THE PM BRINGS THE HOUSE DOWN IN A RECORD DEFEAT

Record breaking defeat and further self-inflicted humiliation for the 'Empress with no clothes'.

By Jon James

Having suffered one of the largest parliamentary defeats in modern times the Prime Minister seems to be in denial and quite oblivious to the chaos happening around her. How much more humiliation and embarrassment will the nation be forced to endure just to keep the Conservative Party from imploding

The Party of 'business and a strong economy' continues to put Party before country as it ploughs on in its forlorn attempts to achieve the irreconcilable within it own ranks. Meanwhile the damage to our economy continues as business unwilling to risk a disorderly Brexit ramps up their plans to shift its activities and assets out of the UK.

After more than two and half years of shambolic negotiations, primarily with her own party, Prime Minister May; still trapped by her own red lines, has finally decided to consult, first with her own backbenchers and the DUP and then with the other senior parliamentarians but only those who are prepared to help meet her objective. So that seemingly rules out the Lib Dems,SNP and Greens and apparently Jeremy Corbyn too.

With Jeremy Corbyn clearly set on leaving Europe one can only hope that all the moderate forces inside the Labour Party start behaving like a proper opposition and demand that Theresa May either abandons her red lines or calls time on further attempts to tinker with the failed Deal or revokes Article 50. If the latter is not palatable we could but hope that a majority of Labour MPs recognise the damage that any arrangements for leaving the EU would do to the country, step out of their party straight jacket and join their colleagues call for a Peoples Vote.

As for the party of Government there is little hope that they will ever resolve their differences over Europe. The extreme right wing will never accept the UK having any role in a European Union. Their answer is for the UK to break from 40 years of shared peace and prosperity and trade on WTO rules. For them any attempt towards a soft Brexit or the revoking Article 50 will result in a terminal split in the Party. On the other side many pro remain Tory MPs have declared that they will resign if there is No Deal and every chance of a split from the centre.

This is the cause and effect of the present shambles culminating last evening with a parliamentary defeat of epic proportions. The UK is now set for a No Deal on 29th March. Agreeing a new withdrawal deal and passing all the necessary legislation before the end of March is now near impossible. Extending Article 50 is in the gift of all 27 EU States and the EU have indicated that it cannot be used to just delay or renegotiate the withdrawal agreement and would only be agreed for a short specific purpose such as a General Election or a new Referendum. With new European elections looming it is difficult to see any extension going beyond a couple of months.

Former Prime Minister Cameron says he has no regrets over the 2016 referendum. A referendum, launched to quell the anti-EU forces in his own party and fight off UKIP, which has divided the nation for a generation, unleashed the forces of hate, caused long term damage to our economy, frozen areas of government and seen thousands of urgently needed skilled and talented workers depart the UK.

For those who wish to blame the EU for the mess our country is in, remember who said that leaving would be easy, made promises made about diverting the UK contributions into our health service and how we could walk away and not have to pay the EU a penny for the contracts and commitments that we had entered into.

The Governments defeat in the House of Commons on 15th January 2019 by 230 votes would surely have been even larger had those in the Government pay had a free vote. There is clearly no consensus in Parliament about Brexit and no sign of there being one before 29th March. Parliament must take over, agree to ask for an extension of Article 50 to allow for a Peoples Vote or revoke article 50 and end uncertainty for everyone.

Footnote:

All three MPs in the East Suffolk Party 's area voted for the 'Deal' along with four of the five Suffolk MPs

Suffolk Coastal: Dr Therese Coffey

Waveney: Peter Aldous

Central Suffolk & N Ipswich: Dr Daniel Poulter

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