Now, who is in charge?

On Wednesday evening, the UK House of Commons voted by 321 to 278 to reject a no-deal hard Brexit. Before the vote, the general public expected this to happen, as it was always the least favoured option by the majority. Now the UK has only two options now, either the UK leaves the EU with a new deal other than May's old one, or the UK stays in the EU. If the House of Commons decides that the UK should stay in the EU, then there will no further debate about how the UK should leave the EU. However, I do not think that the House of Commons has the courage to do this and overturn the referendum result, they are much more likely to achieve this by offering a second referendum as given the chaotic situation at the moment the UK population is more likely to vote for staying in the European Union. The previous big supporter of a second referendum, the Labour Party, withdraws its support for a second Brexit referendum but will support a referendum to vote on May's deal if her deal is passed by the Parliament. Therefore, we are now seeing the majority of the House is working to eliminate the possibility of staying in the UK from both the Labour Party and the Conservative Party.

On the other hand, the UK can leave the EU with a deal. However, people need to know although the Parliament has rejected a no-deal Brexit in all circumstances, a no-deal Brexit will be automatically triggered if the UK cannot produce an alternative deal. It is the time that the House should take in charge of producing a Brexit deal. Of course, the House can tend to pass what they want to be included and what they want to be excluded in the new deal; however, that will take a much longer time, it is not efficient. I do not think that they can produce something that is satisfying in a short period which is expected by the EU.

There are certainly a lot of challenges ahead of the UK. I hope it can go well as in a globalised environment, a bad UK economy is not going to benefit anyone. However, now it seems that the House is now in charge and I am not very optimistic and do not expect much.