Theresa May Tried to Lead Britain to a Brexit Compromise. Was It Too Late?

I am SO very tired of how the NYTimes frames the Brexit story--will Theresa May survive and lead the party she loves? Will Bad Boris or Rees-Mogg ascend? The relevant story here is the frustration of Brexiters and the economic impact it will have on the people of Britain. This tension is being played out across Europe (France's Yellow Vests; Germany's rising right wing, Poland and Hungary's flirtation with rightist dictators). Why so little in-depth inter-related coverage? After a very helpful and informative article nearly a year ago about how Brexit has devastated British healthcare--with foreign nurses and doctors exiting in droves, the Times seems to have completely abaondoned this point of view. The authors did a first rate job of describing the bruised feelings of the professionals who thought they were welcomed and the impact upon Brits. Ironically, more homogenized nations were better served with essential services. I am utterly bemused there are not more articles of this sort. Personally, I don't give a darn whether Theresa May survives. Nor do I care about any of the Conservative toffs in the ascent. I do though care about the people of the United Kingdom and about the stability and future of Europe. Kindly retire the bio angle to occasionally write about the people and institutions of Europe that are in danger--imperiled by an instability Europe has not seen in 50 years. With Macron dithering and Merkel exiting it will only get worse. Thank you.

"She is an old-fashioned English public servant, devoid of bombast and rhetorical flourish, and uninterested in personal power. " Huh, I'd like to know how you got to the conclusion that she is "uninterested in personal power", when everything suggests the opposite. For starters, she voted "Remain" in the Brexit vote! A principled person would've given the job to someone who voted for Brexit, instead. She decided to become the PM precisely because of her life-long ambition and lust for power.

While less out-to-sea than Mitt Romney, May also has a tin ear. Broadly seen, UK choices were stay or leave. Staying needs no explanation, but ways to leave were many. May's Brexit was really a BrexINO--Brexit minus features vital to any real exit. Explanation? 1 Former remainer May underhandedly tried scuttling Brexit. 2 May is an inept negotiator. Some Tories favored Brexit with WTO rules--aka hard Brexit. May said 'We can surely do better than that!' Maybe former remainer May just thought the EU had such value. God! Problems riddle the EU. Either inept negotiator or Brexit scuttler. This is her 3d misreading of trends--1st the Brexit vote, 2d the election. Next how many ministers had to quit and how loud did outcry from in and out of her party have to grow, before she got how few liked her deal? Next Q 'Who Brexit hurts most?' Most EU members are indebted to the EU. Countries not indebted to the EU deeply need the yearly UK contribution to help fund EU operations. On balance, mainland EU needs the UK to buy more exports than vice-versa. How to miss such leverage? Likeliest reason is May is not too clear-headed. Leaving the EU lowers Britons' food and other key costs, returns UK fishing waters, cuts UK admin costs, regains UK law-making power, lets the UK decide immigration, and lets the UK negotiate trade with individual countries in and out of the EU.

Train wreck of the same proportion as firing on Ft. Sumter (circa 1861), as now the UK will have a million premature deaths, bankruptcy and major recession. Economic contraction will lead to the Sterling becoming worthless and widespread underground adoptions of US Dollars. The US will essentially own and control the UK along with Russia and China. These Brits have stepped into the dark recesses of dodo.

It is FALSE she is uninterested in personal power. She has been steering Brexit for the profit of he husband and her associates.

I spent a good 10 years of my life in the UK, and part of my family is British. Most of my friends are dismayed and shocked at what has been happening to this once great country. Theresa may has spent two years giving out a false message based on projecting a non-existent strength and an illusory confidence in the fabulous opportunities that Brexit would open up. All this while downplaying the risks of the truly terrifying prospect that is a "no deal" Brexit, without having a clue about the needs of large industries with complex global supply chains, without caring about the Irish border problem, and without preparing ANY infrastructure or operational readiness for the day after Brexit. And during this time she arrogantly dismissed and ignored all the sane voices that were shouting from the rooftops to warn about the impending disaster. Now it is too late. The UK is on the edge of a cliff, woefully unprepared to do anything about it, politically and socially broken, and without any cohesive, realistic vision for the future. Theresa May's pathetic attempt to force through a compromise panic-deal after two years spent telling us how strong and powerful the UK would be after Brexit is simply doomed to fail.

The title of this article is incorrect and disingenuous The issue of being part of Europe is an internal Conservative party issue that they have been fighting over for 25 years There never was, and never will be, any compromise. The zealots in the Tory party who want to leave the EU, backed by Russian social media interference and right wing anti immigrant racism, only have one outcome in mind, regardless of the consequences to the UK as a nation

David Cameron's absurd idea to have referendum in the first place, and allowing a simple majority to decide the matter are responsible for the mess. Theresa May's efforts to win over Brexit zealots has been a fool's errand. But her efforts for a Brexit light seem to guarantee her defeat as PM.

Brexit and open border with Ireland are irreconcilable. The current backstop deal punts a final solution downstream, but there is no solution.

Personally, I'd be happy with the deal since the UK could no longer interfere with EU policy as it has done so disastrously over decades of its membership. The EU appears ungovernable precisely because the UK amongst others ensured it would never be anything more than a market. Now they're on there way out, and good riddance. The economic turmoil is entirely unnecessary and inevitable, but also entirely on the UK's account. As for the human cost, I hope the EU countries can graciously accomodate UK citizens currently resident. As far as I know, noone is clamouring for their departure. That leaves the unfortunate EU nationals at the mercy of renewed nationalist UK policy, and of course British youth and talent at risk of being deprived of European mobility. We can do little for the former, but we can open our arms the the latter, and we have every interest in doing so. May's agreement satisfies noone on either side, solves nothing, and leverages the UK's sovereignty. It deserves to fail. Will it? I hope so, but noone can say at the moment. Renegotiation is off the table, so failure means : 1. Withdrawal of article 50 by referendum or parliamentary vote (The ECJ preliminary ruling allows for it), or 2. Hard Brexit. There will be political consequences in the UK either way, but economic consequences, I'd prefer the UK retract. And sometimes I hope for pigs to fly and to find chickens with teeth...

I for one am sad to see the US's great ally in this predicament, but I'm also not surprised. The Tories brought it on themselves - and on the whole of the UK - by calling a referendum, ostensibly to shut up the far right of their party, that then exploded in their faces. The only solution is a second referendum: let the people vote to clean up the mess they voted for, that their politicians led them into. If they vote again to leave, then the course is clear, and likewise if they vote to remain in the EU.

This has been the most helpful and interesting analysis of the trajectory of the Brexit problem, especially in terms of May’s personal style and what’s gone wrong here. I’m not British. But I’m married to a European, who from his youth worked on behalf of the nascent EU and closely follows events in Europe (which still included Britain!) from the US. I think Brexit is a huge mistake. Maybe Mrs. May does as well - we may never know, given her tendency to hold everything so close to the vest. But this article really helps one to understand what’s seemed, from afar, as pretty confusing. What’s going to happen? (Even my dying spouse is still invested enough in the outcome to pay close attention and have his suppositions.) It’s mess! And it seems like this mess is going to endure for some time, Mrs. May or not. Even a new plebiscite is unlikely to solve things, as polls suggest Britain is still closely divided. Thanks to the Times for this excellent article! Keep it up.

Full Brexit would be the best test case for the textbooks of the future. Theresa: no one important will be hurt by the chaos and economic implosion of full Brexit, only your voters. And the EU. And the rest of us.

A referendum is absolutely needed, and that would be that parliament does its job and vote on Britain's relationship with on within the EU. Then have a general election.

This was never going to be easy or pretty. The whole premise of Brexit was divorcing from a Europe that had become too diverse and multicultural for some people to stand. It was never really about economics. Brexit negotiations are a pointless endeavor because the whole enterprise was founded on racism and xenophobia.

How sad to see the Brits leave. Here in Switzerland we are constantly debating with the EU over every little thing just so we can think we are an independent nation. But no nation is independent anymore. Goods, people, virus, plants, animals, ideas, even terrorists cross borders every day. We are connected whether we admit it or not.

It is a shame that roughly 1.2 million people caused the exit mess in 2016. Scotland as usual gets the shaft as a majority of Scots had enough common sense to stay in the EU. Britain should bring this to a vote again and Scotland should be allowed to stay in spite of what England desires. Mrs. May could gain more support if she was to run with the crowd and chat it up at parties and gatherings that British politicians attend; instead of dining separately with just her husband in attendance.

All I really know about this is what I read here however that has lead me to believe the UK seems to feel they are in the drivers seat with all this. I think that is not the case but rather the EU is and at this point I see no reason why they would give a better deal. They will not and can not allow Britain to have its cake and eat it too! From my prospective Ms. May has done the best she can and if the parliament discards it they need to be prepared for the worst case problem.

The correct way to have handled this Brexit referendum, from the very beginning in my view, was to declare a 52-48% margin as "insufficient grounds" for a move towards Brexit. Perhaps the bar could have been set as high as 60-40%. In any case, the lack of any kind of a bar - a simple majority however small was deemed sufficient - will result in a crushed and divided Britain regardless of the nature of the compromise agreement reached with the EU. It is sad to see a leading member of the EU subjecting themselves to some kind of a public spectacle spiralling into an uncontrolled self-destruction, and the pain and agony of a seasoned PM who has to endure this self-destructive spiral at the hands of a fraction of their conflicted populace.

I hope Theresa May is better treated by history than her colleagues; she has tried to make something of a meal out of the garbage that is Brexit, but the fools in Parliament aren’t having it. But why anyone would call a 48%-52% vote outcome ‘the will of the people’ in a campaign that was filled with Leave lies and Russian interference is beyond all reason. The barrier should have been 60%, as it was when Québec voted on separation from Canada (and lost. twice). But please, let no one forget that this sorry spectacle is the result of David Cameron’s insouciant, no good, terrible leadership. It is he who should be labeled as the PM Who Broke Britain.

The entire premise of the Brexit referendum was beyond absurd. Voters were asked to chose between one concrete reality (stay in the EU) and one laughably ambiguous hypothetical (leave the EU, the actual meaning of which was unknown). That Parliament ever allowed a referendum when one side of the ticket was so undefined was a catastrophic mistake. You don't go to the pharmacy and decide between Penicillin and Mystery Serum X, but that is what the people of Britain were asked to do. Now the sad consequences of this are coming into focus. "Stay" voters do not want any deal to succeed. "Leave" voters feel shortchanged by the divorce settlement with the EU, having been promised the moon by irresponsible loudmouths like Boris Johnson and endless propaganda coming straight from the Kremlin. I believe Theresa May when she says she has the best possible offer from the EU. So now is the time to vote on it, but not in Parliament. It's time for a second referendum. Now the voters can choose between two defined sets of policies. Parliament now has the opportunity to right this wrong of their own doing, and they owe it to the voters and the world to do so. And I suspect that the aftermath of this quagmire may well result in a very different outcome at the ballot box.

May condescended to the vast number of working class citizens who voted overwhelmingly for Brexit. She told them she would give them what they wanted without knowing in her heart what that was, and then fed them crumbs she thought would keep them quiet. It did not. The same howl of repressed rage over being left behind in a roaring global economy that elected Trump, endorsed Brexit and is now rioting against Macron has, yet again, been ignored by a comfortable and entrenched bureaucracy. As the article says, May has always been more concerned about keeping the Tory party in power when her real goal should have been dealing with issues that affect all of the UK- inequality, sovereignty, and national pride.

Just announced Brexit vote cancelled.... Brexit... the albatross around the neck that keeps on giving. No progress at all for essential business planning. Worried about increasing an already volatile Stock Market?

Rees-Mogg, Boris and other upper crust creeps like them would rather sell Britain down the river than admit they are totally wrong in insisting that the country leave the EU. When and if that disaster happens they and people like them will be to blame. What's needed now is what's been needed all along: a second referendum to prove the electorate made a huge mistake.

You cannot leave a trading alliance that forms such a large share of your foreign trade suddenly without causing harm. The logical way to do it is step-by-step - after each step evaluating. By defining it as an absolute process and declaring that negotiations should be finished within two years the EU set May up for failure. One consequence was that this offered the Brexit hardliners the No Deal option.

Ian Dunt puts his finger on the problem. It's easy to say May should have been up front about the scale of the challenge given that (contrary to widespread delusions in Britain) the EU held all the cards in any negotiation. Had she done so it would have caused a full scale civil war to break out in her Conservative party whose ultra Euroskeptics are the principle authors of this entire mess. She would also have been accused of showing her hand to the EU, not that they didn't know what was in hand already. So she chose a strategy of delay and obfuscation. Who knows it might come off given the chaos likely to ensue if her deal (which is largely a pretend Brexit anyway) is rejected.

This article is on the money. At the time of the referendum May campaigned (though without much enthusiasm) for us to stay in the EU. So when she became Tory leader she made it a priority to reassure the Brexiteer right wing of her party that she would do what they wanted, and rushed into a declaration that the UK would leave the single market and the customs union. That was fatal, she was painting herself into a corner. We had the referendum in the first place purely because a Conservative Prime Minister needed to appease his right wing supporters. Now another Conservative Prime Minister has made it impossible to negotiate an orderly withdrawal because of her need to appease those same right-wingers. An arrogant, foolish minority who should have been faced down have been pandered to: with catastrophic consequences.

Conservatives constant mistake, hoping it will work this time but never does.

A Prime Minister "uninterested in power"? The very idea is risible.

With no support from any section, ruling or opposition, or the hard-line Brecit camp or the pro-EU elements, the compromised "Brexit" deal is likely to be rejected by the Parliament when it meets tomorrow.This might be the end of her premiership and also the deal she signed with the EU, causing new uncertainties for the UK,difficult to overcome soon.

It may be faster, cheaper and with no uncertainty to do a Brexit Referendum 2.0. If it validates the previous one, do a hard Brexit; if it overturns the previous one, well, the two year nonsense may leave a scar but no mortal wound

May inherited a divisive policy from a weak PM, and being weak herself only ensured continuing division. Britain's fundamental problem, though, flows from a different source. The vote itself, by stipulating that fifty-plus-one was enough to trigger such a massive yet extremely controversial shift in the UK's existential character, was the initial error. Whomever tries to effect such a change with such a narrow "mandate" was destined to be divisive and continue a corrosive period in British politics.

She was clearly out of her depth from the outset and then spent all her time treating the exit process as an internal Conservative party issue.Now she finds they turn on her... The country needs leadership not partisan hacks.

Theresa May's failure was not that she kept her cards close to her chest, as you say, but her wish to placate the Right of her party by setting herself impossible red lines, as if the UK was in command of negotiations (part of the Brexit delirium for many, still yearning for the glory of Empire days). That fantasy, spiced by racism, insularity,and xenophobia, coupled with the lack of skill of May and her government led to the present fiasco.

I do hope that should a second referendum vote be allowed by Parliament, that the rules be set correctly this time so that a vote for Brexit can only be considered if Brexit succeeds at a much higher threshold, say 60-40%.

When May meets with the EU today, I hope she secures their agreement to put a time limit on the backstop, a deadline that puts a deadline on EU control over Northern Ireland's border. The North is genuinely facing a government breakdown and social unrest if it feels that it is being pushed onto a conveyor belt to reunification with the Republic of Ireland. Mrs. May's assurances that that detail will be worked out in 2021 are probably correct, but simply not convincing. Her plan to exit the EU over time with negotiated terminations of all the treaties that that entails is a good one. Still, the rabid Leave faction in Great Britain are insisting on unilateral secession (via a No vote on Tuesday), which is roughly equivalent to the American South's declaring itself a new country and seizing American people and property. They will never accept anything but martyrdom in the name of leaving the EU, so their temporary alliance with the DUP of Northern Ireland is doubly dangerous.

BREXIT & PUTIN? Some have set forth the idea that Putin and the Russians had manipulated the system so that the vote tilted toward Brexit. Putin's goal, after all, is sowing internal conflict in nations so that he can soften them up, thereby increasing his influence if not hegemony. Look at Syria, though. With millions having fled those who remained being bombed back to oblivion, I'm not sure how much power Putin has gained. After all, what exactly does power over piles of rubble look like?

I certainly hope Theresa May scores a victory on Tuesday. She certainly deserves it.