Brexit Fears a No-Deal Vote
January 28, 2019
With a “no-deal” Brexit split in sight, which would be leaving the EU without a trade deal, many pro-E.U. voices are pushing for either a delay of the implementation of Article 50, which is the mechanism by which the U.K. will leave the EU, or a second referendum.
“If we leave in chaos and without a deal, that seems to me to be the worst of all outcomes,” Former Conservative Prime Minister John Major said in a radio interview last week, arguing that a delay could be the best outcome.
Former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair, a staunch pro-European, told The Times of London in an interview that he wants a second referendum.
“We are divided already, but we focus all our attention on the alienation of people who voted Leave. What about the alienation of large numbers of people if we leave…with a botched Brexit?” he said.
From within the government, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox claimed that a failure to leave the union “would produce a yawning gap between Parliament and the people, a schism in our political system with unknowable consequences.”
“It is time for MPs to deliver on the promises they made. It is a matter of honor and a matter of duty,” he went on to say in an Op-Ed for The U.K. Daily Telegraph.