I work for a multinational company headquartered in Germany. They have facilities in the UK. In fact, a blockbuster product line is made in the UK. The regulatory compliance and logistics teams are pooping bricks over this.
Plans for a third vote on the deal have been derailed now that Speaker John Bercow has refused to allow another unless it is substantially changed, citing a 400-year-old convention that the same bill may not be voted on again in the same parliament after it has been defeated. Now one minister has suggested having a vote on whether to over-rule the Speaker and allow a third vote. I've never heard of this happening and I have no idea what would happen if they tried it. The Westminster system relies heavily on convention rather than black-letter rules.
Otherwise May is running out of options. A solution would be to dissolve the current parliament and hold an election, which would allow the bill to be presented again in the new one. But there's no guarantee the Government would be re-elected. The minor parties are pushing Corbyn on a second referendum.
The EU (or rather Commissioner Donald Tusk) has told the UK it can only have an extension if Parliament approves May's deal. The speaker has said the deal can't go up for a third vote unamended. I have no idea what will happen next.
It seems like it is a kareeming towards a hard Brexit that no one wants, but no one is willing to take steps to avoid.
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
The EU commission has agreed to extend Brexit to April 12 to give Parliament more time. The current option being mooted is that every MP will vote on their preferred outcome by ballot. If Parliament agrees to the deal, there were will be a further extension to May 22. There's speculation the Conservative backbench might accept the deal if May resigns, which is being discussed.
Any predictions as to what will ultimately happen? It's way beyond me!
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
We're witnessing the breakdown of England's political class.
With her Cabinet so denuded, is anything other than Brexit getting any attention? The business of government is collecting dust.
Is there a possibility that the Queen could step in and sack May, dissolve Parliament? There's no constitution to disallow it. Not that this would solve anything, but there seems no other path out of current chaos.
Typed on a tiny phone keyboard on Tapatalk - typos inevitable.
Mornings wouldn't suck so badly if they came later in the day.
So if I understand things as they stand now correctly, Parliament has taken control of the process from the government, but has now voted no on every alternative to May's plan, after twice rejecting May's plan, and May has offered to resign if they approve her plan on a third vote. And that somehow passing her deal would keep a customs union on the table. Is that basically accurate?
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
Today Parliament voted on 8 different solutions - cancelling Brexit outright, holding a second referendum, no deal, and five different Brexit models. All eight went down.