve the problem. During the referendum campaign Brexiteers gave no indication to voters how incredibly difficult leaving Europe would be and dominated public opinion with desperately misleading information, and in some cases downright lies, about the realities. They labelled anyone trying to point out exactly what might happen as fearmongers.
Now that UK voters have a much better idea of what life will be like on April Fools Day 2019, some experts, especially across the centre ground in British politics, believe that a new referendum based on facts rather than fantasy might be saving democracy in Britain rather than robbing it. On the other hand, senior conservatives have warned there could be rioting in the streets at the very idea.
Category: Politics, UK, World News
Wake up Maggie May !
They will be soooo crippled to not have the time or energy to enforce gay rights on the Overseas Territories like Cayman!
God is Great!
From day one, the focus should have been on building and maintaining British families that can procreate and positively advance the ECONOMIC FOUNDATIONS of the country. But noooo … government leaders wasted their time on joining EU forces with trivial and vain matters. And so this is the result!
LOL
brexit referendum was a perfect of example of why not everyone deserves a vote. anybody with a brain knows brexit is an economic/social disaster for britain.
The vote is one of the most important rights ever created, one paid for by the blood and sacrifice of thousands worldwide. I won’t bother to go into the history, but you should know it. The issue here is one of ensuring that the electorate have sufficient information upon which to base their votes.
Thanks, Adolf. Now get back in your bunker.
trump election proves the same point…
Yea, 3 million more Americans voted for Clinton over Trump. Isn’t democracy great?
If the Remainers had won the Brexit vote, few of the complaints we are now hearing about the iniquities of referenda and voting systems would have been forthcoming!!
Whatever happened to the “Global Britain” dream?
We watched, we listened, we learned and now we say why in the hell did the majority of us follow these numbnuts (33% of the voting population) in the first place?
Why?
Too lazy to vote so now we all pay.
So you Brits are just hanging out in Cayman, chillin’ till Brexit sorts itself out. I get it. I feel you. Do us a favor and make a contribution to local society while you’re here. M’kay? Walk some dogs, hire some locals, etcetera. You’ll feel warm and fuzzy inside as a result. Trust me.
Thanks, but no thanks. Just pilin’ up the cash and doin’ the time.
Dear Wendy…or Nicky…but I think Wendy, it sounds very Wendy:
This is a comment/opinion report you have produced, worthy of Legge at his worst. “The UK will crash out of Europe into a black hole” etc etc ad nauseam ad infinitum. “April Fool’s day 2019”. “New referendum based on facts rather than fantasy”. Seriously CNS? Could you not resist that emotive language? Why not: “the UK will leave the EU under WTO terms”…the legal definition? Doesn’t quite fit the Remainer script does it? Doesn’t have that Remainer mania about supposed chaos does it? Of course things will be difficult after Brexit but Britain will survive. Have you, Wendy, looked at France in flames, Germany struggling internally post Merkel, Italy about to defy the EU budget rules etc? The picture given in the UK media right now, and CNS is repeating it, is a Britain in chaos (some truth to that) and an EU in perfect harmony (no truth to that).
I respect CNS normally but I like it to report, not comment, except when it says it is commenting. And please, before you jump on me CNS, I am not an ignorant Brexiteer. I read, daily, The Times of London, the New York Times and every two weeks, Private Eye (hardly a supporter of Brexit!).
The only bit of Britain that’s really “in chaos” is Parliament – the rest of are just getting on with our jobs and enjoying the pantomime. The media loves it and gets breathlessly excited about it, but it has little impact on the rest of the population (for now at least). I heard one one hoary old pundit admit on Radio 4 this morning that a previous febrile episode (Thatcher’s vote of no confidence – she survived it, but resigned a few days later) had “made our careers”, so you know they are going to make out that this is the worst of all possible worlds, because there’s money in it!
Most of Europe has problems at the moment, some considerably worse than the political shenanigans in the UK. Our turn will come, no doubt, but hey, we voted for it!
Fair point about “chaos” I think, 10:54, but wouldn’t you agree that when a country’s Parliament/system of government is in chaos then it is reasonable for the rest of the country to be worried about that! But I like your post and especially your final paragraph.
In passing, on the subject of “crises” and putative “chaos” making careers, I am reminded of how many tech people, some not very talented, made vast sums of money out of the hysteria surrounding Y2K. Remember how planes were going to fall out of the sky? Now we have been told by reputable…supposedly, but at least not tabloid…. sources that “crashing out of the EU” will, in addition to long lines at Dover and a shortage of Mars Bars (“the horror, the horror”), lead to UK planes being grounded by the EU. Nonsense, surely? Why would Britain not simply reciprocate and ground EU planes? What purpose would be served?
Britain was a much better, cheaper place to live before joining the E.U., (Common Market as it was then called).
There are two big mistakes Mrs May has made: 1. Agreeing to pay billions of Euros in ‘reparations’ AFTER the UK leaves; 2. Trying to keep an open border between Eire and Northern Ireland.
You clearly have absolutely no idea what you are talking about
Just rolling over on previously existing financial obligations is the smart thing to do with your largest trading partner and one of the largest economic coalitions in the world.
And trying to ensure their is no return to “the troubles” in Northern Ireland, and honouring the previous commitments made in the Good Friday agreement
Because your smart idea would be to say screw you to the EU and starting another guerrilla war within Ireland
Needless to say, no one with a lick of sense will be listening to a word you say
1:25 pm, You do realize that both Scotland and Northern Ireland voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU. If Brexit happens the United Kingdom will be no more as Scotland and Northern Ireland will not remain out of the EU for purely economic reasons.
Excellent!
Voting to remain in the EU is different from voting to leave the UK. You assume that Scotland and NI would vote to leave the UK. Anyone making assumptions about 50% votes (any election/vote where someone gets more than 40% but less than 60% of the vote) is basically making a guess on a coin toss. Example A: Brexit.
People in Scotland and Northern Ireland will vote to leave the UK with their pocketbooks. During the past 20 years the majority of Scottish and Northern Ireland trade has be redirected from England to the EU markets. For example the Bombardier transportation plant in Northern Ireland with 10,000 workers produces for the EU market not the England market. If they left the EU the Germans and the French would fill that market left by Northern Ireland manufacturing.
The Irish and Scottish know where their bread is buttered. They are not economically stupid.
It’s more complex than just the export market (a great deal of which is still with England, by the way), however – many tens of thousands of “English” Government jobs were deliberately exported to Scotland (my tax office is in Glasgow, for instance) to create work. These would have to be re-patriated if Scotland were to leave the Union (or the cost transferred to the Scottish Government). The Scottish ship-building industry is also kept going by UK Govt money. The Barnet formula still redirects tax money towards Scotland (and the oil money is no longer what it was, which is causing major budget problems for the Scots) and the equivalent for NI is so substantial that the Republic is distinctly nervous at the thought of a unified Ireland, as they would have to pick up the tab for the North (where around 80% of the population “work for the Government”, either directly or indirectly, or receive benefits). The Republic is also concerned that around 80% of their exports are to the UK (mainly England).
Ah yes, the Barnett formula, which directs large sums of money to Scotland (and other regions) and without which it would struggle. The late Lord Barnett himself confessed to having come up with his formula almost literally on the back of an envelope and before he died he insisted it should be abolished as unsustainable.
May is scared of standing up to the extremist leave minority.
10:35 And I’m scared that in a few months Corbyn will be the new PM – that’s going to be a disaster for these islands.
You mean the MAJORITY that voted leave?
I was talking about now not then.
33% of the electorate is not a majority last time I checked
Not to mention the fact that you are assuming people can’t change their minds
But that MAJORITY was not in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Good bye United Kingdom. Nice knowing you.
Why on earth would Scotland want to be the next Slovenia or Croatia in the EU? May as well become a German province directly as it pays better. There is a fine, but real, distinction between not wanting to leave the EU and wanting to join the EU.