Idiot's Guide to Brexit 6

On March 27, the noes had it on 8 different options (May’s Deal not included) that were put to a vote. Second referendum received more than any other, but still lost by 27 votes. Two days later, May put Her Deal (the legal part, but minus the non-binding “political understanding” document that had been appended) to a third vote, and sought to entice support by declaring that she would let someone else take over as Prime Minister if it passed. It lost by a margin of 58. This was not a vote of confidence in May (which is below zero). Rather it was another demonstration that the extremes -- 2^nd Referendum and Leave With No Deal -- together make a majority against May’s Deal.

There will be further attempts on April Fool’s Day to find a majority for one of the options that did well on March 27 (but again excluding May’s Deal). And if a winner emerges, there is then likely to be a runoff between that winner and May’s Deal.

Meanwhile on the Continent, Alizee’s 2013 hit J’en ai marre! (I‘m fed up!) has again gone viral, after Emmanual Macron covered the song in his most recent appearance at the European Council of Ministers.

The majority view among EU leaders now seems to be that if the UK doesn’t ask for an extension at least to the end of 2019 in order to hold a 2^nd referendum or new Parliamentary elections, then the UK leaves with No Deal on April 14. And they have added a post-script: “And by the way, No Deal will not be a “managed No Deal.”  This is intended as a rebuke to the No Deal advocates in the UK Parliament who’ve been insisting that No Deal can somehow be “managed.”