That is the question in Great Britain these days. Or as Theresa May put it after her Brexit deal had failed to get the approval of the British parliament on january 15th: „It is clear that the house does not support this deal but tonight‘s vote tells us nothing about what it does support. Nothing about how or even if it intends to support the decision the British people took in a referendum parliament decided to hold.“
Listen to the speech here.
Despite the most devastating vote in Britain‘s political history for a prime minister, only a day later Theresa May has won the following no-confidence vote by 325 to 306 votes, giving her a chance to present her asessment of the situation defining six key issues: The UK leaving without a deal, a second referendum, the Northern Ireland backstop, the future relationship after leaving, the maintaining of social and environmental standards and last but not least: confirmation of the statuses of EU citizens in the UK and UK citizens in the EU.
Theresa May’s speech in full length.
Theresa May’s new plan demands her going back to Brussels to renegotiate the backstop solution for Ireland. The EU on the other side of the table has already signalled that it is not open to new talks on this issue.
Meanwhile in the UK
The Daily Telegraph is appalled by attempts of EU-friendly British MPs to ensure that a hard Brexit is prevented by law if needed.
Whereas the Times commentator Daniel Finkelstein pragmatically calls for a second referendum.
Irish Fears
The Irish Independent fears the backstop will be unaccetable for the British.