Wordsworth’s dancing daffodils do look golden in Downing Street but inside Number 10, where Britain’s embattled Prime Minister is holed up nursing a sore throat after non-stop negotiations with Brussels over her Brexit deal, the mood is anything but sunny.
On Tuesday in yet another “meaningful vote”, MPs threw out May’s deal by 140 votes. It wasn’t as bad as the 230 vote defeat on January 16 — the biggest in British parliamentary history — but still pretty devastating.
A senior Indian businessman, Rami Ranger, who is co-chairman of Conservative Friends of India and deputy treasurer of the party — his job is to tap rich Indians for donations — is full of despair.
“We are all affected by Brexit,” he told The Telegraph. “The uncertainty is causing lot of problems because (East European) people are going back home and not returning and there is a staff shortage.
“Politics is a mess at the moment. The country is divided, parliament is divided, the cabinet is divided, the government is divided. People are fed up with Brexit, they want it over it as quickly as possible.”
Speaking after the rejection of her deal on Tuesday by 391 votes to 242, the Prime Minister told the Commons that MPs will now have to decide whether they want to delay Brexit beyond March 29, the designated date of departure; hold another referendum; or whether they “want to leave with a deal but not this deal”.
On Wednesday, another important vote was to take place to decide whether the UK should leave the EU without a deal — which the business world has said would be catastrophic.
“No deal” is expected to be taken off the table when MPs vote on the government motion: “This House declines to approve leaving the European Union without a withdrawal agreement and a framework on the future relationship on 29 March.”
If no-deal is rejected, MPs will vote on Thursday on delaying Brexit by extending Article 50 — the legal mechanism that takes the UK out of the EU.
But the EU has said it would need “a credible justification” before agreeing to any extension.
There is no serious move by cabinet ministers to oust May as Prime Minister but speculation is growing as to how long she can cling on to the job. Having survived a no confidence motion brought by dissident Tories, she cannot be challenged until December.
Britain has a wide range of newspapers but Wednesday’s page one headlines are unanimous in suggesting May’s position has been further weakened by the latest defeat: May clings on despite a second humiliating defeat (Daily Telegraph); Another huge defeat for May. And just 16 days until Brexit (Guardian); Croaky horror show (The Sun); How much more of this can Britain take (Daily Express); May loses control of Brexit after MPs throw out revamped deal (Financial Times); Out of control (Independent); Driven to despair (The Times); and The House of Fools (Daily Mail).
May has said Tory MPs will get a “free vote” on Wednesday evening’s motion — and not have to followed instructions from party Whip.
May’s predecessor, David Cameron, who held the EU referendum in an effort to unite his party which has always been sharply divided over Europe, made a rare appearance and told Sky News: “I have always supported the Prime Minister in her attempts to have a close partnership deal with Europe and she continues to have my support. That is the right thing to do.
“Obviously, what needs to happen next is to rule out no-deal that would be a disaster for our country — and to seek an extension, and I’m sure that is what is going to happen next. What happened last night is some people who have always wanted Brexit have voted against it again, and this is exasperating for the Prime Minister. I think she should feel free to look at other alternatives for partnership deals and the like.” in order to solve this problem, because you can’t go on with a situation where people who want Brexit keep voting against it.” ends
