Brexit Will Happen on Halloween

Rt Hon Stephen Barclay MP signs the order to ensure Brexit will happen on Halloween

Rt Hon Stephen Barclay MP signs the order to ensure Brexit will happen on Halloween

Over the weekend, Rt Hon Stephen Barclay MP made absolutely sure Brexit will now happen on 31st October, come what may.

The BBC did not highlight the story and nor did the Remain-supporting Guardian. Perhaps they reckoned their readers would not like the story.

It was left to the Brexiteer Daily Express to headline the event. The paper reported:

‘The Brexit Secretary signed a commencement order to bring the UK out of the European Union in a landmark do or die pledge’.

Withdrawal Act 2018 now all in force

The commencement order brought all the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 into force. MPs voted the Act through last September. Section 1 says simply: ‘The European Communities Act 1972 is repealed on exit day.’  ‘Exit Day’ was originally 31st March 2019. However, after Mrs May’s two extensions to Article 50, it shifted to 31st October.

The European Communities Act was the 1972 legislation which enabled laws from EU rulemakers to be installed automatically in the UK. It took the UK formally into the EEC, Euratom, and the European Coal and Steel Community.

Its repeal under Section 1 of the 2018 Act means the UK will directly control our policies from 1st November 2019. Existing laws made at the behest of the EU will remain in force until specifically repealed. But no new EU laws can apply to the UK starting from All Saints’ Day.

Needed a Minister to sign an Order

The very last section of the 2018 Act laid out the conditions for its Section 1 to come into force.  It simply said; 25 (4) ‘The provisions of this Act, so far as they are not brought into force by subsections (1) to (3), come into force on such day as a Minister of the Crown may by regulations appoint; and different days may be appointed for different purposes.’

In other words, some sections of the 2018 Act, dealing with preparations, came into force immediately. Section 1 was a key provision which needed a Minister of the Crown to bring into force.

Theresa May refused to let Mr Barclay sign the order.

No further extension past Halloween

Boris Johnson has given the go-ahead, and immediately tweeted his pleasure at the move.

He tweeted: “We are leaving the EU on October 31st. The signing of this document means we will take back control of our laws on Brexit day.”

Signing the Order means there cannot now be any further extension to Exit Day. As Steve Baker MP said: “It is absolutely totemic. It shows a transformation in the approach, that Boris Johnson is willing to leave on a fixed date with no question of extension. It’s the do-or-die pledge in black and white. It’s not merely symbolic.

“Once it’s signed that’s it, the UK is leaving. Theresa May did not bring the repeal of the European Communities Act on a fixed date because she was always willing to extend.”

Government of national unity squabbles

Meanwhile, Remain MPs were seen squabbling over the weekend about who if anyone could form an alternative ‘government of national unity’ in the event that Boris Johnson’s administration loses a vote of no confidence in September.

The BBC love all the Remainy gossip.  So they reported at length on the latest stupidity.  Jo Swinson MP, who is the leader of the Liberal Democrats (14 MPs) put forward two veteran MPs. Either the longest-serving man or woman could become Prime Minister, she said. They are Kenneth Clarke and Harriet Harman. Kenneth Clarke jumped at the idea, but there has been no discernible word from Ms Harman.

However, Jeremy Corbyn made a not unreasonable response.  ‘Under normal constitutional processes in Britain, when a government collapses, the leader of the opposition is called on to form a government.’
It was ‘not up to Jo Swinson to decide who the next prime minister is going to be’, he added.

Labour won’t support the LibDem’s idea, and they won’t support him.

Psalm 2:4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. 

No one to form an alternative

It all means if a vote of no confidence is carried, there will be no-one else able to form a government. Under the rules of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, if there is no successful vote of confidence in a government within fourteen days of a successful vote of NO confidence, a general election must be held.  The Prime Minister decides the date. No 10 has said it would be held in early November, after ‘Exit Day’.

But could a vote of no confidence succeed? With a majority of just one, it only needs one Conservative MP to vote with Labour, or two to abstain, for the vote to carry and the fourteen day countdown to start.

However, any Tory MP not voting with the whip against that motion would never stand for the Tories again. It would an act of political suicide, ‘taking one’ for the Remain team.

The UK will leave the EU on Halloween

But a similar calculation might be done on the other side by Brexiteer Labour MPs like Kate Hoey.
Moreover, there are 15 Independent MPs and 5 TIG (ChangeUK as was) MPs. Voting intentions for the latter now put them on 0% in the polls.

All will lose their seats if a no confidence vote goes through. We should therefore expect many if not all of them to abstain.  So Jeremy Corbyn winning a no confidence vote is by no means a done deal.

We’ll leave comment on the No Deal scare report which also came out over the weekend to another day. The end result of the weekend’s events is the United Kingdom will leave the European Union on on All Hallows E’en 2019. Don’t expect any agreement with the EU by then. Even if there were, Jacob Rees-Mogg is a savvy Leader of the House. He is unlikely to put before the House any motion on a withdrawal deal which could be highjacked and amended by Remainers.

For five months now I have been saying No Deal is inevitable. This weekend has not changed my mind!  But keep praying in any case!

Jer 29:7 And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.

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  1. Thanks for this encouraging update/summary- a needed antidote to BBC

  2. Thanks for your clear and well explained account of the situation, Stephen – very helpful.

  3. Hi, lets not count our chickens! Mr Corbyn wants to be PM by any means, it is not over yet. How he does it he does not care, he can smell an election and a victory, we pray the Almighty still has a place in His heart for the UK and will keep us united and this anti-semite, terrorist lover out

    1. Hi Tony, it’s precisely because Jeremy Corbyn wants to be PM and cannot countenance another ‘unity’ (ha ha) person (and nor should he) that a motion of no confidence will only mean either (a) a subsequent vote of confidence in BJ or (b) a general election in November. And Labour are not doing well enough in the polls to be confident of a result. But you are absolutely right to keep praying to Almighty God for mercy, despite our national sins. We are reading the early chapters of Isaiah in the CV Lamplight Bible Reading Plan just now, and what the Prophet observes in Judah and Israel could apply so easily to the UK. Of course Mr Corbyn’s attitude to Israel is a factor in the Lord’s attitude to the UK. Boris is far more Israel-friendly. Would that he could be a man of peace in the world at large as well.

  4. It is truly amazing how events have unfolded after all the scheming to block Brexit. We also have Juncker the Commission President stepping down on the 31 October. It was Juncker who said the day after hearing of our 2016 leave result ‘It will not be an amicable divorce’ and when he next met Farage he greeted him ‘B—-d’ this truly shows what the spirit of him and others attitude were in to deal with. Fortunately, we had those who stood up against Mrs May’s so-called withdrawal agreement that would have kept us in the EU. I guess the polls will push up the Conservatives standing under the leadership of Boris. Things look interested and we are reminded to continue to pray for those in authority, Pray on.

    As things are, by the end of October, then we would be negotiating our post-Brexit relationship with a new Commission President led by former Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen the first female Commission President. She will be heading the EU institution responsible for negotiating our departure from and future relationship with the EU. May she be of a far better spirit than those previous and create a good UK-EU relationship, having pre-studied in the UK and play an important role in Brexit when taking her role on 1 November.

    1. Agreed. There si some hope, in that Ms von der Leyen is a confirmed anglophile, in contrast to the truly awful Mr Juncker. I could also be somewhat bitchy by saying that the artificial -and extremely boring – little country of Belgium seems to have far too much sway over the EU!

  5. Great summary as always!
    And thank heavens that this finally sets in stone our Independence Day!

    It has been excellent to see Mr Johnson (whatever misgivings one might have his probity) give the lie to all the ‘bumbling Boris’ claptrap – he has been truly masterful, right from day one and the appointments of a brace of attack dogs – Dominic Cummings as Chief Advisor and Master Jacob as Leader provoked great optimism in our household – optimism which was well-grounded, it appears.

    Onwards and upwards!

    1. Agreed. The man is as sharp as a razor. Even his People’s Prime Minister’s Questions on Facebook is clever, bypassing the media. As to Messrs Cummings and Rees-Mogg, it could just be he is so smart he can appoint clever guys to top positions without feeling intellectually threatened.

  6. What the PM is doing now should have happened in 2016. UK plays hardball with EU. Instead our then PM gets humiliated for being too reasonable. Bercow is ridiculous how can this man who is supposed to be neutral act as dictator. Our so called democracy is DEAD the will of the people means nothing to one world globalists

  7. Praise God
    He is being merciful to us

  8. Section 1 of the EU Withdrawal Act is beautiful in its simplicity. My Constitutional law professor wrongly argued in the late ’70s, as did others, that as the European Communities Act made UK law subsidiary to EEC, latterly EU law, that the originating act could not itself be repealed, which if true was a revolution in our law. It had always been foundational to our law that a Parliament could not bind a future Parliament. This has now been proven and effected by the 2018 Act. However, this principle also means that the 2018 Act may itself be repealed, restoring the validity of the original act of accession. As you calculate, for this to occur prior to All Souls, it would require this Government to fall and a new Government to gain confidence of Parliament, and then a repealing act to gain royal assent, highly unlikely given the time remaining, but not quite impossible. But this could happen after exit day, and reverse the whole process. God forbid. We are a great nation under an annointed Queen, that must not, under the 39 articles of religion of the established Church, be subject to a foreign power.

  9. Events unfold without diplomacy, inevitably and in spite of our illustrious politicians’ best efforts. I wonder what happened to the concept of ‘integrity’? It has apparently never occurred to anyone that once the referendum result came in, in this case to leave the EU, it is then obligatory for all our politicians to work together (ever heard of that expression?) to bring it about. The patent lack of any political integrity on behalf of our leaders has left us as a nation the laughing stock of Europe, and, furthermore, in danger of tearing up all our political democratic principles that has undergirded our nation for the last 200+ years. If remaining politicians do not like the result, then they should not have agreed to a referendum. No one should say that, because they do not like the result, then we will not abide by it. Those who are acting in this way are showing themselves as exhibiting utter crass stupidity.

  10. One week on and our enemies are boldly conspiring together to bring our downfall. We must be ready for a general election as Boris could still go for it. The Brexit party are talking grownup common sense in their strategy and approach in the event of a GE of what is good for Britain and will win the hearts of people.

    There is a God that rules and overrules in all the affairs of mankind and state. We have nowhere else but to look.

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