What was once Great Britain is today confusion worst confounded; its vaunted democratic system of governance failing immensely in leading the present United Kingdom on the right path. Brexit, yes but how, is a serious question that has brought Prime Minister Theresa May’s leadership itself to the brink. She somehow managed to weather a no-confidence but is yet unable to decide which way to take the nation forward.
Worse, her ministers are divided on the course she should take, and the main Opposition Labour, led by socialist Jeremy Corbyn, is accused of fishing in troubled waters to hasten new elections.
The clock is ticking fast. A little over two months, leading up to deadline of March 29, are left for the UK to exit EU – and the nation as also the rest of Europe is ill-prepared to facilitate this. There are humanitarian issues apart from serious problems of trade. Citizens of UK could go and live anywhere in Europe without the usual document hassles as long as the nation remained with EU. This has been the case for nearly three decades after EU’s formation in 1993. What would happen to them now is a grave problem.
The voting out of Theresa May’s ‘divorce’ plan on Thursday was not unexpected, but it leaves a nation in deep worry and EU in more confusion. She has been given three days’ time to return to parliament with an alternative proposal, or Plan B. She might seek an extension of the deadline for exit by a few months, by which time some plan of action could be set in place to tackle related challenges. The worst scenario is UK leaving EU without signing a deal. Also, leaving Brexit would mean an end to the open borders system that was granted vis-à-vis the Irish peace process, under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. This could put Britain’s unity itself at stake.
Problems started in 2016 amid a row over UK’s role in EU, when David Cameron called a referendum on his nation leaving the EU, his own obvious line being for continuation with EU. People who voted for it, and against, later said they didn’t know what Brexit meant for the nation. A second referendum is what anti-Brexit lawmakers are demanding. Legally, UK is entitled to change its decision to leave EU – anytime before the March 29 deadline. Even this is not possible as such a referendum would require nearly six months’ time. The way forward for May, thus, is either to buy time with EU or go for a no-deal Brexit.