Brexit road ‘very unclear’ for UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson

The Brexit road ahead for the UK’s Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, is “very unclear”, says an analyst, given that the parliament has not accepted his plans for a no-deal Brexit.

“It is very hard to predict, it is very hard to say. It is certainly true that Boris Johnson has just lost his majority in parliament. That was rather a symbolic moment because he is actually in a minority position in reality anyway … so it has been sort of a minority government for a long time. So the way ahead is very, very unclear,” Sean O'Grady, associate editor, told Press TV’s The Debate program on Wednesday.

Johnson has lost a crucial parliamentary vote on his Brexit strategy after members of his own Conservative Party voted against him, opening the way for possible early elections.

On Tuesday, The House of Commons voted by 328 to 301 to allow MPs to vote again on Wednesday on a draft law that could force Johnson to ask the European Union for a three-month delay to Brexit if he does not manage to strike an agreement with Brussels by October 19. 

The analyst also noted Johnson would probably want to have early elections in order to give himself a chance to win a majority in parliament.

However, he said, Britain’s main opposition Labour party will not allow that to happen unless their conditions are met.

PressTV-UK's Johnson defeated in key parliamentary vote on Brexit

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson loses a crucial parliamentary vote on his Brexit strategy after members of his own Conservative Party voted against him.

O'Grady further stressed that the Brexit would be “a pretty bad result” for working people in Britain, adding that many people who voted for it back in 2016 did not have a very clear idea about it.   

He went on to say that a lot of people seek to have a close trading relationship with the European Union but none of the possibilities for this matter has been agreed at the time.

 “A lot of people in the country today are quite sincerely pro-European. They want to have relationships that are economic, social, cultural and political with the European Union. They just want to have a closer relationship with our closest trading partners,” the analyst said.

O'Grady concluded by saying that one of the options left in order to end the existing divisions and arguments in Britain is to have a referendum, emphasizing that the country needs to find a way out of the Brexit chaos.

“Britain was divided in 2016, Britain is still divided today, parliament is divided today which reflects it and we need to have another public vote, another referendum and a binding one for that matter and I think if we did have that and people said no-deal Brexit, I think everyone would have to agree with that, and if they say we must remain in the European Union every people would have to agree with that. I think that would be the only way of solving this impasse and all these divisions and arguments,” he said.  

Meanwhile, Tony Gosling, another panelist on the program, stated the Labour Party has backtracked on its earlier attempt to force general elections because it is afraid that Johnson may gain secure a majority.    

“The staggering reality today is that the Labour Party has now backtracked. It has been calling for the last two years for general elections. Now Johnson is offering them one. They are now retreating. They are saying we don’t really want general elections we want to have it on our terms ... What this shows me is that they are afraid of general elections because they believe that the referendum in 2016 will be reflected in that general elections,” he said.  

He also opined that Boris Johnson is “doing his best” in order to make sure that Britain leaves the European Union at the end of October by whatever means necessary.   

“The delay tactic has been going on and on and on. The decision was made to leave -- with or without a deal -- in 2016 and all of the Conservative party and the whole parliament …they have been trying to delay it. Of course this is just a tactic and by Labour today saying that they do not want general elections shows that they are running scared in fact of the people’s view. We need to decide are the people sovereign, is the referendum result ever going to be recognized and implemented by the government,” he said in conclusion.   

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