oggbashan
Dying Truth seeker
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2002
- Posts
- 56,017
The referendum vote for the UK to leave has caused a predictable chaos.
England and Wales voted to leave. Scotland voted solidly to stay, as did Northern Ireland with a significant majority not as large as Scotland's.
But the referendum was for the whole of the UK and the overall result is for Leave, confounding the pollsters and most of the establishment.
What happens now?
Predictably, some EU leaders are calling for the UK to act now, today or in the next few days, to start the process of leaving. Apart from the uncertainty that will continue until the UK starts the formal process, some of them are facing significant anti-EU forces within their own countries, and have elections in the near future.
But only the UK government can start the process by formally invoking Article 50. David Cameron has announced his resignation for the Autumn and that he WON'T invoke Article 50. He will leave the negotiation with the EU to his successor.
Article 50 gives a MAXIMUM of two years from start to end of the process of a country leaving including all negotiations. That could be extended if all EU countries agree. That isn't going to happen because of the problems that would cause within several countries. So the process, when started, has to be completed within two years. Given the EU's track record on agreeing trade deals that is a very short time.
The Leave campaigners - the official campaign and Nigel Farage's UKIP who were NOT part of the official campaign - are NOT the UK government and only the UK government can start the process of leaving the EU.
Some EU leaders have said that negotiations cannot start even in outline before Article 50 is invoked by the UK. While that is understandable given their own internal problems, it is impracticable. If they insist on that, the UK government is likely to delay invoking Article 50 for a long time. They could even say that they won't invoke it until after the next General Election - years away. The referendum result does not bind the UK government to a timetable for leaving. Most of the current government, supported by the Labour Party in Parliament, made it clear that they did NOT want to leave the EU. There is NOT a Parliamentary majority to enforce Leave.
The Government could decide to delay for years while the EU gets more and more annoyed with the UK.
What is clear now is that the UK no longer has any influence in the EU from the moment the result of the referendum was announced.
England and Wales voted to leave. Scotland voted solidly to stay, as did Northern Ireland with a significant majority not as large as Scotland's.
But the referendum was for the whole of the UK and the overall result is for Leave, confounding the pollsters and most of the establishment.
What happens now?
Predictably, some EU leaders are calling for the UK to act now, today or in the next few days, to start the process of leaving. Apart from the uncertainty that will continue until the UK starts the formal process, some of them are facing significant anti-EU forces within their own countries, and have elections in the near future.
But only the UK government can start the process by formally invoking Article 50. David Cameron has announced his resignation for the Autumn and that he WON'T invoke Article 50. He will leave the negotiation with the EU to his successor.
Article 50 gives a MAXIMUM of two years from start to end of the process of a country leaving including all negotiations. That could be extended if all EU countries agree. That isn't going to happen because of the problems that would cause within several countries. So the process, when started, has to be completed within two years. Given the EU's track record on agreeing trade deals that is a very short time.
The Leave campaigners - the official campaign and Nigel Farage's UKIP who were NOT part of the official campaign - are NOT the UK government and only the UK government can start the process of leaving the EU.
Some EU leaders have said that negotiations cannot start even in outline before Article 50 is invoked by the UK. While that is understandable given their own internal problems, it is impracticable. If they insist on that, the UK government is likely to delay invoking Article 50 for a long time. They could even say that they won't invoke it until after the next General Election - years away. The referendum result does not bind the UK government to a timetable for leaving. Most of the current government, supported by the Labour Party in Parliament, made it clear that they did NOT want to leave the EU. There is NOT a Parliamentary majority to enforce Leave.
The Government could decide to delay for years while the EU gets more and more annoyed with the UK.
What is clear now is that the UK no longer has any influence in the EU from the moment the result of the referendum was announced.