The parliamentary tussle between supporters of Theresa May’s deal with the EU, supporters of a second referendum, and advocates of a fresh General Election is “the political establishment fighting over their preferred method of stopping Brexit”, according to UKIP leader Gerard Batten.
“Mrs May knows that she cannot win the vote on Tuesday. She is attempting to present herself as a force for Brexit, but nobody is buying it,” the MEP insisted.
“Mrs May’s so-called deal would turn Britain into a vassal state of the EU prepared to go back in in a few short years,” he claimed.
The UKIP leader was likely referring to the years-long “transition” period the deal envisions, in which the United Kingdom would for all intents and purposes remain an EU member, bound to obey all the bloc’s laws and rulings but without any voting rights or representation in its institutions — a state of affairs European media have called “passive membership”.
This “transition” period is to be used to negotiate the United Kingdom’s “future partnership” with the EU — something the deal does not finalise — with the option of either extending it or else automatically entering into a highly contentious so-called “backstop” relationship which Britain would not be allowed to leave without the EU’s permission.
With the backstop so unpalatable, and the EU unlikely to agree a less one-sided “future partnership” while it is available, it has been speculated that MPs will simply argue for the country to move seamlessly back to full EU membership once the “transition” is over.
“What we are witnessing is the political establishment fighting over their preferred method of stopping Brexit — should it be through Mrs May’s surrender document, a General Election or another referendum?” Batten observed wryly.
“In their arrogance and contempt for the will of the 17.4 million who voted to leave the European Union, the political establishment have embarrassed the nation in the eyes of the world.”