Brexit: Government tries to get its way via the backdoor

Brexit: Government tries to get its way via the backdoor

Parliament rejected the Deal negotiated by Prime Minister Theresa May twice in a row and the Speaker of the House of Commons indicated that it was against Parliamentary rules to bring back the same proposition to be put to the vote once again.

Since Parliament asked the Prime Minster to negotiate an extension (Britain was due to leave the EU tomorrow March 29th 2019) so that she could try and negotiate with Parliament a new proposition that could break the stalemate. Yesterday, unsuccessfully, the House of Commons debated and voted on a list of proposals that could be a way forward. All proposals put to a simultaneous vote to maximise the chances of arriving to a shared alternative were rejected. There was no agreement on any of the motions put to the vote.

The fundamental condition imposed by the European Union to agree to postpone the exit date was that the Withdrawal Agreement had to be voted and approved before 23:00 on March 29th 2019. For this reason, the House of Commons approved a motion for a debate tomorrow. If the Withdrawal Agreement is not approved by Parliament, the withdrawal date will be officially April 12th 2019. If the Withdrawal Agreement is passed but no Deal is reached then Britain will have until May 22nd 2019 to finish the preparations that includes legislative work that needs to be finalised.

Any further extension will mean that Britain will have to take part in the European Elections due to take place on May 23rd 2019.

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