Daily Times

Britain’s Parliament is crumbling – shored up by scaffolding, patched by endless repairs. And after a week of upheaval over Brexit in the House of Commons and angry exchanges on the streets outside, Britain’s democratic system is looking a bit shaky, too.

In the Commons chamber, Prime Minister Theresa May suffered the biggest defeat in Parliament’s history over her European Union divorce deal, narrowly survived a no-confidence vote the next day and was left scrambling for a workable new Brexit plan.

Outside, rival protesters sounded off and squared off, with some aiming angry shouts of “traitor” at their opponents.

Brexit has divided Britain, and left the country’s democratic system battered, if not broken.

“We have become an international laughing stock: anxious, angry, uncertain, divided,” opposition Labour Party lawmaker Chris Bryant said during Tuesday’s EU debate, lamenting that politicians had “squandered two years” arguing about Brexit.

“Party politics has failed,” Bryant said.

Soon after he spoke, lawmakers rejected the deal May’s government had painstakingly negotiated with the EU by 432 votes to 202, the biggest margin of defeat any British government has ever suffered.

The next day, Parliament held a no-confidence vote in the government called by Labour. May sat stony-faced as Labour deputy leader Tom Watson savagely said she lacked “the empathy, the ability and, most crucially, the policy to lead this country any longer.”

Published in Daily Times, January 20^th 2019.