A parliament in paralysis. No leadership. Ask the people
In less than eight weeks, Britain will crash out of the EU by default, if nothing changes. Yet the desperate absence of political leadership on the single most important political issue for decades is, if anything, getting worse. The prime minister continues to be held hostage by the rump of hard Eurosceptics in her party, last week voting to trash the exit deal she spent months negotiating for the sake of an inconsequential sliver of Tory unity. Jeremy Corbyn continues to do all he can to avoid taking a Brexit position grounded in reality, while looking the other way as some of his MPs attempt to strike shabby cash-for-support deals with Theresa May.
There were some green shoots of leadership in evidence last week, but they came from the backbenches. A cross-party amendment by Yvette Cooper and Nick Boles would have paved the way for MPs to authorise the government to seek an article 50 extension if no exit deal were in place by the end of February. Another, from Dominic Grieve, would have set up a series of indicative votes on the various Brexit options over the next few weeks. Neither amendment asked MPs to commit to a firm Brexit position; they were simply seeking a route out of the stasis that has enveloped the Commons. Yet, despite the fact that they voted for a symbolic amendment against a no deal, MPs voted down both of these amendments. Parliament is apparently against no deal, but unwilling to sanction anything that could prevent it.
Continue reading...from The Guardian http://bit.ly/2HKVV1F
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