Brexit Crisis: Has The Government Collapsed?

In any other time since GB became a parliamentary democracy Yes. But in these tumultuous political times when the constitution is flexing and stretching in every direction, No. Not yet. But it is no longer governing as an executive.

There are in the end two reasons for this. Forget about new acts and court rulings. The Tory party is utterly and ideologically split, not just on Brexit which is the issue of the moment, but upon who we are and what we are as a nation. It has no majority. Therefore it cannot govern coherently. Such a government would normally lose a vote of confidence.

This brings us to the second reason. It, actually May, constructed a majority by ganging up with the most destructive political force in our democratic store. The DUP. This party opposes everything everywhere which is progressive, enlightened, and prejudice free. It obduracy has brought power sharing to an end and crashed the governance of NI to the point where the province is on the verge of direct rule. It is now gleefully crashing the proper governance of the UK, particularly England, by refusing to support both the government flagship policy and the removal of that government through a vote of no confidence. In other words for its own selfish reasons and without a thought to the wider good, it sustains May in office while denying her power. So governance in the UK is  in a state of the most appalling chaos. We have become a world spectacle.

Parliament is now in the driving seat, having seized control of the agenda. Its mission is to chart a way forward. We must hope it does, but having listened to all the grandstanding for a huge variety of plans of what do do next, hopes that parliament can find common cause should not run too high. In my darker moments I am led to wonder whether parliament finding an answer is not the biggest unicorn of all.

But something is going to happen. It is in the air, so heavy you can touch it. But nobody knows what. Not even this blog.