Brexit

Friday December 14, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday December 14, 2018

5 Takeaways About Theresa May’s (Sort of) Victory

Prime Minister Theresa May survived a revolt on Wednesday by the hard-line, pro-Brexit parliamentary faction of her Conservative Party.

November 16, 2018

That will give her some time to try to get her plan for leaving the European Union — the same one that spurred the revolt — through Parliament.

But the final tally in the no-confidence vote on Wednesday also showed just how difficult that will be.

To pass legislation, Mrs. May needs the votes of all her party’s lawmakers and more — her government relies on the backing of a small Northern Ireland party. In this ballot, which was restricted to Conservative members of Parliament, 200 lawmakers supported her and 117 voted to eject her from office.

June 22, 2016

More than a third of her own party wanted someone else leading the Brexit process. That was especially sobering because about half of Conservative lawmakers also hold paid government posts of some sort; Mrs. May’s critics were quick to argue that she would have lost handily without the support of this “payroll vote.”

The prime minister bargained away her long-term political future to ensure she would survive the no-confidence vote, promising Conservative lawmakers that she would step down before a general election set for 2022.

A vote against Mrs. May’s leadership was effectively a vote against her agreement on leaving the European Union. (Her government is doing little else at the moment.)

June 24, 2016

European leaders will greet any attempt to rewrite the 585-page, legally binding withdrawal agreement with a resounding no. They refuse to abandon a so-called backstop arrangement that at least temporarily keeps Britain in a customs union with Europe to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, and Ireland, which is a member of the European Union.

If Parliament does nothing before March 29, Britain’s relationship with the European Union will rupture overnight. Banking, trade, travel, food, medicines, the fluid border between Ireland and Northern Ireland — all would be thrown into flux. (Source: New York Times) 

 

Friday November 16, 2018

November 16, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday November 16, 2018

The Brutal Reality Of Brexit

June 25, 2016

Theresa May’s chickens are coming home to roost. The deal she agreed with Brussels is unravelling fast, and her premiership along with it. So far, seven of her ministers have resigned. Letters calling for her replacement are pouring in to the powerful chairman of the Conservative Party’s 1922 Committee: once he receives 48 letters, there could be a vote of confidence in her leadership, and perhaps a leadership challenge. Other Tories are calling for a second referendum. Meanwhile, the Labour party is slavering at the possibility of an early General Election. The political crisis that has been simmering since 2016 has erupted with a vengeance.

The political fallout from Mrs. May’s latest attempt to square the Brexit circle is understandable. Her Brexit deal is horrible. It would lock the UK into a “frozen Brexit”, neither in the EU nor completely out of it.  The U.K. would be forced to accept EU decisions over which it would have no say, and continuing to contribute to the EU budget despite no longer being a member. It would also be unable to enact its own trade deals with the rest of the world until the freeze ended. And it would be unable to end the freeze unilaterally.

June 22, 2016

The idea is that this “frozen Brexit” would initially be only for a transitional period ending in December 2020, when it would be superseded by a free trade agreement. But the proposal allows this date to be extended, if necessary for decades, if no free trade agreement is negotiated. And if the transition ends without a free trade agreement, then the entire U.K. would remain in a customs union with the EU indefinitely, but Northern Ireland would have a closer relationship with the EU than the rest of the U.K.

For Brexiters and Remainers alike, this is the worst of all possible solutions. But horrible though it is, this deal satisfies the conditions set by Mrs. May in her Lancaster House speech. It also satisfies the EU’s conditions. No other proposal achieves this. It is, therefore, the best deal available. The U.K. Government has struck a deal that allows Britain to have its cake and eat it – but the cake tastes so disgusting that no-one wants to eat it. (Source: Forbes) 

 

Friday July 13, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday July 13, 2018

Trump is Already Making Theresa May’s Life a Living Hell

June 9, 2018

Accompanied by a sprawling entourage that has reportedly booked 750 hotel rooms, and will be shuttled around the country by 30 vehicles, 6 helicopters, and 2 planes, Donald Trump has officially arrived in the U.K. “His planes are massive,” an awestruck former Downing Street aide remarked to The Times of London. “Ours look like Playmobil by comparison.” Team Trump will certainly be well-traveled by the time they depart to meet Vladimir Putin in Helsinki Monday. As he visits Theresa May’s countryside retreat, Chequers; attends a black-tie dinner at the birthplace of Winston Churchill, Blenheim Palace; and has tea with the Queen at Windsor Castle before heading to Scotland to play golf at Trump International Golf Links Scotland, the only mode of transport the president won’t get to enjoy is his long-sought-after ride down the Mall in a gold-plated carriage, which was apparently shelved due to the poor optics of mass protests.

April 13, 2018

Despite the fact that Trump’s schedule purposefully removes him from liberal London, and that protests—topped by a 20-foot-tall balloon depicting Trump as a smartphone-wielding baby—have reportedly been planned across the city, the president seems unconcerned about his ratings in Brexit Britain. “I think they like me a lot in the U.K., I think they agree with me on immigration,” he said at this week’s NATO summit, explaining that he had been reading up on Brexit, and surmised that May was not delivering the divorce deal the public had voted for. “The people voted to break it up, so I would imagine that’s what they’ll do,” he said. “But maybe they’re taking a little bit of a different route. So I don’t know if that’s what they voted for. I just want the people to be happy. They’re great people.”

June 27, 2016

For May, Trump’s metaphorical vote of no confidence could not come at a worse time. Just as the U.S. president touched down in England, bringing controversial connotations of nationalism and insularity to a divided U.K., freshly inaugurated Brexit secretary Dominic Raab presented the government’s long-awaited White Paper on Brexit, which expanded upon the “soft” Chequers compromise that pushed both Boris Johnson and Brexit secretary David Davis to depart May’s Cabinet. The response from Brexiteers was widely negative, and they were notably skeptical of a proposal they argued would keep the U.K. under the authority of the European court of justice. “It is a pale imitation of the paper prepared by David Davis, a bad deal for Britain. It is not something I would vote for, nor is it what the British people voted for,” complained backbench Brexit-monger Jacob Rees-Mogg, who has previously written about the inspiration Trump offers. (Continued: Vanity Fair) 

 

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Friday April 21, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday April 21, 2017

Snap Election called in Great Britain

 

March 30, 2017

In a dramatic statement on the steps of Downing Street, the British Prime Minister, Theresa May, fired the starting gun on a poll that she hopes will deliver her an unassailable majority to shape the country’s future.

She blamed opposition parties who have been trying to frustrate Brexit for her sudden change of heart after months insisting she will not hold an election – singling out Nicola Sturgeon’s efforts to exploit the situation to tear the UK apart.

The bold move took even Cabinet members by surprise, having been kept a closely guarded secret between a handful of the premier’s closest allies and aides.

March 14, 2003

Brexit Secretary David Davis and Chancellor Philip Hammond have been jointly pressing the PM to call an early vote for some time, and were informed of Mrs May’s decision at a meeting yesterday. Meanwhile, Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Amber Rudd are understood to have been told this morning shortly before the gathering of her top team in No10.

Mrs May revealed the shift was driven by soul-searching while she hiked in Snowdonia with husband Philip over the Easter break.

The media were given barely an hour’s notice of the speech this morning, and there had been no rumours at Westminster about her change of heart. Even as the Cabinet meeting began this morning, aides to senior ministers were still sending out updates on other areas of government business.

Mrs May said Britain needed strong leadership to navigate the fraught divorce talks with the EU, insisting she was now convinced an early poll was in the ‘national interest’.

She said ‘every vote for the Conservatives would give her a stronger hand when she sits across the negotiating table from the EU’s presidents and prime ministers to hammer out a Brexit deal.

The election is an astonishing U-turn from the Prime Minister who has repeatedly said she would not call another ballot before 2020 – insisting it would cause instability and hurt the country. (Source: Daily Mail) 

 

Thursday March 30, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday March 30, 2017

Scotland to press on with referendum

Nicola Sturgeon has pledged to press on with a fresh independence referendum after dismissing Theresa May’s promise of substantial new powers for Scotland Brexit.

June 25, 2016

The first minister said May’s decision to trigger article 50 on Wednesday, beginning the UK’s divorce from the EU, was one of the most destructive acts by a British leader in modern history, threatening hundreds of thousands of jobs across the UK.

Writing for the Guardian, Sturgeon said the decision was dispiriting, economically foolhardy and constitutionally reckless, threatening stability in Northern Ireland. It also undermined European efforts to combat climate change and collective security, she said.

“Brexit – especially the hard Brexit shaped by May’s inability to shake off the agenda of the Ukip-tinged right wing of her own party – threatens to be an act of self-harm on a scale barely understood,” she said.

She accused May of paying only superficial attention to the Scottish government’s demands for a special deal on the single market, opening up further conflicts with the UK government over the benefits Scotland could gain from Brexit.

“The result is that we must now ensure that people in Scotland are given a choice between the hard Brexit deal now being negotiated, and independence,” she said.

Just as the prime minister told MPs at Westminster she had formally triggered article 50, Sturgeon had received a letter from David Davis, the UK Brexit secretary, insisting his government was engaging seriously with Sturgeon’s proposals.

Neither government would release Davis’s letter but it is understood that he told Sturgeon he was disappointed that she had launched her claim for an independence referendum before she saw the full extent of the new powers on offer once EU laws and regulations were repatriated. (Source: The Guardian)