JOHN AUTHERS: When Brexit doesn't mean Brexit anymore
'Although there were only two options at the Brexit referendum in 2016 – stay or leave - there are now several more, none of which seem capable of commanding a majority in the UK'
Theresa May won the U.K. premiership by saying that: “Brexit means Brexit.” This comment, along with some fratricidal maneuvers among the Brexiteers within her Conservative party, helped ensure that a politician who had supported staying in the European Union would be given the job of taking the U.K. out. But the continued Shakespearean bloodletting among the Brexiteers is getting in the way of working out what kind of a deal might be acceptable to those who have asked for it. Meanwhile the studied vagueness of “Brexit means Brexit” no longer sounds decisive. By now, everyone should know exactly what Brexit means, but that’s the problem – nobody really knows. Add the disastrous miscalculation of calling a general election last year,which left Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party holding the balance of power, and we have the U.K.’s dreadful current political mess. And although there were only two options at the Brexit referendum in 2016 – stay or leave - there are now several...
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