EU set to put Brexit delay on hold after Johnson's ultimatum

[nitpicker]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/oct/24/eu-could-rethink-brexit-extension-after-latest-johnson-manoeuvre

EU set to put Brexit delay on hold after Johnson's ultimatum

Daniel Boffey in Brussels and Angelique Chrisafis in Paris

Thu 24 Oct 2019 21.23 BST Last modified on Fri 25 Oct 2019 09.00 BST

The EU’s plan to offer the UK an extension until 31 January on Friday is expected to be put on hold after Boris Johnson threatened to pull the Brexit deal if Jeremy Corbyn rejects a general election.

Sources said the dramatic developments in Westminster needed to be fully understood and the choreography in Brussels could change.

Donald Tusk, the European council chairman, had been expected to announce on Friday morning, following a meeting with ambassadors, that the EU27 had accepted the delay requested in a letter reluctantly sent by Johnson last Saturday. But senior EU sources said the developments in London had left the situation in flux. An announcement is expected on Monday or Tuesday.

Suggestions that the Labour leader could reject Johnson’s demand for a general election on 12 December provoking the prime minister to pull his deal set alarm bells ringing.

Sources said the French government wanted to see the outcome of the vote on a general election before making a decision, but that the other 26 member states were ready to grant the three-month extension.

The final offer could differ from the extension requested in the Benn act by specifying that the UK could leave on 15 November if the deal was ratified in the UK and European parliament.
(snip)

[ritapria]

1. I believe BoJo's . Brexit Deal should placed before the voters

in a nation - wide referendum ……...Let the people decide … A UK general election happened just 2 years ago … Another UK general election took place 2 years before that …. That's not the solution …...Let the people decide - and someone please buy the Prime Minister a comb .....The people of the UK will sorely miss the services of John Bercow - the Great Speaker of the House of Commons who is retiring 10 days from now ….Small in stature but a giant statesmen ……...

[Denzil_DC]

2. There is no majority in parliament to enact the result of any such referendum if it happened.

Hell, there's no majority in parliament to pass the legislation for a referendum in the first place.

There's been a change of prime minister, and Johnson has no mandate. That alone is justification for an election, never mind how recent the last one was.

[Denzil_DC]

3. Daniel Boffey, one of the authors of the OP article, says there will be an extension offer,

the doubt is over how long it will be - possibly to 15 November (which, under the Benn Act, would require ratification by the UK parliament), with an automatic extension until 31 January if Johnson's withdrawal agreement isn't ratified by the UK parliament by that date:

Link to tweet

Daniel Boffey @DanielBoffey

EU source says there is "full agreement on the need for an extension" among EU27 and there will not be a special summit. But decision on length of extension will not be made until Monday or Tuesday.

This is backed up by other EU correspondents.

It's currently a stupid standoff: some in the EU, most notably Macron, don't want to grant an extension until there's a decision about a UK general election, whereas Labour and others (rightly so, I think) don't want to agree to a general election until 1 November, when no deal is off the table, as they don't trust Johnson not seize the opportunity to leave with no deal and to finagle the election date to suit his aims best.

Meanwhile, the government has been threatening to go "on strike" and hold its breath until it gets agreement to an election. Initially, this was to be a full "strike", but now, not least because of serious unrest among Tory backbenchers, it's been toned down to cover only dealings with the EU. The Benn Act provisions mean this could end up in the Scottish Court of Session again next week. Somebody's going to have to blink.