Daily Times

Theresa May spent most of last month insisting that her Brexit deal was the only one on the table. Yet this week the British Prime Minister threw the ‘mother’ of all curveballs. For she has taken off the table parliamentary ratification until sometime next month. Simply because it would likely have suffered defeat before the House of Commons.

In a foolhardy bid to flee charges of pre-emptive democratic manipulation at home, the PM is now fliting from one European capital to the next. All in a futile attempt to renegotiate a set-in-stone deal. It is perhaps amongst the bitterest of ironies that the other 27 EU members are as steadfast in ruling this out as Mrs May’s own government is fragmented in their support of Brexit. Indeed, most of Brussels is now readying for a no-deal scenario.

Back at home, a vote of no confidence is in the offing. Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn has said that he will proceed with this after the rescheduled ratification ballot. He enjoys the support of the Liberal Democrats as well as the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP). This is to say nothing of Tory rebels. If the PM were unceremoniously dethroned two immediate possibilities lie ahead: Corbyn’s Labour party could form a minority government or else opt for snap elections.

All of which is to remind everyone that the entire Brexit fiasco was borne of the most extreme hubris. On the part of a political set-up, at the time led by David Cameron, that saw fit to hold an in-out referendum; with the public force-fed propaganda from both the Leave and Remain camps instead of on-the-record and open debate. When one of democracy’s first lessons teaches that the absence of an informed citizenry expedites state authoritarianism. Indeed, May only reluctantly agreed to publish the Brexit legal advice she and other ministers received after the government was found – in an historic and unwelcome first – in contempt of Parliament for having failed to do so.

There have been calls for a serious rethink of the entire project. After all, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) this week ruled that Westminster could unilaterally pull the plug on Brexit. Though the PM has pooh-poohed this option; preferring to cling on to the myth of upholding the peoples’ vote. Thus the best case scenario for the immediate-term would be to pursue the Corbyn plan. This would give Labour the chance to reach their own consensus on Brexit; which veers from renegotiating the deal and protecting the rights of EU nationals in Britain while securing access to the Customs Union and single market to all-out support for a second referendum. And all the while the clock is ticking towards the March 29, 2019 deadline.

Given that neither the ruling party nor the opposition are in absolute agreement within their respective ranks – the best thing to do might be to go ahead and cancel Brexit and start again. For either way, the country has lost its reputation as a trusted trade partner; while its democratic tradition rapidly unravels before the world. In the meanwhile, Britain might want to add Cameron and May to a list of contemporary premiers — hitherto monopolised by Tony Blair — who have brought untold disgrace to the country. *

Published in Daily Times, December 12^th 2018.