British Parliament Representatives Reject Brexit Proposal for the Second Time

On Tuesday, March 12, British Parliament representatives rejected Prime Minister Theresa May's latest request for support of her proposed Brexit plan. Given the EU's firm opposition to further negotiations or amendments to the current agreement, British Parliament representatives now face a difficult decision. The official date for Britain's exit from the EU (March 29) is about two weeks away. In the vote on Tuesday, 242 representatives voted in favor of Mrs. May's plan, while 391 voted against it. Currently, the available options include accepting the Prime Minister's agreement with the EU despite its flaws, accepting the risks of a 'chaotic' exit from the EU, or abandoning Brexit altogether. Mrs. May stated in her speech to the House of Commons: 'This is a moment we must unite, support this plan, and approve the agreement. If this agreement is not approved, Brexit may be completely lost.' However, Brexit supporters in Parliament, whom Mrs. May needed support from, were not satisfied with the plan. Hardline Brexit supporters in Mrs. May's Conservative Party and representatives from the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland, part of her coalition government, remain unwilling to accept this agreement, which Parliament rejected by a significant majority in January. In the last hours of Monday, Theresa May and Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, announced changes to the agreed plan at a press conference following their negotiations in Strasbourg. The aim of these changes is to address concerns from part of the British Parliament and to foresee measures to ensure the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland remains open after Brexit. Mrs. May said that new documents attached to the agreement with the EU guarantee that if the EU does not act in good faith in future negotiations regarding the management of this border, Britain can unilaterally revoke this part of the agreement. However, the truth is that no changes have been made to the 585-page official text of the agreement between the British government and the EU. The British Parliament rejected Theresa May's agreement with the EU in January by a majority of 230 votes against it. Mrs. May had hoped that with recent amendments to this agreement, she could gain the representatives' approval. However, after the Attorney General's comments (the chief legal advisor to the executive branch) that stated these changes 'reduce the risk of being trapped in EU regulations but do not eliminate it entirely,' the Prime Minister's hopes of convincing Parliament were dashed. The EU had previously warned that if the British Parliament rejected this agreement, no further negotiations regarding Brexit would take place. The President of the European Commission stated: 'In politics, sometimes we have a second chance. How we deal with this second chance is crucial because there will be no third chance.'