Theresa May’s Disastrous Dithering

If the prime minister has a realistic new Brexit plan, she’s keeping it to herself.

Editorial Board

31 Jan 2019, 04:05 AM IST

An attendee holds a placard reading ‘The Best Brexit Deal’ behind Theresa May, U.K. prime minister and leader of the Conservative Party, during a campaign event in Twickenham, London, U.K. (Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- On Tuesday night, the U.K. sent a resounding message to the European Union: “We demand that you give us what we want.” Don’t expect the audience to be receptive.

Parliament was considering changes to Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal, which it rejected by a spectacular margin two weeks ago. One measure that carried the day, and which May supported, was a kind of ultimatum. In effect, it tells the EU to reopen the agreement the two sides reached in November, do away with the so-called backstop that avoids a hard border with Ireland, and replace it with ... well, something else.

EU officials have said they won’t. Even if they were open to some renegotiation — as in fact they should be — asking them to rip up the most contentious provision of the hard-fought agreement in favor of an entirely unspecified alternative is absurd. If May has a more detailed plan that could feasibly satisfy them, and mollify all 27 EU countries that would wield a veto over it, she has kept it to herself.

This latest vote means weeks more of theatrical dithering — before, you guessed, another vote. It might be comical if it wasn’t so costly. By one estimate, Brexit has already cut 2.3 percent from U.K. output and is reducing public revenue by some 320 million pounds ($419 million) a week. The government’s farcical no-deal planning has demanded billions more, not to mention the attention of more than 10,000 civil servants. Many businesses have fled, and others are issuing dire warnings. Talk of martial law hasn’t helped. All this, remember, is before anything has actually happened.

Perhaps May is hoping that the ticking clock, and the looming disaster of a no-deal exit, will be enough to get a majority back on board with her original bargain, maybe with some cosmetic embellishments. But ponder, for a moment, what that would mean. The prime minister would be asking Parliament to affirm an agreement that it first rejected by a historic margin, that she herself had then ripped up in an effort to run out the clock, and that has no redeeming qualities or benefits of its own. And this, by the way, is her best-case scenario.

Eventually, reality will intrude. The Brexit extremists in May’s party should accept that they’re in no position to impose their will at this late stage. May should concede that no prime minister could willingly accept a no-deal exit, and that the Brexit countdown must be stopped. Parliament should debate alternatives that the EU could realistically accept. And the government should start planning to give the public another say.

Editorials are written by the Bloomberg Opinion editorial board.