Well… that makes one of your<\/b>
\nOver the weekend I dug into the \u201cfinal\u201d Brexit deal cut by British Prime Minister Theresa May with the European Union. At the time I noted that prospects for passage in the European Union Parliament were excellent, but getting the deal signed off on by her own Parliament back home were dismal at best. This could spell serious trouble not only for the Brexiteers but for May and the Tories in terms of holding onto power.
Is that setting May back on her heels? Far from it. She\u2019s returning home brimming with confidence. (Washington Times)
British Prime Minister Theresa May expressed confidence Sunday that she\u2019ll be able to push the newly minted Brexit agreement through her nation\u2019s Parliament, despite heated opposition from U. K. lawmakers vowing to block the deal that took nearly two years to negotiate with the European Union.
\u201cThis is the deal that is on the table. It is the best possible deal. It is the only deal,\u201d Mrs. May said Sunday after her government sealed the agreement with leaders from the EU\u2019s 27 other member nations dictating the terms of Britain\u2019s departure from the bloc by early 2019.
During a meeting in Brussels, EU leaders took barely half an hour Sunday to rubber stamp a 585-page withdrawal treaty, setting the stage for Britain\u2019s long-awaited, formal exit from the bloc in March \u2014 to be followed by a three-year transition period.
May is playing one and only one card in this showdown (which I\u2019ll get to in a moment) but the future of this deal still doesn\u2019t appear bright at first glance. Keep in mind the makeup of May\u2019s majority in Parliament. The Tories (May\u2019s Conservative Party) came up seven seats short in the last elections. They had to throw in with North Ireland\u2019s DUP to get enough seats to hold the majority and keep her in office, but it\u2019s not a real coalition. The DUP just agreed to support her on key votes while maintaining their own agenda.
As of now, not only is the DUP saying they\u2019re opposed to the deal, but May doesn\u2019t even have the support of numerous MPs in her own party. She\u2019s unlikely to get a single vote from the minority coalition, which is composed almost entirely of Remain voters. Can she get all of these stray cats herded back into the corral?
Maybe. And that\u2019s because of the simple, five-word sentence that May is chanting to the Tories. There Is No Other Deal. The clock is running out and going back and starting over from scratch simply isn\u2019t an option, particularly when you consider how hard the EU has fought to sink this plan from the beginning. The Prime Minister has delivered a package that the union will sign off on. It\u2019s either this or a \u201cno-deal Brexit\u201d if they are to successfully part ways with the continent.
As of now, her opponents inside her own party continue to say they should \u201c oppose this deal and support something better .\u201d The problem is that there isn\u2019t anything better out there that has a chance of being passed in the EU Parliament. So the Tories have three choices. They can suck it up and take this flawed deal, they can opt for a Hard (No Deal) Brexit, or they can have the entire question returned to the people for another referendum which may see the Tories (and May) tossed out of power. That could very realistically put Labour and the Lib Dems back in charge and set up the dreaded second referendum where Brexit might disappear as if the original vote had never happened.
Looking at those choices, while still not a sure thing, it\u2019s easy to see a number of those opposition voices in May\u2019s own party quietly getting in line and voting for this deal. Or at least that\u2019s what she\u2019s clearly banking on. The vote may happen this year or possibly as late as March, but we should have the final answer by spring.<\/p>\n