Prime Minister Boris Johnson has written to EU leaders requesting an extension after his latest plan was rejected by MPs yesterday. Parliament instead voted in favour of an amendment withholding approval of Mr Johnson’s Brexit deal until all the necessary legislation to completed.
Tabled by veteran Tory MP Sir Oliver Letwin, the amendment was intended to ensure that Mr Johnson would comply with the terms of the so-called Benn Act.
MPs see the latest deal as no better than the one brokered by Johnson’s predecessor Theresa May (a deal, incidentally, that Johnson himself voted against) and some see it as even worse – and they seized the amendment tabled by Oliver Letwin to halt
At the close of a dramatic day, PM Johnson send not one, but three letters (see below). As instructed by parliament, he sent a request to the EU for a delay to Brexit – but sent, churlishly, without his signature but signed instead by a senior civil servant.
The Prime Minister famously said previously he would “rather be dead in a ditch” than ask the EU to delay Brexit, and has repeated insisted that the UK will leave on 31 October “do or die”.
That request was accompanied by a second personal letter, which was signed by Mr Johnson, saying he believes a delay would be a mistake. The third document is a cover note from Sir Tim Barrow, the UK’s representative in Brussels, explaining that the first letter complied with the law as agreed by Parliament.
EU leaders will now be consulted on the content of the letters and agree a joint response – although it’s understood that European leaders are becoming increasingly exasperated (aren’t we all? – Ed) and are keen to see an end to this part of the process.
The government plans to press on regardless – they plan to hold a meaningful vote on Monday, although at time of writing it is not clear if the Commons Speaker John Bercow will allow it to take place.
The Prime Minister is also determined to press ahead with the legislation to implement the deal in the week ahead – but opposition leaders have warned Mr Johnson that he will face the full force of the law if he attempts to circumvent parliament.
Nil illegitimus carborundum, eh Boris?
PM Boris Johnson concluded his statement to the House of Commons:
Let us come together as democrats behind this deal, the one proposition that fulfils the verdict of the majority but which also allows us to bring together the two halves of our hearts, to bring together the two halves of our nation.
Let’s speak now both for the 52 and the 48.
Let us go for a deal that can heal this country, let’s go for a deal that can heal this country and allow us all to express our legitimate desires for the deepest possible friendship and partnership with our neighbours
A deal that allows us to create a new shared destiny with them.
And a deal that also allows us to express our confidence in our own democratic institutions, to make our own laws, to determine our own future, to believe in ourselves once again as an open, generous global, outward-looking and free-trading United Kingdom.
That is the prospect that this deal offers our country.
It is a great prospect and a great deal, and I commend it to the House.
Perhaps Mr Johnson felt that MPs were tired and weary enough to accept this latest deal, warts and all. Or perhaps he believed that the sheer force of his personality would take the deal over the line, succeeding where Mrs May had failed. Whatever he believed, he got it wrong.
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PEOPLE’S VOTE
While MPs were voting down Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal at Westminster, scores, perhaps hundreds of thousands of campaigners took to the streets of London.
The People’s Vote marchers are demanding another referendum on the UK’s exit from the EU.
Organisers thanked participants in a statement on Facebook:
To the 1 million who joined the People’s Vote March today, thank you. Please get home safe.
What can you do now? Take action & sign the open letter demanding a People’s Vote on Brexit.
https://
THEY MAY YET GET THEIR WISH.
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“Nil desperandum”? What do you mean, NEN? “Do not despair”is the translation. But what is the meaning?
Hi David, It means exactly as you say. Mr Johnson’s use of Latin is well known and the phrase seemed apt given some of the pictures of the beleaguered PM. You could argue that this is a debacle of his own making, of course: I wouldn’t want to overdo the use of foreign words or phrases but schadenfreude comes to mind!
Very good… But what is the ‘position’ of the NEN Blog on this? Consoling Mr Johnson not to despair implied to me, reading the headline, that NEN is sympathetic to his position, and wishes him strength to continue. Personally I wish he would give up, accept his beleagred position. Maybe Edinburgh has sone advice in the motto “Nisi Dominus Frustra”. Accept the will of the people, Mr Johnson. The Lord will not help you.
‘Accept the will of the people’? It’s not really that simple though, is it? Whether we like the referendum result or not, the people of the UK voted to leave the EU, so the UK government is trying to carry out the ‘will of the people’ and make that exit happen. Isn’t that how our parliamentary democracy is supposed to work?
The NEN’s role is to report and inform rather than me boring readers to death with my own opinions. Ona personal level, though, while I care deeply about democracy I have absolutely no sympathy for a government that has made a deliberate choice to use austerity as a political weapon. I also think the whole sorry Brexit saga might have been avoided had the EU shown more flexibility and a willingness to reform much earlier – but we’ll never know now. I’ve been amazed at the huge shows of public affection for the EU since the referendum, given that UK turnouts at EU elections in the past were so pitifully poor. We undoubtedly live in interesting times – and who knows what twists and turns we’ll see at Westminster over the coming days!