British lawmakers voted against Prime Minister Theresa May’s withdrawal plan, adding to the confusion as a deadline to leave the E.U. nears.
Hours before the vote, Mrs. May’s attorney general, Geoffrey Cox, offered his analysis of the Irish backstop — a mechanism that would avoid erecting a hard border, with checkpoints for goods, between Ireland and Northern Ireland after Britain withdraws from the E.U.
Mr. Cox said that the extra assurances Mrs. May had negotiated with European officials didn’t resolve any legal concerns and could keep Britain trapped in the trading bloc indefinitely, an assessment that likely rankled hard-line pro-Brexiteers.
What next? Lawmakers will now shift their focus to another crucial vote tomorrow on whether to leave the E.U. without a deal. Most lawmakers are opposed to that option, which could then increase pressure on Mrs. May to delay Britain’s departure from the bloc.
Britain is trapped in a political labyrinth with no apparent exit. Every turn leads to a brick wall. And the paths are stalked by a zombie prime minister, who can be neither killed off nor brought back to the land of the living. How, and when, will the country wake up from this seemingly never-ending nightmare?
No single tunnel seems to have a light at the end of it. First, there's Prime Minister Theresa May's deal with the European Union - surely now buried for the last time, after a second huge defeat on Wednesday morning.
May has trowelled layer upon layer of tweak and complexity onto the plan, to try to win over sceptical MPs to a compromise, halfway-house Brexit. By seeking to please everyone, she has pleased no one.
Prime Minister Theresa May is at the mercy of a divided parliament, locking the government into a perpetual impasse.
The European Union, led by Ireland, won't agree to the changes that would get it past her own party. Her own party won't agree to it unless the EU budges. Stalemate.
Hours before the vote, Mrs. May’s attorney general, Geoffrey Cox, offered his analysis of the Irish backstop — a mechanism that would avoid erecting a hard border, with checkpoints for goods, between Ireland and Northern Ireland after Britain withdraws from the E.U.
Mr. Cox said that the extra assurances Mrs. May had negotiated with European officials didn’t resolve any legal concerns and could keep Britain trapped in the trading bloc indefinitely, an assessment that likely rankled hard-line pro-Brexiteers.
What next? Lawmakers will now shift their focus to another crucial vote tomorrow on whether to leave the E.U. without a deal. Most lawmakers are opposed to that option, which could then increase pressure on Mrs. May to delay Britain’s departure from the bloc.
Britain is trapped in a political labyrinth with no apparent exit. Every turn leads to a brick wall. And the paths are stalked by a zombie prime minister, who can be neither killed off nor brought back to the land of the living. How, and when, will the country wake up from this seemingly never-ending nightmare?
No single tunnel seems to have a light at the end of it. First, there's Prime Minister Theresa May's deal with the European Union - surely now buried for the last time, after a second huge defeat on Wednesday morning.
May has trowelled layer upon layer of tweak and complexity onto the plan, to try to win over sceptical MPs to a compromise, halfway-house Brexit. By seeking to please everyone, she has pleased no one.
Prime Minister Theresa May is at the mercy of a divided parliament, locking the government into a perpetual impasse.
The European Union, led by Ireland, won't agree to the changes that would get it past her own party. Her own party won't agree to it unless the EU budges. Stalemate.
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