Apparently a request for a long delay has been cancelled!

Good news that maybe the Prime Minister has now understood she must not ask for a long delay.

This site called it a “phantom” proposal in a recent post, as it never seemed a realistic option.

200 Comments

  1. Ian wragg
    March 20, 2019

    She’s probably going to try and revoke Article 50.

    1. javelin
      March 20, 2019

      Quick IQ test

      Q. Please add up the following

      Poll tax Riots +
      ERM Housing Bubble +
      LibDem Student Fees
      —————————

      —————————

      A. Brexit No Deal not delivered.

      1. Know-Dice
        March 20, 2019

        Javelin,

        I think your calculation is correct, Mrs May’s calculation will be to take the route that causes the least political damage [from where we are now] rather than what is best for this Country.

        The EU say they will do what is best for the EU 27, but Mrs May right from her Lancaster House speech said “no one will be better off, no one will be worse off” rather than “I will do what is in the best interests of the UK”.

        1. Lifelogic
          March 20, 2019

          She has caused massive political damage she does not understand the huge anger she is causing by her betrayal and her daft essentially socialist agenda in almost every daft, tax and regulate to death, policy that she and hammond pushes.

        2. rose
          March 20, 2019

          I think she tried to negotiate an arrangement whereby we stayed in the EU without representation and without free movement.

        3. Hope
          March 20, 2019

          Why does May think anyone would beleive her latest lie of saying the UK would remain in the EU no longer than June after claiming 108 times to leave by 29/03/2019! She must be the biggest liar in history?

          JR, How do you think this reflects on your party?

          Grieve, who claims to be her friend, claims he could have wept!

          Irish PM announces before anyone else knows May will address nation tonight. Good grief choreographed or what. Even the BBC were flabbergasted by his announcement and before No. 10 confirmed!

          Suggest this is an EU/May collusion not negotiation.

      2. Julie Dyson
        March 20, 2019

        “A. Brexit No Deal not delivered.”

        Hmm, now where did I put my yellow vest?

        (Yes, it’s still going on over there, every weekend, after something like 18-19 weeks — and this latest weekend was as bad as it’s been since December. Good luck finding much coverage of this ongoing turmoil over here, though… maybe someone doesn’t want to give our own extremely angry populace any wild French ideas? No riots please — we’re British!)

        1. James Bertram
          March 20, 2019

          Julie – I just picked this up off the @ActionBrexit twitter site – a post by Diana Harding:
          ‘Just caught the end of Baroness Wheatcroft on @LBC telling @NickFerrariLBC that 17.4 million leavers should accept they’ve lost the argument & should accept remaining in the EU. “It’s not as if we will see riots” We’re not that type of people”
          Arrogance of the first order!’

          Hmm, now where did I put my yellow vest?

        2. Gary C
          March 20, 2019

          Yes it is coming up to week 19 and it’s been reported the French have been using chemicals on the protesters, the very fact this is not on our front pages or indeed the BBC is proof of a cover up.

          Doing a search for French riots does get some results and no doubt social media would too.

        3. Lifelogic
          March 20, 2019

          Indeed it sounds fairly dire in Paris I hear. Yet nothing much on BBC and MSM about it. Endless green crap and anti-Brexit propaganda though.

      3. Hope
        March 20, 2019

        May is causing business and the economy vast sums of money and uncertainty because she will not accept leaving the EU. The will of the public and democracy demands it. Those MPs opposed should stand aside or be locked up. The swamp needs clearing.

        1. Peter
          March 20, 2019

          It is about May surviving now. Long delay would see her ousted. Short delay means less chance of that. When the few months are up she might try to pull another stroke. Classic can kicking.

          Of course EU may not grant an extension.

          If they do, the Withdrawal/Survival Agreement will still need to be voted down – if she manages to present it again. Best option is decent Leave ‘Spartans’ triggering a General Election with Labour support.

          ‘Drain the swamp’ seems the best way to proceed.

      4. Merlin
        March 20, 2019

        My fear is that we will end up with major public unrest if Brexit is not delivered – as people who voted leave will be furious Brexit hasn’t been delivered.

        Also that we will end up with major public unrest if we end up going with No Deal – as people who voted on both sides will be furious because they never voted for ‘no deal’.

        I’m not defending either side. Merely pointing out that the situation appears to have become very messy indeed.

        1. Edward2
          March 20, 2019

          “They never voted for no deal”
          Firstly, we voted to leave the EU
          Secondly, the Withdrawal Agreement is not a deal.

        2. sm
          March 20, 2019

          Merlin – I appreciate the fact that although you disagree with many of us on this forum, you are polite. May I follow your lead therefore, and simply point out the illogicality of saying ‘they never voted for No Deal’.

          As you know, there wasn’t a multiplicity of options on the ballot paper; there was a multiplicity of opinions, both before and after, and each of us have our own preferences and indeed prejudices.

        3. L Jones
          March 20, 2019

          We did NOT vote for ”a deal” either. When will you people just accept that there were two choices:
          Leave the EU
          Remain in the EU
          with no qualifications, no conditions, no reservations.
          I think remainers believed that ‘remain’ meant ”remain in the EU just as it is now, with no changes cos we like it that way, ie the status quo.”

          There was no need for it to be ”messy” and it can still be cleaned up if ALL remainers would now support their own country for a change instead of the EU. There would be no call for ”public unrest” then.

          1. Merlin
            March 21, 2019

            Just to be clear.

            I want us to leave the E.U. I am not a Remainer.

            It is not a crime to want us to leave in an orderly way.

          2. David Price
            March 21, 2019

            @Merlin “I want us to leave the E.U. I am not a Remainer.”

            You are fibbing.

            http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2019/03/16/remain-appeals-to-democracy-whilst-disagreeing-with-its-findings/#comment-1003685

            “please stop being so tribal. I am a Remainer …”

            http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2019/03/03/why-a-second-referendum-would-be-a-disaster-2/#comment-999934

            “… I voted Remain …”

            Either get your stories straight or stop using the internet, it has a memory and a search function.

        4. Merlin
          March 20, 2019

          And yes, as somebody responded yesterday, there’s no putting the genie back in this bottle.

          Whoops.

        5. Den
          March 20, 2019

          It’s only a mess because Mrs May has made it so. She should have made OUR Leaving THE TOP priority and just left as we voted. Sure, there needed to be arrangements made beforehand which should have been achieved within 6 months if we had professionals doing the jobs. And that is where we have failed. We, the public, have for decades elected those politicians who have never had a proper job in their lives.
          We should have left in 2016 and then negotiated with the EU. It was the sign of a novice in charge, when she decided to negotiate first, then leave, even when Brussels told her that leave first is what they wanted. Duh! We are still waiting!

        6. roger parkin
          March 20, 2019

          We weren’t asked at the referendum our opinion on whether we should have a ‘Deal’ or not just whether we wanted to ‘Remain’ or ‘Leave’ Full stop End of.

          1. Merlin
            March 21, 2019

            I agree. And we’re paying the price now.

        7. Dennis Zoff
          March 20, 2019

          Merlin

          Well, then so be it, if we are to have a mess, let’s ensure it is the Democratic one chosen by the majority of the people, Brexit.

          When the dust has settled we will be out of the EU clutches and the Remainers can whine as much as they wish, for it will be of little consequence.

          1. Merlin
            March 21, 2019

            I disagree. I think the day we leave, the campaign to rejoin the E.U will begin.

            And the roles will be reversed. The Brexiteers will have to defend the success of Brexit, while the Remainers can come up with any argument they like.

        8. rapscallion
          March 20, 2019

          Those who voted to leave, voted to do just that, as per Cameron’s pamphlet, that is to say leaving ALL of it, which ipso facto is No Deal.
          Leave won. It’s only the remoaners who will be furious, but they’ve already lost the democratic vote.

        9. JoolsB
          March 20, 2019

          How do you know people never voted for no deal? Many voted for a clean break from the EU and now thanks to the shenanigans of May and a mostly remain parliament no deal now seems the only option to deliver on what we voted for. It’s also becoming the popular option with many of the public especially Tory grass roots.

          1. Merlin
            March 21, 2019

            Great. Then let’s have a vote on it.

            I bet more support Remain.

          2. Edward2
            March 21, 2019

            We waited over 40 years for a vote on the EU.
            It would be fair if you remain pro EU supporters waited another 40 years for a vote to re join.

    2. Hope
      March 20, 2019

      May already sharing the publics,frustration that parliament could not make a decision! This woman has no shame or sense of responsibility. May has failed to deliver Brexit. Y the date she promised, by her personalised manifesto, Lancaster speech. May accept you have misled, misinformed and lied. You have humiliated our country in the yes of the world. For gods sake go.

      The County despairs why May remains in office. JR, bring this government down. I cannot stand another minute of May in office.

      1. Hope
        March 20, 2019

        If any Tory MP is stupid enough to vote for her servitude plan think how phase two will go as it is already choreographed. May will be leading this phase as the EU stated it will start phase two immediately! How disastrous that would be.

        Her servitude plan was incrementally made ratcheting towards where it is now with her threats, blackmail, harangue and all the broke promises she made someone else’s fault!

        US and Australia in utter disbelief, Holland Pam saying she is like something in a Monty Python sketch, EU commissars knowing what a disaster she is. No deal not an option for her, not leaving not an option for her and she is then leading phase two! What could go wrong!

        1. Tad Davison
          March 20, 2019

          Surely by now the Parliamentary Conservative Party can see that May’s word is not worth a candle?

          As things stand, I’d go for Owen Paterson as a suitable person to replace her. He’s articulate and on the right side of the fence, but any new leader would have a mountain of this present failed politician’s garbage and wreckage to get rid of in order to restore the party’s credibility.

          Perhaps that’s why possible candidates are shying away, because it is too big a task given all that has happened, and the erroneous direction of travel during the past thirty years. A disastrous period that began with the coup against Margaret Thatcher – and we all know who the pro-EU placeman was after that, and the wipe-out he went on to deliver in the 1997 election!

          History does have a habit of repeating itself, so Tories be warned!

          Maybe a party split is the only solution, with remain Tories drifting off and fading away to well-deserved isolation, obscurity and oblivion.

          Unless they put a true Brexiteer at the helm next time, they’re in grave danger of getting yet more of the same useless ineffectual nonentities, and a further decline. It is frustrating to see a once great party committing public electoral suicide, all for the want of the right people at the top with patriotism and guts, and the good of the people as their mantra.

          Tad

        2. ian wragg
          March 20, 2019

          She saved fishing, freedom of movement and Gibraltar so she had something to give away in phase 2. She really must think we are terminally stupid to accept her shenanigans.

    3. Mike Wilson
      March 20, 2019

      I do hope so. I am sick to death of this national humiliation.

    4. Lynn Atkinson
      March 20, 2019

      That will not fly! They dare not even attempt it!

    5. Al
      March 20, 2019

      It seems instead she will ask for a short delay, which will turn into a long delay because she “won’t quite have finished negotiations” by June 30th, and then probably September 30th, and so on.

      If, as she says, she won’t ask for a long delay because the country is fed up with waiting to leave, why can’t we simply leave on March 29th? It certainly make things easier for businesses outside the CBI.

    6. Onlyjoken
      March 20, 2019

      If the EU sets conditions on their agreement to May’s delay request, must not those conditions be agreed by Parliament before the request/acceptance is valid. And this must be agreed before 29th for the terms of Article 50 to be met. If not there will be a good legal case that we have in fact left on 29th whatever the parties claim. Some hope therefore.

    7. oldtimer
      March 20, 2019

      It provides space for a last ditch attempt to persuade the EU to offer a few more crumbs from their table that she can put a revised proposal to parliament next week. The reasons offered to the EU are obvious: parliament rejects the current deal and Bercow has ruled against putting it up for a third vote.

      As both Merkel and her Europe minister are explicitly opposed to, and probably terrified of, a no deal outcome May probably thinks she can get something.

      Failing that she can either blame Europe for not conceding a deal that can get through parliament or Bercow for denying a third vote on the current deal. That way she lives with a no deal outcome. The extra time will be used/needed for necessary legislation to implement it. Given a no deal outcome there is then the prospect of being able to implement the proposals advanced for WTO article 24 arrangements to be agreed for trade to continue as is for a period of time. Then again, pigs might fly!

    8. bigneil
      March 20, 2019

      Revoks Art 50? – she’s trying to revoke England.

      1. Billy Elliot
        March 20, 2019

        If revoking England saves UK I am ok with it.

    9. Lifelogic
      March 20, 2019

      Or she is just lying again. Depressing that Nadine Dorries have caved in already.

      Nadine seems to think May will be lauded & praised to the roof if she get the deal through! I rather doubt it and certainly it will not be for every long. Very soon people will realise what a disaster the deal it. She and the Tories will be blamed for it for evermore! It is even worse than Major entering the ERM and look what that did to the Tories for many terms.

    10. Julie Dyson
      March 20, 2019

      Interestingly, she has now written to Donald Tusk begging an extension of Article 50 until 30th June — a mere three months.

      She did however sign it, “Yours ever”…

      How telling.

      1. Julie Dyson
        March 20, 2019

        I also spotted this interesting little tidbit… Source: BBC News Website:


        In a letter to Mr Tusk on March 11, Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president, said that if the UK is still part of the EU at the end of May “it will be legally required to hold these elections, in line with the rights and obligations of all Member States as set out in the Treaties”.

        Has no one at 10 Downing Street actually mentioned this niggling little problem to the PM…?

        Roll on the EU elections!

  2. Fedupsoutherner
    March 20, 2019

    That is good news indeed. No delay should be the order of the day. Let’s leave. Every poll I have seen shows support for leaving without a deal. That should be leaving on WTO terms so in effect leaving with a clear plan as you have consistently pointed out. If the government have done their job properly there will be no cliff edge.

    1. Lifelogic
      March 20, 2019

      Indeed, but of course the May/Hammond government have totally failed to prepare for a WTO Brexit in an act of gross negligence. Even so we will be just fine, far better to leave without May’s expensive WTO straight jacket than with it.

      The people are right to support a WTO deal Brexit, despite all the absurd jumping off a cliff and project fear propaganda from government, remoaner politicians and BBC think types.

      1. eeyore
        March 20, 2019

        Don’t be so sure. There are thousands of pages of ND guidance on the internet, put out quietly by the Civil Service while the politicians have been wrangling.

        I hope a delay proposal will be debated in both Houses and the government forced to clarify what the costs are. I particularly fear for fishing and the status of Gibraltar, as well as for skipfuls of taxpayers’ cash.

      2. ChasE
        March 20, 2019

        Lifelogic..sorry to burst your bubble but this WTO is a myth, in fact Santa Claus is more real than WTO. That serious people, deluded people, would persist with this dream pipe is the startling surprise in all of this

        If we had a merchant navy with thousands of ocean going ships and hundreds of thousands of seafarers like we had in the 1950’s and 1960’s I would say yes we have a chance – but we havn’t – times have changed – but for a lot of us – our thinking has not caught up yet? we are caught in a time warp

      3. Timaction
        March 20, 2019

        They have had more than enough time to prepare. It was their plan all along to string us along and hope we’d forgotten their promise. Her WA is not leaving. She is an utter disgrace of a Prime Minister caught lying time and again and never brought to account by anyone or the collusive msm. Time for a vote of confidence, then a general election.

    2. Mike Wilson
      March 20, 2019

      It they haven’t done their job properly. Half in, half out – is much worse than remaining. We voted to LEAVE the EU but from the day after the referendum May has been trying to negotiate a deal that means we don’t actually leave. The Tories would not get rid of her. The Tories are to blame for this mess. Remaining is preferable to this farce. Revoke Article 50 and let’s get back to normal.

      1. bigneil
        March 20, 2019

        ” Remaining is preferable to this farce. Revoke Article 50 and let’s get back to normal.” ?? – and carry on being further controlled by Brussels? Paying ever increasing amounts daily while our services are cut? Accepting a constant flood of the 3rd world turning us into what they left and came here for a MUCH better life on our taxes?

      2. Lynn Atkinson
        March 20, 2019

        For almost 50 years we have been ruled by a foreign, unsackable power. We ruled ourselves for 750 years. We are going back to ‘normal’ – Government by Consent; the Rule of Law; capitalism as opposed to continental Corporatism which we all loathe!

      3. L Jones
        March 20, 2019

        What is ”normal”? Do you REALLY believe that the EU has a status quo? Do the words ”ever closer union” convey nothing to you?
        A farce, you say – yes, created by those people who never wanted to leave the EU. I would rather watch the unfolding of a ”farce” than see the dismantling of our country. A ”farce” can be remedied with goodwill and sense, AND the right people to do it.
        We would be remaining, if you had your druthers, on no terms that would accommodate OUR wishes – obviously. The EU would rub its sticky hands in glee. Though why you people can’t see that is anyone’s guess.

    3. L Jones
      March 20, 2019

      But they seem to have actually wanted a cliff edge, Fedup. Then they’d be vindicated. But with our economy still robust in the face of all these machinations, the ”cliff edge” will be shown to be an empty threat.

    4. Hope
      March 20, 2019

      It is not good news. May will carry on with her tin eared bone headed stance to blackmail, bully, harangue and force the country to accept her remain plan forever!

      May is humiliating our nation to blackmail our nation to remain in the EU by another name under two treaties that will last forever. Time to bring down the govt. for failing its main policy to the nation and betraying the democratic will of the people.

      May now trying to pass the blame to others! You could not make it up.

      1. Lifelogic
        March 20, 2019

        May, Hammond types (and Gove for knifing Boris) plus the speaker are almost entirely to blame. 17.4 million votes yet just these four can it seems fix it!

      2. Steve
        March 20, 2019

        Hope

        I think it more a case of this country being threatened and blackmailed by Tusk via May. She’s just a middleman / woman.

    5. acorn
      March 20, 2019

      You guys are going to be very disappointed when you find out that “leaving on WTO terms” means absolutely nothing. The UK has registered a schedule with the WTO, which is a cut and paste copy of our current EU schedule. All it does is publish to all other WTO members, the maximum ad-valorem tax (there are per kilo taxes as well), the UK will apply to imports and splits the TRQs between the UK and the EU. There are many objections from fellow WTO members so far.

      The “no-deal” WTO schedule, the UK has recently fabricated, is temporary; designed to control post Brexit “no-deal” imported inflation, which will otherwise upset Conservative voters at the very least. It can be unilaterally implemented, it will take time for WTO objectors to catch up with its impact on themselves.

      JR, just vote for May’s deal and get us the f*** out of the mess you and the ERG have created. BTW. Perhaps you should be thinking about properties in South America? 😉

      Repky We voted for Brexit so we can be better off out. Do stop irresponsible scare mongering

  3. GilesB
    March 20, 2019

    Hoorah!

    Please can she take her Deal off the table too?

    And confirm that legislation is needed to revoke Art 50.

    1. Vernon Wright
      March 20, 2019

      I’m still predicting, GilesB, that, within a week, perhaps a day, of the deadline, the notice lodged under Art. 50 will be rescinded. There will not be enough time for substantive legislation and I doubt that any provision exists for anything less; as the rescission must logically occur by 2259Z on the 29th. — it can hardly happen once Britain has already left — I assume that the ‘constitutional requirements’ mentioned by the E.C.J. in its recent judgment will be met by means of an order in Council.

      It has never been Mrs. May’s intention to deliver anything recognizable as Brexit — to that extent she may be said to have ‘succeeded’.

      ΠΞ

  4. Peter Wood
    March 20, 2019

    Good Morning,

    Leaving on the 29th March was a solemn promise from Mrs. May, right from the issue of the article 50 notice; surely it is time (long overdue) to have her leave. She is ridiculed by foreign leaders, disobeyed by her own cabinet and holds the confidence of no one. For the sake of our country, get her gone immediately.

    1. Norman
      March 20, 2019

      Like Mr Cameron before her, I believe Mrs May has, quite honourably, set herself an impossible task. Their direction of travel was doomed to fail, and their political careers certain to be ruined in the process. They have also been bedeviled, just as Trump now is, by the ‘Elephant in the Room’ – a radical socialist opposition. The problem is not democracy, but ideology.

    2. Mike Wilson
      March 20, 2019

      Not going to happen. Revoke Article 50 and let’s concentrate on making this country a better place to live.

      1. Roy Grainger
        March 20, 2019

        Revoking A50 will make the country a much less pleasant place to live given the extremist parties that will emerge, starting with the EU elections. And that will be your fault.

        1. JoolsB
          March 20, 2019

          Exactly. And imagine how much more unpleasant the bullies that are the EU would become if we begged them to stay. After the way the EU have treated us over Brexit, I am surprised people still want to remain.

      2. Rhoddas
        March 20, 2019

        Revoking A50 would obviate the need for a UK Parliament as EU Policy is to CONTROL ALL aspects of national government. We would only need regional assemblies for implementing EU laws and regulations. MPs and Lords members would be redundant, no bad thing I hear some say.

        The Houses of Parliament could be mothballed or turned into a Theme Park Attraction by Disney! Children could take selfie videos of themselves at the Despatch Box and show their friends where UK Democracy was held until 2019.

        So no, I disagree with revoking A50, we wouldn’t just be able to get on and make our lives better, as the EU would CONTROL. QED

  5. agricola
    March 20, 2019

    Perhaps Boris and Iain talked some sense into her. How much humiliation do we have to take ln her watch. Even three more months of talking heads on the box is too much.

    1. Andy
      March 20, 2019

      Didn’t you say you lived in Spain? No deal, of course, means you could be kicked out. Let’s hope.

      1. Roy Grainger
        March 20, 2019

        If Spain kick-out ex-pat Brits living there then it will be proof that we shouldn’t be members of an organisation of which Spain is also a member. Have you ever exercised your previous freedom of movement rights to live and work in another EU country Andy ? Thought not.

        1. Andy
          March 20, 2019

          Yes – I have actually. Twice. For a total of four years in two separate EU countries. . I came back to help care for my dying father. Since you asked.

          1. Anonymous
            March 20, 2019

            Sorry to hear that.

            I lost mine recently too.

      2. agricola
        March 20, 2019

        Only a dumbo would kick out the golden egg. Understand the Spanish economy. Their largest industry is tourism and that includes all those who live there. The largest segment of this economy is comprised of Brits. Only a really dumb Marxist/Socialist would jeopardise such a semi captive income stream. You here in the UK have an almost monopoly of such idiots.

        1. Richard
          March 20, 2019

          The loss of reciprocal health care Spain will force many to return home.

        2. graham1946
          March 20, 2019

          I think you just described Andy.

        3. rose
          March 20, 2019

          Spain were quick to make favourable arrangements for British expats and tourists after Brexit. Why would Andy want to insult them by suggesting otherwise?

        4. Andy
          March 20, 2019

          It is the hypocricy of you voting to remove a right from others which you have enjoyed yourself. The free movement of you is good – you assume. The free movement of others is bad – you also assume.

          I do not doubt that, overall, you are a drain on the Spanish state. And I also do not doubt that you have failed to fully integrate. Like most Brits you probably hang out with British friends on the Costa del Blighty. Your Spanish is almost certainly far from fluent. In other words you are all the things you object to in migrants to the UK.

          1. Edward2
            March 20, 2019

            Are you equally disdainful when Europeans who settle in the UK form their own communal groups?

          2. agricola
            March 21, 2019

            You have no idea how health care works or of the tax liabilities of UK citizens living in Spain. Check the legitimacy of where you paid your tax during your four years in the EU.

      3. Edward2
        March 20, 2019

        The UK government has already said EU citizens living and working here are welcome to stay.

        Andy, can you tell us if the EU has agreed a similar reciprocal agreement?

      4. Steve
        March 20, 2019

        Andy

        Reciprocal expat agreements were recently made with various countries.

        No expat is going to be kicked out of anywhere. You do talk a load of crap.

  6. Freeborn John
    March 20, 2019

    A short delay must be used for a leadership election; new leader, new deal. If nothing is done then a short delay will morph into a long delay into no Brexit as night follows day.

    1. Sir Joe Soap
      March 20, 2019

      No delay needed.

    2. Mike Wilson
      March 20, 2019

      Yeah! That’s just what we need. Farce on top of farce. What we need to do is forget Article 50, accept the national humiliation and destroy the Tory and Labour parties.

      1. Timaction
        March 20, 2019

        Agreed. The swamp needs a clear out. See you all in Parliament Square at 4pm on 29th March 2019. Enough is enough.

    3. Leslie Singleton
      March 20, 2019

      Dear John–I’m lost because I thought it obvious that the EU would want a long delay if only to avoid short term conflict with EU elections. As usual probably best simply to ignore what Mrs May says.

      1. Leslie Singleton
        March 20, 2019

        PS Meaning if there is to be a delay it will be the EU that decides how long and her request neither here nor there.

      2. graham1946
        March 20, 2019

        They don’t want a long one because of the EU elections. The last thing they want is another load of Farages giving them grief. They will do it by stages. First this short one, then another short one, ad infinitum.

    4. Lynn Atkinson
      March 20, 2019

      No delay at all is necessary. The People will demand that Leave WTO I on any referendum ballot and we will vote for that AGAIN and in bigger numbers, even the E.U. know that! May knows too else she would have opted for a second People’s Vote!
      And nobody dare even suggest revoking Article 50! Cannot be done!

    5. Longinus
      March 20, 2019

      New Tory Brexiteer leader that represents the party membership, general election to clear out the traitorous detritus, then leave on WTO-terms. Sounds good to me.

      1. Tad Davison
        March 20, 2019

        Count me in. If they make enough changes, I might lend them my vote, but boy do things need to be a whole lot different to what we’ve had for the last 30 years!

        The question is, can the Tories now change sufficiently into a proper Brexit party?

        I suppose it’s a bit like a classic car restoration. Outwardly, it looks like something that is worth salvaging. In anticipation, you take off a few bits of trim, only to find the body panels and sub-frames are so rotten, it is an uneconomic proposition.

        That is the size of the problem, but all the rot has come about because successive leaders have not taken proper care. A good responsible leader will look after every constituent part, not just the bits people can see. When an engine, tyres, brakes (the party membership) are making noises, it is irresponsible not to want to address the matter before the inevitable happens, but this present leader has just carried on driving the car into the ground.

        The day of reckoning is upon the Tory party and they must decide if it is worth saving, or consign it to the scrapyard. Maybe the next meeting of the 1922 back bench committee will enlighten us.

        Tad

  7. Martin Bowden
    March 20, 2019

    The Times front page says ‘ Brussels wants election or second referendum’.
    Sod Brussels, do what the British want – ‘Brexit’ on 29th Mar as promised
    !

    1. BCL
      March 20, 2019

      I too read the reports that the EU will request either a second referendum (and I assume a third and fourth if the second doesn’t go their way) or an election as the condition for a delay. I hope Mrs May will decline such a request, demonstrating as it would, the reason we should leave on the 29th March without a deal. The idea that the EU dictates when we hold a referendum or an election is abhorrent.

    2. L Jones
      March 20, 2019

      You’ve just said what many many of us are thinking. Why is it always ”the EU wants”, ”the EU will allow”, ”the EU expects”…….?
      As you say – b*gger the EU!

      1. Tad Davison
        March 20, 2019

        I agree, except that I would have chosen a different expletive and leave the EU in no doubt.

        Tad

    3. Mike Wilson
      March 20, 2019

      I’m sure Brussels would like the UK to just disappear. Why should they agree to an extension of this appalling farce. We have negotiated like wallies since the referendum. Just MAKE IT END! Revoke Article 50 and think of the last 3 years as a bad dream.

      1. Ian wragg
        March 20, 2019

        Dream on Barnier.

      2. R.S.Goodley
        March 20, 2019

        Or we could just leave on the 29th as per law.

      3. L Jones
        March 20, 2019

        ”A bad dream” you say? If we stayed in the EU now, as you obviously wish, you ain’t seen NOTHING.

    4. Lifelogic
      March 20, 2019

      Want and indeed were promised my May and her clear Manifesto.

      1. bigneil
        March 20, 2019

        “clear Manifesto ” – – it sure was – everyone of us could see straight through it.

  8. Roy Grainger
    March 20, 2019

    John. It is very loyal of you to persist in believing that what Mrs May says represents the truth. The rest of us know that we have to wait to see what actually happens, and the best guess of that is exactly the opposite of what she’s said.

    1. Denis Cooper
      March 20, 2019

      Indeed, excessive and unwarranted loyalty to the party leader on the part of Tory MPs has been one of the problems.

      1. Sir Joe Soap
        March 20, 2019

        It is indeed coming to the point where anyone tainted with being in the same party as this disastrous liar of a PM will be avoided. March 29 is the watershed in that respect.

        It’s obvious that her idea in asking for a short extension is to extend that. Like all liars, once the principle is invoked it becomes easier to continue with the lie.

      2. JoolsB
        March 20, 2019

        Exactly. Just as the majority of 650 EU loving remain MPs stupidly want to take our main card – no deal off the table, every Tory MP has said no matter how much May lies, humiliates and betrays the nation, not one of them would be willing to vote against her in a vote of no confidence meaning this deluded useless woman can carry on making a pig’s ear of Brexit and thwarting the will of 17.4 million people.

        A classic case of party before country!

  9. javelin
    March 20, 2019

    It appears that the UK motorways will be shut down on Friday in protest.

    How can you arrest people for travelling on the road at a reasonable speed.

    So much for No Deal causing chaos.

    Turns out the Withdrawal Treaty is going to cause chaos.

  10. Pominoz
    March 20, 2019

    How on earth could she have asked for a short deal with an option to extend?

    The EU would have laughed in her face. She has already made the UK the laughing stock of the world with her antics. I still feel she will try to get her WA through by some sort of act which does not even require parliamentary approval. God forbid.

    We must get out on WTO terms and an early formal announcement of the intention to pursue that route is essential. We should not learn how this dreadful saga will end only on Brexit day.

  11. Andy
    March 20, 2019

    Jobs have gone. Medicines have run short. The country is woeful unprepared and is run by donkeys.

    Those who have brought us to this will ultimately face justice and will spend their retirements in prison.

    1. Lynn Atkinson
      March 20, 2019

      Jobs at an all time high! The ÂŁ doing fantastically well consider we have whinging Carmel and Hammond militating against it. The economy an dthe people gearing up for a massive recovery – a Brexit Boom!

    2. Roy Grainger
      March 20, 2019

      Ha ha ha.

    3. Jagman84
      March 20, 2019

      Jobs gone? There are currently record levels of employment in the UK. Allied with a record low of people economically inactive. You live in a hate-filled dream world. Your ilk will be the ones looking over their shoulders.

    4. agricola
      March 20, 2019

      Out of work and no medication to keep you going, can we all look forward to a end to all your carping drivel.

    5. Dennisa
      March 20, 2019

      “Jobs have gone.”

      Doesn’t seem to be reflected in the latest job figures.

      “Medicines have run short.”

      Really? Hadn’t noticed.

    6. Anonymous
      March 20, 2019

      “Those who have brought us to this will ultimately face justice and will spend their retirements in prison.”

      Going to prison for telling the truth and upholding a democratic vote.

      You (and your bloody EU) all over.

    7. L Jones
      March 20, 2019

      Good grief, Andy. You must be reading something very different from the rest of us.

      Perhaps it’s something you wrote yourself in an idle moment when your brain was elsewhere. Because you obviously don’t get out much.

    8. M Davis
      March 20, 2019

      Andy, I believe you just love the sound of your own voice. Begone, you stupid man!

  12. David Price
    March 20, 2019

    But I suspect this u-turn was because the EU flatly refused immediately rather than any common sense or consideration of the UK people on May’s part.

  13. Caterpillar
    March 20, 2019

    She will get a little respect back if she comes out and backs, so called, no deal, otherwise all she continues to do is force her WA through…no long extension ensures running the clock down again and no reality check.of losing in a European election.

  14. David Price
    March 20, 2019

    The antics of government, politicians and civil servants have convinced me that voting does not matter even when it should really count. May and the remains do not care what impact their attitude and actions will have on party or constituents or the electorate so threat of de-selection and future voting has no effect.

    It strikes me that I would have more effect as a consumer/investor activist than voter. I already boycott EU goods and services, perhaps the answer is to threaten the current and future livelihoods of the anti-brexit brigade the same way – buy no goods or services from them, their companies or employers nor those that support them.

    If large enough numbers of people did this perhaps it would force the sheltered politicos to look outside the cozy Westminster bubble and take proper note of the people they are supposed to serve.

  15. Mike Stallard
    March 20, 2019

    The big joke:
    It does not matter what Mrs May says. The EU decides what will happen next. Will we be allowed to stay in at their pleasure? Or will Article 50 cause a clean break in ten days’ time?
    Who knows?

    Just one country (Malta? Spain? Italy?) can cause us to leave suddenly on 29th at midnight (European time, naturally).

    My own hope: There is a special providence for drunks, babies and the British Army


    1. Roy Grainger
      March 20, 2019

      You are right Mike that politicians and commentators keep saying that May MUST extend the leaving date. They are under the illusion that UK is a sovereign country able to take decisions a like that. We aren’t. The EU decides for us, the decision is entirely out of our hands. May should table a vote to revoke A50, no messing around, then let’s see who dares vote for it.

  16. Brian Tomkinson
    March 20, 2019

    I like your use of the word “maybe”.
    As I have said previously, Mrs May’s words and actions are complete strangers to each other. She and most MPs have lost the trust of the British people.

  17. Everhopeful
    March 20, 2019

    What great news!
    Do we dare to believe it ?

    Can May really keep going on and on ad infinitum?
    The Conservative party ( now mostly Lib Dems ?) even got rid of Mrs T.
    So how can the present PM persist?

    The mental health of the nation must be suffering from all this!

    1. Tad Davison
      March 20, 2019

      Everhopeful,

      ‘The Conservative party ( now mostly Lib Dems ?) even got rid of Mrs T.’

      The answer actually lies within the question itself. They stopped being true Conservatives, and allowed the wrong people to join. It is that fifth column who got rid of Mrs. T. and caused so much division and disruption in the meantime.

      The party hierarchy and its policies need to reflect the views of the membership. The disconnect between those who vote for the party, and those at the top who have chosen to divorce themselves from their grassroots, is palpable. But they cannot see that a state of autonomy and ivory tower isolation cannot continue, for they rely so heavily on a dwindling army of volunteers.

      I would have kicked the rabble out years ago, starting with Clarke the elder and Heseltine. If they then wanted to continue to dilute the party’s ethos and standing, they would have had to seek re-election as independents of go over to the Lib Dems and try their luck there. They sure as hell don’t conform to my idea of what the Tory party should be, and I was schooled by the late, great Sir Teddy Taylor.

      Tad

  18. Alan Jutson
    March 20, 2019

    Given the behaviour of Mrs May I should not start counting Chickens yet JR.

    She will try to find some way of keeping us tied to the EU rest assured, its in her DNA.

    Stand by for more chaos, more humiliation, more delay, more expense, more EU control.

    Can she not see she is the problem, not the solution.

    1. Alan Jutson
      March 20, 2019

      OH well we are now told its going to be a short delay until June 30th.

      At least we are told that is her latest plan !

      So she lied about leaving on 29th March, No deal is better than a bad deal, Nothing is agreed until all is agreed, We are prepared for a no deal.

      She is just just an incompetent out and out lier, who has risen by default to a position which is far, far above her ability and capability.

      Will somebody, anybody, please tell her she must go and go now, before she does any more damage and humiliates our Country any more.

      Her present deal must not be voted through under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. circumstances.

      1. Alan Jutson
        March 20, 2019

        Looks like the EU have already responded suggesting her request may not be possible, if they agree an extension at all it can only go until early in May, but preferably only April, otherwise it will need to run very much longer, all due to the European elections, and in which the UK will then need to take part.

        So yet more humiliation in the pipeline.

        How much more of this incompetence can this Country take, before the people start thinking the need to take matters into their own hands in some form.

      2. Tad Davison
        March 20, 2019

        This delay, any delay, to our leaving the EU on the 29th of March, is just more obfuscation in order to give her pro-EU cohorts more time to de-rail Brexit altogether.

        They have had nearly three years to get a deal thus far, how the hell will another few months help that process?

        She would have been better off just sitting tight and letting the EU come calling, as any good poker player would. Instead, she wets her knickers and goes running cap-in-hand yet again.

        This woman makes me cringe, and I’m sure a broad swathe of the country feel the same way, so how can she possibly believe the electorate are going to vote Tory whilst she is the living embodiment of a despicable gutless coward?

        When will the Tory party learn and stop giving us underhanded liars as leaders?

        Tad

  19. SecretPeople
    March 20, 2019

    TM will seek a short delay so as to avoid the MEP elections. With them out of the way she will seek a long delay, so entering the UK into a long period of vassaldom. That’s her plan, anyway.

    1. Bob
      March 20, 2019

      “TM will seek a short delay so as to avoid the MEP elections. With them out of the way she will seek a long delay, so entering the UK into a long period of vassaldom. That’s her plan, anyway.”

      That is obviously her intention. The only way to avoid vassalage now is to bring down her government and force a General Election so that we can cleanse Parliament of career politicians.

      1. Tad Davison
        March 20, 2019

        I think that scenario makes a great deal of sense! There’s still time to get rid of her, let’s hope the parliamentary party have the guts to do it.

        Tad

      2. Nation deceiving nat
        March 20, 2019

        exactly

  20. Dominic
    March 20, 2019

    No doubt a strategic move by the EU’s man on the inside. Do not trust May to do anything that most of us would consider truthful, moral or decent

    We await the next step in her plan to prevent our leaving

  21. Chris Dark
    March 20, 2019

    With nine days to go, I am not counting the chickens before they are hatched. There are a lot of very desperate people in our midst who will stop at nothing to prevent us leaving in the way we wish. I hope we will not have any eleventh-hour changes but sixty-plus years of living has taught me to wait for deadlines to be reached and passed before letting off the fireworks. Everything will be thrown at Stop Brexit in the hope that something sticks. I believe the Hand of Providence will still guide us out, but whether it will be March or a bit later I don’t know.

  22. Mike Wilson
    March 20, 2019

    This gets better and better! While this humiliating farce plays out, Tory MPs are wasting time sounding out colleagues and preparing their leadership campaigns. Some will resign if Boris becomes leader! I am beginning to sympathise with the EU. They must be wringing their hands with frustration. We’ve told them we are leaving but we have politicians that can’t make a decision. The Tory Party now needs to get out of the way and disband. The electorate will do it for you in the next election. Save yourselves the humiliation and get out of the way. May or Corbyn! What a choice!

    I give up. Revoke article 50 and call an election.

    1. Glenn Vaughan
      March 20, 2019

      “Revoke article 50 and call an election.” Mike Wilson

      I hope Mike Wilson emerges from his prolonged comatose condition soon.

    2. rose
      March 20, 2019

      “I am beginning to sympathise with the EU. They must be wringing their hands with frustration.”

      On the contrary, they must wish to be ringing their bells, as the disintegration of our democracy and constitution at the hands of the antidemocrats here is providing the perfect spectacle to deter other countries from leaving.

  23. Dave Andrews
    March 20, 2019

    Well what will the EU Council say? If they grant the 3 month delay, it will just be used up and we will be in the same position at the end. They won’t change the WA, which means it can’t be voted on according to the Speaker’s rules.
    If they make it conditional on the UK parliament passing the WA, it needs to change in order to be voted on – within the next week?
    If they don’t make it conditional on the UK parliament passing the WA, parliament will have space to carry on voting (the slightly modified form needed to get past the Speaker) it down.
    Perhaps at this point they have to acknowledge that they just have to say no, and it is up to the UK parliament to either leave without signing the WA or revoking Art 50.

  24. ChrisS
    March 20, 2019

    Mrs May is now really boxed in and she has put our Country into a position where the outcome is possibly completely out of the hands of the UK.

    It will only take one country of the 27 to veto an extension and we will be leaving on the 29th anyway. Alternatively, Brussels can impose any conditions it likes to an agreement to extend A50.

    Personally, I hope there will be a veto that will allow a WTO exit, unless Labour swings behind May’s deal.

    What a complete and utter mess this most incompetent Prime Minister she has got us into.

    1. Dominic
      March 20, 2019

      Mrs May is the EU and the EU is Mrs May. There is zero difference between the two. Her plan is to prevent the UK leaving the EU and all her strategies are designed to achieve this one simple objective

      She is acting rationally and logically as per her (EU) fundamental aims

      It is unfortunate for the UK and British democracy that we have Tory MPs refusing to bring her and her government to its knees.

      I personally hold every Tory MP responsible for our dire situation.

      Labour is what is Labour is, pure detritus

  25. Sir Joe Soap
    March 20, 2019

    For goodness sake, what is this stupid woman playing at? Is there anybody who supports her?

  26. Edwardm
    March 20, 2019

    I suspect Mrs May was forced to understand a long delay is not currently politic.
    She now needs to understand that her WA is bad and a false choice, and that WTO/FTA is liberation.

  27. StephenJ
    March 20, 2019

    Well one thing is for sure, whether we ultimately remain or leave, the politicians of this country have taken the art of the parlour game to a new level.

    I am afraid, the cat is out of the bag, parliament has not done itself any favours, it has merely demonstrated that it is past its SBD.

    We desperately need citizen triggered binding direct democracy if we are to effectively fight the corporatist establishment.

  28. nhsgp
    March 20, 2019

    The EU antidemocracy virus has clearly infected Westminster and the Tories.

  29. Paul Edwards
    March 20, 2019

    Great news about jobs and income ….oh and we are still in the EU! I wonder what these figures will be like in6 months time, if we leave.

  30. Nigl
    March 20, 2019

    What will three months achieve and another and another?

    It is a bloody disgrace and she has gone back on her word yet again.

    When will someone get rid of her?

  31. Denis Cooper
    March 20, 2019

    Theresa May should ask MPs whether they would approve this general scheme to solve the Irish border “conundrum” that I long ago suggested, including directly to her.

    Basically:

    1. The UK will make no changes at all on its side of the border.

    2. Any import duties would be collected away from the border.

    3. In a spirit of neighbourly helpfulness the UK will pass and rigorously enforce a new law to prohibit carriage across the border of any goods which the EU has declared would not be acceptable within its Single Market, so making it unnecessary for the Irish authorities to man their side of the border in order to intercept and check incoming goods.

    Those three basic elements could be elaborated in various ways, but for simplicity MPs should just be asked whether they would support the principles. If so, Theresa May would then be in a strong position to propose to the EU that it should also support the scheme – which of course breaks with the EU’s Single Market ideology – and both sides should sign up to a joint declaration that when implemented its provisions would be deemed sufficient to render the Irish ‘backstop’ redundant.

    Needless to say this would put CBI noses out of joint, but Theresa May should never have decided to give in to their demands.

    1. Denis Cooper
      March 20, 2019

      This chap:

      https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2019/03/anthony-speaight-six-reasons-why-we-are-now-less-likely-to-be-trapped-in-the-backstop.html

      continues to emphasise technological solutions to ensure that the Irish border is kept open, when the paramount requirement is for a legal solution.

      Why do I say that?

      Because it was changes in UK domestic law to implement the Single European Act which made it possible, in fact mandatory, for the UK to remove border checks on goods coming in from the Republic, and similarly changes in Irish domestic law for the movement of goods in the opposite direction.

      So when we leave the EU and existing UK laws to implement the EU Single Market are repealed they should be partially replaced by a new UK law to guarantee to the Irish and EU authorities that there is no new need to intercept and check goods as they cross the border from the north.

      Technology could no doubt play an ancillary role, for example in the mechanics of levying customs duties away from the border, but not technology at the border for avoiding the need for physical checks on goods as they cross in either direction – which the Irish government absolutely ruled out in the autumn of 2017.

  32. Jack Falstaff
    March 20, 2019

    As Sir John has rightly said all along, given the lack of progress made after such a long time, there is absolutely zero need for any delay at all.
    The EU has, to be fair, told her she must come up with something more to offer but she clearly can’t, which makes her request even more pointless.

    1. L Jones
      March 20, 2019

      I hate this notion of ”request” where the EU is concerned. Why should she have to ”request” anything of them? She is humiliating her country. Absolutely shameful.

  33. JoolsB
    March 20, 2019

    If May has told you that then it’s probably not true and if it is true, it’s only because Barnier has said no not because she is listening. This woman will do anything to get her own way, no matter how bad her decisions are for the rest of us. If MPs don’t cave in to her threats of no Brexit if they don’t pass her rotten deal, I can see her revoking article 50 or at least letting parliament have a say on it which amounts to the same thing.

  34. villaking
    March 20, 2019

    Sir John,
    I have seen a legal blog from the Hansard Society that concludes that unless a SI changing the exit date and stating anew one is tabled by Monday at the latest, there will be insufficient time to make the necessary legal change. Since it is unlikely that the EU would make a decision by then, it supposes that an accidental WTO exit is now a probability, much to the delight of you and your supporters. I wondered if this legal issue had been discussed in Westminster circles?

    1. Denis Cooper
      March 20, 2019

      Well, not quite that:

      https://www.hansardsociety.org.uk/blog/changing-eu-exit-day-by-statutory-instrument

      “We see no insuperable procedural obstacle to proceedings on the ‘exit day’ SI being completed by 29 March if the draft SI were laid, for example, on Friday 22 or Monday 25 March.”

      That doesn’t rule out it still being possible if the SI was laid even later.

  35. Christine
    March 20, 2019

    NO to a delay of any sort. Give her an inch and she’ll take a mile. This Prime Minister cannot be trusted.

  36. Nicholas Odoni
    March 20, 2019

    The ‘Remain’ dominated establishment, including most MP’s, seem to regard cancellation of Brexit as a no-risk strategy.

    The calculation is that they will not, in the end, suffer much of a penalty, if any, by cancelling Brexit. This is because – so the calculation goes – at any future general election the issue will be confused in the usual arguments over policy and what issues are the most important, and the voters will revert to their usual party loyalty.

    Lionel Shriver, speaking on ‘Newsnight’ some days ago, made this point clearly: the Remain establishment thinks it can get away with a Brexit betrayal. The link is here, start at roughly 41 mins 15 secs on the time line; Shriver repeats the point more strongly at about 43 mins:
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m00038bv/newsnight-13032019

    My worry is that she may be right. If she is, what is the risk now that MP’s will simply revoke Article 50? The ‘Remain’ MP’s who will not be standing at the next general election have nothing to lose; the others think they can confuse the problem with other policy demands, and the voters will give it less attention. One can almost predict the script they will use: “Brexit is over, and for the national good we must now all move on/come together/focus on priorities for the young/concentrate on other issues e.g. the dreadful problems regarding housing/schools/hospitals/transport/climate change/ etc. etc.”

    If that is so, how are we going to prove them wrong? What penalty can we exact on them for their betrayal? In particular, how do we maintain the focus, and not let it be blurred, burried and lost in the political melee over months or years to come?

  37. O'Connor
    March 20, 2019

    I’ve just seen this tweet by Paul Waugh:

    Paul Waugh

    @paulwaugh

    Am hearing moves afoot for an emergency SO24 Commons debate with a potential vote forcing May to rewrite EU letter to include longer extension option. Bercow hinted SO24 rules could be bent earlier this week to make it substantive not neutral notion. Expect fresh govt panic.
    55 replies 202 retweets 306 likes

  38. robert lewy
    March 20, 2019

    Wit be the case that the last EU member state holding out against an extension of Article 50 will be won over by the promise to extra Billions more Euros from UK?

    1. robert lewy
      March 20, 2019

      correction “extract” for “extra”

      1. L Jones
        March 20, 2019

        And perhaps the ÂŁ39 billion has been earmarked for such bribes all along, the whole scenario have been devised a long time ago and is unfolding just as planned.

  39. Iain Gill
    March 20, 2019

    any delay at all in unacceptable, and will lead to electoral disaster for the Conservative party

    1. L Jones
      March 20, 2019

      Perhaps they are sanguine because they know there would never be another General Election that would oust them – if the EU is in charge. Therefore, being EU creatures, their ”jobs” would be safe.

  40. formula57
    March 20, 2019

    Is it not likely May will use any delay she obtains to move MV3, MV4,..MVn?

    Let us hope the ERG members, the DUP (God bless them) and the Labour Party hold firm.

    Alas though, delay will also be used by the Remoaner classes (especially quisling civil servants) to provide for “ever closer union” with the Evil Empire, formal membership ceasing or not.

  41. Original Richard
    March 20, 2019

    20/03/2019 : Mrs. May to the UK public : “We will ask the EU for a short delay”

    21/03/2019 : Mrs. May & Mr. Juncker telephone call or meeting :
    Mr. Juncker : “How’s it going ?”
    Mrs. May : “Very well. We’ve got the muppets to vote to against leaving with “no deal””
    Mr. Juncker : “Yes, finally, but why did it take you so long when the majority of your Parliament is dead against leaving?”
    Mrs. May : “Well, unlike you, we had to give the impression of respecting the referendum result and this took time. You will admit that I have gradually gone back on all my promises such as “Brexit means Brexit”, “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed”, “no deal is better than a bad deal”, “we are leaving on 21/03/2019” etc. etc. This took time – boiling frog and all that and we didn’t want a Gilet Jaunes situation.”
    Mr. Juncker : “OK, so what’s the agreed plan now ?”
    Mrs. May : “You agreed to say that we can only have an extension if we have a second referendum.”
    Mr. Juncker : “Oh, yes, that’s right and what will be the question ?”
    Mrs. May (smirking) : “As planned it will be between “remain” and my WA (which is remain but without any representation at the EU and no lawful means of exit) . It’s what we call a “win-win” situation. But we need time to finally hammer home project fear (deaths, food shortages, no planes flying, companies collapsing etc.) and destroy the credibility of the leave campaign. It should not be difficult as all the MSM is now on our side, but it will need to look legit – so we need some time. But we don’t want to take part in the EU MEP elections. Can we avoid that please ?”
    Mr. Juncker : “I don’t see this as a problem – I’m sure we can find a way round it and the good news will be that even if your country votes in the referendum for “remain” you won’t have any MEPs for at least another 5 years until the next elections.”
    Mrs. May : “Excellent!”

  42. ChasE
    March 20, 2019

    We can’t possibly have a long delay because it would be a crossover to the EU parliamentry elections where we would have to field candidates and the EU chiefs are not going to take the chance of having a whole plethora of UKIP disgruntled types sitting in the EU parliament disrupting business for the next five or six years- it’s just not going to happen.

    So we’re in for a short delay only up until the end of June- but there will be conditions?

    We’ll know a lot more by Friday

  43. MPC
    March 20, 2019

    What is reality. Let’s not get too optimistic too soon. I didn’t hear the full interview but it was disappointing to hear IDS on the radio this morning (and Owen Paterson a couple of days ago) suggesting if the PM comes back with something substantially different this week they’d consider supporting it. They did not say that substantial change means something other than the WA and that the WA is unacceptable in most respects not just the ‘backstop’. ‘Substantial change’ is a matter of opinion and, if the EC/EU plays ball which it still might despite previous statements, and it agrees to amend the backstop, the PM only has to persuade the Speaker to approve a further vote on the WA.

  44. ChrisS
    March 20, 2019

    For the record, I don’t believe that May has been trying to thwart Brexit.
    I think she was genuinely determined to deliver a “proper” Brexit when she laid out her Red Lines in her Lancaster House Speech.

    Unfortunately, she has proven to be a serial incompetent Prime Minister and had no idea how to conduct negotiations with the EU, which has a reputation of not doing any kind of negotiations, just simply telling others what they must do.

    The process was never going to end well when she immediately agreed to the phasing of the negotiations and to hand over a massive sum of our money which, in reality, was the main thing that Brussels was concerned about. From that point on she had no cards to left to play.

    Then there is her complete failure to keep her Cabinet on side. Instead, she appointed Robbins, a career civil servant and a Remainer to the core, to handle negotiations behind the back of the Cabinet and successive Brexit Secretaries.

    Finally, the Remainer majority at Westminster have been undermining her at every turn.

    With May as PM, it was always going to be so predictable.

  45. Oldwulf
    March 20, 2019

    Dear Mrs May

    The EU’s price to agree a delay will be too high. What’s the point ?

  46. Walter
    March 20, 2019

    Tomorrow she will be told by the EU that if we are going to crash, better crash now rather than in May June right on the heels of their Parliament elections.
    That way we will have the rest of the year to pick up the pieces before the subject of the WA can be tackled again in the Autumn of next year..the way the EU is likely to see it..absolutely no chance for a loñg delay now so hardline brexiteers can relax

    1. L Jones
      March 20, 2019

      And what does ”hardline” mean? Those who actually want to see the referendum result honoured?

  47. Nicky Roberts
    March 20, 2019

    Sir John, surely now is the time a contingent of MPs confront Graham Brady and say enough is enough. Theresa May is a liability and must be brought down. She has agreed total capitulation in the name of Brexit which we all know is anything but. Please get her removed from office, she is clearly unwell.

    1. Mark B
      March 20, 2019

      She cannot be removed until later this year.

  48. Dominic
    March 20, 2019

    I have learned one thing from this entire betrayal. That voting for the two main, duplicitous parties is no longer feasible and democratically responsible as both of these grotesque parties conspire together and abuse the duopoly they enjoy in the HOC

    These two parasitic entities will legislate to dilute democracy, pass laws to restrict our freedoms, demonise the indigenous population through their embrace of liberal left fascism and victim based politics and betray all we have known

    Labour have betrayed their core vote
    The Tories have betrayed their core vote

    Both parties now pander to minority rights activists

    We are being sold down the river

  49. Mrs Alison Houston
    March 20, 2019

    There is debate about whether, under the Miller ruling an extension of any sort can be organised via a statutory instrument, since an extension would mean committing the country to further financial liabilities. Can prerogative powers be used to over rule an Act of Parliament?

    One blog by Robert Craig comes to the conclusion that extension is not the same as revocation or notification, and prerogative powers can be used in this way, but his arguments seem unclear and long winded, as if he had determined on his conclusion n advance and was merely setting out to reach it.

    Will you give your opinion on the matter?

    Reply Not yet. This may become the main argument in which case I will talk about it.

    s

  50. margaret howard
    March 20, 2019

    JR

    You won’t rest until you have sent your own party into the wilderness. All for selfish personal reasons it would seem.

    A repeat of Political Suicide – The Conservatives Voyage into the Wilderness

  51. ukretired123
    March 20, 2019

    Brexit Canelled?

    ‘To be, or not to be, that is the question:
    Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
    The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
    Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
    And by opposing end them. To die—to sleep,
    No more; and by a sleep to say we end
    The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks…’
    Shakespeare to the rescue please.

  52. Lynn Atkinson
    March 20, 2019

    She is snookered! The ‘short extension’ is conditional on her ‘deal’ being approved by the Commons. Corbyn speaks for us all in his outrage at the bullying, blackmail tactics! Blair, the confessed traitor – has killed a secon People’s vote. Bit by bit we are crawling to the exit!
    Here is May – with her huge chains around her neck `I wear the chain I forged in life, I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it.’
    5.5 sitting days to Freedom!

  53. James Bertram
    March 20, 2019

    Bold courageous remarks from Mr Peter Bone just now – good on you, sir. We need more like you – many more.

    @GuidoFawkes
    1h1 hour ago
    WATCH: Peter Bone Skewers the Prime Minister on Article 50 Extension https://order-order.com/2019/03/20/peter-bone-skewers-prime-minister-a50-extension/ 


  54. Cramp Esq
    March 20, 2019

    The International Development Secretary spoke just prior to PM Question Time today. She spoke of New Zealand, nothing of terrorist attacks elsewhere, hundreds dying in Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, British Aid and Aid to Socialist Venezuela. She , as always, had to try making her self heard by shouting to a mostly disinterested set of MPs including the whole of the Shadow Front Bench and most of their members.The Home Secretary and the Tory Brexit Secretary were in chit chatting throughout’ The Chancellor quiet as was the soon retiring LibDem Leader and notably Mr. Benn who was reading a document throughout. The SNP were not listening at all and were in several different chats laughing and joking.
    Then all Party leaders and every MP in speaking expressed deep concern for what the International Development had said…”all that she expressed” without naming what
    These are our leaders!You couldn’t make a paupers sock out of any one of them

  55. James Bertram
    March 20, 2019

    Apparently Macron isn’t playing ball;
    See@ActionBrexit twitter site:
    Gavan Reilly – political correspondent:
    French news magazine Le Point suggests Macron will VETO any extension to Article 50 talks, ergo any delay to Brexit:
    Emmanuel Macron refuse de reporter la date du Brexit
    Si Theresa May demande un report de la date du Brexit, prĂ©vu le 29 mars, le prĂ©sident français s’y opposera, entraĂźnant de fait le Conseil europĂ©en.

    lepoint.fr

  56. BR
    March 20, 2019

    I’m not sure that anyone has spotted the trap in this.

    By the end of June the EU elections will be over and we will not have taken part. So any attempt by the Brexit party to contest them will have been avoided, or perhaps more importantly any attempt to push their legal challenge to the idea of us remaining in the EU without taking part in the elections will have been avoided.

    Once those elections are out of the way, she can request a further extension at that time.

    Other elections will also have been slid past in this way.

    It may be necessary to take to the courts to prevent this. There’s been discussion on the legality of seeking an extension via prerogative powers (including the Miller case and others) by legal minds rather than bloggers, se:

    https://ukconstitutionallaw.org/2019/01/09/robert-craig-can-the-government-use-the-royal-prerogative-to-extend-article-50/

    The consensus appears to be that it is acceptable for a short delay but not for further delay (since that would be to use the power to frustrate the intent of the Acts and that is specifically disallowed).

  57. Lester Beedell
    March 20, 2019

    There was an article in the Telegraph, written by an anonymous Civil Servant saying that they are in favour of Remaining and they are working behind the scenes to ensure that we do not Leave, how utterly shocking!

    1. margaret howard
      March 20, 2019

      Lester

      Anonymous? In the Daily Telegraph?

      Says it all.

  58. mancunius
    March 20, 2019

    Are you sure, JR, that May’s now requesting an extension until 30 June is not another trap co-designed with Brussels, in order to avoid MEP elections in the UK? A further long extension would be granted at the end of June in order to have a referendum between Remain (WA) and Remain (not even pretend to leave). The EU would claim that any the MEP elections have already taken place, and legal challenge would need to be made by the UK. The government refuses to make a challenge. Any private legal challenge will be batted away by the EU’s own tame ECJ.
    For God’s sake, let us escape from this death trap and leave on March 29th, come what will.

    1. mancunius
      March 20, 2019

      I meant to write: “The EU would claim that the MEP elections have already taken place, and any legal challenge would need to be made by the UK.”

  59. Mick
    March 20, 2019

    So Mrs May wants a 3 month extension well I and probably the rest of the 17.4 million don’t want any extension , just do what A50 was designed for and remove GB next week, a extension of 3 months is what the remoaners want so as to try some other strategies to keep us in there beloved Eu , do what the winning side wanted and get us out on the 29th March or democracy is dead and buried for a bloody long time

  60. mancunius
    March 20, 2019

    PS – Latest update from Paris is that Macon says he has decided to veto the extension request at the European Council meeting on 21/22 March. (LePointfr.)

  61. Roy Grainger
    March 20, 2019

    Mrs May is spending all her time concentrating on what MPs think and trying to please them. She is not bothering at all about what Conservative voters think. As they get a “free” (limited consequences) vote in the May council election and EU elections if the delay goes on she might be wise to start considering it.

  62. Denis Cooper
    March 20, 2019

    I watched some of the proceedings of the Commons Northern Ireland Select Committee this morning, and I was puzzled by some of the statements from the witness Stephen Farry of the Alliance Party. Apparently it is essential that at least Northern Ireland, and preferably the whole of the UK, should be kept in regulatory alignment with the EU and therefore the Irish Republic, because:

    “… if we are separate from EU regulations then there will be a hard border … ”

    “That’s the rationale of the backstop.”

    and regulatory alignment is

    “… the absolute bare minimum to avoid the return of a border on the island …”

    I’ve asked before what the checkers would be checking for if the EU ordered the Irish government to post customs officers at the border to check incoming goods.

    Would they be checking that the UK companies producing the goods had fully complied with all EU regulations and directives? For example, would they be seeking to establish whether the EU’s Working at Heights Directive had been properly observed; if so, how would they go about verifying that from their inspections?

  63. A knitted dialogue
    March 20, 2019

    JR you were cut off by adverts just as you stood to make a question in the “Brexit Extension Emergency Debate” on Sky News minutes ago.
    This means the few who are not at work of the few who like birdsnest talk like me didn’t hear what you said.
    Heidi Allen MP is just getting her mouth emptied as I type, speaking of her “democratic mandate.” We can only hope she gets it soon relieving tension.

  64. Caterpillar
    March 20, 2019

    And now we see the PM’s disgraceful game play out. Tusk, the one wishing people go to hell, says an extension is possible if May’s WA agreement is signed. It is not acceptable being worse than both remain and no deal. The ERG must not crumble, Labour must not crumble … if this agreement is bullied through by the EU in this way it will have confirmed many things (Inc no democracy) wrong with the EU.

    Leave means leave, sadly the WA means no democracy and at some point at least civil unrest.

    1. margaret howard
      March 21, 2019

      Caterpillar

      When a country holds a referendum whereby 17 m voters can decide its future while 16 m voters were against, then this is not democracy. And 30m of our citizen had no vote at all for various reasons.

      It is a travesty of democracy. As is our FPP system whereby a 2-party state has been created with a majority of voters permanently disenfranchised.

      That system is now disintegrating having made us the world’s laughing stock into the bargain.

  65. Harka
    March 20, 2019

    No John! ..following Tusks intervention looks to me that a long delay is very much a real possibility now

  66. MickN
    March 20, 2019

    Mr Tusk has just said they will agree to an extension conditional on MP’S voting her deal through next week. Surely if her deal is voted through there is no need for an extension
    What am I missing here?

  67. Smallest Nation
    March 20, 2019

    Wouldn’t it have been easier all told if Cameron had stayed as Leader and his attitude of “We’ll be okay in or out of the EU was the generalised direction of travel?
    Instead we have a “national crisis” in a house containing just 650 people. It’s an odd view of a nation.
    They will find out, no doubt, they are a tiddler amongst nations.

  68. DanF
    March 20, 2019

    Phantom proposal or not – I think it is all slipping away

  69. Roy Grainger
    March 20, 2019

    I see the Irish PM has made an announcement that May will address the nation tonight. If true it shows the absolute contempt May has for the population of the UK – that she would inform the EU first and let them announce it. Anything other than her immediate resignation is unacceptable.

  70. miami.mode
    March 20, 2019

    Donald Tusk has just found an old script from Neville Chamberlain and has stated that he demands we sign his surrender document. If no such undertaking is received by 11 p.m. on 29th march 2019, then as a consequence the EU will be at political war with the UK.

  71. Mike Wilson
    March 20, 2019

    Now, it seems, we will see who has the courage of their convictions. May’s Deal or No Deal. Who has the nerve to vote her deal down and leave next Friday with no Deal!

  72. Al
    March 20, 2019

    So, we are now in a position to wait on the EU to say whether we can leave on 29th March or if she gets her extension through applying ‘leverage’. If I lived in Northern Ireland or Gibralter I would be extremely concerned about my situation as a British citizen after tonight.

  73. Original Richard
    March 20, 2019

    Mrs. May tried again tonight to trick the UK public into thinking that Parliament passing the EU’s WA will be the end of the Brexit matter.

    Nothing could be further from the truth, it would only be the beginning.

    This international treaty is so bad, with its backstop trap where we cannot lawfully exit without the express permission of each and every EU country, that it would lead, according to the Attorney General’s official advice, “to protracted and repeated rounds of (trade) negotiations” in the years ahead.

    Mr. Macron has already openly threatened of how he would use the backstop to get what he wants from the UK fishing waters.

    This WA should not be signed whatever the circumstances.

  74. Al
    March 20, 2019

    Given that the “revoke Article 50” petition has hit 150,000 signatures following her speech, I would suggest leavers might want to sign the petition to prorogue Parliament to prevent Brexit being thwarted. (The 300k+ petition to Leave in March without a deal was already debated and ignored).

    https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/237487

    1. Rhoddas
      March 21, 2019

      https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/229963

      This one too is worth considering.

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