Brexit intensifies

[andrewducker]

So, today the only government ever to be found in contempt of parliament lost a vote by the largest margin ever suffered by a British government, losing by 230 votes (previous "winner" was Ramsay Macdonald's minority Labour government, losing by 166 votes).

Immediately afterwards, Corbyn lodged a vote of no confidence in the government. The DUP have said they will back the Conservatives, which almost certainly means that the vote will fail*.

The EU wants us to make our mind up, and has now repeatedly said that the withdrawal deal is not open for renegotiation. Which greatly reduces the options we have remaining. So once we the no confidence fails I can't see what else Labour can do but move towards a second referendum.

Which is, according to all recent polls, what the people want. (46% to 28% last I checked).

*It's _possible_ that a few Conservatives will rebel. But incredibly unlikely.

Comments

[calimac]

No, that's far more complex an analysis than necessary. And I don't think there was anybody on the Leave side who supported "unelected bureaucrats" or the EU's banana rules. The issue at hand is the trade agreement. It was clear at the time of the referendum that the Leave campaign was advocating 1) complete frictionless trade agreements between the UK and EU, while 2) removing the UK from mandatory subjugation to EU regulations. That's the combination that quickly became clear wasn't going to happen, most immediately because of the government's initially lazy approach to negotiating 1), the equivalent to what would have developed over 45 years if the UK had never joined the EU in the first place. You can't write that overnight.