# 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:** 56
**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:** [May 22, 2019, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/1101 "2019-05-22T17:03:54Z")
18:00 BST update. The News Editor of Buzzfeed UK has just tweeted this: > [@](#): > > **Tweeted by Alan White @aljwhite** > Current status: Wondering if I need to inform our US editors that as of 6pm our chief whip is hiding from journalists in a toilet and the leader of the best polling party in the Euro elections is hiding on his bus from a mob of people armed with milkshakes It’s one of _those_ days… ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/1102 "2019-05-22T17:18:57Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > It looks possible - perhaps even likely - that the Conservatives are going to force the Prime Minister to resign on the literal eve of the EU Parliament elections, because why the fuck not? If they’d done it even yesterday and held a coronation today then they might have turned it around. But it’s all too late now. The Tories are going to get slaughtered tomorrow and deservedly so. BTW Boris was up here the other day and absolutely bombed his speech. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/1103 "2019-05-22T18:31:11Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/1104 "2019-05-22T18:32:29Z")
In the UK it would probably be recommended to initiate a pass on the right. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/1105 "2019-05-22T18:32:30Z")
Related question: What’s a “Wab”? ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/1106 "2019-05-22T18:40:52Z")
Withdrawal Agreement Bill, aka the agreement May hammered out with the EU to guide the UK’s exit from the EU and that has failed to pass parliament about 87 times at this point. ---
**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:** [May 22, 2019, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/1107 "2019-05-22T18:48:39Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Withdrawal Agreement Bill, aka the agreement May hammered out with the EU to guide the UK’s exit from the EU and that has failed to pass parliament about 87 times at this point. # The Bill hasn’t been before Parliament yet, but close enough. The failed Meaningful Votes were on the agreed withdrawal text with the EU27, and the WAB is the governments translation of that into actual law. It’s very much a last ditch attempt to force the issue, and likely doomed. Anyway: 19:45 BST, and the Leader of the House of Commons, Andrea Leadsom, has just resigned her Cabinet position. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/1108 "2019-05-22T18:49:07Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Withdrawal Agreement Bill, aka the agreement May hammered out with the EU to guide the UK’s exit from the EU and that has failed to pass parliament about 87 times at this point. Ah I see now, thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/1109 "2019-05-22T19:15:53Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > # > > The Bill hasn’t been before Parliament yet, but close enough. The failed Meaningful Votes were on the agreed withdrawal text with the EU27, and the WAB is the governments translation of that into actual law. It’s very much a last ditch attempt to force the issue, and likely doomed. My apologies. WA and Withdrawal Agreement were so commonly used in reference to the previous votes that when I first saw WAB glossed as withdrawal agreements bill I assumed it was just a ‘freshening up’. I should have done the research. ---
**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:** [May 22, 2019, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/1110 "2019-05-22T21:04:58Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > My apologies. WA and Withdrawal Agreement were so commonly used in reference to the previous votes that when I first saw WAB glossed as withdrawal agreements bill I assumed it was just a ‘freshening up’. I should have done the research. You’ve genuinely done more research into this whole mess than many of the people standing for election tomorrow. Pretty much every regular participant in the Brexit threads on here has done more than some Members of Parliament have. I wish I was joking. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/1111 "2019-05-23T09:51:26Z")
The advertising on my Facebook feed has been insane yet strangely amusing. The Conservatives are actually - despite years of evidence to the contrary - claiming they are the only party that can deliver Brexit. Labour are alternately playing the “Scary Nigel is going to win if you don’t vote for us!” card and claiming that Labour will unite the country despite Labour not being able to unite Labour. The Greens are all “Look, we’ve got three whole MEPs right now, therefore vote for us”. Change UK…don’t seem to know what their message is or what they stand for other than “We’re not those other people”, which is not a compelling argument in itself. The Brexit Party are spouting the usual stuff about the “will of the people” and how having another referendum is undemocratic and how the EU are jackbooted thugs. The LibDems have taken the straightest path with their entire “Fuck Brexit” approach. And UKIP are nowhere to be seen. I’m guessing the Leavers will line up behind the Brexit Party, the Remainers will be more divided but the LibDems will pick up the majority of those votes, and Labour and the Tories will be the political equivalent of the UK entry at Eurovision - garnering few votes and no public interest. (Incidentally, I see the UK entry just incurred a post-event five-point penalty for something or other, making us even last-er-er.) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/1112 "2019-05-23T17:39:42Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > 18:00 BST update. The News Editor of Buzzfeed UK has just tweeted this: > > It’s one of _those_ days… Why milkshakes? The US elected a President who used to run a reality show. The UK politicians have become a reality show. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/1113 "2019-05-23T17:51:10Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Why milkshakes? > > The US elected a President who used to run a reality show. > > The UK politicians have become a reality show. 😃 I wondered about that, too, so I looked it up. Apparently, chucking milkshakes at right-wing politicos has become a popular form of protest. I loved the quote from the guy who nailed Nigel Farage with a banana and salted caramel shake in Newcastle: “I was looking forward to that shake, but it went for a better purpose.” ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/1114 "2019-05-23T20:26:16Z")
May is supposed to set the date for Mayxit tomorrow. The Economist was saying that Boris Johnson is highly likely to become PM. Boris and Donald having a meeting will be stuff SNL can’t top. Looks like you guys are set for another go in the world’s shittiest merry-go-round. ---
**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:** [May 23, 2019, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/1115 "2019-05-23T20:31:50Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > May is supposed to set the date for Mayxit tomorrow. The Economist was saying that Boris Johnson is highly likely to become PM. Boris and Donald having a meeting will be stuff SNL can’t top. > > Looks like you guys are set for another go in the world’s shittiest merry-go-round. If May resigns she’ll be resigning as Leader of the Conservative Party. She’ll still be PM until the Tories do their selection process for a new leader, which will take a few weeks. So she still gets to meet Trump, which I’m sure she’s as delighted about as Queen Elizabeth is. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/1116 "2019-05-23T21:27:26Z")
Here’s a few questions from an American who clearly doesn’t understand UK politics very well. Why would May resign right now? The extension given was until Halloween. Everyone knew the EU parliament election was scheduled for today. Why would actually having the elections make a difference? If Boris Johnson becomes the next PM will that make any difference? From the perspective of this American that seems like replacing Trump with Pence. Would it be a case of a new person in the top chair but the party and policies staying the same? One more question. Why haven’t the remain voters been able to coalesce into a single party to oppose the leavers? ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2019, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/1117 "2019-05-24T01:09:27Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > Here’s a few questions from an American who clearly doesn’t understand UK politics very well. > > Why would May resign right now? Because what is the point of her staying in office? She can acheive nothing, and she blocks the possiblity of a different leader acheiving something. (Even if you think that’s a pretty slim possiblity.) > [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > The extension given was until Halloween. Everyone knew the EU parliament election was scheduled for today. Why would actually having the elections make a difference? They don’t, really, except in so far as they force everyone to confront how profoundly unpopular the Tory party has become under her leadership. But we would know that even without the elections. The expectation of her imminent resignation isn’t entirely down to the elections. It’s probably more due to the fact that, after the collapse of her talks with the Labour party she has attempted yet another time to get Parliament to accept the deal she has negotiated, which it has already roundly rejected several times. And the attempt has been utterly farcical, utterly hopeless, utterly unrealistic; even her own cabinet are embarrassed or angry about it, and her supporters within the party are deserting her. She has run out of road, basically. > [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > If Boris Johnson becomes the next PM will that make any difference? From the perspective of this American that seems like replacing Trump with Pence. Would it be a case of a new person in the top chair but the party and policies staying the same? To the options facing the UK, it makes no difference at all. The choice remains leave without a deal, leave with a deal strikingly like the one already negotiated and settled, or don’t leave. The only hope for change is that a new leader might have better success in dragooning the party and a critical mass of opinion in Parliament and in the public generally behind one of these options, so that the UK could actually make a choice. And there is a possibility, or at least a hope, that on the “only Nixon could go to China” principle a leader held in some esteem by Brexiters might have better success than May has had in steering that choice away from a suicidal no-deal Brexit. > [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > One more question. Why haven’t the remain voters been able to coalesce into a single party to oppose the leavers? Because established parties are strongly entrenched by the incredibly crapulous British electoral system. The only way for a political movement to advance in the UK is by taking over one of the established parties. The last occasion on which a political party entered government for the first time was in 1924. It;s worth pointing out that the leavers have also been unable to coalesce, either into a single party or in support of a deliverable form of Brexit. The main reason why Brexit hasn’t happened yet is because leavers are fighting among themselves like cats in a bag over how it should happen. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2019, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/1118 "2019-05-24T07:03:16Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > The main reason why Brexit hasn’t happened yet is because leavers are fighting among themselves like cats in a bag over how it should happen. And the underlying implied issue as to what they want it for: in some cases a full-on de-regulation of all those pesky environmental, employment and financial standards, in others some fantasy 1950s world role (as if Suez never happened!), in others any other number of things they could do without actually leaving the EU or could do more effectively within it. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2019, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/1119 "2019-05-24T09:33:14Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > The main reason why Brexit hasn’t happened yet is because leavers are fighting among themselves like cats in a bag over how it should happen. That’s rubbish. The problem is that a majority of parliamentarians are pro-Remain ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2019, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799/1120 "2019-05-24T10:30:16Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > The problem is that a majority of parliamentarians are pro-Remain That’s not a problem, that shows (if it’s true) that they take doing what’s best for the country seriously. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799.md?page=55) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-uk-do-wrt-brexit/829799.md?page=57)