A crisis that resists hasty solutions (Brexit gets prolonged)

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 A crisis that resists hasty solutions (Brexit gets prolonged)

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• Britain gets more time : The 27 leaders of EU nations finally decided to give time till 31st October 2019 to UK to leave EU under a deal, and it could do so earlier as well. This was an unexpected reprieve in the mess called Brexit.
• March 29 deadline : In UK, everyone was accusing everyone else for not managing to stick to the March 29 deadline of Brexit. The PM was pitted against the MPs and the Parliament.
• The question in Brexit : The public was asked - "Should the UK remain a member of the EU or leave the EU?" This was an open-ended question, and the Leave campaign used that to push many arguments - need to end free movement, need to control immigration, need to strike trade deals independently, need to end payments to the EU, etc.
• Immigration was the main reason : Surveys show that most voters were worried about immigration, and by sovereignty concerns. Then came the economy, and the desire to teach politicians a lesson.
• Multiple interpretations : Such open-endedness led to multiple versions of Brexit interpretations. 

1. PM May put immigration control at its heart, just like a part of the Labour Party  (but their positions differed totally on remaining a part of the EU customs union or not - Labour wanted to, to enjoy free movement, and no hard border in Ireland) 
2. Some Conservative MPs found PM May's vision excessive, and some found it lacking in firmness!

• Govt's vision defeated in Parliament : When 230 MPs voted against PM May's Brexit vision, it was the biggest ever parliamentary defeat for any govt. proposal. PM May refused to compromise.
• Snap elections 2017 : May made a mistake by calling the snap general elections in 2017, which gave the northern Ireland's party DUP (Democratic Unionist Party) a chance to ally with Conservatives (Ms May) and a big hand in Brexit decisions. DUP is firm on its stand now. If the snap election had not been called, maybe PM May would have done Brexit on due date!
• A big national failure : UK did not actually agree on the exact nature of Brexit they wanted, and went ahead to trigger the Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union in March 2017. That forced all debates to happen in the face of a deadline. The Parliament should not have voted to trigger it so early on.
• The meaning of it all : If Brexit was what UK wanted to show the world about its rational independence, then it has ruined it. EC President Donald Tusk said that "the Oct 31 deadline gives UK the chance to work things out and they must not waste this opportunity".
• Summary : The fundamental problem in the ruined Brexit process has been the lack of clarity on what the Brexiteers really wanted, and the subsequent failure of the nation and Parliament to agree on it.

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