"Humiliated May" is the headline in the English newspapers today, referring to the umpteenth breakthrough in Parliament on Brexit. On Monday evening, the British premier suffered yet another – bitter – defeat in Westminster, after the two rejection she received in January and March on the agreement negotiated with the European Union.
With 329 votes in favor and 302 against, the House of Commons has given the green light to an amendment that will give deputies the opportunity to express themselves, through "indicative votes", on Brexit. The purpose of these votes will be to try to understand if there is a majority on one of the hypotheses on the table relating to the exit of the United Kingdom from the EU.
Where is the news? It lies in the fact that Parliament will express itself regardless of the Government. Simply put, from today onwards it will be Westminster that will table the Brexit proposals and have control over it. May will be forced to follow her directions, thus losing much of her power. It is no coincidence that Downing Street has spoken of the "overturning of democratic institutions", despite the fact that the vote in the House of Commons is not binding. The Premier, in theory, would have the possibility of ignoring it, even if politically it could be a real suicide.
It should be emphasized that the votes of 29 conservative MPs, including 3 ministers (resigned from their posts), allowed the amendment to be approved.
At this point every option comes back to the table. As of today, 26 March, British MPs will be able to vote on the incoming proposals. All the possibilities are back on the table: from the No deal, which in any case remains the most probable hypothesis if the United Kingdom does not approve an agreement by 12 April, to a second referendum on the exit (already requested by Labor), passing through a Soft Brexit or even for a Brexit waiver.
In this context, the only sure thing remains the expiry date: the deputies will have 18 days to try to get out of a chaos that now seems increasingly uncontrollable. If they succeed, they will have two more months to "refine" the details and Brexit will start on May 29th. Assuming there is still a Brexit.
