Westminster, Brussels await Brexit uncertainty from Downing Street
As Westminster and Brussels sit back and watch the spectacle that is Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the premiere scrambles to bring life back to his failed Brexit.
The President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, on Tuesday expressed solidarity with the UK House of Commons in trying to prevent Britain from crashing out of the European Union – something Mr. Johnson had promised to do by October 31.
Last week, Boris Johnson sent three letters to the EU: one (not signed by him) asking to delay Brexit; the second making clear the first is from Parliament and not the Government; and the third urging Brussels not to grant the extension.
However on Tuesday, Mr. Tusk confirmed the EU would grant a Brexit delay, with terms of the extension to be detailed following word from Westminster.
His remarks come after Boris Johnson paused his Brexit deal when MPs refused to fast-track it.
“Following PM’s decision to pause the process of ratification of the Withdrawal Agreement, and in order to avoid a no-deal #Brexit, I will recommend the EU27 accept the UK request for an extension,” Tusk tweeted. “For this I will propose a written procedure.”
According to The Guardian, Mr. Johnson was expecting MPs to accept an “accelerated timetable, one that would cram line-by-line scrutiny of a 110-page bill giving legal effect to a 585-page withdrawal agreement, into 48 hours.”
Boris Johnson wanted to stop Parliament’s period of scrutiny “because he fears that the threadbare coalition that might exist to back his deal will unravel once it engages in closer examination of the withdrawal agreement,” The Guardian detailed.
The UK premiere had promised to “definitely be leaving the EU with this deal,” but this time he was careful to omit the 31 October deadline.
The PM now has a pretext to grab an early election framed around a campaign of Parliament rejecting his EU-approved deal, as a battle to get Brexit done, with him as the people’s so-called saviour pitted against those who had nothing to offer but unknowns.
The European Union and Westminster, however, are witnessing Mr. Johnson lose to himself, a failure in his promise to be “dead in a ditch” rather than delay Brexit. He could not meet his self-imposed 31 October deadline. And now he has suspended his deal.
Remo Newton, Political Commentator
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