THAT THERE MAY BE A FAIRER SOCIETY IN GHANA - ONE IN WHICH ALL THE PEOPLE, NOT JUST A POWERFUL AND GREEDY FEW, BENEFIT FROM THE NATION'S WEALTH!
Wednesday 4 September 2019
Bloomberg/Robert Hutton and Tim Ross: Wounded Johnson’s Brexit Plan in Tatters as Election Fight Looms
Bloomberg
Politics
Robert Hutton and Tim Ross
Updated on
MPs voted 328 to 301 for first step to block no-deal Brexit
Corbyn says he’ll back election when no-deal split ruled out
Johnson Says U.K. Government Is Proposing a Motion for General Election
Johnson Says U.K. Government Is Proposing a Motion for General Election
Follow @Brexit, sign up to our Brexit Bulletin, and tell us your Brexit story.
U.K.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson began moves to trigger a snap general
election after suffering a humiliating defeat for his Brexit strategy
that left his ruling party in tatters.
A
fresh poll to choose a new government would mark the climax of the
political chaos that has engulfed Britain for the past three years since
the country voted narrowly to leave the European Union in a referendum
in 2016.
That Brexit vote ended the premiership of David Cameron and
the failure to deliver on it saw his successor, Theresa May, forced out
in July. Now after only six weeks in the top job, Johnson himself is
staring into the abyss, with Brexit divisions shredding his Conservative
administration.
Boris Johnson on Sept. 3.
Source: UK Parliament
On Tuesday, he lost his ruling majority
when one of his own Tory MPs defected to join the Liberal Democrats.
Six hours later, Johnson’s first test in a Commons vote ended in a heavy
and damaging defeat. He retaliated by firing rebels from his party.
Members of the House of Commons voted 328 to 301
to take a crucial first step toward forcing the prime minister to delay
Brexit by three months in an effort to stop a no-deal split. It’s a
delay he has repeatedly rejected under all circumstances.
In
all, 21 Conservatives defied Johnson and voted against him, effectively
sacrificing their careers in politics as his officials immediately
began expelling the rebels from the party for failing to obey the
premier’s orders. Rebels punished in this way included former Chancellor
Philip Hammond.
Johnson warned his enemies that if they do not back down on Wednesday, he will go further and try to break up Parliament to trigger a general election.
But that too could backfire: He needs the support of the
opposition Labour Party for an election, and he may not get it. What
happens now depends on events in Parliament in the hours ahead.
On
Wednesday, Johnson’s opponents will seize control of the Commons agenda
and put forward their own draft law that would force him to delay
Brexit until Jan. 31. They are trying to stop him from carrying out his
threat to take Britain out of the EU without a divorce agreement if
necessary on Oct. 31, fearing that a no-deal split would be economically disastrous.
Rapid Escalation
Johnson says his critics are "on the brink of wrecking any deal that we might be able to strike."
If
the Commons votes to pass the Brexit delay law, there will be no choice
but to go to the voters in the country and ask them to choose a new
government to negotiate with the EU at a key summit next month, Johnson said.
“I
don’t want an election, the public don’t want an election,” he told
Parliament on Tuesday. “But if the House votes for this Bill tomorrow,
the public will have to choose who goes to Brussels on Oct. 17 to sort
this out.”
To get an
election, Johnson needs two-thirds of all MPs -- 434 of them -- to vote
with him for a poll. Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn told the prime
minister he could have the election if he first let the rebel bill pass
into law. That’s a deal that Johnson might well take: If he wins a
majority in the election, he will be able to repeal the law.
The
pound see-sawed through the day Tuesday as it became clear Johnson’s
attempt to scare Conservatives into submission and to stop Parliament
from giving him instructions had backfired.
Johnson insists he needs to keep the option of a no-deal
divorce on the table as leverage during negotiations. But European
officials say the U.K. has brought no credible ideas to the table and
they worry that Johnson has an eye on the election and wants to scapegoat the EU.
Tuesday
evening saw emotional moments, as the rebels prepared to cast what they
knew would be their final votes as Conservative MPs. Former minister
Stephen Hammond shook hands with a colleague who wasn’t rebelling before
setting off to defy his leader. As the evening closed, Conservative
Party whips were calling the 21 rebels and telling them they were no
longer Tory MPs.
Johnson, who started the day with 311 MPs and a
majority of one, finished it with 289, very much the leader of a
minority government. Even if there isn’t a vote for an election this
week, with numbers like this, a poll will have to come soon.
Embattled leader makes about-face on key protester demand
Broader movement against Beijing’s rule expected to continue
Carrie Lam, plans to formally withdraw the controversial extradition bill. Bloomberg’s Stephen Engle reports.
Hong Kong’s embattled leader, Carrie Lam, formally
withdrew legislation to allow extraditions to China, a political retreat
that may help ease -- but not end -- months of unrest in the Asian
financial hub.
Lam announced the move in a televised address
Wednesday, after a meeting with pro-establishment politicians including
local legislators and the city’s representatives to national
legislative bodies. She also pledged an independent study of the
government’s performance and reaffirmed her commitment to reviewing the
police actions -- while saying she couldn’t accept other protester
demands such as dropping rioting charges against demonstrators.
No comments:
Post a Comment