Please see my latest wire as Brexit diarist for The New York Sun, ‘Brexit or Bust: Time for Britain to Ask its People’:
Cancel the celebrations. Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed that Friday, March 29 will not be Brexit day. Come Monday, April 1, the United Kingdom will still be in the European Union. April Fools’ Day, indeed.These sad tidings were announced as Mrs. May briefed the Commons on Monday about her latest Brussels meetings. The upshot for Brexit is this, she said: “The date for our departure from the EU has now changed in international law.”
If Parliament buckles and accedes to her Withdrawal Agreement, “Brexit” occurs May 22 — just ahead of elections for the European Parliament. If not, then April 12 — permitting further UK-EU consultations.
So contrary was this to Government policy — that Britain would exit the EU as established by a referendum, two Acts of Parliament, and national election — that Sir John Redwood needed confirmation. “What would the Prime Minister say to a leave voter who wants us to leave on 29 March?” he asked.
“We have requested the extension to Article 50, so the 29 March date is no longer there,” replied the Prime Minister.
Crispin Blunt was unsparing in his vitriol. “Does the Prime Minister understand that, by taking no deal off the table at the behest of this Remainer Parliament, she has just put the final torpedo into her own deal and any real prospect of Brexit,” he asked icily, “and that her statement will represent the most shameful surrender by a British leader since Singapore in 1942?”
Is Britain’s independence from the EU super-state — for which the people voted and were promised by their elected representatives — well and truly dead?
Remarks are welcome on DMI’s Facebook page.
As an aside, though I continue to have confidence that the 2016 referendum remains valid, as much as I believe that a general election at this time is fraught with danger, my overwhelming feeling is that at this crucial period in determining Britain’s future as a self-governing sovereign nation — on the cusp of self-inflicted humiliation, aided and abetted by European Union mandarins — it is time to cross the Rubicon. Iacta alea est. ‘Brexit or Bust.’
My thanks to editor Seth Lipsky of The New York Sun.
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