No-deal Brexit rejected in UK Parliament

Hilary Benn from the UK’s main opposition Labour Party has asked Environment Secretary Michael Gove why it is “democratic” for the government to present parliamentarians with a deal that’s already been defeated, but “undemocratic” to allow a new public vote on whether the UK should actually leave the EU.

“Why is it democratic to keep bringing back to the House a proposition that has been overwhelmingly defeated on two occasions on the one hand, but on the other hand it’s somehow undemocratic to suggest that the British people should be asked if they want to change their minds?” Labour’s Benn asked.

MPs broke into laughter when Gove defended May’s Brexit deal, saying it “was significantly different” from her last proposition.

The Environment Secretary then went on to call out Labour’s “flip-flop” after not pursuing its original position that endorsed a second referendum.

Speaking in parliament, Environment Secretary Michael Gove said Members of Parliament faced a “number of unattractive choices.”

“It is important that the House realizes that all of these choices are less attractive than support for the deal that the Prime Minister negotiated,” Gove said.

“We can choose as a House to leave without a deal, but there are significant economic, political and constitutional challenges if we embark on that course,” he warned, adding that it would also “undermine and further erode faith in democracy.”

Environment Secretary Michael Gove, who has opened today’s debate on a no-deal Brexit on behalf of Theresa May, began by praising the Prime Minister, who has lost her voice.

“She may have temporarily lost her voice but what she has not lost – and will never lose – is a focus on the national interest and a full-hearted desire to do what is right for our country,” Gove, a prominent Brexiteer who has been consistently loyal to May, said.

He added that May has “always puts country first” and has spent “more than 19 hours at the despatch box … has shown fortitude, tenacity, thoughtfulness, diligence – and above all an unselfish and unstinting patriotism.”

Environment Secretary Michael Gove opened the no-deal Brexit debate in the House of Commons.

Two amendments to Prime Minister Theresa May’s motion on crashing out of the European Union without a deal have been selected by Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow.

May’s motion states that the House “declines to approve” leaving the EU on March 29 without a withdrawal agreement or future relationship framework, and notes that leaving without a deal remains the default position unless the UK and EU ratify an agreement

The amendments to be debated by MPs and that could later be put up for a vote are:

Amendment (a) Rejects a no-deal Brexit at any time and under any circumstances.

Amendment (f) Calls for a delay to Brexit day from March 22 until May 22, 2019, for further preparations to take place, but acknowledges a definitive departure in 2021.

“Beware the Ides of March.” So goes the famous line from William Shakespeare’s play “Julius Caesar.”

British politicians would do well to heed the playwright’s warning for Brexit as well.

The Ides of March, marked on March 15 on the Roman calendar, is best known as the date of Caesar’s assassination in the year 44 BC. 

This year, it arrives on Friday. 

By that time, Parliament will have likely voted to take a no-deal Brexit scenario off the table. They also, according to most predictions, will have voted to ask the EU for an extension to Article 50 and the March 29 deadline.

But what next?

Everything it seems is then on the table: Theresa May’s premiership and even Brexit itself.

Earlier today European Council President Donald Tusk shared on Instagram an apparently pointed Brexit letter from a six-year-old girl in London.

“Dear Mr Tusk, I live in Britain,” the letter reads. “I know we are leaving the EU. But I think we should be friends.”

The letter also included a drawing of a unicorn, a reference that has often been used by lawmakers and commentators to symbolize the UK approach to Brexit negotiations.

Tusk responded to the letter on his social media, writing: “We will always be friends, Sophie.”

Guy Verhofstadt, the chief Brexit negotiator for the European parliament, also shared the letter on Twitter, adding that “sometimes it takes a child to put everything in perspective.”

“Sometimes it takes a child to put everything in perspective,” he tweeted. “What a terrible waste Brexit is.

Prime Minister Theresa May, who is suffering a sore throat, will not open today’s Commons debate on a no-deal Brexit as planned. Instead, Environment Secretary Michael Gove will kick it off.

At the City Turkish Barber in Derry – also known as Londonderry – in Northern Ireland, Merwan Aytas reflects on swapping one troubled border for another. 

Aytas came here from southeast Turkey, home to tens of thousands of Syrian refugees. Now he lives four miles from the border with the Republic of Ireland, which has an uncertain status as the Brexit imbroglio continues. 

Shrugging as he seats another customer, Aytas says, “Twenty percent of our clients we get from the other side of the border.” Border checks or disruption would deter people from coming to Derry for a haircut and shopping, he added.

City Turkish Barber in Derry, also known as Londonderry, in Northern Ireland.

A customer called Michael joins in. He recalls the enormous lines of vehicles at the border during The Troubles, a decades-long sectarian conflict over Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom. The open border that came with the 1998 Good Friday Agreement changed all that, and was a boon for retailers in the North. 

“We need a soft border because the majority of business is done between the North and South,” he says. “I can’t be sitting at checkpoints and customs.”

But Michael and Merwan are pessimistic about efforts to keep the border open. “It’s not going to happen,” Michael says, despite the UK government’s promise that there will be, in the event of a no-deal Brexit, no checks at the border.

And that’s because, in his view, “it’s not down to the UK, it’s down to the EU,” as the 200-mile border between the Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic will become, in effect, part of the EU’s external frontier. 

Aytas sits a customer down for a haircut.

Aytas agrees, “There will be definitely a hard border eventually, it doesn’t matter what Theresa May says.”

There’s not much time in the City Turkish Barber for the politicians at Westminster.

“They can all sit and laugh and joke in Parliament, but in the end it’s us that affected,” Aytas says, adding that local politicians are equally to blame. 

It’s just the sort of response we got on both sides of the sectarian divide in Belfast at the weekend. People are fed up with the Brexit process and feel more important things – jobs and social issues such as drug abuse – are being neglected. 

Aytas is still happy to be living in Derry. Reflecting on his move from Turkey, he says, “At least our politicians around here don’t support ISIS.”

At a tea shack in Whitby, a seaside town on England’s northeast coast, fishermen say they feel betrayed by how Brexit has devolved.

“I’m frightened by it. I think she will give way on her red lines that will again not be good for the fishermen,” Richard Brewer, a local fisherman, said, referring to UK Prime Minister Theresa May.

Much of Britain’s fishing industry voted to leave the European Union, in the hope of gaining independence from EU quotas and, in effect, “taking back control” of the UK’s waters.

Graham Collinson (right), who runs a local holiday homes business, having a coffee with Steve Hartley (left), a Whitby resident and retiree.

Braving the blistering wind and sipping a coffee outside Clara’s Cafe, Graham Collinson has a different perspective and says that Brexit is already hurting his local business, Discovery Accomodations.

“Fifty percent of our workers came from Europe,” Collinson said, adding that “we can’t get them to come” anymore.

Sitting beside Collinson is retiree Steve Hartley, who thinks that Brexit is bound to hurt the next generations the most.

“It’s a young person’s decision, it’s for the younger half of society to decide,” Hartley said.

German leader Angela Merkel told journalists on Wednesday that the available Brexit options have narrowed after British lawmakers rejected a withdrawal agreement between UK Prime Minster Theresa May and the European Union on Tuesday. 

Merkel said she regretted Tuesday’s outcome of results in London: “We have not given up the goal of an orderly exit (for Britain) but yesterday’s events mean the options have become narrower.” 

She added that she would be able to comment on how things might proceed after the remaining votes in Britain’s parliament over the next two days. “Only after these can we, the EU27, look on a profound basis on how we go forward in the next few days,” Merkel said.

UK Chancellor Philip Hammond leaves Downing Street for the House of Commons to deliver his spring statement on Wednesday.

UK Chancellor Philip Hammond, the government’s finance minister, has said that while Brexit is causing economic uncertainty, the British economy itself is “remarkably robust.”

Delivering his spring statement to the House of Commons, Hammond cautioned that Tuesday night’s vote leaves a “cloud of uncertainty hanging over our economy” and “our most urgent task in this House is to lift that uncertainty.”

The Chancellor announced that the UK’s GDP growth will remain below 2% over the next five years.

According to the Treasury, the UK economy will grow by 1.2% in 2019, down from a previous forecast of 1.6%. Growth will then rise to 1.4% in 2020. It will then grow by 1.6% a year in 2021, 2022 and 2023. 

Responding to Hammond’s statement, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell of the opposition Labour Party said: “We have just witnessed a display by the Chancellor of this Government’s toxic mix of callous complacency over austerity and … mishandling of Brexit.”

Prime Minister’s Questions has wrapped, and British Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond is now delivering his spring statement.

Theresa May addresses lawmakers during Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday.

Theresa May quipped during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday that she does understand the voice of the country, despite losing her own.

“I may not have my own voice, but I do understand the voice of the country,” said May, who has been struggling with a hoarse throat.

“People want to leave the EU, they want to end free movement, they want to have our own trade policy, they want to ensure laws are made in this country and judged in our courts. That’s what the deal delivers, that’s what I continue to work to deliver.”

Prime Minister Theresa May leaves Downing Street on Tuesday.

Nothing illustrates the corner that Theresa May is in quite like the wording of today’s motion. 

Theresa May has tried to have her cake and eat it by saying that her preferred option is to carry on trying to get her Brexit deal approved (so NOT supporting a no deal, keeping europhiles happy) while acknowledging that no deal is still the default option and not ruling it out (accepting that no deal COULD still happen, keeping euroskeptics happy). 

The motion looks confusing at first: “That this House declines to approve leaving the European Union without a Withdrawal Agreement and a Framework for the Future Relationship on 29 March 2019; and notes that leaving without a deal remains the default in UK and EU law unless this House and the EU ratify an agreement.”

In plain English, it nearly makes sense. Theresa May and her government still want plan A: for their Brexit deal to be approved by parliament. Right now, they do not want official government policy to be actively pursuing a no-deal Brexit.

However, Theresa May is not taking no deal “off the table” and accepts that without her deal being approved (or Brexit being delayed), no deal is the default option. 

If this sounds confusing it is – and that’s deliberate.

Prime Minister’s Questions has just begun.

Prime Minister Theresa May has said she will be voting for her motion on a no-deal Brexit.

The carefully worded motion gives the PM some wiggle room, but she is essentially saying that the government’s position is to not actively pursue a no-deal Brexit, while accepting it is not in the gift of the UK to take it off the table.

Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn asked how she would vote tonight.

“I will be voting for the motion in my name,” May said

Again, here is the full text of the government’s motion:

The working assumption here in Brussels is that British MPs will vote to avoid a no-deal Brexit tonight and move for an extension in the House of Commons on Thursday. 

But as Michel Barnier pointed out in Strasbourg this morning, the only way to avoid a no-deal is to vote for an actual deal. And the only one on the table is the only one the EU will allow, given the red lines narrowly defined by the hardline Brexiteers in Prime Minister Theresa May’s ear.

After two crushing defeats in the House of Commons, that deal looks pretty much dead. 

While I’m told the topic of an extension has yet to be discussed by the EU 27 leaders – any request made by the UK would need to be unanimously signed off at a summit next week – there are growing calls for the UK to define an end game. An extension to do what, precisely?

EU officials often like to quote ’90s British pop sensations The Spice Girls: “Tell me what you want … what you really, really want?”

It’s 16 days away from the cliff edge, and there’s still no clear answer on that question from the UK.

The message from the EU, however, is clear, as tweeted by the Chief Brexit Negotiator for Parliament Guy Verhofstadt: “My plea to our British friends put all your energy into finding a cross party majority to find a way out of this mess.” 

It’s business as usual today in Derry – a city on the border with the Republic of Ireland also known as Londonderry – dodging showers and restocking Guinness.

Men unloading heavy barrels paused to tell us they hadn’t heard the UK government’s proposed border measures in the event of a no-deal Brexit, but doubted London politicians would keep their word.

“It’s not what Irish people want,” another man told us about the slow pace of Brexit and the possibility ultimately of a hard border. Fifty-five percent of people in Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU during the referendum.

A middle-aged couple told us “the people in England don’t understand Derry,” with little idea about the impact of border controls.

Derry was a flashpoint during The Troubles, a decades-long sectarian conflict over Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom. Since the Good Friday Agreement brought peace to Northern Ireland in 1998, Derry has become a vibrant cultural hub.

“Everyone’s talking about the ‘Derry Girls’ – not Brexit,” a city roadsweeper told us as he cleared empty bottles from around a huge mural depicting the internationally popular TV show.

Brexiteers have not fulfilled their pledge to “take back control” of Britain, and are instead “spinning out of control,” Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s Brexit coordinator, said on Twitter Wednesday.

Verhofstadt, who is currently at a European Parliament session in Strasbourg discussing the UK’s exit from the EU, made a plea to Europe’s “British friends” to put their energy into finding a cross-party majority “to find a way out of this mess.”

“There is no solution if both big parties are using this existential issue as a bullet in a weapon against each other. Queen and country needs to come first,” Verhofstadt said.

He added that while he hoped a no-deal Brexit was rejected in parliament on Wednesday, he did not support an extension of the withdrawal process.

Scotland is a land of Remainers.

Every single council area in the country voted to stay in the European Union back in 2016.

In Edinburgh, the capital city, Remain took a mighty 74% of the vote.

Little wonder then that Edinburgh locals say they feel ignored.

Ian McLaughlan, the chief executive of charity Youth Scotland, says young people here feel disenfranchised and, increasingly, they’re not alone.

Ian McLaughlan, chief executive of Youth Scotland, a network of Youth Groups in Scotland, in the capital Edinburgh.

“Many people in society feel so disengaged from Brexit, so disillusioned,” he said. “Here we are with two weeks to go and we still don’t know what the final outcome is going to be, so there is a real frustration building up in the country.”

There are increasingly calls for a second referendum, an idea that everyone CNN has spoken with in Edinburgh is either open to, or actively calling for.

Rebecca McKay, a student, said a second vote is necessary because no one fully understood what Brexit would mean in the first referendum.

“They should have been more informative to people around here,” she said, adding, “it needs to be a wee bit more in depth next time around.”

Rebecca McKay, a Scottish student, is calling for a second referendum.

Scotland is no stranger to divisive referendums. In 2014 they held their first vote on independence from the UK. Scotland voted to stay in the union by 55%.

The current political quagmire in Westminster, and the fact that Scotland voted overwhelmingly to stay in the EU, means some SNP activists are calling for another vote on independence.

Tuesday’s defeat was seized upon by Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who said it “demonstrates more clearly than ever that the case for Scotland becoming an independent country has never been stronger.”

Of course any future Scottish independence vote would require the sanctioning of Westminster, and is unlikely to be be called for until after the next Scottish elections in 2021.

The Scots may be happy, in the meantime, with a second Brexit referendum, at the very least.

Cyclists pass a sign calling for no border to be imposed between Ireland and Northern Ireland outside Newry, Northern Ireland, on November 14, 2018 near the Irish border.

Businesses on both sides of the Irish border have condemned the British government’s proposal to impose no trade tariffs should the United Kingdom leave the European Union without a deal.

In an 11th-hour effort to avert an economic crisis, the UK government has suggested that tariffs would not apply to goods crossing from EU member the Republic of Ireland into Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK. The proposed measures do not set out a position in respect to tariffs on goods moving from Northern Ireland to Ireland, as that is not within the UK government’s control.

The plans have also sparked concerns around smuggling after it was revealed that no new checks or controls would be introduced at the border.

“To be clear, this does not maintain control of the border, monitor the flow of goods into the UK, and the organized criminals will exploit this system,” Aodhán Connolly, director of the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium, said. “This will affect Northern Ireland’s reputation as a serious trading area, effectively turning us into the Wild West of the UK.”

The Irish Farmers’ Association has described the UK’s tariff proposals as devastating.

“Our most exposed sectors, particularly beef, simply will not survive the kind of tariffs being talked about,” Joe Healy, IFA president, said. “We export over 50% of our beef to the UK. If this is subject to tariffs, it will be a ‘direct hit’ of almost €800M on the sector.”

The Meat Industry Ireland (MII) has called UK no-deal tariffs proposals “a massive threat to Irish meat exports” and wants a long extension period before March 29.

“The UK proposals suggest tariffs ranging from approximately €1,500/t on manufacturing beef up to over €2,500/t on steak exports. This level of tariff would severely undermine trade,” according to MII senior director Cormac Healy.

EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michael Barnier speaks during a debate on the UK's withdrawal from the EU in Strasbourg, France.

The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has said the risk of no deal has never been greater, a day after the agreement he helped agree with UK Prime Minister Theresa May was voted down by British lawmakers.

“We are in a very grave moment, because the risk of no deal has never been so elevated, with no deal in a disorderly manner,” Barnier told EU lawmakers in Strasbourg, adding that while it was a scenario the EU had not worked toward, they were ready to face that possibility.

The mood among European lawmakers is a collective folding of arms following Tuesday night’s vote in parliament. And Barnier made clear that Brussels feels it has done all it can and it’s now up to London to sort this mess out. 

“It is up to the UK to find a way out of the stalemate regarding Brexit,” Barnier said, to a round of applause.

“I want to remind a fact. If the UK wants to still leave the EU in a ordered manner, then this treaty that we have negotiated with the UK with Theresa May government, this treaty is and remains the only available treaty and I want this to be well understood,” he said, waving papers in the air.

As members of Theresa May’s Cabinet shuffled into Downing Street this morning, reporters lobbed questions that focused on a central question: “Has the Prime Minister lost control?”

Responding to calls for her to step down over Tuesday’s crushing defeat of her Brexit deal, a Downing Street source told the UK’s Press Association that May was not preparing for a general election.

“We are not preparing for and we do not want a general election,” the source said. “Our position is unchanged.”

The source added that reports the Conservative campaign headquarters were preparing for the upcoming European elections were “incorrect.”

“We are not preparing candidates because we are not going to participate as a party in European parliamentary elections.”

If you’re catching up this morning after the crushing 149-vote defeat of Theresa May’s Brexit withdrawal deal, we’ve got you covered. Here are some key Brexit questions answered:

Is Brexit going away

Nice try! No. Brexit is happening on March 29 unless the UK applies for an extension to Article 50. That vote is probably going to take place on Thursday. The EU Council meets next week (March 21) that’s likely to be May’s nearest chance to apply for such an extension. 

Could the EU kick the UK out?

Short answer yes, but why would they? If the EU wanted a no-deal crash-out, they only need to wait another 17 days. 

Can the EU laugh and say no, when/if the UK asks for more time?

I doubt they would laugh – eurocrats are not famed for their sense of humor (apart from Donald Tusk) – but with a heavy heart, the leaders of the EU 27 members states could decline the UK’s request for an extension to Article 50. It only takes one member state to veto the extension and many of them have good reason for doing so. The EU has been consistent that if the UK asks for an extension with sensible suggestions as to how they can get out of this trench, it would be carefully considered. But EU diplomats have also made clear for months that they see no point in delaying, only to end up back where we are now. 

Is Theresa May going to resign?

History says no, at least in the immediate future. May has an extraordinary ability to cling on to power. With an EU summit days away and Brexit far from sorted, May is, whatever you think of her, a dedicated public servant. It’s hard to see how she would see it’s in the best interests of the UK to suddenly create uncertainty around the leadership of the country, on top of everything else. 

What about another referendum?

Right now, the clearest path to a second Brexit vote is if the opposition Labour Party puts forward an amendment that a majority of the House of Commons backs. Labour recently adopted a formal policy of backing a second public vote on Brexit, should their alternative plan to May’s be defeated in a Commons vote, which was the case last month. But people hoping to see Brexit canceled should keep the champagne corked for the time being. Labour hasn’t tabled any such amendment to date, and there’s a pretty good reason for that: they don’t think it will pass. The risk of losing that vote is too great to play around with and would both undermine the authority of the opposition and exacerbate divisions within the party. Yes, it’s not just May’s Conservatives that have problems… 

The other reason Remainers should hold off the celebrations is this: it’s unclear whether, even if a second public vote were to be held, Remain would be on the ballot. Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the Labour Party, has been careful not to endorse the so-called “People’s Vote” campaign and instead always words his second referendum plan as a second public vote.

What about another election?

Now you’re talking. Some think that Labour only backed a second vote because of its ultimate desire to force an early general election – something the party believes it could win. Labour saw success in the 2017 snap election by having a Schrodinger’s Brexit policy – appearing more europhile than the Conservatives while officially supporting leaving the EU. Formally backing a second referendum has a similar effect, especially if the government continually blocks the possibility of it happening. 

And if you think this sounds far-fetched, Labour aides were on Tuesday celebrating the fact that the Commons Speaker John Bercow didn’t accept any amendments.

Is the threat that Brexit can be lost real?

The sight of May and President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker sitting side-by-side on Monday night, claiming it was this deal or no Brexit, was nothing short of extraordinary. Both know that this isn’t really true. The only way Brexit can be lost is if the UK revokes Article 50. It would need to pass an Act of Parliament to do so, which without a public vote instructing parliament to do so is a total non-starter. It could happen, but it would require first a Brexit delay, then a national vote with a huge majority. 

Mid-morning: Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to chair a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday morning a day after a stunning 149-vote defeat of her reworked Brexit withdrawal deal.

10:00 a.m.: A European Parliament session of all members gets underway in Strasbourg focusing on preparations for next week’s European Council meeting on the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union.

12:00 p.m.: May faces questions from MPs in the House of Commons hours before the lawmakers are due to vote on whether to leave the EU without a deal.

12:30 p.m.: May’s finance minister Philip Hammond will deliver the spring statement on the state of the UK’s economy, against a backdrop of Brexit turmoil and mounting fears over the financial fallout of a no-deal exit from the EU.

1 p.m. or later: The House of Commons will begin debating the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

7 p.m.: MPs start to vote, first on amendments, if any are selected, then on whether to crash out of the EU without a deal.

The British government has published its plans for trade tariffs and the Irish border in the event of a no-deal Brexit withdrawal from the European Union.

The move comes one day after the crushing defeat of Theresa May’s reworked Brexit deal, and hours before lawmakers reconvene in parliament to vote on whether the UK should crash out of the EU without a deal on March 29 – the scheduled date for departure.

Under the temporary plans, which would last for 12 months, 87% of imports to the UK would be eligible for tariff free access in an effort to avert economic shock.

But tariffs will still apply to some goods, including agriculture, farming and some auto imports.

The government also revealed that tariffs will not be applied to goods crossing from the Republic of Ireland, part of the EU, into Northern Ireland, which remains part of the UK, triggering concerns around smuggling.

The plans did not shed any light on security on the border, but did say that no new checks or controls would be introduced.

Goods from the EU are currently tariff free, as the UK falls within the EU Customs Union. But, in the event of a no-deal Brexit, World Trade Organization tariffs would have been the default position. 

“Because these are unilateral measures, they only mitigate the impacts from exit that are within the UK government’s control. These measures do not set out the position in respect of tariffs or processes to be applied to goods moving from Northern Ireland to Ireland,” the government said in a statement.