UK: Parliament rejects Brexit and wobbles in May

The Treaty of Retirement was overthrown this time by 344 votes to 286, at the end of a series of chaotic votes in which the House of Commons had already mbadively rejected it twice, January 15 and March 12.

Intended to end 46 years of complicated relations between the United Kingdom and its European partners, this 585-page text, the result of almost two years of tough negotiations with the European Union, foresaw a period of transition to the future. 39 at the end of 2020 to avoid The break was too brutal.

His rejection now leaves the country facing the gloomy prospect of a Brexit without agreement within two weeks, or the need to seek another extension in Brussels.

Ironically, this third rejection took place the same day the country was supposed to have left the EU on March 29, 2019, Nearly three years after the referendum, 52% of Britons voted in favor of Brexit.

Before the parliamentary blockade, London had to request a postponement to the 27 other bloc countries. They accepted but with conditions: they warned that if the UK did not agree this week, it could not benefit from an extension until May 22 and should submit an alternative plan by April 12th.

Faced with the evidence that the majority of Parliament was opposed to a brutal exit, many Eurosceptic conservatives have resigned in recent days to support an agreement that they consider "bad" rather than risking a slight Brexit or a second potentially fatal referendum for the government. process

Many of them are unhappy with the way May has negotiated for two years with Brussels, which they consider to have made too many concessions, and asked her to give up the reins of training, the Government and Brexit. To convince them to vote in favor of their agreement, May had promised them that he would leave office as soon as he would have obtained his approval.

However, his political sacrifice was not enough: some recalcitrant Eurosceptics voted against, as did the small Northern Ireland trade union party, DUP, May's key ally in a parliament where he does not have the absolute majority.

For critics of the Prime Minister, this is the ultimate proof that the conservative leader has lost control of the situation.

This week, members of Parliament have had unprecedented powers to try to find a viable alternative to their agreement on Brexit. None of the eight proposals voted on Wednesday won the majority, but next week, two more rounds of consultations are scheduled for Monday and Wednesday to identify a solution supported by Parliament. Many MPs were unhappy with the government's decision to only vote this time on the Pension Treaty without the political declaration that should accompany it, a puzzling strategy to bypbad the ban on presenting exactly the same thing than last time.

The leader of the Brexit Labor Party, the main opposition party, Keir Starmer, denounced the fact that the separation of the two parties "was not part of the plan, it was a desperate measure".

For the EU's exit agreement to be valid, UK law requires the House of Commons to also adopt the signed political declaration with the EU, which lays the groundwork for the forthcoming negotiations of the future. relations between the two parties.

This raised fears that Friday's vote is only an executive strategy not to miss the May 22 extension and that May can again seek approval before April 12.

In the streets of London, the British who voted for Brexit in the 2016 referendum showed their anger. "We have too much faith in Parliament and the result is that they are three years old and that they have betrayed the popular will," unworthy Jan Bowman, a 63-year-old artist, who had painted on a huge banner: "Respect our vote".