That " Brexit " Mess !

To the rest of the world Britain has become something of a laughing stock.  Here we are - less than fifty days from the nominated withdrawal from the European Union and its parliament has been dissolved and its prime minister seems powerless to either make a " no deal " exit or settle the issue by calling a snap general election.

All of this was sparked by a former prime minister calling for a referendum on leaving the EU and charting a new course as an independent nation.   That delivered a small win for the " leave " supporters, but the voters were assured an orderly exit could be negotiated and Britain would regain control of its borders and be free of the dreaded European court of justice.

Years of endless negotiation have been unproductive.  One of the critical issues has been the customs barrier between Ireland - which remains in the EU - and Northern Ireland which remains staunchly British.  If that is not solved it could light a match to resumption of the terrorist war the IRA waged to achieve a united Ireland.

What is perfectly clear is that the British people are far from consensus on what they hope to achieve. The biggest market for the goods that Britain manufactures is across the English channel and some sort of customs arrangement is essential to stop industry grinding to a halt.  What negotiations have so far disclosed is the extent of how intertwined the British and the European market has become in the supply of commerce, food and pharmaceuticals and how difficult it will be to exit the EU without some sort of customs agreement being in place,

A disorderly exit could be an absolute disaster for the Europeans now living in Britain and the British retirees scattered across the member countries of the EU.  Would reciprocal pensions continue to be paid ?  Would the right of residence be discontinued ?   The lives of hundreds of thousands of people would become an unanswered question.

Failure to get parliamentary approval for the deal she had negotiated forced prime minister Theresa May to tender her resignation and she was replaced by Boris Johnson who favoured crashing out of the EU by a withdrawal on his own terms, but he has been quietly snookered by the various factions and now seems powerless.   His ploy to prorogue parliament and simply send the members back to their constituency was planned to deliver power into his hands, but legal moves have tied his hands and he is even prevented from calling a snap general election to resolve the matter.

Achievement of an exit plan by October 31 seems unlikely and technically the EU could expel Britain on that date, hence a " no deal " exit may happen automatically.  The logical way to extricate Britain from this conundrum would be another referendum now that the full implications of withdrawal are known, but even that seems hopelessly mired in controversy.

The only positive outcome is that several other countries were agitating for withdrawal from the EU and this British discord has put those plans on the backburner.  It seems that this British debacle is destined to be decisive in setting the future for both the countries of Europe and the small island that once ruled the world.

We will have to wait to read the history books to see how this situation ends.  This inglorious finality will certainly be performed in front of a world audience.