Is Theresa May’s latest fudge a bid to pass the poisoned chalice of Brexit on to somebody else?

Misery face: Theresa May wants to wash her hands of Brexit by passing the problems created by her deal onto somebody else. But MPs have an opportunity to make her try again. And again. And again…

Let’s cut through the hot air and fantasy and admit something: the “legally binding” changes to the EU deal that Theresa May just agreed at Strasbourg do not change anything.

She desperately needs to break the impasse that means she cannot get a majority in Parliament for her duff Brexit deal – otherwise the UK crashes out without any deal at all, which may be disastrous for foreign trade.

In practise, this meant finding a way around the Northern Irish border “backstop” deal, set up to ensure that goods crossing the border between that part of the UK and the Republic of Ireland continue to do so in as frictionless a way as possible.

The Democratic Unionist Party, which is propping up Mrs May’s government, has said it will not support any deal that puts Northern Ireland in a different position from the rest of the UK.

So, to try to win back that party’s support, she has secured a “joint statement” in which both the UK and EU commit to replacing the backstop with alternative arrangements by December 2020.

This is supported by a “joint legally-binding instrument” that the UK could use to prevent the EU from keeping this country tied into the backstop indefinitely.

It isn’t what Parliament told her to get.

She was told to ensure that the backstop would be replaced with “alternative arrangements” immediately, and has failed to achieve this.

Instead, the backstop will remain a part of the deal, but operating until December 2020, rather than for an unspecified period of time.

After that, it seems the UK’s government will be expected to magic up some “alternative arrangements” that haven’t been considered by now.

Mrs May is trying to kick the Brexit can down the road – possibly far enough that she won’t have to pick it up again. It seems she wants to pass the poisoned chalice to someone else.

But she won’t get the chance if Parliament sees through her ploy.

She has deliberately failed.

She deserves absolutely no support when MPs vote on her meagre offer. They should vote to extend the Article 50 “notice of intention to leave” period and order her to stop fudging and get a proper deal.

Of course, the wits of Twitter think she already achieved this:

… Although some disagree [with apologies for the profanity]:

Source: Brexit: ‘Legally binding’ changes to EU deal agreed – BBC News

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6 Comments

  1. Wanda Lozinska March 12, 2019 at 12:47 am - Reply

    The backstop isn’t the only problem with May’s “deal”. It’s actually a “non deal” as it’s only a Withdrawal Agreement with a few “nebulous” vague pages on what leaving the EU will actually mean for the UK. eg We have no idea of what our future trading terms will be, other than they can’t be as good as what we currently have as full members of the EU.

    So why is May insisting on going ahead with Brexit as it’ll make us poorer and it seems that the majority of the population now favours Remaining in the EU!?

    • Zippi March 13, 2019 at 3:58 am - Reply

      Seems. Without another referendum, we cannot possibly know. I know many people who voted to remain who said that they will vote to leave, on pricipal, if there is another referendum.

  2. Growing Flame March 12, 2019 at 9:31 am - Reply

    I have worried about a “poisoned chalice ” scenario for a while. At some stage, with the UK becoming “Brexitland”, but no proper arrangements in place(as if there could really be “proper arrangements”) a General Election might return a Labour government. Labour would then be faced with a deteriorating economy as well as ten more years of negotiations with the EU as well as all other trading nations, with the result that little could be achieved except a disappointed electorate observing a Labour government behaving just like the previous Tory one.

    If we have to leave the EU in some form(not my favourite prospect) at least we should work to hang Brexit and its aftermath firmly round Tory necks , NOT take responsibility for the dreary economic and political aftermath that we didn’t want.

  3. nmac064 March 12, 2019 at 11:13 am - Reply

    The whole nonsense of Brexit has only ever been about holding together the nasty Tory Party. Nothing has happened to alter that.

  4. nmac064 March 12, 2019 at 11:43 am - Reply

    Brexit is the poison generated by the nasty Tory Party in it’s disgraceful attempts to hold the rotten, corrupt party together and to assist its dishonest tax dodgers. A lasting disgrace..

  5. Zippi March 13, 2019 at 4:00 am - Reply

    The whole Europe issue has been known as a poisoned chalice for more than 20 years!

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