No to the agreement, but also no to the No deal. With 312 votes in favor and 308 against, the British Parliament approved an amendment which rules out the No deal, i.e. leaving the European Union without any agreement, under any circumstances and at any time. A nightmare that could bring the United Kingdom to its knees.
It is not a binding decision, but a strong signal for Theresa May, every day more cornered, every day more disarmed in the face of a situation that neither she, nor her party, nor Parliament are proving to be able to handle.
On Thursday, however, the executive finally brought home a small success in the House of Commons with the green light - 412 yes, 202 no - to a motion that will allow it to ask the EU for a "brief" postponement of Brexit, from 29 March to 30 June, with the aim of re-proposing the divorce agreement reached with Brussels in November and already rejected 2 times for the third time in Parliament's ratification vote. Voting at this point scheduled for next week. Meanwhile, the reply from the EU Commission arrives from Brussels: a spokesman said that the postponement is not automatic. It will be up to the leaders of the 27 to decide and they will eventually have to do it unanimously. In the event of a green light, the British should (sensaously) participate in the European elections at the end of May.
There is no majority in the British House of Commons instead in favor of a second referendum on Brexit, at least for now. Indeed, a transversal amendment presented to link the request for a postponement of the exit from the EU to the convening of a new referendum consultation (“People's Vote”) after that of 2016 was rejected on Thursday evening. The amendment received just 85 votes in for and 334 against. Labor's abstention weighed.
But what will happen in the meantime? We don't know, London is in the throes of total chaos from which nobody knows how to get out. This was clearly seen during the March 13 vote on the No deal. May found herself displaced in the face of a proposal that excluded the no deal in any case. You tried to react by asking your parliamentarians to vote against the motion presented by your own government after a radical amendment (May's declaration left open the possibility of a No deal, this excludes it). Her request was punctually ignored even by the ministers of her government, who voted in favor allowing the amendment to be approved.
And in this context discontent in Brussels increases. That of the United Kingdom will be only a request for postponement which will have to receive the ok from the Member States of the European Union in the context of the meeting on 21 March.
"During my consultations before the European Council, I will ask the 27 EU leaders to be open to a long extension if the UK finds it necessary to rethink its Brexit strategy and to build consensus around it." Thus the president of the European Council Donald Tusk on Twitter.
However, Brussels has already made it known that it is not willing to sign a blank bill and that only a reasoned, detailed and precise request will be evaluated. Doubts about whether Parliament and the Government will be able to agree on at least this remain very high.
