Re: UK in Hungary
 

Beg to differ :)

10 weeks to go - and overwhelming majority of MPs won't allow UK to leave EU with no deal/ on WTO terms. If Govt were heading this way, parliament would take control and instruct Govt to do certain things, such as delay the leaving date. EU has already said they are open to delaying the leaving date until about July if the UK needed extra time.

IMV we are much closer to Norway deal/ Canada deal/ UK bespoke version of one of the former deals - and/ or a second referendum. (EU already offered Norway deal.) These options would require more time.

Apparently during today's confidence debate/ vote, 100+ Labour MPs will be pushing for a second referendum, as mandated unanimously by their last party conference.

Follow the clever money?: https://www.investmentweek.co.uk/inv...it-wont-happen

Re: UK in Hungary
 

The problem with this argument is that it isn't in Parliament's power merely to decide that the UK won't leave the UK no deal. It has to come up with an alternative acceptable to the EU, or a no-deal departure is what happens by default.

Re: UK in Hungary
 

That is correct …. a change in the law would be required to extend article 50.
​​​​​​⠀‹I suspect though that a deal has been pre planned and that a Norway or Canada ++ type deal will suddenly be on the cards …. too many in the UK government have their fingers in EU pies to allow a no deal scenario.

Re: UK in Hungary
 

First, parliament would direct Govt to get the extension. Second, if that failed to get a consensus for leaving/ staying, parliament would direct Govt to go down 2nd referendum route (probs 3 questions). Third, if that failed parliament would direct Govt to reverse Article 50 to gain more time/ in due course start the 2 year clock all over again.

Re: UK in Hungary
 

Except that whilst the court said that the UK could unilaterally revoke Article 50 its judgement made it quite clear that this would have to be because the UK wanted to remain in the EU and it could not revoke the article to gain more time.

Re: UK in Hungary
 

Second referendum, another general election, (temporary) reversal/extension of Article 50: none of these actually solve the real problem, which is that the UK's red lines are (at present) incompatible with the EU's red lines.

Even the Withdrawal Agreement that has just been rejected didn't actually resolve this incompatibility, it just postponed a decision to the next stage.

I can see the EU agreeing to kick the can down the road. Essentially, that's what the WA would have been (the UK is so wrapped up with itself that it hasn't appreciated that the EU actually regarded the WA as a major concession on its part). But the hard decisions will still have to be faced at some stage.

Re: UK in Hungary
 

That's probably the legal understanding: The court's ruling also noted this would represent "a sovereign decision to retain its status as a member state of the EU", while judges highlighted a principle that a member state cannot be forced to leave the EU against its will.
https://news.sky.com/story/european-...rexit-11576865

But you would end up with one of those de jure vs de facto situations - the EU could not in reality stop the UK revoking Article 50 if there was a decent chance the UK would subsequently decide to stay in the EU. So the UK would only have to argue that there was no consensus for leaving the EU as no deal could yet be agreed, therefore it would revoke Article 50 and try to gain consensus for staying - after all, the argument that there would now be a clear majority to stay could be made:
- older citizens have died off in the last 2 years (they majority voted leave)
- younger voters have come on stream (they majority vote stay)
- students would actually get out of bed & vote in greater numbers than last referendum as they now realise the importance of voting
- not fanciful to imagine vote being extended to 16+s and more expats
- people now understand the meaning & significance of Brexit a huge degree better than last referendum so will vote stay in greater numbers

Cf De facto means a state of affairs that is true in fact, but that is not officially sanctioned. In contrast, de jure means a state of affairs that is in accordance with law (i.e. that is officially sanctioned).

Re: UK in Hungary
 

I wish you (and me since I have many connections to the UK) luck that a practical solution will be found!
It's really kind of crazy what happened in the UK - without any external influencing ...
PS:
My friends in London told me they don't know what to do - and my sister and her family are thinking about leaving the UK, either going back to Germany or following the son in law to Ireland - if he can get a job there instaed of in London.
They really didn't expect this!

Re: UK in Hungary
 

Re: UK in Hungary
 

We don't give the general electorate the right to vote for capital punishment to be reinstated in the UK for 2 good reasons:
1 - many voters are uneducated or of lower intelligence, failing to weigh matters fairly according to the evidence/ history/ ethics etc before coming to a rational decision
2 - they would vote massively for capital punishment to come back as an option for the worst murderers/ terrorists.

We can't have that - so we don't give them the right to decide.

The same should have been true for in/ out EU/ Brexit.

There's a good reason we let 'clever' elected representatives/ MPs decide these issues. MPs voted 3:1 to stay.

Re: UK in Hungary
 

UK remains a parliamentary democracy - which is why Cameron should never had a referendum on an issue that much of the electorate simply doesn't understand.

Re: UK in Hungary
 

Next meeting is at 17:30 March 7th, at the Marriott, Budapest.

Re: UK in Hungary
 

I wonder how many resident Brits have yet to register?

Re: UK in Hungary
 

Re: UK in Hungary
 

I think that it's very good of the Hungarians to do this - given that people should register anyway and we're reminded in January 2018. Rather than being a Budapest thing I suspect it's a British (rules don't apply to us thing)!