There is a rising chance of no deal—but in June, not March
The EU is ready to grant Britain more time. That may not be enough
A CLUE TO Theresa May’s Brexit tactics is her insistence that she is not running down the clock. For she is doing exactly that. This week she asked MPs for two more weeks to negotiate. Another vote on her Brexit deal may not be held before late March. That makes the EU summit on March 21st and 22nd the time for last-minute concessions—just a week before Brexit is due on March 29th. Amazingly, with more Commons votes due as we went to press, MPs now seem ready to wait until February 27th before trying again to stop a no-deal Brexit.
In Brussels the mood is bleak. Hopes of a Brexit reversal have faded. Yet diplomats cannot envisage substantive changes to the Irish “backstop” to avert a hard border by keeping Britain in a customs union, a main cause of MPs’ rejection of the deal last month. The withdrawal agreement that includes the backstop cannot be amended to include a time limit or an exit clause without undermining its purpose. Nobody wants to abandon Leo Varadkar, the Irish taoiseach. And after the past three months, trust in Mrs May has gone, making the backstop more needed than ever.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline "Crisis deferred, again"
Britain February 16th 2019
- Brexit has not caused much economic damage. Until now
- Britain’s post-Brexit trade plans are behind schedule
- There is a rising chance of no deal—but in June, not March
- The rise of the selectocrats in British politics
- Should the government determine what counts as quality journalism?
- Why you can cut off someone’s foreskin but not their nipple
- British doctors move to end their opposition to assisted dying
- Last days of the British Eurocrats
From the February 16th 2019 edition
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