Johnson will ask for Brexit delay after losing parliament vote -EU official

[rooster59]

Johnson will ask for Brexit delay after losing parliament vote -EU official

By William James, Elizabeth Piper and Kylie MacLellan

 

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks at the House of Commons as parliament discusses Brexit, sitting on a Saturday for the first time since the 1982 Falklands War, in London, Britain, October 19, 2019, in this screen grab taken from video. Parliament TV via REUTERS

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Boris Johnson will send a letter on Saturday requesting a further extension to Britain's departure from the European Union, an EU official said, with the British prime minister obliged to ask for a delay after losing a vote in parliament.

 

Johnson had hoped that Saturday would see recalcitrant lawmakers support the divorce deal he agreed with EU leaders this week and finally end three years of political deadlock since the 2016 referendum vote to leave the bloc.

 

Instead, lawmakers voted 322 to 306 in favour of an amendment that turned Johnson's planned finale on its head by leaving the prime minister exposed to a humiliating obligation to ask the EU for a delay until the end of January 2020, and increasing the opportunity for opponents to frustrate Brexit.

 

Graphic: British lawmakers switching sides (https://graphics.reuters.com/BRITAIN-EU-PARLIAMENT/0100B2J61TZ/index.html)

 

Johnson has been promising that he will take the country out of the bloc on Oct. 31, come what may, and after the amendment passed, he struck a defiant tone.

 

"I will not negotiate a delay with the EU and neither does the law compel me to do so," he told parliament. "I will tell our friends and colleagues in the EU exactly what I have told everyone else in the last 88 days that I have served as prime minister: that further delay would be bad for this country, bad for the European Union and bad for democracy."

 

However, he appeared to acknowledge in a letter sent later to lawmakers that he would ask for a Brexit extension - as called by for an earlier law passed by his opponents.

 

"It is quite possible that our friends in the European Union will reject parliament's request for further delay (or not take a decision quickly)," Johnson wrote.

 

European Council President Donald Tusk said he had spoken to Johnson and an EU official said Johnson had confirmed in that call that the letter asking the EU for an extension would indeed be sent.

 

"Tusk will on that basis start consulting EU leaders on how to react. This may take a few days," the official said.

 

The deadline for the letter to be sent appeared to be 2300 GMT on Saturday: the law itself referred to 11 p.m. without saying what time zone, but the text of the letter Johnson is meant to send refers to a deadline of 11 p.m. GMT.

 

Graphic: Understanding Brexit (https://graphics.reuters.com/BRITAIN-EU/0100B2EP1LV/index.html)

 

DEMONSTRATIONS

 

Saturday's amendment, put forward by former Conservative cabinet minister Oliver Letwin, deflated Johnson's big Brexit day just as hundreds of thousands gathered to march on parliament demanding another referendum on EU membership.

 

After several hours of heated debate, senior politicians - including Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom, House of Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg and Labour's foreign affairs spokeswoman Diane Abbott - were escorted from parliament past jeering demonstrators by phalanxes of police.

 

The European Commission said Britain must now inform it of its next steps as soon as possible. French President Emmanuel Macron told Johnson a delay was in no-one's interest, an official at the French presidency told Reuters.

 

Ireland believes granting an extension is preferable to Britain leaving with no deal, but there is no guarantee that view is shared throughout the EU, its foreign minister said.

 

But however weary EU leaders are of the long and tortuous road to Brexit, it seems likely that the bloc will grant a delay.

 

Graphic: Understanding the Irish border (https://graphics.reuters.com/BRITAIN-EU/0100B2HZ1TJ/index.html)

 

BREXIT DELAY?

 

In a move designed to prevent the United Kingdom slipping out of the EU without a deal by design or default, Letwin's amendment delays parliament's ultimate decision on Johnson's Brexit deal until the very end of the process.

 

By supporting Letwin, whom Johnson had expelled from the Conservative Party, parliament exposed the prime minister to another law passed by his opponents that called for him to ask for a delay until Jan. 31, 2020 unless he had a deal approved by the end of Saturday.

 

Even if he is given an extension that he does not want by the EU, Johnson could still take the country out of the bloc on Oct. 31 because the law allows him to if he can get all the legislation approved by that date.

 

Rees-Mogg said the government now planned to put Johnson's withdrawal deal to a debate and vote on Monday, but the house speaker John Bercow said he would rule on Monday whether he would allow that.

 

Letwin said he hoped Johnson's deal would succeed, but he wanted "an insurance policy which prevents the UK from crashing out on 31 October by mistake if something goes wrong during the passage of the implementing legislation".

 

Three years after the country voted 52%-48% to leave the European project, many Britons say they are bored with the whole Brexit argument and just want the process to end.

 

But others demonstrating on Saturday remain angry that Britain is leaving the EU and want that reversed.

 

Hannah Barton, 56, a cider maker from Derbyshire in central England, was draped in the EU flag. "We feel that we are voiceless. This is a national disaster waiting to happen and it is going to destroy the economy," she said.

 

Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main opposition Labour Party, backed a second referendum, saying "the people should have the final say".

 

Protesters outside parliament cheered as lawmakers backed Letwin's amendment.

 

'SUPER SATURDAY'

 

Brexit "Super Saturday" topped a frenetic week that saw Johnson confound his opponents by clinching a new Brexit deal with the EU.

 

When it comes to a vote in a divided parliament where he has no majority, Johnson must win the support of 320 lawmakers to pass his deal.

 

If he wins, he will go down in history as the leader who delivered a Brexit - for good or bad - that pulls the United Kingdom far out of the EU's orbit. Should he fail, Johnson will face the humiliation of Brexit unravelling.

 

He says lawmakers face the option of either approving the deal or propelling the United Kingdom to a disorderly no-deal exit that could divide the West, hurt global growth and bring renewed violence to Northern Ireland.

 

To win, Johnson must persuade enough Brexit-supporting rebels in both his Conservative Party and the Labour Party to back his deal. His Northern Irish allies and the three main opposition parties oppose it.

 

Graphic: Brexit’s ‘Super Saturday’ (https://graphics.reuters.com/BRITAIN-EU/0100B2J31TT/index.html)

 

(Additional reporting by Andy Bruce and Gabriela Baczynska in Brussels; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge, Michael Holden and Giles Elgood; Editing by Janet Lawrence and Frances Kerry)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-10-20

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[TopDeadSenter]

5 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

Boris Johnson will send a letter on Saturday requesting a further extension to Britain's departure from the European Union, an EU official said, with the British prime minister obliged to ask for a delay after losing a vote in parliament.

Thanks to the better reporting from the Daily Mail we learn the above is a half truth at best. Johnson actually sent 3 letters. The 1st as alluded to above went unsigned and was only sent to placate the Benn act and its traitorous supporters. The other letters clarified the UK governments real position. They do not want any further dithers and delays and will crash out of the EU with no deal on the 31st October if the Johnson deal is not signed and implemented.

 Wouldn't it be ironic if the anti democratic remainers ended up forcing the proper Brexit we voted on all those years ago. Amusing times indeed!

[thaibeachlovers]

Boris gave it his best shot. He should resign and let the populace see what a shower the parliamentarians are when they descend into chaos.

He's never going to win against the remainers that have proven they will do anything to subvert the will of the majority of voters in the referendum.

All he does by staying is make himself a loser.

[Thailand]

Off to find his ditch now.

Probably lost more votes in a couple of weeks than May lost in her whole tenure.

[MarineEquine]

It was a bad deal. The UK would still have been subservient to the EUSSR. No Deal is better than a bad deal. 

[TopDeadSenter]

4 minutes ago, MarineEquine said:

It was a bad deal. The UK would still have been subservient to the EUSSR. No Deal is better than a bad deal. 

Agreed. It was a terrible deal. But I did support it, only to get the whole saga done and get on with our lives. Many of us have business interests in the UK, this remainer nonsense since the referendum has caused more harm than even a hard Brexit would have done. Now that the compromise failed so spectacularly, I hope we get the proper hard Brexit we voted for. Feeling quietly confident....

[soalbundy]

Just now, TopDeadSenter said:

Agreed. It was a terrible deal. But I did support it, only to get the whole saga done and get on with our lives. Many of us have business interests in the UK, this remainer nonsense since the referendum has caused more harm than even a hard Brexit would have done. Now that the compromise failed so spectacularly, I hope we get the proper hard Brexit we voted for. Feeling quietly confident....

Hope is the last thing that dies. It is going to be extended and extended and extended until there is a second referendum and brexit dies a natural death.

[FritsSikkink]

25 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Thanks to the better reporting from the Daily Mail we learn the above is a half truth at best. Johnson actually sent 3 letters. The 1st as alluded to above went unsigned and was only sent to placate the Benn act and its traitorous supporters. The other letters clarified the UK governments real position. They do not want any further dithers and delays and will crash out of the EU with no deal on the 31st October if the Johnson deal is not signed and implemented.

 Wouldn't it be ironic if the anti democratic remainers ended up forcing the proper Brexit we voted on all those years ago. Amusing times indeed!

Better reporting from the Daily Mail, nuff said.

[Basil B]

11 minutes ago, Thailand said:

Off to find his ditch now.

Probably lost more votes in a couple of weeks than May lost in her whole tenure.

Johnson since becoming Prime Minister has lost everything...

He has lost:

• Every vote in the Commons
• A parliamentary majority
• Loads of MP's
• Court action over his illegal proroguing of Parliament
• Cabinet ministers, including his brother have walked out on him
• & ALL CREDIBILITY...

Let's face it he is a looser.

[lapamita]

4 hours ago, Basil B said:

Johnson since becoming Prime Minister has lost everything...

 

Let's face it he is a looser.

He is not , he is a "man of action" and a person "of action" can do mistakes or can loose. compare to the consens "persons"

He has honour and a straight forward going thinking. compare to others.

 

Now UK and EU loose more , in terms of money and the curencys will further weak. The market waiting for an end , every end is better than a no end

 

Johnson was with his heart and soul behind trying get an end

 

The rest of the blabla people are same like thais blablabla

 

and after 2 years the mai said " we dont know what we want, but we can tell the world what we dont want "----- <deleted> a result  of 2 yr stupid doing.

 

I hope Eu not accept a further delay..and get out with no deal

 

end of story

 

[ICELANDMAN]

When the head of a government loses face with the EU and the whole country that loses face

[transam]

24 minutes ago, Basil B said:

Johnson since becoming Prime Minister has lost everything...

He has lost:

• Every vote in the Commons
• A parliamentary majority
• Loads of MP's
• Court action over his illegal proroguing of Parliament
• Cabinet ministers, including his brother have walked out on him
• & ALL CREDIBILITY...

Let's face it he is a looser.

I think you mean loser.....????

 

Boris is trying to do his best to implement what the UK people voted for, the things in your list are to do with MP's, not the people who voted to leave the EU...So your "loser" statement is a rather childish comment...

[kingdong]

3 minutes ago, ICELANDMAN said:

When the head of a government loses face with the EU and the whole country that loses face

The whole country lost face due to Gina miller and the remainers.

[TopDeadSenter]

3 minutes ago, kingdong said:

The whole country lost face due to Gina miller and the remainers.

At least Boris has shown his honesty and determination and tried his best to get the 2016 vote result done. He is sitting pretty going into a general election, and I just can't wait to see these anti democracy remainers get their just deserts when the election comes. This will be priceless.

[OneMoreFarang]

1 hour ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Thanks to the better reporting from the Daily Mail

I read it first on BBC news.

[OneMoreFarang]

Fact is that Boris waited, waited, waited, and then he rushed in the last days. And he did this deliberately.

What exactly did the UK and EU agree to? Did MPs have the chance to read the legal text? NO!

And where is the official assessment of how the proposed deal will impact the UK and especially NI? If it exists at all it was never published.

How can anybody expect that MPs make an informed decision without the details?

 

Lots of MPs are on record that they voted for the delay because they want the details and they want to make sure that Boris does not play tricks and leaves without a deal? It's obvious that Boris does often not tell the truth so nobody should be surprised that even people who want his current deal but no no-deal voted like they did on Saturday.

 

If Boris, and many other politicians, would be honorable people and if they would say clearly what they want and what they do and the expected consequences then the UK, and not only the UK, wouldn't be in this mess.

[Pattaya46]

1 hour ago, rooster59 said:

LONDON (Reuters) - Boris Johnson will send a letter on Saturday requesting a further extension to Britain's departure from the European Union, an EU official said, with the British prime minister obliged to ask for a delay after losing a vote in parliament.

Why posting this article today when it's clearly old news ?

The letter has already been sent, and received by EU yesterday!

In fact UK sent 3 letters :

- the mandatory letter (Benn Act), unsigned (!)

- a letter by B.Johnson explaining he doesn't want this extension

- a 3rd letter, by UK ambassador in EU, explaining it was sent only to respect UK law.

let's wait for Tuesday now...

Edited October 20, 2019 by Pattaya46

[TopDeadSenter]

9 minutes ago, Pattaya46 said:

Why posting this article today when it's clearly old news ?

The letter has already been sent, and received by EU yesterday!

In fact UK sent 3 letters :

- the mandatory letter (Benn Act), unsigned (!)

- a letter by B.Johnson explaining he doesn't want this extension

- a 3rd letter, by UK ambassador in EU, explaining it was sent only to respect UK law.

let's wait for Tuesday now...

Because it makes Johnson look weak and dishonest. See post 8 on this thread for confirmation that it works. People cling to their preconceived beliefs, so we see at least one poster still believes Boris sent the EU one letter begging for an extension( when 100% it is not true). And then they attack the news source that points out that in fact he sent 3 letters. No wonder people are so muddled and confused.

[RuamRudy]

He is not , he is a "man of action" and a person "of action" can do mistakes or can loose. compare to the consens "persons"
He has honour and a straight forward going thinking. compare to others.
 
Now UK and EU loose more , in terms of money and the curencys will further weak. The market waiting for an end , every end is better than a no end
 
Johnson was with his heart and soul behind trying get an end
 
The rest of the blabla people are same like thais blablabla
 
and after 2 years the mai said " we dont know what we want, but we can tell the world what we dont want "----- f...k a result  of 2 yr stupid doing.
 
I hope Eu not accept a further delay..and get out with no deal
 
end of story
 

Johnson has honour? Are you sure that you are referring to the pm? Honour is a quality that even the most accomplished of snake oil salesmen would struggle to convince anyone he had.

Sent from my SM-G975F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[stevenl]

1 hour ago, kingdong said:

The whole country lost face due to Gina miller and the remainers.

Government was acting illegally, and you blame the people who stand up to that, not the perpetrators?

[baansgr]

Sour grapes by the losers for three years. Don't they realize how foolish they look and constituents won't forget when it comes to being re elected. The damage these idiots are doing to the economy that they say are trying to protect is unbelievable....5th November soon...I will certainly be setting off a few fireworks.

[Bluespunk]

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Boris gave it his best shot. He should resign and let the populace see what a shower the parliamentarians are when they descend into chaos.

He's never going to win against the remainers that have proven they will do anything to subvert the will of the majority of voters in the referendum.

All he does by staying is make himself a loser.

The chaos is of johnson’s own making. If he and his fellow no dealers had not sabotaged may’s deal, then brexit would be happening. 

[Matzzon]

Oh Boris, dear Boris! What happened with taking UK out of EU the 31st of Oct? I think the only thing you have created is a Frankenstein you can´t control.

[Chomper Higgot]

1 hour ago, kingdong said:

The whole country lost face due to Gina miller and the remainers.

Actually the Peoples representatives in the HoC won an important victory over the PM’s attempt to govern by means of executive order.

 

It was a great victory for Parliamentary Democracy.

Edited October 20, 2019 by Chomper Higgot

[evadgib]

2 hours ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Thanks to the better reporting from the Daily Mail we learn the above is a half truth at best. Johnson actually sent 3 letters. The 1st as alluded to above went unsigned and was only sent to placate the Benn act and its traitorous supporters. The other letters clarified the UK governments real position. They do not want any further dithers and delays and will crash out of the EU with no deal on the 31st October if the Johnson deal is not signed and implemented.

 Wouldn't it be ironic if the anti democratic remainers ended up forcing the proper Brexit we voted on all those years ago. Amusing times indeed!

I'm not trawling the thread to see if these have already been posted...

 

Prime Minister's letter to President Donald Tusk: 19 October 2019

 

Letters from the UK to the EU Council: 19 October 2019

 

[Chomper Higgot]

23 minutes ago, baansgr said:

Sour grapes by the losers for three years. Don't they realize how foolish they look and constituents won't forget when it comes to being re elected. The damage these idiots are doing to the economy that they say are trying to protect is unbelievable....5th November soon...I will certainly be setting off a few fireworks.

You shouldn’t talk about the losers like that, Brexiteers are awfully sensitive about being spoken to in those kind of terms.

[Chomper Higgot]

1 hour ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Because it makes Johnson look weak and dishonest. See post 8 on this thread for confirmation that it works. People cling to their preconceived beliefs, so we see at least one poster still believes Boris sent the EU one letter begging for an extension( when 100% it is not true). And then they attack the news source that points out that in fact he sent 3 letters. No wonder people are so muddled and confused.

You are clinging to silly games played by Johnson, ‘not signing a letter’.

 

The kind trick scam artists play, writing Chequers but not signing them.

 

The Fact is, Johnson has failed again, his games for the tabloid press and those that swallow their propaganda do not change that’s fact.

 

 

Oh, and.... nothing could make Johnson look weak and dishonest.

Edited October 20, 2019 by Chomper Higgot

[Chomper Higgot]

1 hour ago, Pattaya46 said:

Why posting this article today when it's clearly old news ?

The letter has already been sent, and received by EU yesterday!

In fact UK sent 3 letters :

- the mandatory letter (Benn Act), unsigned (!)

- a letter by B.Johnson explaining he doesn't want this extension

- a 3rd letter, by UK ambassador in EU, explaining it was sent only to respect UK law.

let's wait for Tuesday now...

Imagine being the UK’s ambassador having to explain the man child in No10 was refusing to sign a letter.

 

What leadership!

[JonnyF]

Looks like the anti Democrats have managed to drag this out for another 3 months. They must be so proud of themselves ????.

 

Hopefully they don't block an election as well. The swamp is long overdue a good draining.

[JAG]

2 hours ago, Basil B said:

Johnson since becoming Prime Minister has lost everything...

He has lost:

• Every vote in the Commons
• A parliamentary majority
• Loads of MP's
• Court action over his illegal proroguing of Parliament
• Cabinet ministers, including his brother have walked out on him
• & ALL CREDIBILITY...

Let's face it he is a looser.

Ironically ( probably the mildest way of putting it) the one political action which he quite probably would not lose (a General Election which would give him a mandate to take the UK out of the EU) is being denied. Why could that be? Surely not because the alliance of opposition parties, Tory rebels (remember they lost to him both in the parliamentary and constituency party elections for the Tory leadership) and the Squeaker have a shrewd suspicion what the popular verdict on their actions would be?