A no-win situation

 British prime minister Theresa May is struggling to save her political career while the UK is caught in a crisis over the issue of leaving the European Union(EU) and over which the Brexit referendum took place in 2016. May had sought Parliament’s assent on the deal she would make with the EU for the ‘divorce’ or Brexit. On both occasions, she was defeated but the opposition against her was for different reasons. While the opposition Labour and other MPs from Scotland were against leaving the EU her own Conservative members opposed her on the terms of the deal. Either way, Theresa May finds that she is in a lose-lose situation and damned if she will and damned if she don’t. Be that as it may, the political landscape of the UK has changed dramatically in the wake of the Brexit referendum. Two years on, Britain continues to find itself in a volatile and unpredictable environment. In the 2016 referendum, UK citizens were asked whether they wanted to remain in the EU or to leave, with 51.9 per cent of those who voted voting to leave. England voted for Brexit, by 53.4% to 46.6%. Wales also voted for Brexit, with Leave getting 52.5% of the vote and Remain 47.5%. Scotland and Northern Ireland both backed staying in the EU. Scotland backed Remain by 62% to 38%, while 55.8% in Northern Ireland voted Remain and 44.2% Leave. Being in the EU means being part of a “single market” allowing goods and people to move around, basically as if the member states were one country. The EU also has its own currency(Euro), which is used by 19 of the member countries, its own parliament and it now sets rules in a wide range of areas – including on the environment, transport, consumer rights and even things such as mobile phone charges. Quite interestingly, most Britons feel that remaining in the EU diluted British identity. For the UK to leave the EU it had to invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty which gives the two sides two years to agree the terms of the split. Theresa May triggered this process on 29 March, 2017, meaning the UK is scheduled to leave at 11pm UK time on Friday, 29 March 2019. A European court has ruled that the UK can decide to halt the process and stay in the EU at any time up to the deadline. Two years after the Brexit referendum, most of the British public still want a deal, which is based on a close relationship with the EU with the most preferred option resembling membership of the European Economic Area(EEA). The EEA includes EU countries and also Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. It allows them to be part of the EU ‘s single market. Switzerland is neither an EU nor EEA member but is part of the single market – this means Swiss nationals have the same rights to live and work in the UK as other EEA nationals. If Theresa May fails to get the backing of Parliament, she has only two choices- go without a deal in which case Britain will not get any preferential trade and economic treatment or delay the inevitable but in any case, the writing on the wall is clear- she may ultimately have to resign.