Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

The Brexit quagmire is far from over for United Kingdom (UK) Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The House of Commons on Tuesday rejected the Prime Minister’s appeal for a general election for the second time this week.

Just a few days in office and this is the sixth major bill that has been tabled in the UK Parliament under the new leadership of Boris Johnson. Yet, the Prime Minister has been unable to pass a single bill in his bid to prepare the UK for the Brexit deadline of 31st October.

In order to ensure that the UK does not opt for a no-deal Brexit, MPs of the House of Commons had earlier managed to block the government from No-deal by passing a law in the parliament. The law had got the Royal Assent under which the UK would seek for an extention if a deal is not reached with the Europeann Union or manages to pass the no-deal Brexit in the UK parliament.

The Prime Minister had earlier managed to get the nod from the Queen to suspend the Parliament which did not sit well with a majority of the law-makers in the United Kingdom. Soon after the vote for his second attempt to get the parliament to agree to a snap election failed the Parliament stood suspended till October 14th.

Johnson, a former journalist had been a major voice for the leave campaign during the UK Brexit referendum of 2016. He took over the reigns as the leader of the Conservative Party and the Prime Minister after his predecessor Theresa May had failed to pass a withdrawl agreement in the Parliament.

Things have been tough for the new Prime Minister as he now has managed to lose all six of the votes in the House of Commons. The prime minister has been unable to protect the party majority in the parliament. The failure to stop the party rebellions had been evident when 21 members of the Conservative party had voted against the Prime Minister which included the grandson of former UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill leaded to their expulsion from the Conservative Party. The expulsion of these MPs from the Party raised a lot of voices within his own Cabinet when Cabinet Member Amber Rudd resigned from the Cabinet and the Conservative Party.

Things have been bleak for Johnson ever since. He is due to visit Bruseels  on the October 17th, where he hopes that a deal an be negotiated. Soon after MPs rejected his second call for snap elections the Prime Minister said, “This government will press on with negotiating a deal, while preparing to leave without one”.

While the UK has been stuck in this quagmire, the future looks dark as the suspension of the parliament has caused little or no time for the Parliament to discuss or negotiate a Brexit Agreement. What many believed as an attempt by Prime Minister Johnson to force the parliament to accept a No-Deal Brexit has led to the longest suspensions of the UK Parliament for the first time in two decades.

The country has already been divided by the Brexit referendum and the path to unite the country is also not an easy one. as the solution to the Northern Ireland conundrum would be difficult. A hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland would stoke the fire which once burnt the UK and the Republic of Ireland. There also lies a question for the Prime Minister on how to pacify Scotland which during the Brexit referendum of 2016 voted to remain with the European Union.

The break forced by the suspension of the parliament would give ample time for the Prime Minister to find a way to salavge a deal which according to him would be in the best interest of the United Kingdom.

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