Brexit news: Tom Watson defies Jeremy Corbyn over second referendum as Macron issues fresh attack on Brexiteers
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Your support makes all the difference.Labour's deputy leader, Tom Watson, has said a fresh Brexit referendum is "the only way" to solve the current crisis.
Speaking before the major Put it to the People march in London on Saturday, he said the best way to unite the country was to "have a final say - and then live with the result".
It came as Theresa May faced mounting pressure after European Union leaders seized control of the Brexit timetable during late night talks in Brussels.
EU leaders said they would be prepared to defer Britain’s departure until 22 May if the government’s deal is approved next week - if not, then a deadline of 12 April has been set, they added.
Reports suggested that the chairman of the influential 1922 group of Conservatives, Sir Graham Brady, visited Ms May this week and relayed the message that MPs in the party want her to stand down.
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Speaking in Brussels at the close of the EU council summit, the French president Emmanuel Macron, says a no-deal scenario is in no one's interests, but the EU is “prepared” for such a route.
"Here and now, provisional conclusion would be Brexit, to me, is not a technical negotiation at this state. It is a political lesson to us all: a proposed rejection of the EU with no plan can only ever lead to a stalemate and that is what we are seeing currently with the situation in the UK.
"This is something we should all realise especially now. But if we are to ignore the fears and anger of European citizens it will only lead to a disaster."
The remark from the French president on the "political lesson" is reminiscent of Donald Tusk's attack on Brexiteers last month, when he declared that there was a "special place in hell" for those who proposed Brexit without laying out a plan.
Nigel Dodds - the deputy leader of the DUP - has released a statement after Theresa May’s appearance at the EU council summit in Brussels, saying the prime minister “missed an opportunity”. It is quite scathing.
“The Prime Minister missed an opportunity at the EU Council to put forward proposals which could have improved the prospects of an acceptable Withdrawal Agreement and help unite the country.
That failure is all the more disappointing and inexcusable given the clear divisions and arguments which became evident amongst EU member states when faced with outcomes they don’t like.
As we have always said, negotiations with the EU inevitably go down to the wire and the Government has been far too willing to capitulate before securing the necessary changes which would get an agreement through the House of Commons.
The Government has consistently settled for inferior compromises when they didn’t need to and when there was, and is, more negotiating with the EU to be done.
Lectures by the Prime Minister putting the blame on others cannot disguise the responsibility her government bears for the current debacle and the fact that her agreement has been twice overwhelmingly rejected in Parliament.
The Prime Minister has now agreed with the EU to kick the can down the road for another two weeks and humiliatingly revoke her oft-stated pledge that the U.K. would leave the EU on 29th March.
Nothing has changed as far as the Withdrawal Agreement is concerned. Nothing fundamentally turns on the formal ratification of documents which the Attorney General has already said do not change the risk of the U.K. being trapped in the backstop.
The DUP has been very clear throughout that we want a deal which delivers on the referendum result and which works for all parts of the U.K. and for the EU as well.
But it must be a deal that protects the Union. That remains our abiding principle. We will not accept any deal which poses a long term risk to the constitutional and economic integrity of the United Kingdom.”
Business secretary Greg Clark has confirmed the Commons will have a chance to express its view on the way forward if Theresa May's Brexit deal is defeated again.
"If it doesn't get passed then the government will facilitate, as David Lidington put it, the ability for parliament to express a majority of what it would approve. I think that is the right step," he told the BBC.
Asked if that meant Theresa May would give MPs "indicative votes" on the way forward, he said: "Yes."
This is an interesting titbit from my colleague Jon Stone about the fascinating photo from yesterday's European Council summit that has been doing the rounds on social media...
↵Eurosceptic Tories have been voicing their opposition to suggestions that the government could hold a series of "indicative votes" on Brexit next week...
A leaked Cabinet Office document says the government's system for dealing with a no-deal Brexit could fall apart within weeks.
The document, obtained by The Guardian, says government departments will have to take major decisions themselves rather than escalated them to "the top levels".
It warns:
“The … structure will quickly fall if too many decisions are unnecessarily escalated to the top levels that could have reasonably been dealt with internally with pre-arrange internal processes."
It also admits that there are “likely to be unforeseen issues and impacts” of a no-deal Brexit that officials have not yet predicted.
The document said there would be a "critical phase" lasting at least 12 weeks after a no-deal Brexit, with "some impacts" likely to be felt for up to 24 weeks. Government departments and agencies should be prepared for "24/7 working" during this time, it warned.
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