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Karla Adam
London correspondent covering the United Kingdom
April 1st at 1:11 pm
LONDON – After voting "no" on many occasions, the UK Parliament may be ready to vote "yes" on something.
On Monday, Parliament will again attempt to take the wheel of Prime Minister Theresa May, while the House of Commons will vote on four proposals for the exit of the European Union.
Among the best options are two solutions that would require a Brexit much more flexible than that envisaged by May.
According to the two proposals, Britain would remain closely linked to European trade rules and tariff regimes. One option would essentially mean that Britain would give up its ability to control European immigration. The other would probably prevent Britain from embarking on the conclusion of its own independent trade agreements.
Business experts, describing the two options, say they could come up with a kind of "ultra-soft" Brexit, according to which Britain would "take back some control".
Another popular option may be pushing the government to hold a second referendum to determine how or if to leave it to the people.
And the fourth is essentially to cancel the Brexit.
These will be non-binding "indicative votes" expressing Parliament's will. A previous round of voting did not bring together the majority of the eight proposals proposed last week. But a major change by the Labor Party and other political maneuvers could change the calculation Monday night.
All this is coming as more and more signs show that the British Prime Minister has lost control of Brexit, his party and his cabinet.
The Conservative Party is an open revolt. Over the weekend, a group of 170 Conservative MPs, including 10 ministers, wrote to May to ask Britain to leave the US party "With or without an agreement," according to the Sunday Times in London.
His firm, meanwhile, is now composed of conspirators and direct competitors. The hardline Brexiteers and the ministers who campaign for a gentler Brexter threaten to resign if they do not succeed.
Government secretaries have become so undisciplined that the head of May's bad, Julian Smith, described them in a rare interview with the BBC, calling them "the worst example of bad cabinet discipline in British political history."
Smith's bold statement about unprecedented bad behavior was remarkable not only for what he had said – but by whom he had said.
The Chief Whips are supposed to be like Victorian children in the extreme, never seen or heard. They are virtually invisible to the outside world at the Palace of Westminster and their only job is to enforce party discipline; in other words, "badping" their members – via text message and the WhatsApp group – to vote in one way or another.
In his remarks, Smith also said that after the results of the 2017 general election, when the Conservative party had largely lost its parliamentary majority, May should have been clear on the fact that the result would be synonymous with a Brexit type softer.
Instead, May delivered daring speeches and erected red lines.
And yet, May could still sell her market. His supporters say that it is likely that the Prime Minister will try for the fourth time to get the bill through the House of Commons.
Why would legislators approve at a fourth vote what they had already rejected three times? May's latest threat: if her conservative members do not rally to her market, she will call a general election.
This appears as an empty threat of a weakened party leader. Partly because the latest opinion polls show that the opposition Labor Party is ahead of the Conservatives – although the Labor Party is also split between the "resigning" and the "remaining". In this environment, it is hard to see the Conservatives helping to provide a two-thirds majority. required for a general election.
Last week, May announced that she would resign if her contract ended up crossing the finish line, allowing someone else to take the reins of the second phase of the negotiations. on the Brexit. May could be replaced by his own party at the head of the government without the need for a general election.
In no time, Boris Johnson, former Foreign Secretary and favorite to replace May as Conservative leader, dropped his opposition and backed May's deal.
"We have to organize Brexit, because we have so much to do and unite the Conservative Party more than we divide," Johnson wrote in Monday's Daily Telegraph, which looked like a candidate for leadership of the party.
"We have so many achievements we can be proud of – yet each of them is drowned in the cacophony of Brexit," said Johnson.
On Monday, Parliament first had to discuss the more than 6 million citizens who signed an online petition aimed at canceling Brexit, making it the most popular petition ever held on its website.
On Monday evening, Parliament will reiterate its efforts to find an alternative to the May agreement.
A soft Brexit option could include the commitment to stay in a "permanent customs union" with the EU. – such an arrangement allows Union members to trade freely without customs duties, but sets an external tariff on all goods entering the bloc. Such an agreement would make it difficult for Britain to globalize and conclude its own trade agreements abroad, as it would be locked up in US tariff regimes. But that could control European immigration.
Another sweet option of Brexit is a Norwegian-type relationship that would involve staying in the EU. single or common market. This path could allow Great Britain to seek trade agreements outside the EU, but would probably mean that Britain should allow the free movement of this unit. citizens in Britain.
When Parliament held a similar series of "indicative votes" last week, one of the closest to the customs union, which has lost only six votes.
Some conservatives remain deeply opposed to these options, in part because they see it as a "Brexit of name only", crossing all their red lines – preventing Britain from entering into new trade agreements with countries like the United States. United States and China while maintaining broad borders open to European migrants.
Steve Baker, a conservative legislator and bow Brexiteer, is one of those who fiercely oppose. He told the BBC that joining the opposition party and supporting a vote of no confidence against the May government was "on the table" if the government adopted this option.
Ken Clarke, a former Conservative legislator who moved the motion on the customs union, told the BBC that this option would effectively limit Britain's ability to accept tariff concessions to non-EU members. countries. But he pointed out that Britain could conclude trade agreements on services, which account for about 80% of the UK economy. He added that some Brexite specialists, convinced of the benefits of Britain's signing of new trade agreements with countries like America, "are packing".
The idea that "Donald Trump will open his market with joy because he is delighted that we have damaged the European Union. It's a total nonsense, "Clarke said.
Read more
Frexit? Italeave? After looking at Brexit, other European countries answered: No, thank you.
What is Brexit? The British political drama explained.
The British claim to be sick of Brexit. But the truth is that they are obsessed.
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