Manic Monday: Britain plunges deeper into Brexit crisis – Al Jazeera

In a statement later on Monday, a Labour spokesperson said the party would “put down a motion of no confidence when we judge it most likely to be successful”.

A Labour MP, meanwhile, was ejected from parliament after picking up the ceremonial mace in protest against the government’s handling of Brexit.

The flared tempers which raged throughout the UK’s corridors of powers seemed to spill outwards and across the road from the House of Commons to Westminster’s College Green.

A small but raucous crowd of demonstrators spanning both sides of the Brexit divide descended on the small park and busied themselves making a commotion to rival the din which greeted May’s afternoon statement to parliament.

Featuring a sidewalk preacher shouting “Britain needs God, not the European Union” and a Santa Claus imposter brandishing a pro-Remain sign, the gathered protesters were united in dissatisfaction over the prime minister’s approach to Brexit.

“It’s disgusting that this is all still going on,” Catherine Ginn, a 54-year-old business owner, said.

May has chickened out of this vote because it’s clear she’s not going to get her deal through. But I don’t care about this deal, the only deal I care about is remain … Article 50 needs to be withdrawn,” she added, referring to the exit clause in the EU’s constitution.

Nearby, standing in the midst of competing five-metre high Union Jack and European Union flags, 59-year-old retiree Tony Blighe was also unimpressed with the government’s efforts.

“May’s deal is appalling because it puts us in a state where we could be put into a backstop position and can’t get out of it,” Blighe said.

“She is well past her sell-by-date and we need a new prime minister – someone to stand up and say negotiations have failed and we are leaving on March 29 under World Trade Organization rules,” he added, referring to the economic terms under which the UK would trade with the EU in the event of a no-deal departure from the bloc.

The rumblings inside and outside of parliament highlighted the lack of clarity over how May now intends to deliver a Brexit divorce deal.

At the heart of the turmoil is the contentious “backstop” proposal, a safety net provision which guarantees no hard border being erected on the island of Ireland in the event post-Brexit trade negotiations between the UK and the EU prove unsuccessful.

The clause proposes that the whole of the UK, including Northern Ireland, will remain in a customs union with the EU “unless and until” the bloc agrees there is no prospect of a return to a hard border. But critics argue that the measure could tie Britain into the EU’s orbit indefinitely.

In her statement to the Commons, May pledged to seek further “reassurances” on the brokered withdrawal agreement from EU leaders before rescheduling a parliamentary vote at an as-of-yet unspecified date but no later than January 21.

But in Brussels, EU leaders had none of it.

“We will not renegotiate the deal, including the backstop,” warned EU President Donald Tusk. “But we are ready to discuss how to facilitate UK ratification.”

Agata Gostynska-Jakubowska, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, said “It would be naive to think that the other 27 EU member states would be open” to substantial changes to the backstop and wider exit plan  after months of fractious back-and-forth negotiations.

 “And any significant redrafting of the provision concerning Northern Ireland is unlikely because many EU capitals already see the final shape of the backstop as a compromise,” she added.

Brussels is looking at all of what is happening in Westminster with amazement – the UK used to be seen as a down-to-earth, sensible partner and all of a sudden that’s gone.”

The political uncertainty spilled over into the economy, too, with the British pound sinking to its lowest level against the US dollar since April 2017.

Market analysts said the plunge was caused by the heightened prospects of a no-deal Brexit, which the government has forecast could cause a potential economic slump of more than nine percent in Britain’s gross domestic product (GDP).

“There’s so much risk right now, we could certainly see further falls depending on what May can do, or if she falls,” Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said.

“Businesses are very worried,” he added.