Parliament feels obligated to continue with Brexit in accordance with the referendum but it seems that it is growing in unpopularity.
What happens politically if QE2 refuses to grant Royal Assent to the laws implementing the Brexit? Would the Brits support her if she does this?
Probably the same thing that happens if she refuses royal assent to ANY law that isn’t fundamentally against the will of a large majority of her subjects: a constitutional crisis. The monarch doesn’t actually have any de jure power in the UK today. He or she (especially Liz, because of her tenure) has personal influence, because she’s a storehouse of decades of political experience and observation, but there’s really nothing overt she can do that won’t break the kingdom in some way. The solution to the continuation of Brexit is popular agitation against the government to the point where May has to declare new elections and then voting people who are overtly against Brexit in.
I don’t think it is more unpopular, what you may be seeing is arguments over the detail and exactly how and when it will happen but both major political parties in the UK are in favour of enacting Brexit.
She’d guarantee the end of the monarchy in its current form. The only reason they are allowed to be involved in the ceremonies of state is because there is a tacit agreement that they do not get involved in political matters at all.
She has already granted Royal Assent to Brexit. Back on March 16.. The question is 6 months, 1 week, 2 days late.
Cite?
Don’t confuse opponents making more noise with more people opposing it.
Brexit is growing in unpopularity? Sorry, but I think you are witnessing the froth of everyday political to-and-fro here. Brexit is roughly as popular and unpopular as it was on the day of the Referendum.
It’s almost inconceivable the Queen will refuse to grant Royal Ascent. It’s not something a Queen does, it’s certainly not something this Queen does, and this Queen certainly won’t do it over something as trifling as Brexit(and in the great scheme of British history Brexit is trifling).
The one thing this monarch does is, privately and politely, to turn potential controversy back on the political process. The decision on Brexit has been taken in principle by Parliament (after the courts told the government it couldn’t just go ahead and do it as a matter of “Crown prerogative”), and therefore, as noted above, already given royal assent. What the OP is positing, I think, is a situation in which the final terms of agreement are resisted by a major part of the public as not what they voted for; but what matters is what the “leavers” in Parliament, and particularly in the Tory party, decide to do. If nevertheless, Parliament approves the final agreement, even with the government relying on opposition votes to defeat the rebels on their own side (as happened over the Maastricht Treaty), then to the extent that that requires formal legislation, there would be no precedent for the monarch not to give royal assent. That said, there might well be a flurry of private “Are you confident you can carry this through?” messages beforehand. But as long as a government commands a majority in the House of Commons, normal rules apply, and the monarch rides above it all.
Problems might arise if a substantial Tory rebellion leads to instability in the government and in parliament, in which case the monarch’s advisers would be keeping a wary eye on developments to make sure she’s kept out of any controversy. But there is plenty of precedent for dealing with governments that cannot rely on their majority, however controversial the issue, that don’t involve the monarch.
The impression I get from polls is that Brexit would fail if the referendum were held today. Regardless of their public positions how many M.P.'s secretly would prefer to Remain?
If it has become unpopular surely Brexit can and should be reversed. Why isn’t it? Perhaps intervention by Her Royal Majesty is the best option at this point.
Which ones?
Significant parts of the media and establishment are heavily pro-European, so you need to read carefully.
BTW the usual Parliamentary obfuscation and delaying tactics don’t apply here: under Article 50 the clock is ticking and in less than two years we’re out.
The result was close so it’s quite possible that if the referendum was held again today, it would go the other way. But after having held it, a majority of people do want the government to follow the referendum results, even if they do not personally support Brexit.
Because
(a) there is no evidence that it is so unpopular that the voters will elect candidates to Parliament willing to try to get it reversed (we have just had a general election, remember)
(b) under Article 50 (which has already been approved by Parliament and given royal assent), the process is legally irreversible unless every other member state of the EU agrees to let it be so.
We have rules and a process. It all comes back to Parliament, not the person who happens to be monarch.
If the Queen withheld Royal Assent the best case scenario for the British Monarchy would that she’d immediately be forced to retire to one of her country houses and Charles would be installed as Prince Regent.
The answer about the Queen’s lack of real political authority hasn’t changed since you asked this question a year ago:
Question on BRexit and the Queen
Or when you raised it in this thread in 2015 at post 10: Why hold general elections (UK Parliament)?
Or in this thread in 2015 at post 143: On the Future Governance of the United Kingdom
Or when you raised it in this thread in 2014: Fixed Terms Parliament Act in the UK, post 46.
Or when you asked it in 2013: What are the theoretical limits to the British monarch powers?
Since you refuse to accept the answer you have been given to this very question on all the previous occasions, namely that the Queen only exercises her constitutional powers on the advice of her duly elected government, and she lacks the political authority to act on her own, against the advice of those duly elected constitutional advisors, I don’t see why anyone should give you the time of day in this thread.
Asked and Answered.
I’m still waiting for you to cite those polls.