The Financial Times reports EU Offers New Brexit Backstop Plan.
When I saw the headline, I thought genuine progress was made. About 10 seconds in I realized otherwise.
One Eurosceptic Conservative MP said: “Barnier’s offer is a framework which is difficult to leave, couched in woolly language which explicitly splits our country in two. Do they think we are stupid?”
The “new” deal that May rejected before involves a “unilateral exit clause” as long as the backstop applies to Northern Ireland.
With a very real deadline looming, now is not the time to rerun old arguments. The UK has put forward clear new proposals. We now need to agree a balanced solution that can work for both sides https://t.co/yN9ZuiVj1M
— Steve Barclay (@SteveBarclay) March 8, 2019
Slap in the Face
The Guardian reports ‘A slap in the face’: Barnier sets May on course for Brexit defeat.
Theresa May appears set for a second humiliating defeat when she brings her Brexit deal back to parliament next week, after the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, rebuffed her pleas for last-minute concessions. “European leaders tell me they worry that time is running out and that we only have one chance to get it right. My message to them is: now is the moment for us to act.”
But Barnier immediately appeared to rebuff the prime minister, by responding with an offer of reverting to his original plan, the Northern Ireland-only backstop, which May repeatedly said no prime minister could accept, because it risked creating a border in the Irish Sea.
The Northern Ireland-only backstop was vehemently rejected by the government’s partners in the DUP, who fear that it would effectively sever Northern Ireland from the rest of Britain by requiring checks as goods pass back and forth. And the DUP’s deputy leader, Nigel Dodds, said on Friday: “This is neither a realistic nor a sensible proposal from Michel Barnier. It disrespects the constitutional and economic integrity of the United Kingdom.”
A senior EU official admitted that Barnier’s response could be seen as a “slap in the face”.
Theresa May Caused This
Theresa May gave away too much, too fast, for no reason and received nothing in return. Now, it’s a game of chicken
Three Brexit Votes Coming up
Slap in the Face Certainty
The only certainty about the above diagram is that May will go down in a scorching defeat on March 12 unless Barnier comes up with a last second genuine offer. Timewise, that might not even be possible.
It’s even possible that May’s defeat on March 12 is nearly as bad if not worse than her loss by a majority of 230 in January.
Seriously Impossible to Figure Out UK Side
Anyone who believes they know what’s going to happen is fooling themselves.
For example, does anyone know what Theresa May’s second preference is? I don’t.
Is it a hard Brexit or a customs union? How about a resignation washing her hands of the whole affair?
Not that I would trust her, but she has never stated a plan B, or even hinted at one.
The one thing I an very confident of is that another referendum and a vote to remain out right are the least likely direct outcomes. A referendum does not solve the problem as no one knows the outcome.
Seriously Impossible to Figure Out UK Side
I believe the EU thinks the UK will be brutally punished if there is a hard Brexit. But I am certain that the EU will be hit much harder. His beliefs matter, not mine.
Is Barnier willing to cut a last second deal after the second meaningful vote? I don’t know. That may very well depend on what the EU thinks the damage a Brexit might cause on the EU.
It also depends on political arrogance. All 27 EU nations have to agree to changes. A single country that believes it will not be damaged just may decide to not offer any concessions or delays.
Assessing the Odds
Ultimately this will be decided by either a last second concession by the EU (it is possible they have already agreed to one privately), or more likely, by what Theresa May’s second choice is.
On that score, I do not believe anyone knows other than perhaps May’s husband. Perhaps she does not even know herself.
General Order
- May’s Deal
- No-Deal with a delay
- No-Deal with no delay
- Customs Union
- May Resigns – Punting the Problem – Does not solve anything other than relieve May of some responsibility
- Referendum with unknown consequences, assuming the EU agrees to suspend Brexit.
- Outright direct cancellation
I rate options one and two as approximately equal likely. May’s deal may very well take three votes with a last second EU clarification.
By the time you get down to options 6 and 7, the odds are very slim. Either may require number 5 to happen. Number 7 is viable technically, but not politically. That’s why I have it last.
The remainers voting against May’s deal hoping for number 6 or 7, may very well trigger number 2 or 3.
If May’s second preference is No-Deal the odds of 2 and 3 rise dramatically while option 1 falls to the third place. If her second preference is a customs union, then bump up number four.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
“It disrepects the consitutional and economic integrity of the United Kingdom”.
GET REAL.
Ireland, Scotland, and Wales have different interests. The border between Ireland and Ulster is another colonial legacy. One of the problems with Brexit, hearking back to the time when Britannia still ruled …, is that the nationalism pitting Britain against the EU is also pitting it against the nationalisms within its own union.
Here are the odds from the bookies on Brexit scenarios:
Everything that the Global Banking Establishment (GBE) attempts backfires spectacularly… so let’s follow the obvious trend:
Ignoring the will of the people is a “losers” habit. The losers will learn the hard way. Again.
The only question you have to ask yourself is this, Mish- why did the negotiations end up with agreements that could not only not win a vote in Parliament, but couldn’t even come close to winning a vote? When you realize that the answer was that neither May’s government nor the EU wanted an agreement that could win a vote that resulted in Brexit, then everything makes perfect sense.
Think about it- the very first thing that May did when she reached 10 Downing Street was to promise that Parliament would have the final say on Brexit, even though her government could have just invoked Article 50 notification in July of 2016, and the matter would have been over last Summer. However, she gave Parliament final say, and delayed notification for 9 months. Then proceeds to “negotiate” a Brexit deal with the EU which produces agreements that can’t win 1/3 of Parliament. This isn’t bad negotiating tactics on May’s part- she got exactly what she always wanted- a chance to remain in the EU.
You think 2nd referendum isn’t going to happen, and you could be right, but that is May’s goal and the goal of a majority of Parliament. To thread this needle will require the Remain factions in the two main parties to come together to spread the political pain caused by ignoring the 1st plebiscite, and this can only be done after March 29th when no-deal is facing them squarely. A delay will be asked for and granted later this month, then a vote will be held in April for a 2nd referendum, and I predict the Remain faction will do whatever is necessary to win that 2nd vote since they clearly control the government already- if they weren’t in control, you would have had a proper negotiation all along.
Plausible
“Remain factions in the two main parties to come together…”
And the charade of democratic representative government is fully exposed. This same dynamic occurs here in the USA regularly, as the GBE toadies from “opposing parties” will always vote together for more debt & more war (yet they bicker-to-stalemate on every other policy/issue, thus the current state of USA politics). The Global Banking Establishment must reduce the EU & UK to de facto one-party politics – their doomed, fragile autocracy cannot manage dissent nor survive the slightest opposition. EU “democracy” was designed to be elitist autocracy from Day One.
John C Dvorak and Adam Curry on the No Agenda podcast are assuming there will be a “do-over” referendum. The British population has been assaulted with never-ending examples of the horrible lives they’ll be living without the sour teat of the EU. Much like we in the US have been constantly reminded of how we made the wrong decision in 2016. This can only mean the powers in charge who were assuming a “stay” vote are trying to brainwash the population into voting “correctly” this time.
The key is the European elections later this year. If the UK takes part in those elections they will turn into a de facto second referendum. If the results suggest a majority in the country for ‘remain’, then I think the UK will not leave the EU.
PM May tipped her hand when there was an agreement made with Spain. She is addressing countries as sovereign nations to get travel and trade agreements. This really undermines the power of the unelected EU officials. Vampires hate sunlight.
“PM May tipped her hand when there was an agreement made with Spain.”
Probably because of IAG.