Brexit or Bust: Time for Britain To Ask Its People
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.
~ W.H. Auden, “Stop All the Clocks”
Cancel the celebrations. Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed that Friday, March 29 will not be Brexit day. Come Monday, April 1, the United Kingdom will still be in the European Union. April Fools’ Day, indeed.
These sad tidings were announced as Mrs. May briefed the Commons on Monday about her latest Brussels meetings. The upshot for Brexit is this, she said: “The date for our departure from the EU has now changed in international law.”
If Parliament buckles and accedes to her Withdrawal Agreement, “Brexit” occurs May 22 — just ahead of elections for the European Parliament. If not, then April 12 — permitting further UK-EU consultations.
So contrary was this to Government policy — that Britain would exit the EU as established by a referendum, two Acts of Parliament, and national election — that Sir John Redwood needed confirmation. “What would the Prime Minister say to a leave voter who wants us to leave on 29 March?” he asked.
“We have requested the extension to Article 50, so the 29 March date is no longer there,” replied the Prime Minister.
Crispin Blunt was unsparing in his vitriol. “Does the Prime Minister understand that, by taking no deal off the table at the behest of this Remainer Parliament, she has just put the final torpedo into her own deal and any real prospect of Brexit,” he asked icily, “and that her statement will represent the most shameful surrender by a British leader since Singapore in 1942?”
Is Britain’s independence from the EU super-state — for which the people voted and were promised by their elected representatives — well and truly dead?
I fear as much. Misinformation and ill-will have well-nigh poisoned the waters for WTO Brexit, Britain’s best chance at redemption.
The UK will almost certainly remain ensnared to the EU in some fashion, some variation of the customs union and single market from which it valiantly strove to free itself. Equally remote is the possibility of future bilateral trade deals with America, Canada, Australia, and other growing economies.
The time to “talk up” the benefits of WTO Brexit was when Parliament passed Acts to ratify the 2016 referendum and formally to implement Article 50. Anti-Brexiteers were at their weakest.
Then, as the contours of the eventual withdrawal proposal became clear in July 2017 with the Chequers agreement, precipitating the Cabinet resignations of David Davis and Boris Johnson, WTO Brexit should have become the leading option.
Chequers was a clear signal that no true Brexit deal with the EU was possible. Even now, no “big beast” is proclaiming WTO Brexit. Not Mr. Johnson. Nor the Brexit champion, Jacob Rees-Mogg.
After Mrs. May’s update, hostile parliamentarians further frustrated Government policy. The House of Commons would now take a direct hand in resolving Brexit, through a series of “indicative votes” to take place Wednesday.
Members of Parliament will indicate the direction Brexit should take. Whether it be a customs union, a single market, a second referendum — to see if any consensus emerges. WTO Brexit may sneak onto the ballot. Maybe even revoking Article 50.
The Government is not pledged to what emerges for, as the Prime Minister explained to MPs, “the votes could lead to an outcome that is unnegotiable with the EU.”
“No Government could give a blank cheque to commit to an outcome without knowing what it is,” she said, “so I cannot commit the Government to delivering the outcome of any votes held by the House.”
Mrs. May is doubtless anxious for no consensus to emerge. In that event, she can bring her withdrawal proposal up for a third “meaningful vote” and thereby meet the April 12 deadline and exit by May 22.
Given that scenario, most stalwart Brexiteers will throw in what remains of the blasted towel and acquiesce, for fear of a worse deal or no Brexit at all.
At this late hour, a valiant thrust at fate is called for. Deadlines are “flexible” when democracy is fortune’s plaything. So why not emergency action? Both another referendum and a general election, simultaneously. The former, to clarify the public mind, UK independence or EU vassalage. The latter, to determine the Government that will either return Britain to full self-government or settle the terms of its abject subjugation. Surely Britain’s independence deserves a fighting chance to go out with a bang and not a whimper?
“Brexit,” I say, “or bust.”