Maybe I am simply in the thrall of the powerful emotions manifested by MPs in their debate on Friday, but their rejection of the Withdrawal Agreement just now feels the most significant event to date on the long and tortuous road to Brexit or revocation.
Because the EU just a week ago bent its rules to accommodate the Prime Minister’s request for a modest Brexit delay, and also tried to make it easier for her to ratify the deal by saying only the divorce part – the Withdrawal Agreement – would need MPs’ approval to secure a postponed Brexit date of May 22 for leaving the EU. Parliament has thrown the compromise offered by the EU’s 27 leaders back in their faces. That is why the president of the EU commission Jean-Claude Juncker and its Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier have just said that “a no-deal scenario on April 12 is a likely scenario”, for which the EU is “fully prepared”.
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