The UK Prime Minister’s latest Brexit bill has been thwarted as Andrea Leadsom hands in her resignation in disapproval.
On May 22nd, Andrea Leadsom, the Leader of the House of Commons and Member of Parliament for South Northamptonshire gave in her resignation stating that the Government’s attempts to bring Brexit over the line has crippled and languished. The Leader of the House of Commons had intentions of replacing the current Prime Minister Theresa May as leader of the Conservative Party but after May’s rejection of popular demand for her to resign, Mrs. Leadsom produced her letter of resignation.
“I have been supporting Brexit totally for the last three years and I couldn’t, as Leader of the Commons, with responsibility for the legislation stand up at business questions tomorrow and announce a bill that I just think has elements I cannot support that aren’t Brexit. I have been determined to deliver Brexit but I am just worried that this bill its new elements in it would not do that.”
Click here to watch the announcement.
Leadsom was not alone in her disapproval of Prime Minister May’s latest frenzied attempt to win over the confidence of Labour MPs with an updated version of her Brexit proposal on the 21st of May. Firstly, PM May extended to Parliament a vote that would create a closer Customs Union relationship with the European Union adhering to the desires of many members of the Labour Party. Secondly, she pledged to set up a second referendum vote. Despite having gone against these elements of a Brexit deal in the past she has succumbed to offering them in exchange for Labour votes, perhaps as a final attempt of getting some sort of deal through Parliament before she resigns and leaves Downing Street as the Prime Minister who couldn’t deliver Brexit.
In a speech on May 21st, 2019, May said:
“I knew that delivering Brexit was not going to be simple or straight forward. The result in 2016 was decisive but it was close the challenge of taking Brexit from the simplicity of the choice on the ballot paper to the complexity of resetting the country’s relationship with 27 of its nearest neighbours was always going to be huge. While it has proved even harder than I had anticipated I continue to believe that the best way to make a success of Brexit is to negotiate a good exit deal with the EU as the basis of a new, deep and special partnership for the future.”
To watch the full speech click here.
Andrea Leadsom’s letter of resignation which circulated on Twitter, outlines the four reasons for her departure from the Government as:
- I do not believe that we will be a truly sovereign United Kingdom through the deal that is now proposed;
- I have always maintained that a second referendum would be dangerously divisive, and I do not support the Government willingly facilitating such a concession. It would also risk undermining our Union which is something I passionately want to see strengthened;
- There has been such a breakdown of government processes that recent Brexit-related legislative proposals have not been properly scrutinized or approved by Cabinet members;
- The tolerance to those in Cabinet who have advocated policies contrary to the Government’s position has led to a complete breakdown of collective responsibility.
Taken from Twitter.com, click here to read Mrs. Leadsom’s resignation letter.
Leadsom concluded by saying that abandoning her responsibilities as Leader of the House especially at such a stressful and challenging period, with the importance of the European Parliament elections just around the corner, she could not stand and put forward a proposal that she rejects on all levels. “It is therefore with great regret and with a heavy heart that I resign from the Government.”
Her resignation puts the spotlight on other Conservative Cabinet Ministers who are opposed to Theresa May’s proposal, to respond to the desperate attempts to pass a withdrawal deal through Parliament.
Iain Duncan Smith, a former leader of the Conservative Party, has increased tension on Prime Minister May by warning that should her modified Brexit proposal be published tomorrow then like Andrea Leadsom, all cabinet ministers should also resign.
Nevertheless, Downing Street is showing no signs of scrapping May’s revised version of the withdrawal bill, regardless of the resignation of the Leader of the Commons.
On May 22nd Prime Minister May refused to arrange talks with various Conservative Ministers, who wanted to voice their disapproval of a proposed vote in Parliament as to whether there should be another referendum.
Mr. Smith said that the Conservative Party could face a big blow in the European Parliament elections on May 23rd and the cause of the downfall lies with the Conservative leader who never truly had confidence in securing Brexit.
Conservative backbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg has criticized Theresa May’s revised Brexit bill as being far worse in comparison to her previous proposal.
Conservative MP Tim Loughton advises Parliament that Theresa May’s rule as Prime Minister needs to end as soon as possible if Brexit is to be brought to a closure.
“I think we need a new leader and I’ve never put in a letter of no confidence in a leader of the Conservative Party for my 22 years here but frankly this has got to be resolved. I can see no way out of the impasse that we’re in at the moment with Brexit and I can’t see any way out with Theresa May leading it. We need a new leader very quickly with a new fresh approach to try and break through this impasse.”
Taken from YouTube.com
Prime Minister May has rejected urges from Parliament to announce a date for her resignation by vowing to schedule a date for her exit on the conditions that her Brexit bill is voted on again in the Houses of Parliament.
The UK’s ongoing Brexit confusion has been going on for almost 3 years now, and the possible outcomes are vast; ranging from a no-deal withdrawal on WTO terms to a second referendum vote on whether to revoke the Brexit procedure altogether.
Sterling was headed for a record decline against the euro as investors anticipated an increased risk of the UK withdrawing from the EU bloc without a deal.
The American investment bank, J.P. Morgan has increased the chances of a no-deal Brexit by 10 percent making the odds 25 percent and the French international banking group BNP Paribas has suggested that the chances it believes the UK will leave the EU without a transition period is 40 percent.
Theresa May has been obstinate throughout the hectic and turbulent Brexit process, and her pledge to announce a date for her resignation on the condition that Parliament passes her Brexit bill has become obsolete as the urgency for a new leader to take charge grows stronger.
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