May’s manoeuvres feel like the last futile moves of a chess player in check while the UK heads for a catastrophic no deal
So here we are. The government seems to be headed towards a free vote on whether the country should leave Europe with no deal. This is, in case you are wondering, an insane situation. No deal would plunge the country into a state of emergency, cause medicine and food shortages, and the government is refusing to take a position on whether or not that should happen.
Here’s the timetable. On the 12 March, MPs will vote whether or not to back Theresa May’s deal. If it is voted down, on the 13 March there will be a vote on whether or not to leave the EU with no deal – a vote which, it is reported, the Tories will not whip, which means Conservative MPs do not need to vote along the party’s line. If the outcome is not to leave the EU, on the 14 March, MPs will decide whether to extend article 50, a vote which will either end in no deal, 29 March’s default outcome, or in a lengthening of the current state of affairs, which could still end in no deal. Let’s be clear: no deal is a situation the head of the Confederation of British Industry called a “threat to global stability” on Friday, and which medics have warned will cause thousands of British people to die.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2TzYwAt
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