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thesweetcheat wrote:
This may effectively see the end of a no-deal outcome.
More likely the end of Brexit. I said I didn't think Brexit would happen, but I didn't know the mechanism by which it would stop... this is it... boring parliamentary proceduralism.

Hey, whatever does the job, right? :-)

It's not officially the end of Brexit, of course, but I suspect it's the beginning of the end.

The question now...

... what's next?

Britain has permanently damaged its stature internationally with this farce. The various EU opt-outs and rebates that Britain enjoys were always tolerated with a shrug by the rest of Europe; they will start to seriously rankle now. Britain's poisonous tabloid media and its lies about Europe have been broadcast across the continent during brexit and eyebrows have been raised.

By any objective measure, the UK gets a better deal out of the EU than any other single nation (procedurally at least; you can make a case for Germany enjoying the biggest economic benefit; but that's not at the UK's expense). And yet it's the nation that complains loudest, acts most put-upon (though it's now in good company with Hungary, Poland and Italy on that), and talks the most shit about the rest.

What Britain needs to do is elect a German-speaking Francophile Prime Minister who is willing to go to Brussels and apologise profusely for wasting everyone's time and money during the past two years when -- frankly -- Europe had better things to worry about.

In fact, the one thing in the UK's favour here is precisely the seriousness of the other crises that face us. It's more important that we pull together now to deal with far bigger problems than brexit... the rise of populism around the world (including some EU nations), the fragmentation of old power structures (which may have been bad in themselves, but leave a vacuum, and we don't yet know what will fill it), and the real biggie; Climate Change.

But yeah; great news today and a step towards the return of sanity to the UK. There'll be plenty of backlash from Leaver-Quitters though... so there's that to look forward to.

Agree with all of that. I think the Grieve amendment (that MPs can have a vote on what Plan B should be if May's deal is voted down) coupled with the likely ruling from the ECJ that Article 50 can be withdrawn unilaterally by the UK gets rid of:

(a) likelihood of no-deal (because MPs won't vote for it) and
(b) excuses that we have to leave because the EU won't "let us" change our mind now

An MP described the Advocate General's view on Art.50 being like an Exit light coming on in the tunnel we've been stuck in.

It's certainly a couple of massive dents in the likelihood of Brexit happening at all, not sure I'd go quite as far as to say it's the end of Brexit yet.

The Starmer motion that the Govt are in contempt of Parliament being passed also suggests a government that has no power in reality. I think a GE is maybe a step closer after today, although I still doubt Labour would win a majority at present, their vacillating over which position to take on Brexit will have put a lot of people off.

Yes we're permanently damaged, economically and in terms of reputation. So be it, if it can end soon.

"complains loudest, acts most put-upon ... and talks the most shit about the rest".
Yes, I've been embarrassed for 50 years! And I actually don't think a national apology is fanciful, it's owed. And it would be on behalf of a majority, which would be fantastic for restoring our reputation! Without it we're going to be badly thought of for several generations. (And you can forget Eurovision!)