Brexit leaves Ford at crossroads on long-term British plans - Reuters

HALFWEG, Netherlands (Reuters) - Ford is spending tens of millions of euros preparing for a possible British exit from the European Union without a trade deal and has yet to decide on its longer-term plans for Britain, Ford Europe chairman Steven Armstrong said on Tuesday.

FILE PHOTO: The Ford logo is seen at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., January 15, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

“We love being in Britain, but it has to be competitive and if it’s not competitive then we’ll have to take whatever actions we’ll need to take to protect the business,” Armstrong told Reuters at an event in the Netherlands.

Ford, which makes 1.3 million engines at two British locations, Bridgend and Dagenham, and cars in Germany, has warned it could face $1 billion in tariff costs in case of a so-called hard Brexit.

While the company has announced 5,000 job cuts in Germany, its second-biggest European market, it has yet to make major decisions in Britain, which is its biggest.

Armstrong said Ford was already spending tens of millions on euros on measures such as currency hedges and shifting inventory between countries. He said the best case scenario was that money spent preparing for Brexit would be “wasted”.

Britain’s departure from the EU has been pushed back from March 29 until at least April 12 or potentially much later, ruining some of the contingency plans of certain carmakers.

BMW’s Mini plant in Britain is closing for four weeks and Peugeot’s Vauxhall car factory for two weeks in moves planned months ago to help deal with any disruption from Brexit.

“We’ve been clear with the government in the UK and also in Brussels, we have to maintain frictionless trade at the borders and tariff-free trade,” said Armstrong.

TARIFF THREAT

Britain’s largely foreign-owned car industry has become increasingly incredulous as a stable and attractive investment environment descends into deep political crisis.

Ford’s British-built engines, which are shipped for fitting in vehicles in Germany, Turkey, the United States and elsewhere, could face delays and extra costs from a no-deal Brexit.

“We’ve spent the last 40 years putting a business together that relies on cross-border trading,” said Armstrong, who is overseeing an overhaul of Ford in Europe to refocus on its strong position in commercial vehicles and on popular European lines such as Fiesta, Britain’s top-selling passenger car.

“We can’t radically reshape on day one so you’d have to live with (tariffs) for a period of time,” he said.

Armstrong said Ford has hedged against the possibility of a sharp fall in the value of the pound through the end of 2019, while stockpiling inventory would help bridge a one or two month period of potential chaos around Brexit.

“But it’s impossible really to mitigate the financial impact in the longer term of no-deal,” he said. Ford could try to pass on higher tariff costs, but that would be difficult in Britain, where a recession would mean falling sales, he added.

“We haven’t really factored in completely the negative shock. There are a number of things that we would try to do but the reality is ... it would impact the whole of industry, not just Ford,” Armstrong said.

Reporting by Toby Sterling. Editing by Jane Merriman and Alexander Smith

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-ford/brexit-leaves-ford-at-crossroads-on-long-term-british-plans-idUSKCN1RE10I

2019-04-02 17:32:27Z
CBMifGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnJldXRlcnMuY29tL2FydGljbGUvdXMtYnJpdGFpbi1ldS1mb3JkL2JyZXhpdC1sZWF2ZXMtZm9yZC1hdC1jcm9zc3JvYWRzLW9uLWxvbmctdGVybS1icml0aXNoLXBsYW5zLWlkVVNLQ04xUkUxMEnSAX9odHRwczovL21vYmlsZS1yZXV0ZXJzLWNvbS5jZG4uYW1wcHJvamVjdC5vcmcvdi9zL21vYmlsZS5yZXV0ZXJzLmNvbS9hcnRpY2xlL2FtcC9pZFVTS0NOMVJFMTBJP2FtcF9qc192PTAuMSN3ZWJ2aWV3PTEmY2FwPXN3aXBl

Protesters Bare Almost All to U.K. Parliament, Which Can’t Look Away - The New York Times

LONDON — British lawmakers endure a lot of distractions when they speak in the unruly Parliament, where their colleagues jeer, wave papers and stop them to pose questions. But one lawmaker faced a very different, harder-to-ignore sort of interruption on Monday.

Protesters stripped nearly naked in the public gallery, proclaiming that climate change, not the stalemate over Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, was the real emergency facing the country.

“I encourage everybody to look in this direction rather than another direction,” said Peter Kyle, the Labour lawmaker who was trying in vain to hold the room’s attention as he presented a motion for a second referendum on Britain’s departure, the process known as Brexit.

[Read more about Monday’s debate.]

To his disappointment, most of the people in the elegant, wood-paneled chamber gazed upward, at the spectacle in the visitors’ gallery. There, a dozen men and women, all with messages scrawled on their bodies, stood in a row, turning their backsides to the protective glass barrier separating the public from the House of Commons, in full sight of sitting lawmakers.

Some lawmakers took out phones and snapped pictures. Others sighed or gasped in dismay.

One lawmaker, Nick Boles, said: “Mr. Speaker it has long been a thoroughly British trait to be able to ignore pointless nakedness, and I trust that the House will now be able to return to the issue that we are discussing.”

On Twitter, Extinction Rebellion, the protest group that organized the demonstration, posted images from the gallery, and several members of Parliament posted photographs of scene taken from their vantage points.

Many on Twitter and in the news media highlighted the reaction of Ed Miliband, a former Labour leader, whose eyes appeared to pop at the sight of the protest.

Video

Protesters stripped down in Britain’s Parliament on Monday to divert attention from the Brexit debate to climate change. Lawmakers continued on, including some double entendres in their speeches.CreditCreditDan Kitwood/Getty Images

In the chamber, Mr. Kyle soldiered on, apparently struggling to keep his composure. With classic British understatement, the closest he got to acknowledging what was happening above was a reference to “the peripheral vision that was tempting my eyes elsewhere.”

“I congratulate him on speaking in the way that he is, notwithstanding some other stuff that may be going on,” Anna Soubry, a proponent of a second referendum, said when she took the floor. She added with a smile that it was important that everyone support Mr. Kyle’s motion, “and doesn’t get distracted by anything else.”

In a nation where “bottom” is a semi-naughty word and a staple of juvenile humor, Mr. Kyle said, “the bottom line is,” drawing laughter and cheers.

For most of its history, the chamber had no physical barrier between lawmakers and observers. In 1978, a visitor threw horse manure over the railing.

Parliament installed the bulletproof glass in 2004, citing the threat of terrorism, but the change divided the house, with some members seeing it as an unnecessary barrier between Parliament and the public. Soon after, protesters still managed to hurl purple flour at Prime Minister Tony Blair from a side gallery.

The incident on Monday will not help the reputations of Britain’s Parliament and democracy, which have been battered by the fighting over Brexit — not only between the major parties but within them — and lawmakers’ inability to agree on any way forward, despite a looming deadline.

The police struggled to clear the gallery, where at least one protester had been glued to the glass. They arrested 12 people on accusations of outraging public decency.

On the house floor, the debate — and the double-entendre — continued.

That was not enough for Extinction Rebellion, which organized the protest.

“It seems like that some of the MPs in the UK are more interested in making lewd innuendos than acting on global heating and ecological collapse,” the group wrote on Twitter.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/02/world/europe/uk-house-of-commons-protest.html

2019-04-02 13:04:09Z
CAIiEHZ6_JTWezPXhF61OTkPj14qFwgEKg8IACoHCAowjuuKAzCWrzww5oEY

Protesters Bare Almost All to U.K. Parliament, Which Can’t Look Away - The New York Times

LONDON — British lawmakers endure a lot of distractions when they speak in the unruly Parliament, where their colleagues jeer, wave papers and stop them to pose questions. But one lawmaker faced a very different, harder-to-ignore sort of interruption on Monday.

Protesters stripped nearly naked in the public gallery, proclaiming that climate change, not the stalemate over Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, was the real emergency facing the country.

“I encourage everybody to look in this direction rather than another direction,” said Peter Kyle, the Labour lawmaker who was trying in vain to hold the room’s attention as he presented a motion for a second referendum on Britain’s departure, the process known as Brexit.

[Read more about Monday’s debate.]

To his disappointment, most of the people in the elegant, wood-paneled chamber gazed upward, at the spectacle in the visitors’ gallery. There, a dozen men and women, all with messages scrawled on their bodies, stood in a row, turning their backsides to the protective glass barrier separating the public from the House of Commons, in full sight of sitting lawmakers.

Some lawmakers took out phones and snapped pictures. Others sighed or gasped in dismay.

One lawmaker, Nick Boles, said: “Mr. Speaker it has long been a thoroughly British trait to be able to ignore pointless nakedness, and I trust that the House will now be able to return to the issue that we are discussing.”

On Twitter, Extinction Rebellion, the protest group that organized the demonstration, posted images from the gallery, and several members of Parliament posted photographs of scene taken from their vantage points.

Many on Twitter and in the news media highlighted the reaction of Ed Miliband, a former Labour leader, whose eyes appeared to pop at the sight of the protest.

Video

Protesters stripped down in Britain’s Parliament on Monday to divert attention from the Brexit debate to climate change. Lawmakers continued on, including some double entendres in their speeches.CreditCreditDan Kitwood/Getty Images

In the chamber, Mr. Kyle soldiered on, apparently struggling to keep his composure. With classic British understatement, the closest he got to acknowledging what was happening above was a reference to “the peripheral vision that was tempting my eyes elsewhere.”

“I congratulate him on speaking in the way that he is, notwithstanding some other stuff that may be going on,” Anna Soubry, a proponent of a second referendum, said when she took the floor. She added with a smile that it was important that everyone support Mr. Kyle’s motion, “and doesn’t get distracted by anything else.”

In a nation where “bottom” is a semi-naughty word and a staple of juvenile humor, Mr. Kyle said, “the bottom line is,” drawing laughter and cheers.

For most of its history, the chamber had no physical barrier between lawmakers and observers. In 1978, a visitor threw horse manure over the railing.

Parliament installed the bulletproof glass in 2004, citing the threat of terrorism, but the change divided the house, with some members seeing it as an unnecessary barrier between Parliament and the public. Soon after, protesters still managed to hurl purple flour at Prime Minister Tony Blair from a side gallery.

The incident on Monday will not help the reputations of Britain’s Parliament and democracy, which have been battered by the fighting over Brexit — not only between the major parties but within them — and lawmakers’ inability to agree on any way forward, despite a looming deadline.

The police struggled to clear the gallery, where at least one protester had been glued to the glass. They arrested 12 people on accusations of outraging public decency.

On the house floor, the debate — and the double-entendre — continued.

That was not enough for Extinction Rebellion, which organized the protest.

“It seems like that some of the MPs in the UK are more interested in making lewd innuendos than acting on global heating and ecological collapse,” the group wrote on Twitter.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/02/world/europe/uk-house-of-commons-protest.html

2019-04-02 13:03:48Z
CAIiEHZ6_JTWezPXhF61OTkPj14qFwgEKg8IACoHCAowjuuKAzCWrzww5oEY

Brexit: MPs push to prevent no-deal in law - BBC News

Media playback is unsupported on your device

A cross-party group of MPs has put forward a bill to prevent a no-deal Brexit in 10 days' time.

If passed into law, the bill would require the PM to ask for an extension of Article 50 - which mandates the UK's exit date from the EU - beyond the current 12 April deadline.

Labour MP Yvette Cooper presented the bill for debate on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the EU's chief negotiator has said a no-deal Brexit is now more likely but can still be avoided.

Michel Barnier said a long extension to the UK's 12 April exit date had "significant risks for the EU" and a "strong justification would be needed".

Tory MP Sir Oliver Letwin, who supports Ms Cooper's bill, said: "This is a last-ditch attempt to prevent our country being exposed to the risks inherent in a no-deal exit.

"We realise this is difficult. But it is definitely worth trying."

Ms Cooper said the UK was "in a very dangerous situation" and MPs "have a responsibility to make sure we don't end up with a catastrophic no deal".

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's World At One, she added: "We have been attempting to squeeze into just a couple of days a process that really should have been happening for the last two years - a process of trying to build a consensus around the best way forward.

"It is what the prime minister should be doing. It is the prime minister's responsibility to ensure we don't leave the country less safe."

In March, MPs voted against leaving the EU without a deal, but it was not legally-binding.

Why is this bill unusual?

Normally the government chooses which bills to present to Parliament in order for them to become law.

But - much to the government's disapproval - MPs voted to allow backbenchers to take charge of business in the Commons on Wednesday.

This gives backbenchers the opportunity to set aside more time on Thursday to pass the bill into law, as they will be in charge.

The bill would need to go through the usual process on Thursday before it becomes law - including being agreed by the House of Lords and receiving Royal Assent.

Brexiteer Tory Sir Bill Cash said trying to go through these stages in one day made it a "reprehensible procedure".

But Speaker John Bercow said that, while it was "an unusual state of affairs", it was "not as unprecedented as he supposes" - citing recent bills on Northern Ireland that have been passed at the same speed.

BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg said a third set of so-called indicative votes could still take place alongside this process, but the focus of the cross-party group was now approving the bill - with the hope that it will pass on Thursday.

Elsewhere, the BBC's John Pienaar said Theresa May's cabinet has considered plans to "ramp up" no-deal Brexit preparations. A snap general election was also discussed.

In the latest round of indicative votes on Monday, MPs voted on four alternatives to the PM's withdrawal deal, but none gained a majority.

MPs rejected a customs union with the EU by three votes. A motion for another referendum got the most votes in favour, but still lost.

The votes were not legally binding, but they had been billed as the moment when Parliament might finally compromise.

Earlier, Mr Barnier said: "No deal was never our desire or intended scenario but the EU 27 is now prepared. It becomes day after day more likely."

He told the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee that "things are somewhat hanging on the decisions of the House of Commons", and that the deal was negotiated with the UK "not against the UK".

"If we are to avoid a no-deal Brexit, there is only one way forward - they have got to vote on a deal.

"There is only one treaty available - this one," he said, waving the withdrawal agreement.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Mrs May's plan for the UK's departure has been rejected by MPs three times.

Last week, Parliament took control of the process away from the government in order to hold a series of votes designed to find an alternative way forward.

Eight options were put to MPs, but none was able to command a majority, and on Monday night, a whittled-down four were rejected too.

What next?

• Tuesday 2 April: A five-hour cabinet meeting
• Wednesday 3 April: Potentially another round of indicative votes, and Yvette Cooper's bill to be debated
• Thursday 4 April: Theresa May could bring her withdrawal deal back to Parliament for a fourth vote, while MPs could also vote on Ms Cooper's bill
• Wednesday 10 April: Emergency summit of EU leaders to consider any UK request for further extension
• Friday 12 April: Brexit day, if UK does not seek / EU does not grant further delay
• 23-26 May: European Parliamentary elections

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Your guide to Brexit jargon

Use the list below or select a button

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https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-47789298

2019-04-02 12:27:20Z
52780249686109

Rumors that UK government told it cannot hold new Brexit vote: BBC political editor - Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - There are suggestions that Britain’s government has been told it will not be allowed to bring Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal back for a fourth vote, the BBC’s political editor said on Tuesday.

Parliament’s speaker John Bercow said there needed to be significant changes to May’s deal before it could be brought back for a third vote last week. Brexit minister Steve Barclay has hinted that May might bring the deal back to lawmakers again this week.

“Whispers this morning that clerks in Commons have made it clear to govt that Bercow would not allow them to bring back the deal for another vote - one source says this is a ‘Big Problem’,” the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg said on Twitter.

“Speaker’s office says not decided yet - let’s see.”

(This version was refiled to change headline)

Reporting by Alistair Smout; editing by Michael Holden

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-vote-bbc/rumors-that-uk-government-told-it-cannot-hold-new-brexit-vote-bbc-political-editor-idUSKCN1RE11P

2019-04-02 11:01:00Z
CBMilwFodHRwczovL3d3dy5yZXV0ZXJzLmNvbS9hcnRpY2xlL3VzLWJyaXRhaW4tZXUtdm90ZS1iYmMvcnVtb3JzLXRoYXQtdWstZ292ZXJubWVudC10b2xkLWl0LWNhbm5vdC1ob2xkLW5ldy1icmV4aXQtdm90ZS1iYmMtcG9saXRpY2FsLWVkaXRvci1pZFVTS0NOMVJFMTFQ0gF_aHR0cHM6Ly9tb2JpbGUtcmV1dGVycy1jb20uY2RuLmFtcHByb2plY3Qub3JnL3Yvcy9tb2JpbGUucmV1dGVycy5jb20vYXJ0aWNsZS9hbXAvaWRVU0tDTjFSRTExUD9hbXBfanNfdj0wLjEjd2Vidmlldz0xJmNhcD1zd2lwZQ

Brexit: Cabinet to meet after deadlock in Commons votes - BBC News

Media playback is unsupported on your device

A no-deal Brexit is now more likely but can still be avoided, the EU's chief negotiator has said.

Michel Barnier said a long extension to the UK's current 12 April exit date carried "significant risks for the EU" and that a "strong justification would be needed" before the EU would agree.

On Monday night, MPs voted on four alternatives to the PM's withdrawal deal, but none gained a majority.

Theresa May has begun five hours of cabinet talks to tackle the deadlock.

BBC deputy political editor John Pienaar said the cabinet was "irreconcilably split" and "almost any outcome is conceivable", with one camp preferring no deal, the other a "softer" Brexit.

In the Commons votes on Monday, MPs rejected a customs union with the EU by three votes. A motion for another referendum got the most votes in favour, but still lost.

The so-called indicative votes were not legally binding, but they had been billed as the moment when Parliament might finally compromise.

That did not happen, and one Tory MP - Nick Boles, who was behind one of the proposals - resigned the whip in frustration.

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay told MPs that if they wanted to secure a further delay from the EU, the government must put forward a "credible proposition".

One suggestion has been the possibility of a general election - but former foreign secretary Boris Johnson told BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg that would be likely to "infuriate" voters.

Please upgrade your browser to view this interactive

Instead, Mr Johnson said he believed a new leader and "change in negotiation tactic" could "retrofit" the PM's "terrible" agreement with the EU.

Speaking on Tuesday morning, Mr Barnier said: "No deal was never our desire or intended scenario but the EU 27 is now prepared. It becomes day after day more likely."

Mr Barnier told the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee that "things are somewhat hanging on the decisions of the House of Commons", and that the deal was negotiated with the UK "not against the UK".

"If we are to avoid a no-deal Brexit, there is only one way forward - they have got to vote on a deal.

"There is only one treaty available - this one," he said, waving the withdrawal agreement.

Former Brexit Secretary David Davis told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the way forward was to address the controversial Irish backstop - a measure to avoid the return of a hard border on the island of Ireland.

He said the most "constructive outcome" would be the Malthouse Compromise - which includes extending the transition period for a year until the end of 2021 and protecting EU citizens' rights, instead of using the backstop.

But the Leader of the Commons Andrea Leadsom said the prime minister's deal was the best option.

"The compromise option, the one that delivers on the EU referendum but at the same time enables us to accommodate the wishes of those who wanted to remain in the EU - that is the best compromise," she said.

Please upgrade your browser

Your guide to Brexit jargon

Use the list below or select a button

Labour MP and chairman of the Brexit select committee Hilary Benn told Today that a confirmatory referendum was the best solution.

"A good leader would be taking that decision and put it back to the people," he said.

"[The] fear is that the PM is not going to move an inch. That is why we are at a moment of crisis."

Mrs May's plan for the UK's departure has been rejected by MPs three times.

Last week, Parliament took control of the process away from the government in order to hold a series of votes designed to find an alternative way forward.

Eight options were put to MPs, but none was able to command a majority, and on Monday night, a whittled-down four were rejected too.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Those pushing for a customs union argued that their option was defeated by the narrowest margin - only three votes.

It would see the UK remain in the same system of tariffs - taxes - on goods as the rest of the EU, potentially simplifying the issue of the Northern Ireland border, but prevent the UK from striking independent trade deals with other countries.

Those in favour of another EU referendum pointed out that the motion calling for that option received the most votes in favour, totalling 280.

For months, Parliament has been saying "Let us have a say, let us find the way forward," but in the end they couldn't quite do it. Parliament doesn't know what it wants and we still have lots of different tribes and factions who aren't willing to make peace.

That means that by the day, two things are becoming more likely. One, leaving the EU without a deal. And two, a general election, because we're at an impasse.

One person who doesn't think that would be a good idea is former foreign secretary and Brexiteer Boris Johnson.

He told me going to the polls would "solve nothing" and would "just infuriate people". He also said that only somebody who "really believes in Brexit" should be in charge once Theresa May steps down. I wonder who that could be...

Hear more from Laura and the gang in Brexitcast

What next?

• Tuesday 2 April: A five-hour cabinet meeting
• Wednesday 3 April: Potentially another round of indicative votes
• Thursday 4 April: Theresa May could bring her withdrawal deal back before MPs for a fourth vote
• Wednesday 10 April: Emergency summit of EU leaders to consider any UK request for further extension
• Friday 12 April: Brexit day, if UK does not seek / EU does not grant further delay
• 23-26 May: European Parliamentary elections

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https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-47783127

2019-04-02 10:44:04Z
CBMiLWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jb20vbmV3cy91ay1wb2xpdGljcy00Nzc4MzEyN9IBAA

Brexit: Cabinet to meet after deadlock in Commons votes - BBC News

Media playback is unsupported on your device

A no-deal Brexit is now more likely but can still be avoided, the EU's chief negotiator has said.

Michel Barnier said a long extension to the UK's current 12 April exit date carried "significant risks for the EU" and that a "strong justification would be needed" before the EU would agree.

On Monday night, MPs voted on four alternatives to the PM's withdrawal deal, but none gained a majority.

Theresa May has begun five hours of cabinet talks to tackle the deadlock.

BBC deputy political editor John Pienaar said the cabinet was "irreconcilably split" and "almost any outcome is conceivable", with one camp preferring no deal, the other a "softer" Brexit.

In the Commons votes on Monday, MPs rejected a customs union with the EU by three votes. A motion for another referendum got the most votes in favour, but still lost.

The so-called indicative votes were not legally binding, but they had been billed as the moment when Parliament might finally compromise.

That did not happen, and one Tory MP - Nick Boles, who was behind one of the proposals - resigned the whip in frustration.

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay told MPs that if they wanted to secure a further delay from the EU, the government must put forward a "credible proposition".

One suggestion has been the possibility of a general election - but former foreign secretary Boris Johnson told BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg that would be likely to "infuriate" voters.

Please upgrade your browser to view this interactive

Instead, Mr Johnson said he believed a new leader and "change in negotiation tactic" could "retrofit" the PM's "terrible" agreement with the EU.

Speaking on Tuesday morning, Mr Barnier said: "No deal was never our desire or intended scenario but the EU 27 is now prepared. It becomes day after day more likely."

Mr Barnier told the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee that "things are somewhat hanging on the decisions of the House of Commons", and that the deal was negotiated with the UK "not against the UK".

"If we are to avoid a no-deal Brexit, there is only one way forward - they have got to vote on a deal.

"There is only one treaty available - this one," he said, waving the withdrawal agreement.

Former Brexit Secretary David Davis told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the way forward was to address the controversial Irish backstop - a measure to avoid the return of a hard border on the island of Ireland.

He said the most "constructive outcome" would be the Malthouse Compromise - which includes extending the transition period for a year until the end of 2021 and protecting EU citizens' rights, instead of using the backstop.

But the Leader of the Commons Andrea Leadsom said the prime minister's deal was the best option.

"The compromise option, the one that delivers on the EU referendum but at the same time enables us to accommodate the wishes of those who wanted to remain in the EU - that is the best compromise," she said.

Please upgrade your browser

Your guide to Brexit jargon

Use the list below or select a button

Labour MP and chairman of the Brexit select committee Hilary Benn told Today that a confirmatory referendum was the best solution.

"A good leader would be taking that decision and put it back to the people," he said.

"[The] fear is that the PM is not going to move an inch. That is why we are at a moment of crisis."

Mrs May's plan for the UK's departure has been rejected by MPs three times.

Last week, Parliament took control of the process away from the government in order to hold a series of votes designed to find an alternative way forward.

Eight options were put to MPs, but none was able to command a majority, and on Monday night, a whittled-down four were rejected too.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Those pushing for a customs union argued that their option was defeated by the narrowest margin - only three votes.

It would see the UK remain in the same system of tariffs - taxes - on goods as the rest of the EU, potentially simplifying the issue of the Northern Ireland border, but prevent the UK from striking independent trade deals with other countries.

Those in favour of another EU referendum pointed out that the motion calling for that option received the most votes in favour, totalling 280.

For months, Parliament has been saying "Let us have a say, let us find the way forward," but in the end they couldn't quite do it. Parliament doesn't know what it wants and we still have lots of different tribes and factions who aren't willing to make peace.

That means that by the day, two things are becoming more likely. One, leaving the EU without a deal. And two, a general election, because we're at an impasse.

One person who doesn't think that would be a good idea is former foreign secretary and Brexiteer Boris Johnson.

He told me going to the polls would "solve nothing" and would "just infuriate people". He also said that only somebody who "really believes in Brexit" should be in charge once Theresa May steps down. I wonder who that could be...

Hear more from Laura and the gang in Brexitcast

What next?

• Tuesday 2 April: A five-hour cabinet meeting
• Wednesday 3 April: Potentially another round of indicative votes
• Thursday 4 April: Theresa May could bring her withdrawal deal back before MPs for a fourth vote
• Wednesday 10 April: Emergency summit of EU leaders to consider any UK request for further extension
• Friday 12 April: Brexit day, if UK does not seek / EU does not grant further delay
• 23-26 May: European Parliamentary elections

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https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-47783127

2019-04-02 10:27:48Z
CBMiLWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jb20vbmV3cy91ay1wb2xpdGljcy00Nzc4MzEyN9IBAA