Celebration, Resignation as Britain leaves the EU on Brexit Day

The U.K. finally left the EU after 47 years of membership, marking one of the biggest political and economic shifts in modern European history. Brexit brings about the end of a tumultuous three-and-a-half year departure process that has caused turmoil in the U.K.’s political establishment, economic uncertainty and heightened tensions between the U.K. and the EU — its largest single trading partner as a bloc. The departure on January 31 also marks the start of a “transition period” in which the U.K. remains a member of the single market and customs union and begins negotiations with the EU to strike a free-trade deal. During the transition period, the U.K. will not have voting rights on EU matters but will still be bound by EU rules. The U.K. government has set an ambitious (and some say, unviable) deadline of the end of 2020 in which a deal must be reached, otherwise it will leave the single market with “no deal” and will have to revert to World Trade Organization rules.

The road to Brexit : Britain is leaving the European Union

Britain will officially depart from the European Union, 1,317 days after voting in favor of leaving the bloc in a referendum that plunged the country into a three-year-long debate over its future. While this will be the official end of 47 years of Britain’s membership in what became the European Union, very little is set to change immediately. It’s the beginning of a transition period, scheduled to end on Dec. 31, during which London and Brussels must hash out the details of Britain’s future relationship with its European neighbors. Still, the moment carries enormous legal and symbolic weight. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his cabinet began their day with a meeting in Sunderland, the city in northern England that was the first to announce it had voted in favor of leaving the European Union on the night of the 2016 referendum. It was the first of a handful of celebratory, but noticeably muted, official events to mark the day, suggesting that a pro-Brexit government is seeking to avoid the appearance of gloating. In the referendum, 48 percent of voters wanted to remain part of the European Union, and later polls suggest that number may have grown since.

Flags will line Parliament Square and The Mall, the ceremonial avenue leading to Buckingham Palace, and government buildings will be lit up in the red, white and blue of the Union Jack. A countdown clock will be projected onto the front of 10 Downing Street, the prime minister’s official residence, along with a commemorative light display to “symbolize the strength and unity” of the four nations of the United Kingdom, the government said.

Courtesy : NY Times

Massive march against Brexit in London

Hundreds of thousands of people opposed to Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union marched through central London to demand a new referendum as the deepening Brexit crisis risked sinking Prime Minister Theresa May’s premiership. Hundreds of thousands of protesters marched through London in a last-ditch, long-shot effort to reverse Britain’s looming split from the European Union, calling on lawmakers to heed the enormous anger among pro-Europeans and break the political stalemate by holding a second referendum.

The protesters, some of whom traveled for hours on buses and trains, set off from Hyde Park holding placards that nodded at their European roots — “50 percent French, 50 percent British, 100 percent European,” one boy’s sign read — and employed a bit of British understatement — “Brexit really not going well, is it?” read another. The crowd — organizers estimated a million people turned out, though there was no way to independently confirm it — clogged vast stretches of central London, with thousands of people still waiting to begin marching by the time those at the front of the rally were filling Parliament Square.

Brexit turmoil hits the streets

People in the United Kingdom stage rallies for and against Brexit as Prime Minister Theresa May postpones a parliamentary vote on her EU divorce deal.  British Prime Minister Theresa May was on Wednesday to face a vote of no-confidence by MPs in her party over her handling of negotiations with the European Union about Britain’s exit from the bloc. The head of a Conservative Party committee in charge of organizing no-confidence motions in the party leadership said he had collected the 48 letters of lawmakers necessary to trigger the vote. “The threshold of 15% of the parliamentary party seeking a vote of confidence in the leader of the Conservative Party has been exceeded,” Graham Brady, head of the 1922 Committee, said in a statement.

“In accordance with the rules, a ballot will be held between 1800 and 2000 (GMT) on Wednesday 12th December,” he added. “The votes will be counted immediately afterwards and an announcement will be made as soon as possible in the evening.” A wing of the most ardent critics of the European Union in May’s party have been collecting letters calling on her to resign for some months. But May’s decision on Monday to postpone a parliamentary vote on her draft withdrawal agreement with the European Union that she was certain to lose sparked anger among many MPs. Several past members of May’s government — including former Foreign Minister Boris Johnson — have had their eyes on the post of prime minister. If May survives the motion, no second one can be taken by party members for another year. Several top members of her Cabinet quickly rallied to her support.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What’s going on with Brexit and Theresa May?

People in the United Kingdom stage rallies for and against Brexit as Prime Minister Theresa May postpones a parliamentary vote on her EU divorce deal. Facing almost certain defeat, British Prime Minister Theresa May postponed a vote in Parliament on her Brexit deal, saying she would go back to European Union leaders to seek changes to the divorce agreement. May’s move threw Britain’s Brexit plans into disarray, intensified a domestic political crisis and battered the pound. With EU officials adamant the withdrawal deal was not up for renegotiation, the country does not know on what terms it will leave — and whether May will still be Britain’s leader when it does.

In an emergency statement to the House of Commons, May accepted that the divorce deal she struck last month with EU leaders was likely to be rejected “by a significant margin” if the vote were held Tuesday as planned. May said she would defer the vote so she could seek “assurances” from the EU and bring the deal back to Parliament. She did not set a new date for the vote. The U.K.’s departure is supposed to take place on March 29. Opposition lawmakers — and ones from May’s Conservative Party — were incredulous and angry. Some accused her of trampling on parliamentary democracy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UK General Election : Theresa May v Jeremy Corbyn

The United Kingdom general election of 2017 is taking place on 8 June 2017. Each of the 650 parliamentary constituencies will elect one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons, the lower house of Parliament. In line with the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, an election had not been due until 7 May 2020, but a call by Prime Minister Theresa May for a snap election received the necessary two-thirds majority in a 522-to-13 vote in the House of Commons on 19 April 2017.

The Conservative Party, which has governed since 2015 (and as a senior coalition partner from 2010), is defending a majority of 12 against the Labour Party, the official opposition. The third largest party, the Scottish National Party, won 56 of the 59 Scottish constituencies in 2015. The Liberal Democrats and the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party are the fourth and fifth largest parties, with 9 and 8 seats respectively.

Negotiation positions following Britain’s invocation of Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union in March 2017 to leave the EU featured in the election campaign, as did the regular major issues of the economy, education, jobs and the NHS. Following a bombing in Manchester and a terrorist incident in London, leading to temporary campaign suspensions from 23 to 24 May and on 4 June respectively, national security became a particularly prominent election issue. Opinion polling for the popular vote since the election was called gave May’s Conservatives a lead over Labour led by Jeremy Corbyn, although their lead narrowed significantly over the course of the campaign.