Nigel Farage’s newly formed Brexit Party could win the European Union parliamentary election on May 23, if new polling data from YouGov is accurate. The surging Brexit Party appears to be taking votes from a combination of Brexit-supporting Conservatives (a.k.a. Tories) and Labor voters as well as the United Kingdom Independence Party, UKIP or Ukip, which for various reasons has lost market share.
Tag: Brexiteers
U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May today met with Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who critics describe as a Marxist, to try to break the Brexit deadlock in the House of Commons, the British parliament. May repeatedly promised the British electorate that Brexit means Brexit, that the U.K. would officially escape the Brussels-based European Union on March 29, and that no deal is better than a bad deal. She has lived up to none of those commitments. The deal that she negotiated, which Brexit champion Nigel Farage calls a surrender document and a binding treaty, would actually keep the U.K. trapped in the EU as a non-voting member, i.e. Brexit in Name Only (BRINO).
The U.K. House of Parliament today voted down Theresa May’s Brexit withdrawal agreement for a third time. It was a smaller defeat (344 to 286) than the previous two tries, but a loss nonetheless. Several stalwart Conservative Brexiteers such as Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg reluctantly voted for the deal only because they concluded the alternative was no Brexit at all. The Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland, whose 10 MPs have kept May’s coalition in power, held firm and once again voted against it. While Labor is mostly pro-EU, their MPs for the most part nonetheless voted against the deal for political reasons. The Remain-dominated Parliament, including PM May, has already and foolishly ruled out a no-deal Brexit, which would trigger WTO rules, even though various public- and private-sector entities have come forward to say that they are prepared for that eventuality. Opinion polls suggest that the general public and rank-and-file Conservative Party members favor getting out of the EU without a deal.
Under British law, the U.K. is scheduled to officially leave (or exit) the European Union on March 29. Because of opposition to her Brexit withdrawal agreement on both sides of the aisle for different reasons, there are rumblings that Prime Minister Theresa May may seek to extend the two-year, Article 50 deadline. This is occurring despite May’s Conservative Party promising to implement Brexit on schedule. Against this backdrop, seven pro-EU Labor Party members of parliament bolted the party to form The Independent Group [TIG] because Labor has gone hard-left under its leader Jeremy Corbyn and harbors anti-Semites. It’s difficult see how they define themselves as centrists, though, in that they want to keep the U.K. under the thumb of EU bureaucrats. They were later joined by three Conservatives who similarly oppose leaving the EU with no deal. Two additional Labor MP subsequently quit the party in protest over rampant anti-Semitism, Both declined to join TIG, one because he is pro-Brexit.
In the Brexit back and forth, Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May and her team essentially gave away the store, plus the farm and the fisheries, to EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier with next to nothing in return. Given the one-sided outcome, Farage says it’s the worst deal in history.
In the June 23, 2016, referendum, the British public voted to leave or exit the EU and reclaim the country’s sovereignty, including control over its borders, Virtually the entire political and media establishment coalesced around the anti-Brexit or “Remain” viewpoint.
Leave Doesn’t Mean Leave?
May’s plan, which already gained the quick approval of EU top leadership, seems to be Brexit in Name Only or soft/fake Brexit, or even worse. That’s because the U.K. will lose its voting representation in the EU Parliament while still subject to EU governance if May’s plan goes through.
Speaking at the European Parliament where he is a member, Farage pointed out that the flawed deal “keeps Britain in the Customs Union and stuck with the EU’s rulebook.” See clip below.
I bet Barnier can hardly believe his luck that he has come up against someone as weak as @Theresa_May. pic.twitter.com/js1HZ379UD
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) November 29, 2018
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Perhaps one of the world’s best orators who speaks without relying on a teleprompter, Farage also predicted that the British Parliament, the House of Commons, would vote against the deal when it comes up on or about December 11.
He again insisted that a no-deal outcome would allow the U.K. to effectively negotiate individual trade deals under World Trade Organization rules when the country officially separates from the EU on March 29, 2019.
May Receives a Message
Several vocal pro-Brexit members of parliament have sent a letter to Theresa May asking that she change course before the vote because the deal she is pushing makes “a no-deal scenario more likely.”
Based on current atmospherics and what the bookies think, most parliamentarians in the Conservative and Labor parties intend to vote down the deal, but never underestimate the ability of politicians to cave.
A devoted globalist, May supported the Remain side in the referendum, but upon taking office as prime minister, promised that Brexit means Brexit and she would honor the will of the people.
She also said that no deal is better than a bad deal.
Related story:
Theresa May’s Brexit Deal Is a Tough Sell or Sell Out
Westmonster published the letter, signed by Brexiteer luminaries such as Jacob Rees-Mogg, Priti Patel, David Davis, which reads in part:
“But while respecting your efforts, we have grave concerns that your proposal does not take back control of our borders our money and our laws; does not permit us to negotiate new trade deals with the rest of the world; and does not safeguard our own precious United Kingdom…Being unable to leave the customs union without the EU’s permission would place the UK into a legal black hole. This is unprecedented in international treaty law.”
The authors also note that May’s plan requires the British taxpayer to fork over to the EU an estimated $39 billion and “hand the EU the keys to our destiny.”
For reasons that defy common sense, Northern Ireland would also be subject to more onerous EU rules than the rest of the U.K. under May’s agreement.
To protect British interests, this Brexiteer group also recommends that the short-from, so-called Brexit Political Declaration have the same legal effect as the complicated, EU-friendly Withdrawal Agreement itself. They also advocated a Canadian-style free-trade deal that would free Britain of the heavy-handed EU oversight and bureaucracy.
May’s FrEUdian Slip https://t.co/qOcXGdVclj pic.twitter.com/hJ0BGEsmoc