The European Union is willing to grant Great Britain another three-month extension if British Prime Minister Boris Johnson fails to get his EU deal through the British Parliament before October 31. There are several options for delay ranging from one month to half a year or even longer.
EU President Tusk is consulting with the 27 EU heads of government and may come forward with an answer to the British request on Friday. The British request for delay mentions a period of three months; Germany is thinking of three weeks and France is talking about three days.
The chance that Great Britain will leave the European Union next week on Thursday, October 31 – as planned – thus seems very small.
Europe is therefore not inclined to just grant an extension but wants to know what the British intend to do with it. “Is it about a period of 3-4 weeks to seriously handle matters in Parliament? Of course, we will approve that. Or, for example, to organize elections or a second referendum, that is also a possibility,” said politicians in the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
Prime Minister Johnson held a brief meeting yesterday with opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn (Labour). Johnson wants early parliamentary elections but needs Labour’s support for that. Corbyn, however, wants to first settle all Brexit issues and legally enshrine them in statutory texts so that any future British government cannot change them. Labour is also keeping open the possibility that such a complete Brexit package could be put to the British voters in a referendum.
British millionaire Richard Branson expects a new referendum on Brexit. He is convinced that the British would then choose to remain in the EU. This was stated by the owner of Virgin Records and Virgin Airlines, who is currently in Israel.
A new referendum is among the possibilities if Prime Minister Boris Johnson fails to get his Brexit deal through Parliament. “The Brexit negotiations have already caused enormous damage to companies, employment and the British currency,” said Branson. “It is starting to look like more and more people understand that they were misled in the first referendum.” According to the controversial businessman, the British Pound will rise in value again and international trade will return to pre-first referendum levels.
Because Prime Minister Johnson has halted the Brexit process, the British House of Commons can now resume regular work. It is expected to vote on Queen Elizabeth II’s speech on Thursday. This counts as a kind of confidence vote in the government. It would be the first time in nearly a century that a British cabinet loses such a vote. However, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party does not have a parliamentary majority, so it is very uncertain whether he can win the vote on the speech.