With an overwhelming majority (432 votes against to 202 for) the British House of Commons has the agreement defined by Prime Minister Theresa May with the EU for an orderly Brexit was rejected, i.e. for a soft exit of Great Britain from Europe.
Cons May, who refuses to resign as head of the Government and which will have to be submitted in the next few hours to the vote of confidence in ParliamentLabour, Liberals, Unionists and around a third of the Conservatives spoke out sharply. As many as 115 members of the majority have turned their backs on the government.
THE SPECTRUM OF THE “NO DEAL”
That defeat was certain was a widespread opinion: the extent, however, opens up a whole new scenario. Faced with such a blatant rejection of the soft Brexit deal, now Great Britain – as the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker immediately warned – is likely to encounter a No deal, that is, to a confused and dangerous exit from Europe, which can provoke no small damage also to the Old Continent.
A NEW REFERENDUM? UNLIKELY
There are those who say that, after yesterday's vote and the absolute darkness on the British prospects, London could reconsider and face a second referendum on whether to stay in or leave the UK. But, at present, the hypothesis still seems unlikely, because none of the sides supports it with particular conviction. After all, you would mean repudiating a decision that the people have already taken.
THE (DIS)CONFIDENCE IN MAY
As for May, even if the Irish unionists have announced that they will vote in favor of the government tomorrow despite having voted against the soft Brexit plan, the vote of confidence represents a crossroads: if she does not gain confidence, she risks leaving the scene permanently. But "the No - warns May - is a leap in the dark".
According to the British press, the Premier should still remain in place, because the Conservatives who voted No to the agreement still do not want to risk early elections.
In addition to the vote of confidence requested by May herself, one has also arrived motion of no confidence against the government tabled by Jeremy Corbyn number one of the Labor opposition, who wants to get to Downing Street to negotiate a new agreement with Brussels.
BRUSSELS DOESN'T WANT TO REOPEN THE NEGOTIATIONS
The problem is that the European Commission has no intention of reopening the negotiations. "Britain tell us what it wants," European negotiator Michel Barnier snapped.
Under a resolution passed last week, May is expected to reappear in Parliament in three days (working, so next week) with a new settlement proposal. It is not clear what it could be, given that Brussels is not available to substantially modify the text rejected by the British Parliament on Tuesday.
POSTPONING BREXIT? YES, BUT BY HOW MUCH?
We don't even know if at this point London will ask for postpone the official date for Brexitscheduled for March 29th. May wouldn't want to, but she risks having no alternative.
The heads of state and government of the Union have said they are willing to give Great Britain three to nine months of time to avert the scenario of No deal. It remains to understand how long the extension will be, considering that on 26 May we vote for the European elections and no one – neither in Brussels nor in London – considers it acceptable for British citizens to go to the polls to elect new members of the European Parliament.
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