'No Turning Back' on Brexit as Article 50 Triggered (bbc.com)

An anonymous reader shares a BBC report: Britain's departure from the European Union is "an historic moment from which there can be no turning back," Theresa May has told MPs. The prime minister said it was a "unique opportunity" to "shape a brighter future" for the UK. She was speaking after Britain's EU ambassador formally triggered the two year countdown to the UK's exit by handing over a letter in Brussels. It follows June's referendum which resulted in a vote to leave the EU. In a statement in the Commons, the prime minister said: "Today the government acts on the democratic will of the British people and it acts too on the clear and convincing position of this House." She added: "The Article 50 process is now under way and in accordance with the wishes of the British people the United Kingdom is leaving the European Union."

Comments

Re:A completely unaccountable governing body

[ranton]

This is the only method member states have of telling the EU it's doing it wrong: leaving.

How is this comment modded up? Do you think the only way of telling your own government is to leave? The EU government, like the UK government, is full of elected officials.

Saying the UK has no control over the EU is like saying the West Midlands or Greater Manchester have no control over the UK.

And might barely, barely won that one

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

If a simple 50% majority was sufficient to join, then a 50% majority is sufficient to leave.

Neither should be the case as turning over so much power should be a supermajority decision of people in a nation (because if you can't convince most people that such a big change is a good idea, you have no business doing it.) But somehow people are trained to believe a simple majority is a godlike authority instead of an abstraction of might makes right, which it should be treated as.

Re:Tradeoffs

[ranton]

Britain has survived far worse. What makes you think leaving the EU will be the death knell?

Who said anything about a death knell. The original post simply said they will be poorer, less powerful, and less influential. When you have 5th largest economy in the world, you can get poorer without becoming poor. The danger is members of the UK having a lower standard of living after Brexit, not that they will completely implode.

Re:You spelled Lesser Britain wrong

[WrongMonkey]

Northern Ireland would only stay in the EU if they vote to leave the UK and unify with Ireland.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-nor...

Scotland is definitely leaving the EU along with UK. If they vote for independence, they could reapply to the EU. But this is far from automatic, since there are other EU members that are struggling to discourage their own secessionists.

http://www.politico.eu/article...

Re:Tradeoffs

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean people who know more and are more experienced? Perhaps people who saw what past attempts at a centralized unelected government can turn into?

Re:Tradeoffs

[ChrisMaple]

Far more Americans died in automobile accidents during the Vietnam War than died in the war. That did not make it not a war. The intention of Islam is to conquer the world, and you're a fool to ignore that fact.

There are more forms of war than tanks and uniformed armies, and Islamists know they would be wiped out in a conventional unlimited military conflict. That is why they have chosen to invade with one un-uniformed combatant at a time, draining the economies of victim countries and occasionally engaging in violent outbreaks to generate an atmosphere of fear.

Re:Tradeoffs

[MightyYar]

This isn't "globalist", it is exiting a regional trade pact. I have misgivings about free trade, but almost none of those apply to countries with similar standards of living, similar product safety requirements, similar financial rules, easy migration, and similar worker protections.

Death Knell for Britain Clear

[Roger W Moore]

Britain has survived far worse. What makes you think leaving the EU will be the death knell?

That's an easy one to answer: Scottish independence. Without Scotland we are no longer Great Britain and certainly not a United Kingdom. What happened today was that we shot ourselves. What remains to be seen is whether we shot ourselves in the head, the foot or the gut. My guess is the latter because unless we either reverse the decision or the EU itself collapses the UK is likely to suffer a long and lingering death both from Scottish and possibly Northern Irish independence as well as internal political conflicts in England and Wales. The latter is because leaving the EU is unlikely to fix any of the issues most of those who voted for it would like to see fixed and the 48% who voted against it are being utterly ignored in pursuit of a "hard" Brexit. This is a self-inflicted existential crisis and I see a good chance of it getting very ugly.

Re:Tradeoffs

[Zemran]

I love the lying moron alert at the start of a moronic lie :) MEPs are democratically elected but have no power to put forward a motion for debate or to enact a law. They are simply there to enact a theatre of democracy. The people of Europe do not get to vote for the EC. All those in power get their positions behind closed doors. They are not answerable to the people. The famously corrupt entity decides who will get what post in secret meetings and the power stays away from the electorate. Why not just have a simple easy to understand elected government? Why not let the elected MEPs put forward motions? Why not let the elected MEPs take votes on policy and enact policy? Why have policy made by someone else? The system is deliberately obfuscated to maintain the corruption that it is famous for. If that ended the EU would stand a chance of survival but the current structure is unworkable.