EU approves Brexit delay

More than 2 million people have signed an online petition urging the government to cancel Brexit, with support rocketing in the wake of Prime Minister Theresa May’s statement.

Background

On June 23rd, 2016, Britain narrowly voted to leave the European Union, stunning Europe and the world. The EU employs a set of policies for its 28-member states that aim to ensure the free movement of people, goods and trade among other services. Britain is deeply intertwined with the workings of the EU especially with regard to trade.

PM Theresa May’s leadership in the negotiations has been heavily criticised. She has been unable to form a consensus within the Parliament, or even her own party, for the course of Brexit. Her “directionless” leadership has not convinced most of her peers in Westminster and she was challenged by a no-confidence motion in early December 2018, which she narrowly won.

Despite her best efforts, the British parliament is not accepting the proposed Brexit agreement. Irrespective of whether they had arrived at a deal or not, the UK was officially set to leave on March 29, 2019.

Analysis

It is unclear what PM Theresa May had hoped to achieve from her address to the nation, in which she blamed members of Parliament for the impasse in the Brexit process and told those who voted to break with the EU she was on their side, it is unlikely she expected a slew of celebrities to urge their social media followers to oppose her plan.

Parliament’s petitions website repeatedly crashed as the number of signatures shot up — fueled by endorsements from singer Annie Lennox, actor Hugh Grant, science broadcaster Brian Cox and comedian David Mitchell.

“The rate of signing is the highest the site has ever had to deal with,” the House of Commons Petitions Committee said on Twitter. “Between 80,000 and 100,000 people have been simultaneously viewing the petition,” it said, “nearly 2,000 signatures are being completed every minute.”

The tally passed 1 million shortly before 3 p.m. London time Thursday after the link to the petition went viral on social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter. It passed 2 million just after 10:35 p.m. while EU leaders were locked in talks with May at a summit in Brussels, negotiating a delay to the divorce date. “The government repeatedly claims exiting the EU is ‘the will of the people,’ ” the text of the petition says. “We need to put a stop to this claim by proving the strength of public support now, for remaining in the EU.”

Any petition exceeding 100,000 signatures is eligible for debate by Parliament. It is then up to a special Petitions Committee comprised of rank-and-file lawmakers to decide whether one should be held. “I’ve signed. And it looks like every sane person in the country is signing too,” Grant wrote on Twitter. “National emergency. Revoke Article 50 and remain in the EU.”

Underlying data showed the most signatories coming from areas that supported remain in the 2016 referendum, including Edinburgh, London, Bristol and Cambridge. But there were also thousands of supporters in Leave-supporting areas such as northeast England, the Midlands and Wales.

Figures also showed signatories in countries around the world, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, suggesting not all may be U.K. voters. May’s office made clear that she has no intention of revoking Article 50 and keeping Britain in the EU.

“We have said probably 12,000 times in this room — and she has probably said thousands of times herself — that is something she is not prepared to do,” May’s spokeswoman, Alison Donnelly, told reporters at a briefing in Parliament. European Union leaders agreed on Thursday to delay Brexit until May 22 if British lawmakers approve the withdrawal deal brokered with the bloc.

Assessment

Our assessment is that the decision to extend the Article 50 deadline beyond March 29 was inevitable, based on the gross mismanagement of the negotiation process by PM May and her leadership team. We also feel that Theresa May, although safe from a leadership challenge for another year, may not necessarily be the PM much longer as Labour has made a vocal demand for another General election.

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