3 Sep, 2019
The Parliament’s vote to open debate on a motion blocking a no-deal Brexit leaves the UK in a state of chaos not seen since World War II, former MP George Galloway has told RT.
The step closer to blocking a no-deal Brexit “effectively takes the Brexit process out of the hands of [Prime Minister] Boris Johnson” and places it in the hands of the opposition and the Tory rebels, the former MP told RT following the vote on Tuesday.
The 328-301 vote was not a victory for Johnson’s government, and according to Galloway, a sign that tomorrow’s vote could mark “two government defeats over Brexit in two consecutive days, largely at the hands of their own rebels.”
The Parliament will vote on Wednesday to determine whether a no-deal Brexit will be permitted, and whether a general election will be held next month.
“It is chaos in Parliament. Britain is effectively now ungoverned just weeks before we’re supposed to leave the European Union… Not since Hitler was at the Channel ports in 1940 and Chamberlain was brought down and replaced by Sir Winston Churchill has Britain been in a more chaotic and precarious place.”
Meanwhile, the pro-Remain Parliament is almost guaranteeing they’ll get the worst possible deal, journalist Neil Clark told RT, noting that “it’s just basic common sense that if you’re going to any negotiations…and you tell the person you’re negotiating with that you will in no circumstances leave without a deal, then you’re not likely to get a very good deal, because there’s no incentive for the other side to make concessions.”
Clark sees the conflict as a clash between direct democracy – the 2016 referendum that gave the country Brexit in the first place – and the indirect democracy of a pro-Remain Parliament.
“Time after time in our history, and particularly in recent years, we’ve seen Parliament actually subverting what the public wanted, whether it’s war with Iraq…whether it’s privatization, issue after issue Parliament has taken a different line on things than the public.”
“I think people have had enough in Britain. People are sick of this. People just want Brexit to happen… Even Remainers I think are the same – they just want this to be finished off now, it’s gone on far too long.”
While polls show Johnson’s government is “not terribly popular, the opposition Labour party is even less popular,” journalist George Szamuely told RT. As long as the Conservatives form some kind of “tactical alliance” with the Brexit Party in order to avoid facing off against each other during the general election, Johnson is likely to come out on top – especially as he has “withdrawn the whip from everybody who has voted against the government” on Brexit, Szamuely predicted. “He’s gambling everything on the general election.”
Published at https://www.rt.com/uk/467914-parliament-brexit-vote-galloway/