# What will the UK do wrt Brexit? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 18, 2019, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799 "2019-02-18T22:39:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 49
**Author:** ![Wrenching\_Spanners](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecb155/32.png) [@Wrenching\_Spanners](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrenching_Spanners)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/961 "2019-04-07T09:00:35Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by Quartz View Post > This was almost a universal refrain of those Brexiteers to whom I spoke: they expected short-term economic issues but a longer term gain. > [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > I’ve posted polling on numerous occasions that shows that the vast majority of leave voters expect no downturn and about half expect an upswing. Then it should be easy for you to provide your cite again. It’s something from the time of the referendum and from a reliable news source, not Twitter, right? > [@](#): > > Either way this opinion is batty. If you think that Leavers weren’t considering the short-term economic cost, please read post #1094. If you think that expecting a positive long-term benefit from Brexit is “batty”, you’re wrong. You may disagree with the opinion - many people do including the Bank of England and several leading economists. However, hundreds of economists and business leaders do agree with that opinion. Here’s one example from The Guardian of all places: > **[Stop complaining about Brexit – the economic benefits will be huge | John...](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/23/complaining-brexit-economic-benefits-government-cost-of-living-multinationals)** > > After Brexit the government will have the mandate and resources to reduce the cost of living and escape the grip of the multinationals Or pick several from this list: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endors...ferendum,\_2016](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endors...ferendum,_2016) Alternatively, read about Michael Howard’s speech to the CBI: > **[Lord Howard: Lack of Democracy in EU Hurting Business](https://www.dailysquib.co.uk/business/18919-lord-howard-lack-of-democracy-in-eu-hurting-business.html)** > > LONDON - England - In a speech to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), former Home Secretary, Lord Howard  of Lympne, criticised the CBI's record on the EU. What would be “batty” is believing that EU membership automatically leads to prosperity. Read up on youth unemployment in southern Europe sometime. > **[Youth unemployment rate in EU countries 2023 | Statista](https://www.statista.com/statistics/266228/youth-unemployment-rate-in-eu-countries/)** > > The statistic shows the seasonally adjusted youth unemployment rate in EU member states as of August 2023. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/962 "2019-04-07T10:15:32Z")
> [@Wrenching\_Spanners](#): > > Then it should be easy for you to provide your cite again. It’s something from the time of the referendum and from a reliable news source, not Twitter, right? Yep. [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21433703&postcount=83](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21433703&postcount=83) > **[Do-Voters-Still-Want-to-Leave-the-EU.pdf](https://ukandeu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Do-Voters-Still-Want-to-Leave-the-EU.pdf)** > > 505.19 KB Oh please. On threads in this board, a board dedicated to fighting ignorance, we still have people insisting that we cannot know that a no-deal brexit would be a catastrophe, that customs officers in France would just let British goods through because “who cares what Brussels thinks anyways”, and more! The leavers weren’t just badly misinformed then, they’re still badly misinformed now. There’s still a contingency of people who just insist that everything will be fine, that it won’t be difficult, that it will be good for the UK. In June 2018, long after the belief made any sense to keep, some 50% of Leavers thought that Brexit would be good for Britain’s economy, and only 17% thought it would be worse off (table 13, page 18)! Think about that for a moment. Only slightly more than one in six leavers have cottoned on to the fact that Brexit is going to suck a whole awful lot for Britain’s economy. And you want to say they knew this back in 2016?! (Actaully, we don’t have to guess; the table has the data for September 2016, and it has remained disturbingly constant.) > [@](#): > > If you think that Leavers weren’t considering the short-term economic cost, please read post #1094. I think you could find a handful of pseudo-serious-minded economists with plausible-sounding explanations for why Brexit might, in theory, have been a good idea three years ago before everything went to shit. Their opinions were very much not the consensus view nor the common-sense view (as, typically, abandoning a massive trade union is _bad_ for the economy) If you think that expecting a positive long-term benefit from Brexit is “batty”, you’re wrong. [/quote] I don’t think that’s as batty as the idea that it will generally be good for the economy. It almost certainly won’t be. And that’s what a lot of leavers believe… because that’s what’s sold to them. They weren’t sold this nuanced economic picture. They were sold “this is going to be all good all the time” by a bunch of fundamentally dishonest hacks, who have since went on to smear anyone who didn’t share their rosy-minded predictions as “project fear”. And those hacks are the people who have led and controlled this conversation at every level. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/963 "2019-04-07T11:39:48Z")
This is the approach Remainers should have taken, and should be taking now - positive, light, fun, but run professionally, and focused on real values. [Change the narrative: how a Swiss group is beating rightwing populists](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/07/we-had-to-fight-operation-libero-the-swiss-youth-group-taking-on-populism) > [@](#): > > Politics now, Kleiner believes, has moved far beyond the left-right divide, or even the progressive-conservative divide. “It’s increasingly, actually, about constructive versus destructive,” she says. “That’s really where we are.” > > Her top tips for combating rightwing populism? Reframe the debate, obviously. But beyond that, “You have to be accurate, honest, understandable. You have to be serious about what you’re doing, responsible – but at the same time keep it fun, light. That’s not always easy. It’s really hard sometimes, actually. And you have to be positive.” > > Underpinning everything, says Kleiner, is an ambition just to “change the mood. The thing that’s there but no one sees. To move away from the fear and pessimism the SVP have instilled in the Swiss mentality, change that narrative. We don’t want some defensive, inward-looking museum of a country. We’re looking forward, with hope, to a Switzerland we want to live in in 2050.” ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/964 "2019-04-07T13:08:37Z")
> [@Wrenching\_Spanners](#): > > The Leave campaign did provide a framework plan for leaving the EU, mainly focused on legislation and future negotiations. > [A framework for taking back control and establishing a new UK-EU deal after 23 June - Vote Leave](http://www.voteleavetakecontrol.org/a_framework_for_taking_back_control_and_establishing_a_new_uk_eu_deal_after_23_june.html) > Also here: > ['Leave' looks like...](http://www.voteleavetakecontrol.org/briefing_newdeal.html) > > Of the three people you listed, Michael Gove did do his homework, and frequently provided details of his vision for Leave, backed up by references and studies. Here’s his keynote speech from 19 April 2016 (PDF): > [http://www.ukpol.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/gove.pdf](http://www.ukpol.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/gove.pdf) And he said nothing in particular would happen two years after Article 50 is invoked: > [@](#): > > The day after we vote to leave we hold all the cards and we can choose the path we want. > > The leader of the In campaign, Stuart Rose, has acknowledged that there will be no turbulence or trauma on Independence Day. “Nothing is going to happen if we come out… in the first five years, probably,” he confessed, and admitted “There will be absolutely no change." > > And just as it is the case that when Britain votes to leave nothing in itself changes overnight, so the process and pace of change is in our hands. There is no arbitrary deadline which we must meet to secure our future - and indeed no arbitrary existing “model” which we have to accept in order to prosper. > > It has been argued that the moment Britain votes to leave a process known as “Article 50” is triggered whereby the clock starts ticking and every aspect of any new arrangement with the EU must be concluded within 2 years of that vote being recorded - or else… > > But there is no requirement for that to occur - quite the opposite. ---
**Author:** ![Wrenching\_Spanners](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecb155/32.png) [@Wrenching\_Spanners](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrenching_Spanners)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/965 "2019-04-07T14:46:17Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > Yep. Nope. Keep in mind the statement you were rebutting: > [@](#): > > Originally Posted by Quartz > This was almost a universal refrain of those Brexiteers to whom I spoke: they expected short-term economic issues but a longer term gain. You posted two cites. The first one is to a post you made back in January. The second is to a 34 page document. But at least your first cite contains a reference to the second, offering where to look “(table 13, page 18)”. The table does indeed show that Brexiters expect Britian to be better off after Brexit. However, it says nothing about whether that expectation is long-term or short-term, and says nothing about short-term disruption. So guess what? Many Brexiters are optimistic about Britain’s future after Brexit. Thanks for providing a poll, which required a fair amount of digging to get to, that shows what no one is disagreeing about. ---
**Author:** ![Wrenching\_Spanners](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecb155/32.png) [@Wrenching\_Spanners](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrenching_Spanners)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/966 "2019-04-07T14:48:16Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > And he said nothing in particular would happen two years after Article 50 is invoked: Well, other than the Article 50 declaration and the withdrawal notifications, nothing did happen for two years after the referendum. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not. If your point is that Gove was saying that Parliament would be careful and deliberative after a vote to Leave, and wouldn’t make the Article 50 declaration until Government was prepared for it, you’re right that that didn’t happen. However, I’m not sure if you can blame Gove for May’s government not following the plan he laid out in his speech. Was he even in May’s government when she became prime minister? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/967 "2019-04-07T16:12:23Z")
> [@Wrenching\_Spanners](#): > > Well, other than the Article 50 declaration and the withdrawal notifications, nothing did happen for two years after the referendum. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not. Not ‘for two years’ but ‘when the two years were up.’ A deadline that’s been extended multiple times (to April 12 now), so the chickens haven’t come home to roost yet. But his remarks translate into “nothing serious will happen on April 13 if nothing is done and the deadline isn’t extended.” > [@](#): > > If your point is that Gove was saying that Parliament would be careful and deliberative after a vote to Leave, and wouldn’t make the Article 50 declaration until Government was prepared for it, you’re right that that didn’t happen. However, I’m not sure if you can blame Gove for May’s government not following the plan he laid out in his speech. Was he even in May’s government when she became prime minister? You cited him as a Leave advocate who’d done his homework (“Of the three people you listed, Michael Gove did do his homework, and frequently provided details of his vision for Leave, backed up by references and studies. Here’s his keynote speech from 19 April 2016 (PDF)”), and whatever else he may have said, he said without qualification that the passing of the two-year deadline after the invocation of Rule 50 would be a nonevent. Feel free to check the context of the quote I pulled from his speech, but there ain’t nothing there to save you. Five days to go. ---
**Author:** ![Malden\_Capell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malden_capell/32/5274_2.png) [@Malden\_Capell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malden_Capell)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/968 "2019-04-07T18:30:20Z")
Peter Oborne, formerly of the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, hard Brexiter and arch-Tory, thinks Brexit has become a huge mistake. Read this. Every word is staggering. > **[I was a strong Brexiteer. Now we must swallow our pride and think again](https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/i-was-strong-brexiteer-now-we-must-swallow-our-pride-and-think-again/)** > > If we are to leave the European Union we want a sensible Brexit. There’s no chance of that just now. ---
**Author:** ![Wrenching\_Spanners](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecb155/32.png) [@Wrenching\_Spanners](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrenching_Spanners)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/969 "2019-04-07T18:55:06Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Not ‘for two years’ but ‘when the two years were up.’ A deadline that’s been extended multiple times (to April 12 now), so the chickens haven’t come home to roost yet. But his remarks translate into “nothing serious will happen on April 13 if nothing is done and the deadline isn’t extended.” You cited him as a Leave advocate who’d done his homework (“Of the three people you listed, Michael Gove did do his homework, and frequently provided details of his vision for Leave, backed up by references and studies. Here’s his keynote speech from 19 April 2016 (PDF)”), and whatever else he may have said, he said without qualification that the passing of the two-year deadline after the invocation of Rule 50 would be a nonevent. > > Feel free to check the context of the quote I pulled from his speech, but there ain’t nothing there to save you. > > Five days to go. Then I believe we’re reading the quote differently. > [@](#): > > It has been argued that the moment Britain votes to leave a process known as “Article 50” is triggered whereby the clock starts ticking and every aspect of any new arrangement with the EU must be concluded within 2 years of that vote being recorded - or else… > > But there is no requirement for that to occur - quite the opposite. To me that is Gove saying that Article 50 will not need to be triggered immediately. That Parliament and government would have time to plan for Article 50 before it was invoked. I believe my take on Gove meaning is reinforced by the paragraphs that follow the quote. > [@](#): > > Logically, in the days after a Vote to Leave the Prime Minister would discuss the way ahead with the Cabinet and consult Parliament before taking any significant step. Preliminary, informal, conversations would take place with the EU to explore how best to proceed. It would not be in any nation’s interest artificially to accelerate the process and no responsible government would hit the start button on a two-year legal process without preparing appropriately. I’m not trying to imbue sainthood on Michael Gove or on the Conservatives’ execution of Brexit. The latter has been clearly flawed, and I personally find fault in May’s government for not adequately consulting Parliament. The question to me from Dan\_ch, as I read it, was were any Brexiters doing any significant planning for Brexit after the referendum vote. My answer to that is yes, and Michael Gove is a Brexiter who was doing that forward planning. ---
**Author:** ![Dan\_ch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a4c791/32.png) [@Dan\_ch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dan_ch)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/970 "2019-04-07T21:02:12Z")
> [@Wrenching\_Spanners](#): > > The Leave campaign did provide a framework plan for leaving the EU, mainly focused on legislation and future negotiations. > [A framework for taking back control and establishing a new UK-EU deal after 23 June - Vote Leave](http://www.voteleavetakecontrol.org/a_framework_for_taking_back_control_and_establishing_a_new_uk_eu_deal_after_23_june.html) > Also here: > ['Leave' looks like...](http://www.voteleavetakecontrol.org/briefing_newdeal.html) > > Of the three people you listed, Michael Gove did do his homework, and frequently provided details of his vision for Leave, backed up by references and studies. Here’s his keynote speech from 19 April 2016 (PDF): > [http://www.ukpol.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/gove.pdf](http://www.ukpol.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/gove.pdf) ``` Thank you for the links. I have to say, my reaction after reading the first two was "is that it? That was the grand plan?" I mean, they make sense as an overall strategy overview (especially the "don't trigger Article 50 yet!" part...yeah, good advice), but the whole "logistics chain" critical for implementing the strategy seem to be missing completely. To give one example from your first link: ``` > [@](#): > > After we Vote Leave, we would immediately be able to start negotiating new trade deals with emerging economies and the world’s biggest economies (the US, China and Japan, as well as Canada, Australia, South Korea, New Zealand, and so on), which could enter into force immediately after the UK leaves the EU. My question is: how many negotiators specialized in international trade agreements does UK have? How many complex negotiations can UK sustain simultaneously? 2? 5? 10? If the answer is “5”, then it doesn’t matter that there’s 100 countries eager to have a trade deal with UK…it would still take 60 years to get a trade deal with all of them, assuming (optimistically) that it takes 3 years per country per deal. Unless you’re happy with the default WTO deal, but I don’t remember Leave arguing for this option during the campaign. Mind you, I’m not saying this kind of details should be in the framework plan, but I would expect that Leave had a more consistent estimation of the effort needed. But apparently that’s not the case. Gove’s paper is a little better, though it reads more than a campaign speech than a well-thought planning (to be fair, it was meant to be a speech, so there’s that). He makes a fair case for leaving EU based on sovereignty (yes, it’s true that being in EU means that member states cede part of their sovereignty), but he also seem to show a total lack of understanding for how other European countries would behave after Brexit. You’re for sure familiar with the following quotes (from your 3rd link): > [@Mr. Gove](#): > > As our European friends adjust to the referendum result they will quickly calculate that it is in their own interest to maintain the current free trade arrangements they enjoy with the UK. After all they sell far more to us than we do to them. In 2015, the UK recorded a £67.7 billion deficit in the trade of goods and services with the EU, up from £58.8 billion in 2014.27German car manufacturers, who sell £16.2 billion more to us each year than we sell to them, will insist their Government maintains access to our markets.28French farmers, who sell us £1.37 billion worth of wine and other beverages, £737 million more than we sell to them, will insist on maintaining access to our supermarkets.29Italian designers, whose fashion houses sell the UK £1.0 billion of clothes will similarly insist on access to our consumers.30It has been suggested that, in a fit of collectively-organised and intensively-sustained international pique, all 27 nations of the EU would put every other priority aside and labour night and day for months to bury their own individual differences and harm their own individual economic interests just to punish us. > … > But the idea that the German government would damage its car manufacturers -and impoverish workers in those factories -to make a political pointabout Britain’s choices; or the French Government would ignore its farmers -and damage their welfare -to strike a pose; or the Italian Government would undermine its struggling industries just to please Brussels, is ridiculous. ``` He was totally wrong about all this. I mean, is not that the German government arm-twisted their car-making companies into reluctantly following the politicians, I actually remember that the car makers themselves said that the common market is more important to them that whatever exports they make to UK. So I have to wonder: where did Gove got his information from? Did he had any contacts with unions or companies in the rest of Europe? Or was it only wishful thinking from his part? ``` But the most striking thing in your links is the Irish border. Or rather the complete lack of any mention of it. I would have guessed that even a cursory review of Brexit’s implications should have raised several red flags in the Leave camp. But they seemed completely unaware of it, and it turned out to be really, really, really important. How the hell did they manage to miss this huge issue that was right under their nose? Again, I’m not expecting them to put it on top of their Brexit manifesto (it was more Remain’s job to point it out, and IIRC Remain campaigners actually did so), but once Leave won the vote, I would have expected them to say “Yeah, the Irish border, tricky issue, but we thought about it and here’s what we gonna do to fix the problem: step 1, step 2…”. Yet, 3 years later they have no idea how to deal with it. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/971 "2019-04-08T01:41:44Z")
> [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser](#): > > The EU institutions are almost pathologically focused on maintaining the status quo at any cost. Yes, they will push for an even longer extension, but will happily settle for a couple of months. And concede as many extensions as the UK needs afterwards. That’s sort of their thing. Other way round, as I see it. May has requested an extension to 30 June which the EU has rejected once before, and will reject again. They will counter-offer with whatever they want to offer. Whatever it is, May will take it. That’s sort of her thing. ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/972 "2019-04-08T16:12:25Z")
> [@Malden\_Capell](#): > > Peter Oborne, formerly of the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, hard Brexiter and arch-Tory, thinks Brexit has become a huge mistake. > > Read this. Every word is staggering. > > [https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/i-was-strong-brexiteer-now-we-must-swallow-our-pride-and-think-again/](https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/i-was-strong-brexiteer-now-we-must-swallow-our-pride-and-think-again/) Wow, I hope that gets widely read. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2019, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/973 "2019-04-10T20:02:13Z")
I’ll admit to a hint of nervousness tonight… ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2019, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/974 "2019-04-10T20:46:35Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > I’ll admit to a hint of nervousness tonight… When does the EU vote on May’s extension request? Also, IMHO, I’m not sure what good any extension will do. Parliament is hopelessly split and cannot command a majority for anything. I don’t see this changing even with a new election and a new PM. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2019, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/975 "2019-04-10T21:13:51Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > When does the EU vote on May’s extension request? At some point over the next few hours. The heads of government are currently cloistered together. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2019, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/976 "2019-04-10T21:17:05Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > Also, IMHO, I’m not sure what good any extension will do. Parliament is hopelessly split and cannot command a majority for anything. I don’t see this changing even with a new election and a new PM. I think you’re probably right. Cut to the chase - no deal or revoke. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2019, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/977 "2019-04-10T21:32:01Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > At some point over the next few hours. The heads of government are currently cloistered together. Next few hours? Isn’t it like already midnight over there? ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2019, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/978 "2019-04-10T21:33:36Z")
Yes, to answer my own question, it is now 11:33pm in Brussels. (It is 5:33 Eastern Time here) Pulling an all-nighter? ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2019, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/979 "2019-04-10T21:33:44Z")
But, aren’t those the exact two options that Parliament most strongly opposed? I understand the frustration though. It’s almost surreal to think that a few dozen people are cloistered together in Europe after a long day (and week and month), and before they can go home they have to decide the economic fate of some 65 million people in the U.K. that could start in, let’s see, about 50 hours from now. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2019, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/980 "2019-04-10T21:37:27Z")
You’ve making it sound like the Big Bad EU is making decisions for the UK. Remember, if those 65 millions people had got their act together within the two years, and met their own self-imposed deadline, this wouldn’t be happening. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799.md?page=48) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799.md?page=50)