DRAMA!
London -- Former London Mayor Boris Johnson has been chosen by his party to become Britain's next prime minister. He will replace Theresa May, who was forced to resign amid a bitter feud in the U.K. -- and within both her and Johnson's Conservative Party -- over Britain's exit from the European Union.
As CBS News correspondent Charlie D'Agata reports, the new leader of America's closest ally is one of Great Britain's most prominent figures, and probably a familiar face to many Americans.
By a quirk of British politics, Johnson was not elected by the general public but instead chosen to lead by about 160,000 registered Conservative Party members. He won with 92,153 votes to rival Jeremy Hunt's 46,656 -- a margin of almost two to one.
The new prime minister will officially take office on Wednesday, when May formally resigns the post. Johnson thanked his opponent in the leadership contest, Hunt, and May in remarks to gathered party members in London after the results of the election were announced on Tuesday.
Showing posts with label Brexit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brexit. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 23, 2019
Sunday, December 16, 2018
Brexit pressure rises, but UK government says no to second vote
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s government is not preparing for a second referendum on Brexit, ministers said on Sunday, sticking to the script that Prime Minister Theresa May’s deal could still pass through parliament with a few changes.
May delayed a vote last week on her agreement to leave the European Union because she was set to lose in parliament and has tried to secure “assurances” from the bloc to try to better sell it to skeptical lawmakers. Brussels said last week it was ready to help but warned her that she could not renegotiate the deal.
With less than four months before Britain is due to leave in March, Brexit, the biggest shift in trade and foreign policy for more than 40 years, is proving anything but smooth, complicated by the deep divisions in parliament and across the country.
With May facing deadlock in parliament over the deal and the EU offering little so far, more politicians are talking about the possibility of Britain leaving without an agreement or a second referendum that could stop Brexit from happening.
Asked if the government was preparing for a vote, education minister Damian Hinds told Sky News: “No, a second referendum would be divisive. We’ve had the people’s vote, we’ve had the referendum and now we’ve got to get on with implementing it.”
Trade minister Liam Fox also said a second referendum would “perpetuate” the deep divisions in Britain, adding that the prime minister was securing the necessary assurances to persuade parliament to back her deal.
He said that would take some time.
“It will happen over Christmas, it’s not going to happen this week, it’s not going to be quick, it will happen some time in the New Year,” he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show.
But the longer it takes, voices urging a change of tack are getting louder and the pressure on the main opposition Labour Party to move against the government is rising.
Simon Coveney, Ireland’s foreign minister, said if Britain wanted to put an “entirely new” Brexit proposal forward the government would most likely have to delay its departure.
May survived a no confidence vote among her Conservative lawmakers last week, but opposition parties are calling for Labour to propose a parliamentary motion of no confidence against the government this week.
Monday, July 30, 2018
Britons see Brexit turning sour, half want chance to vote again: poll
LONDON (Reuters) - Two-thirds of Britons now think the government will end up with a bad deal when Britain leaves the European Union early next year, and half want the chance to vote on what happens next, Sky News reported on Monday, citing its own poll.
With less than eight months until Britain is due to leave the EU, Prime Minister Theresa May has yet to find a proposal to maintain economic ties with the bloc that pleases both sides of her divided party and is acceptable to negotiators in Brussels.
The Sky poll said 65 percent of British voters thought the government would end up with a bad deal - an increase of 15 points from March - and half support a referendum to choose between leaving with a deal, leaving without a deal or staying in the EU. The poll indicated 40 percent opposed such a vote, while 10 percent did not know.
When asked to choose between three options - May’s deal, a no deal or staying in the EU - 48 percent said they would prefer to stay in the EU, 27 percent wanted to leave with no deal and 13 percent would opt for the government’s deal.
Sky Data interviewed a nationally representative sample of 1,466 Sky customers online between July 20 and 23. Data are weighted to the profile of the population.
The shift in public opinion comes as May has stepped up planning for a so called “no-deal” Brexit that would see the world’s fifth largest economy crash out of the EU on March 29, 2019 without a trade agreement.
A separate poll on Friday suggested that the proportion of voters who favor a referendum on the final terms of any Brexit deal had overtaken those who do not for the first time.
May has repeatedly ruled out holding another public vote on Brexit, saying the public spoke at a June 23, 2016, referendum, in which 51.9 percent of the votes cast backed leaving the EU while 48.1 percent backed staying.
Her main opponents in parliament, the Labour Party, are also not advocating a second referendum, meaning that, despite growing support and a vocal campaign for another vote, there is no obvious path for one to take place.
However, the potential for major political upheaval remains, with May’s minority government facing a series of make-or-break moments in the Brexit process over coming months.
She must find a way to strike a deal with the EU, which has already rejected her preferred plan on trade, then sell that deal to her deeply divided Conservative Party, before putting it to a vote in parliament. Failure at any of those three hurdles could cost her her job.
With less than eight months until Britain is due to leave the EU, Prime Minister Theresa May has yet to find a proposal to maintain economic ties with the bloc that pleases both sides of her divided party and is acceptable to negotiators in Brussels.
The Sky poll said 65 percent of British voters thought the government would end up with a bad deal - an increase of 15 points from March - and half support a referendum to choose between leaving with a deal, leaving without a deal or staying in the EU. The poll indicated 40 percent opposed such a vote, while 10 percent did not know.
When asked to choose between three options - May’s deal, a no deal or staying in the EU - 48 percent said they would prefer to stay in the EU, 27 percent wanted to leave with no deal and 13 percent would opt for the government’s deal.
Sky Data interviewed a nationally representative sample of 1,466 Sky customers online between July 20 and 23. Data are weighted to the profile of the population.
The shift in public opinion comes as May has stepped up planning for a so called “no-deal” Brexit that would see the world’s fifth largest economy crash out of the EU on March 29, 2019 without a trade agreement.
A separate poll on Friday suggested that the proportion of voters who favor a referendum on the final terms of any Brexit deal had overtaken those who do not for the first time.
May has repeatedly ruled out holding another public vote on Brexit, saying the public spoke at a June 23, 2016, referendum, in which 51.9 percent of the votes cast backed leaving the EU while 48.1 percent backed staying.
Her main opponents in parliament, the Labour Party, are also not advocating a second referendum, meaning that, despite growing support and a vocal campaign for another vote, there is no obvious path for one to take place.
However, the potential for major political upheaval remains, with May’s minority government facing a series of make-or-break moments in the Brexit process over coming months.
She must find a way to strike a deal with the EU, which has already rejected her preferred plan on trade, then sell that deal to her deeply divided Conservative Party, before putting it to a vote in parliament. Failure at any of those three hurdles could cost her her job.
Friday, July 13, 2018
Is Trump trying to collapse Britain’s government?
washingtonpost.com - On Thursday night, British Prime Minister Theresa May treated President Trump to a lavish dinner with 150 guests at Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill, one of Trump’s great heroes. Just as the dinner was winding down, the Sun, a British newspaper, released a bizarre and breathtaking interview with Trump during which he sneered at May’s latest Brexit plans, praised her main political rival and gave another jolt to her teetering government. It’s the old story: Who needs enemies when Trump is your friend?
The interview — equal parts insane, insulting and incendiary — essentially derailed Trump’s visit to Britain almost before it even began. The American president is doing everything he can to collapse the government of the United States’ most important ally. And in the process he’s imperiling relationships that are crucial to American and international security. (Now he’s trying to backpedal by calling the interview “fake news,” blithely ignoring the fact that the Interview was taped.)
It was insane when Trump falsely claimed that U.S. gross domestic product “has doubled and tripled” since he took office. (Tripling GDP takes decades, not 18 months.) Or when he absurdly claimed that his poll numbers are better than Abraham Lincoln’s. (Presidential approval ratings didn’t exist when Lincoln died in 1865.) Or when he wondered aloud why we don’t hear the “beautiful name” of England as much anymore, compared with the United Kingdom. (The answer, Mr. President, goes back to the 1707 Acts of Union; and when people mention Wales this week, they’re not talking about belugas.)
It was insulting when he insinuated that he has a secret Brexit strategy that May ignored. That seems highly unlikely given that his ignorance about the European Union’s basic functioning is on display every time he discusses it. He also caused offense with a highly personal attack on London Mayor Sadiq Khan, whom he accused of weakness on migrants and terrorism. (The mayor of London has as much control of British immigration policy as the mayor of Toledo, Ohio, has control over the United States’ borders.)
Finally, the interview was incendiary — for British politics and for the “special relationship” between the United States and Britain, a pillar of the current system of international security.
May’s government is already teetering as a result of the Brexit negotiations, which are not going well. Trump just gave her a shove. May already faces the risk of an internal party challenge that could topple her government. When Trump casually dropped the remark that her latest plan, a compromise designed to soften the blow of withdrawal from the E.U. for British businesses, would lead to the United States abandoning or downgrading trade relations with Britain, it was 10 Downing Street’s worst nightmare come true. That makes an internal revolt by the hard-core “Brexiteers” more likely.
Trump’s interview also imperils international security. When his questioners pressed him about Dawn Sturgess, a British woman who recently died from the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok, Trump continued to play up the value of a good relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mind you, this is just one week after the British government again accused the Kremlin of using the nerve agent to murder British citizens on British soil. By failing to clearly and unequivocally condemn the Russians’ action, Trump is simply emboldening them. Why shouldn’t Moscow just do it again? As long as it’s Putin who’s pulling the trigger, apparently, no one is softer on terrorism than Trump.
It’s astonishing to think that Trump arrived in Britain only yesterday, considering the amount of political and diplomatic wreckage he is already leaving in his wake. It’s imperative that someone — anyone — on either side of the Atlantic stand up to him before he blows apart the “special relationship.”
Thursday, July 12, 2018
After a Week of Turmoil, British Government Publishes Its Plan for Brexit
LONDON—The British government published in detail the long-awaited plan for its future economic relationship with the European Union, including proposals that have disappointed the financial-services industry because they accept a significant reduction in the sector's access to Europe.
The contents of the 98-page document have already torpedoed a fragile truce between warring factions in Prime Minister Theresa May’s ruling Conservatives over how close the U.K.’s economic ties to the EU should be after the country’s departure from the bloc in March 2019. Two cabinet ministers resigned this week when details of the plan were finalized.
The government hopes the proposal will inject fresh momentum into Brexit talks with less than nine months to go until Britain’s planned withdrawal. Yet Mrs. May now faces the twin challenges of steering her plan through Parliament and persuading a skeptical EU to sign up to it before the time for negotiations runs out.
The so-called white paper, published Thursday, proposes an ambitious free-trade area between the U.K. and the EU after Brexit. It suggests new institutional arrangements to oversee the new partnership and resolve disputes, citing international precedents such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and the EU’s own association agreement with Ukraine.
The paper effectively commits the U.K. to mirroring EU product regulations in to preserve cross-border trade in goods, while seeking a freer hand on services—a move that London acknowledged will inevitably mean less business for U.K.-based financial firms from EU customers.
Preserving unfettered access to the EU market for financial services was once a central goal of the U.K.’s Brexit strategy. But the government said Thursday it would instead seek only to negotiate a framework enshrined in international law for the close cooperation between U.K. and EU financial regulators, while preserving British autonomy on financial-sector rules. It acknowledged such an approach “means that the U.K. and the EU will not have current levels to access to each other’s markets.”
The proposal crystallizes concerns in the financial sector that Brussels and London weren’t likely to reach an agreement that broadly preserved the status quo. Already some banks have begun moving key staff to EU capitals ahead of Britain’s withdrawal. ContinueReading
The contents of the 98-page document have already torpedoed a fragile truce between warring factions in Prime Minister Theresa May’s ruling Conservatives over how close the U.K.’s economic ties to the EU should be after the country’s departure from the bloc in March 2019. Two cabinet ministers resigned this week when details of the plan were finalized.
The government hopes the proposal will inject fresh momentum into Brexit talks with less than nine months to go until Britain’s planned withdrawal. Yet Mrs. May now faces the twin challenges of steering her plan through Parliament and persuading a skeptical EU to sign up to it before the time for negotiations runs out.
The so-called white paper, published Thursday, proposes an ambitious free-trade area between the U.K. and the EU after Brexit. It suggests new institutional arrangements to oversee the new partnership and resolve disputes, citing international precedents such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and the EU’s own association agreement with Ukraine.
The paper effectively commits the U.K. to mirroring EU product regulations in to preserve cross-border trade in goods, while seeking a freer hand on services—a move that London acknowledged will inevitably mean less business for U.K.-based financial firms from EU customers.
Preserving unfettered access to the EU market for financial services was once a central goal of the U.K.’s Brexit strategy. But the government said Thursday it would instead seek only to negotiate a framework enshrined in international law for the close cooperation between U.K. and EU financial regulators, while preserving British autonomy on financial-sector rules. It acknowledged such an approach “means that the U.K. and the EU will not have current levels to access to each other’s markets.”
The proposal crystallizes concerns in the financial sector that Brussels and London weren’t likely to reach an agreement that broadly preserved the status quo. Already some banks have begun moving key staff to EU capitals ahead of Britain’s withdrawal. ContinueReading
Sunday, June 3, 2018
A 'doomsday' no-deal Brexit scenario could see Britain run out of food within days — and it only gets worse from there
LONDON — A no-deal Brexit could see Britain run out of food within days, according to a "doomsday scenario."
The UK is scheduled to leave the European Union on March 29, 2019 and senior civil servants have produced three alternative scenarios — "a mild one, a severe one, and one dubbed 'Armageddon'" — for David Davis, the Secretary of State for Exiting the EU.
The Sunday Times reports that Whitehall "has begun contingency planning for the Port of Dover to collapse 'on day one'."
The Port of Dover, the nearest English port to France, is responsible for handling approximately 17% of the UK's trade in goods, so if Britain crashed out of the EU with no deal and the port collapsed, it could lead to a desperate shortage of essential supplies.
A Sunday Times source said: "In the second scenario, not even the worst, the port of Dover will collapse on day one. The supermarkets in Cornwall and Scotland will run out of food within a couple of days, and hospitals will run out of medicines within two weeks."
The UK may even have to enlist the help of the Royal Air Force to shuttle supplies to the more remote areas of the country.
"You would have to medevac medicine into Britain, and at the end of week two we would be running out of petrol as well," the source added.
A spokesman for the Department of Exiting the EU confirmed discussions on different scenarios had occurred but said claims of a "doomsday" outcome becoming reality were "completely false."
"A significant amount of work and decision making has gone into our no deal plans, especially where it relates to ports, and we know that none of this would come to pass," the spokesman said.
The UK is scheduled to leave the European Union on March 29, 2019 and senior civil servants have produced three alternative scenarios — "a mild one, a severe one, and one dubbed 'Armageddon'" — for David Davis, the Secretary of State for Exiting the EU.
The Sunday Times reports that Whitehall "has begun contingency planning for the Port of Dover to collapse 'on day one'."
The Port of Dover, the nearest English port to France, is responsible for handling approximately 17% of the UK's trade in goods, so if Britain crashed out of the EU with no deal and the port collapsed, it could lead to a desperate shortage of essential supplies.
A Sunday Times source said: "In the second scenario, not even the worst, the port of Dover will collapse on day one. The supermarkets in Cornwall and Scotland will run out of food within a couple of days, and hospitals will run out of medicines within two weeks."
The UK may even have to enlist the help of the Royal Air Force to shuttle supplies to the more remote areas of the country.
"You would have to medevac medicine into Britain, and at the end of week two we would be running out of petrol as well," the source added.
A spokesman for the Department of Exiting the EU confirmed discussions on different scenarios had occurred but said claims of a "doomsday" outcome becoming reality were "completely false."
"A significant amount of work and decision making has gone into our no deal plans, especially where it relates to ports, and we know that none of this would come to pass," the spokesman said.
Thursday, January 11, 2018
Brexiteers back second EU referendum to stop 'soft' departure from bloc
LONDON (Reuters) - Two of Britain’s most prominent Brexit campaigners endorsed a second referendum on leaving the European Union on Thursday as the best way to stop EU supporters from trying to water down, or even halt, the country’s departure from the bloc.
Britons shocked the political establishment in June 2016 by voting 52 to 48 percent in favor of ending more than four decades of political, economic and legal ties with the EU.
But, with the nation still deeply polarized, disillusion over the complexity of withdrawal setting in and pessimism about the economic impact of Brexit rising, many in the fervently anti-EU camp fear an eventual “soft” withdrawal that would keep key ties and foil any clampdown on immigration.
Nigel Farage, a central figure in the “Leave” campaign ahead of the referendum and in its surprise outcome, said he was warming to the idea of holding a second vote to settle the argument on whether leaving was the right decision or not.
“Maybe, just maybe, I‘m reaching the point of thinking that we should have a second referendum ... on EU membership,” the former leader of the small UK Independence Party told Channel Five’s “The Wright Stuff” show.
“I think if we had a second referendum on EU membership we’d kill it off for a generation. The percentage that would vote to leave next time would be very much bigger than it was last time round.”
Opinion polls show little sign of a change of heart among voters. A poll in December showed 51 percent would now keep EU membership and 41 percent wanting out. But pollster BMG said that shift was largely among those who did not vote - notably many young people - in 2016; around nine in 10 “Leave” and “Remain” voters hold fast to their views.
Asked about Farage’s comments, May’s spokesman said: “We will not be having a second referendum.” ContinueReading
Friday, December 8, 2017
Ireland's leaders say deal shows Britain is edging towards soft Brexit
theguardian.com - The Irish border deal hammered out after objections from the Democratic Unionist party has inadvertently edged Britain towards a soft Brexit deal, political leaders in Ireland have said.
Ireland’s prime minister, Leo Varadkar, said he was delighted with the deal because not only had it delivered an invisible border with Northern Ireland but the DUP clause had unexpectedly delivered a new promise of barrier-free trade between the whole of Ireland and the UK in the event of no deal.
Varadkar pledged that May would have “no closer friend” in the next stage of negotiations on the back of the agreement on the Irish border.
He said it was in Ireland’s interest to help Britain get a deep and ambitious deal because Ireland wanted to preserve the £50bn-a-year trade it does with the UK, its biggest export partner.
He admitted Anglo-Irish relations had been damaged by the fractious negotiations over Brexit, but said that could quickly be repaired.
“I’ll be very frank. Brexit, by its nature, has strained relations between Ireland and the UK. Of course it has. How could it not?” he said. “Our role now is to get through that. I actually think because of this agreement that we have today, because we have the guarantees and the assurances that we sought, Britain will have no closer friend than Ireland.”
He confirmed that under the deal there would be no cameras, customs checks or patrols on the border, something he said everyone north and south of the border should appreciate as a major achievement in the Brexit negotiations.
The 15-paragraph Irish deal also guarantees the Good Friday agreement will continue in all its parts, allows border communities to continue to access EU funding, and means anyone in Northern Ireland opting for Irish citizenship will continue to have rights as EU citizens.
The leader of Ireland’s opposition, who is in a confidence-and-supply agreement with Varadkar’s Fine Gael government, went further. “From the British perspective, it seems to me we are edging towards a soft Brexit, something the Brexiteers may not want to hear, but there are certain realities dawning,” said Micheál Martin, leader of the Fianna Fáil party. (ontinueReading
Ireland’s prime minister, Leo Varadkar, said he was delighted with the deal because not only had it delivered an invisible border with Northern Ireland but the DUP clause had unexpectedly delivered a new promise of barrier-free trade between the whole of Ireland and the UK in the event of no deal.
Varadkar pledged that May would have “no closer friend” in the next stage of negotiations on the back of the agreement on the Irish border.
He said it was in Ireland’s interest to help Britain get a deep and ambitious deal because Ireland wanted to preserve the £50bn-a-year trade it does with the UK, its biggest export partner.
He admitted Anglo-Irish relations had been damaged by the fractious negotiations over Brexit, but said that could quickly be repaired.
“I’ll be very frank. Brexit, by its nature, has strained relations between Ireland and the UK. Of course it has. How could it not?” he said. “Our role now is to get through that. I actually think because of this agreement that we have today, because we have the guarantees and the assurances that we sought, Britain will have no closer friend than Ireland.”
He confirmed that under the deal there would be no cameras, customs checks or patrols on the border, something he said everyone north and south of the border should appreciate as a major achievement in the Brexit negotiations.
The 15-paragraph Irish deal also guarantees the Good Friday agreement will continue in all its parts, allows border communities to continue to access EU funding, and means anyone in Northern Ireland opting for Irish citizenship will continue to have rights as EU citizens.
The leader of Ireland’s opposition, who is in a confidence-and-supply agreement with Varadkar’s Fine Gael government, went further. “From the British perspective, it seems to me we are edging towards a soft Brexit, something the Brexiteers may not want to hear, but there are certain realities dawning,” said Micheál Martin, leader of the Fianna Fáil party. (ontinueReading
Wednesday, September 6, 2017
Indivisible?: Britain could still reverse Brexit, former minister Heseltine says
Heseltine, who helped topple Margaret Thatcher in 1990 but ultimately failed to win the top job, said that Britain could face another election in just two years and that Prime Minister Theresa May would not lead the party into that election.
A supporter of EU membership, Heseltine said he saw a scenario in which Britain would not leave the European Union as scheduled in late March 2019.
“There is now a possibility that Brexit will not happen, but it will need a change in public opinion,” Heseltine, 84, told Reuters in an interview.
“There may be indications but there is no really substantive evidence of public opinion moving but I think that it will happen. My guess is that public opinion will move,” he said.
Heseltine said the shift in Brexit policy by the opposition Labour Party - including staying in the European single market and customs union for a transitional period - indicated Labour had sensed the wind of a change in public opinion.
May, who quietly opposed Brexit ahead of the referendum, has formally notified the bloc of Britain’s intention to leave and divorce talks are under way.
Some European leaders have suggested Britain could change its mind, while former Conservative prime minister John Major has said there is a credible case for giving Britons a second vote on the Brexit deal.
His successor, Labour’s Tony Blair, has said repeatedly that Brexit can and should be stopped.
In the June 2016 referendum voters in the United Kingdom backed leaving the EU by a margin of 51.9 percent to 48.1 percent.
The world’s fifth-biggest economy initially withstood the shock of the Brexit vote, but growth began to slow sharply this year as inflation rose on the falling value of the pound and hit households. (ontinueReading
Thursday, July 13, 2017
A year after vote, UK unveils bill to make Brexit a reality
washingtonpost.com LONDON — There’s no divorce without paperwork.
Just over a year after Britons voted to leave the European Union, the U.K. government on Thursday unveiled the first piece of legislation to make it a reality — a 62-page bill that opposition politicians are already vowing to block.
The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill aims to convert some 12,000 EU laws and regulations into U.K. statute on the day Britain leaves the bloc. That is scheduled to be in March 2019.
All those rules can then be kept, amended or scrapped by Britain’s Parliament, fulfilling the promise of anti-EU campaigners to “take back control” from Brussels to London.
The government says the bill will ensure continuity — law on the day after Brexit will be the same as on the day before. Brexit Secretary David Davis said the legislation will allow Britain to leave the EU with “maximum certainty, continuity and control.”
But opponents of Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative government fear the legislation gives officials powers to change laws without sufficient scrutiny by lawmakers. They worry the government could water down environmental standards, employment regulations or other measures brought to Britain through EU law since it joined the bloc in 1973.
Contentiously, the bill gives the government powers to fix “deficiencies” in EU law by what’s known as statutory instruments, which can be used without the parliamentary scrutiny usually needed to make or amend legislation. Such powers are often referred to as “Henry VIII powers” after the Tudor king’s bid to legislate by proclamation.
Andrew Blick, a politics lecturer at King’s College London, said such executive powers are “a very sensitive subject” and likely to face opposition.
“Henry VIII powers have been used before, but here they apply to a very, very wide range of law,” Blick said.
The powers are temporary, expiring two years after Brexit day. Even so, Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon branded the bill a “naked power grab.”
Charles Clark, partner consultant at law firm Linklaters, said the sheer number of legal changes needed — 800 to 1,000 by the government’s estimate — meant Brexit could be “a mind-blowingly complicated logistical exercise.”
“My worry is we will be faced with death by statutory instrument,” he said. “It’s going to be very expensive in terms of parliamentary and public time, and business time.”
The bill also states that Britain will no longer enforce the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights after Brexit. Officials say similar protections are offered by other measures including the European Convention on Human Rights, which Britain will still adhere to. (ontinueReading
* * * *
Related: Tony Blair says Brexit must be stopped to halt harm to UK
Thursday, April 6, 2017
Scientists find evidence of flooding event that caused ‘Brexit 1.0’
DailySabah.com - Scientists have found evidence of how ancient Britain separated from Europe in what they are dubbing "Brexit 1.0" - a flooding event that happened in two stages thousands of years ago.
In research published in the journal Nature Communications on Tuesday, the scientists said they now have proof that the opening of the Dover Strait in the English Channel, severing the land between Britain and France, occurred in two episodes - an initial lake spill over, followed by catastrophic flooding.
"The breaching of this land bridge between Dover and Calais was undeniably one of the most important events in British history, helping to shape our island nation's identity," said Sanjeev Gupta, a professor at Imperial College London who co-led the work.
"When the ice age ended and sea levels rose, flooding the valley floor for good, Britain lost its physical connection to the mainland," he said. "This is Brexit 1.0 – the Brexit nobody voted for."
The first pieces of the puzzle came some 10 years ago, when researchers found geophysical evidence of giant valleys on the seafloor in the central part of English Channel. They believed these valley networks were evidence of a megaflood gouging out the land, probably caused by a breach in a chalk rock ridge joining Britain to France.
In the new study, new geophysical data collected by colleagues in Belgium and France has been combined with seafloor data from Britain showing evidence of huge holes and a valley system located on the seafloor. This help the team establish how the chalk ridge was breached.
The ridge acted like a huge dam and behind it was a proglacial lake, the researchers explained. The lake overflowed in giant waterfalls, eroding the rock escarpment, weakening it and eventually causing it to fail and release huge volumes of water onto the valley floor below.
"We still don't know for sure why the proglacial lake spilt over," said Jenny Collier, a co-author of the study from Imperial's department of earth science and engineering.
"Perhaps part of the ice sheet broke off, collapsing into the lake, causing a surge that carved a path for the water to cascade off the chalk ridge. Maybe an earth tremor... further weakened the ridge and caused (it) to collapse, releasing the megaflood that we have found evidence for in our studies."
Either way, the scientists said, if it was not for a set of chance geological circumstances, Britain may have remained connected to mainland Europe, jutting out into the sea like Denmark.
The researchers still have no exact timeline of events, but said they now want to take and analyze core samples of the in-filled sediments in the plunge pools to try and pinpoint the timing of erosion and the filling of the pools.
They cautioned, however, that this next step will be tricky, since getting samples in the Dover Strait means navigating huge tidal changes and the world's busiest shipping lane. (Source)
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
'No turning back': PM May triggers 'historic' Brexit
Reuters - Prime Minister Theresa May formally began Britain's divorce from the European Union on Wednesday, declaring there was no turning back and ushering in a tortuous exit process that will test the bloc's cohesion and pitch her country into the unknown.
In one of the most significant steps by a British leader since World War Two, May notified EU Council President Donald Tusk in a hand-delivered letter that Britain would quit the club it joined in 1973.
"The United Kingdom is leaving the European Union," May told parliament nine months after Britain shocked investors and world leaders by unexpectedly voting to quit the bloc. "This is an historic moment from which there can be no turning back."
The prime minister, an initial opponent of Brexit who won the top job in the political turmoil that followed the referendum vote, now has two years to negotiate the terms of the divorce before it comes into effect in late March 2019.
May, 60, has one of the toughest jobs of any recent British prime minister: holding Britain together in the face of renewed Scottish independence demands, while conducting arduous talks with 27 other EU states on finance, trade, security and other complex issues.
The outcome of the negotiations will shape the future of Britain's $2.6 trillion economy, the world's fifth biggest, and determine whether London can keep its place as one of the top two global financial centers.
For the EU, already reeling from successive crises over debt and refugees, the loss of Britain is the biggest blow yet to 60 years of efforts to forge European unity in the wake of two world wars.
Its leaders say they do not want to punish Britain. But with nationalist, anti-EU parties on the rise across Europe, they cannot afford to give London generous terms that might encourage other member states to break away.
Saturday, March 25, 2017
Thousands demonstrate in London against leaving the EU ..again
*Thousand
(Reuters) - Thousands of people marched through London on Saturday to protest against Britain leaving the European Union, just four days before Prime Minister Theresa May launches the start of the formal divorce process from the bloc it joined 44 years ago.
The Unite for Europe march was due to end with a rally in Parliament Square, scene of this week's attack by British-born Islam convert Khalid Masood in which four people died.
Marchers observed a minute's silence in memory of the victims at the start of the demonstration.
In bright sunshine, they waved EU flags and banners with slogans like "So what's the Plan" and "Stop Brexit" as they made their way to parliament.
One banner from a marcher in Hastings on the south coast - scene of England's epoch-defining defeat to William, Duke of Normandy - read: "Hastings, in Europe since 1066."
Another simply said "Happy Birthday EU" in a reference to this weekend's 60th anniversary of the bloc's founding, currently being commemorated in Rome.
Joss Dennis was one of three coach loads of protesters who had traveled from Bristol in western England, which voted 62 percent to stay in the EU in last June's referendum compared with the national 52-48 percent vote to leave.
"With such a close vote, I don't see how anyone can call this the will of the people," she told Reuters. "We have so much to lose: environmentally, politically and financially.
"A terrible mistake has been made but the situation is not beyond redemption," she added.
May has been adamant she intends to take Britain out of the EU following the referendum and will formally announce the start of the two-year leaving process on Wednesday.
(Reuters) - Thousands of people marched through London on Saturday to protest against Britain leaving the European Union, just four days before Prime Minister Theresa May launches the start of the formal divorce process from the bloc it joined 44 years ago.
The Unite for Europe march was due to end with a rally in Parliament Square, scene of this week's attack by British-born Islam convert Khalid Masood in which four people died.
Marchers observed a minute's silence in memory of the victims at the start of the demonstration.
In bright sunshine, they waved EU flags and banners with slogans like "So what's the Plan" and "Stop Brexit" as they made their way to parliament.
One banner from a marcher in Hastings on the south coast - scene of England's epoch-defining defeat to William, Duke of Normandy - read: "Hastings, in Europe since 1066."
Another simply said "Happy Birthday EU" in a reference to this weekend's 60th anniversary of the bloc's founding, currently being commemorated in Rome.
Joss Dennis was one of three coach loads of protesters who had traveled from Bristol in western England, which voted 62 percent to stay in the EU in last June's referendum compared with the national 52-48 percent vote to leave.
"With such a close vote, I don't see how anyone can call this the will of the people," she told Reuters. "We have so much to lose: environmentally, politically and financially.
"A terrible mistake has been made but the situation is not beyond redemption," she added.
May has been adamant she intends to take Britain out of the EU following the referendum and will formally announce the start of the two-year leaving process on Wednesday.
Monday, March 20, 2017
Britain's May to launch EU divorce proceedings on March 29
Reuters - Prime Minister Theresa May will trigger Britain's divorce proceedings with the European Union on March 29 2017, launching two years of negotiations that will reshape the future of the country and Europe.
May's government said her permanent envoy to the EU had informed European Council President Donald Tusk of the date when Britain intends to invoke Article 50 of its Lisbon Treaty - the mechanism for starting its exit after a referendum last June in which Britons voted by a 52-48 percent margin to leave the bloc.
The EU said it was ready to begin the negotiations and within 48 hours of the trigger on March 29, Tusk will send the other 27 member states his draft negotiating guidelines, which means that talks could start at the earliest in May.
Sterling slipped from a three-week high against the dollar on what Brexit minister David Davis described as a move taking Britain to "the threshold of the most important negotiation for this country for a generation".
May said she would negotiate for "everyone across the United Kingdom and all parts of the UK".
"We're going to be out there, negotiating hard, delivering on what the British people voted for," she told reporters.
The 60-year-old leader hopes to negotiate terms that keep trade, financial and political relations with EU member states as close as possible after Brexit, but also satisfy euroskeptics in her Conservative Party who demand a complete break from an institution they say has stolen British sovereignty.
It will be a difficult and ambitious balancing act. Talks on departing the prosperous club Britain joined in 1973 are likely to be the most complex London has held since World War Two, with other EU leaders saying they will not give May an easy ride.
With nationalism and anti-establishment, anti-immigrant sentiment spreading across Western Europe, the EU leadership in Brussels is anxious to avoid encouraging others in the 28-member bloc to bolt.
At the same time, May faces threats by Scottish nationalists to call a new independence referendum that could splinter the United Kingdom and fears in Northern Ireland that a "hard border" with EU member Ireland will return after Brexit.
May has revealed little of her strategy for securing what she calls "the best possible deal" for the world's fifth largest economy and making Brexit as painless as possible.
Although she succeeded David Cameron as prime minister soon after the June 23 Brexit referendum, she delayed triggering Article 50 to give herself time to work on her strategy for talks that are likely to determine her political legacy. (ontinueReading
May's government said her permanent envoy to the EU had informed European Council President Donald Tusk of the date when Britain intends to invoke Article 50 of its Lisbon Treaty - the mechanism for starting its exit after a referendum last June in which Britons voted by a 52-48 percent margin to leave the bloc.
The EU said it was ready to begin the negotiations and within 48 hours of the trigger on March 29, Tusk will send the other 27 member states his draft negotiating guidelines, which means that talks could start at the earliest in May.
Sterling slipped from a three-week high against the dollar on what Brexit minister David Davis described as a move taking Britain to "the threshold of the most important negotiation for this country for a generation".
May said she would negotiate for "everyone across the United Kingdom and all parts of the UK".
"We're going to be out there, negotiating hard, delivering on what the British people voted for," she told reporters.
The 60-year-old leader hopes to negotiate terms that keep trade, financial and political relations with EU member states as close as possible after Brexit, but also satisfy euroskeptics in her Conservative Party who demand a complete break from an institution they say has stolen British sovereignty.
It will be a difficult and ambitious balancing act. Talks on departing the prosperous club Britain joined in 1973 are likely to be the most complex London has held since World War Two, with other EU leaders saying they will not give May an easy ride.
With nationalism and anti-establishment, anti-immigrant sentiment spreading across Western Europe, the EU leadership in Brussels is anxious to avoid encouraging others in the 28-member bloc to bolt.
At the same time, May faces threats by Scottish nationalists to call a new independence referendum that could splinter the United Kingdom and fears in Northern Ireland that a "hard border" with EU member Ireland will return after Brexit.
May has revealed little of her strategy for securing what she calls "the best possible deal" for the world's fifth largest economy and making Brexit as painless as possible.
Although she succeeded David Cameron as prime minister soon after the June 23 Brexit referendum, she delayed triggering Article 50 to give herself time to work on her strategy for talks that are likely to determine her political legacy. (ontinueReading
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
UKGBNI: Scottish Government to Seek Independence Referendum Over Brexit
nbcnews.com - Scotland's leader announced Monday she will seek another referendum on independence from the U.K. as early as next year in response to Brexit, deepening the turmoil caused by Britain's decision to quit the European Union.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she had encountered a "brick wall of intransigence" in dealings with the British government over the terms for withdrawal from the trading bloc.
She said the Brexit vote meant there had been a "material change in circumstances" since independence was rejected by Scottish voters by 55 percent to 45 percent in 2014.
"The future of the U.K. looks very different today than it did two years ago," she told reporters.
Sturgeon, who heads the pro-independence Scottish National Party, said she will seek the constitutional authority to hold another referendum in late 2018 or early 2019 — by which time the terms of Britain's withdrawal would be known.
It was not immediately clear if the Britain's ruling Conservative party, which is firmly opposed to independence, would veto her bid for a so-called "indyref2."
Sturgeon said Scots should be allowed to choose "whether to follow the U.K. to a hard Brexit, or to become an independent country able to secure a real partnership of equals with the rest of the UK and our own relationship with Europe."
Scotland voted against Brexit in last June's referendum, preferring to remain in the EU. However, the U.K. overall voted to leave by 52 percent to 48 percent.
turgeon said she had sought negotiations with British Prime Minister Theresa May over the details of Brexit but the U.K. government "has not moved even an inch in pursuit of compromise or agreement."
"Membership of the single market was ruled out with no prior consultation with the rest of the UK," she said. "We face a future outside the world's biggest single market."
Sturgeon said there was "warmth" in Europe at the prospect of Scotland being an independent member of the EU — although the mechanism for that prospect also remains unclear. The EU previously stated that an independent Scotland would have to apply to join the EU, rather than automatically being a member.
Sturgeon's announcement came as May was poised to invoke Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon, giving official notice of Britain's intention to quit the EU and starting the clock on up to two years of unprecedented negotiations. (ontinueReading
* * * *
Related: Nicola Sturgeon hits out at PM saying: I was elected, May was not
Theresa May 'to block Nicola Sturgeon's second independence referendum until after Brexit'
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she had encountered a "brick wall of intransigence" in dealings with the British government over the terms for withdrawal from the trading bloc.
She said the Brexit vote meant there had been a "material change in circumstances" since independence was rejected by Scottish voters by 55 percent to 45 percent in 2014.
"The future of the U.K. looks very different today than it did two years ago," she told reporters.
Sturgeon, who heads the pro-independence Scottish National Party, said she will seek the constitutional authority to hold another referendum in late 2018 or early 2019 — by which time the terms of Britain's withdrawal would be known.
It was not immediately clear if the Britain's ruling Conservative party, which is firmly opposed to independence, would veto her bid for a so-called "indyref2."
Sturgeon said Scots should be allowed to choose "whether to follow the U.K. to a hard Brexit, or to become an independent country able to secure a real partnership of equals with the rest of the UK and our own relationship with Europe."
Scotland voted against Brexit in last June's referendum, preferring to remain in the EU. However, the U.K. overall voted to leave by 52 percent to 48 percent.
turgeon said she had sought negotiations with British Prime Minister Theresa May over the details of Brexit but the U.K. government "has not moved even an inch in pursuit of compromise or agreement."
"Membership of the single market was ruled out with no prior consultation with the rest of the UK," she said. "We face a future outside the world's biggest single market."
Sturgeon said there was "warmth" in Europe at the prospect of Scotland being an independent member of the EU — although the mechanism for that prospect also remains unclear. The EU previously stated that an independent Scotland would have to apply to join the EU, rather than automatically being a member.
Sturgeon's announcement came as May was poised to invoke Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon, giving official notice of Britain's intention to quit the EU and starting the clock on up to two years of unprecedented negotiations. (ontinueReading
* * * *
Related: Nicola Sturgeon hits out at PM saying: I was elected, May was not
Theresa May 'to block Nicola Sturgeon's second independence referendum until after Brexit'
Friday, March 3, 2017
Will Brexit Drive Scotland out of the United Kingdom?
newsweek.com - The decision by British voters last June to leave the European Union has thrown that bloc into turmoil. But its implications for Great Britain could be even more profound, portending the dissolution of the United Kingdom.
Prime Minister Theresa May could trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty as early as March 15, starting the two-year timetable for negotiating the terms of the U.K.’s divorce from the E.U.
The prime minister should beware the Ides of March: It seems all but inevitable that Scotland’s government will respond by calling for a second referendum on Scottish independence. The ultimate result could be the reemergence of a sovereign Scotland, more than 300 years after the Acts of Union (1706–1707) united the cross of St. Andrew and the cross of St. George.
When Scots rejected independence by a 55 to 45 percent margin in a September 2014 referendum, most assumed the matter had been put to bed for at least a generation.
The shocking Brexit vote upended that expectation. As Scotland’s sovereigntist-minded first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, observes, Scots who voted for “union” less than three years ago assumed that the (still) United Kingdom would remain in the EU. And in the more recent “Brexit” vote, they overwhelmingly (62 percent) supported the “Remain” camp. Given the dramatically altered landscape, Scots deserve the opportunity to reconsider their ties with the United Kingdom.
As Sturgeon sees it, the Brexit outcome revealed “a wider democratic deficit within the U.K., where decisions about Scotland are too often taken against the wishes of the people who live here.” Her Scottish National Party (SNP) has been cheered by the comments of no less than former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, who says Brexit makes the case for Scottish independence much more credible.
In October, the Scottish government published a draft bill that would (if approved by the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood) launch consultations to authorize a second referendum.
Wittingly or not, Prime Minister May has bolstered Scotland’s independence movement by insisting on a “hard exit” from the EU.
Scottish members of the U.K. Parliament in Westminster worry about losing access to the EU’s single market. True, trade between the U.K. and Scotland—worth £49.8 billion ($61 billion) in 2015—is four times the value of Scottish exports to the rest of the EU. But the benefits of the single market are substantial, and many Scots are not willing to risk them in return for greater U.K. restrictions on migration. (ontinueReading
Monday, January 9, 2017
Theresa May: Brexit can 'change Britain for the better'
BBC - Theresa May has criticised those who believe a so-called "hard Brexit" is inevitable after the UK leaves the EU.
The prime minister said she wanted the UK to "operate within" the single market as part of a new relationship.
Speaking in London, she vowed to build a "shared society" in which wealth and opportunity were not the preserve of an elite, and injustices were tackled.
She said that Brexit provided an "opportunity to fundamentally change Britain for the better".
Outlining her social reform agenda in her most significant policy speech for three months, Miss May announced steps to improve mental health provision in the UK and transform attitudes to people suffering from mental health conditions.
She announced extra training for teachers, more online self-checking for those with concerns and a review of services for children and teenagers.
This approach, she said, was part of her wider belief in a "shared society" where the state intervenes to correct social and economic injustices.
Speaking to reporters afterwards, she was pressed on market reaction to comments she made on Sunday when she suggested the UK could not be expected to "keep bits" of its existing EU membership. The pound fell to a two-month low against major currencies on Monday, losing about 1% of its value.
Thursday, December 15, 2016
‘Brexit’ Talks Could Stretch 10 Years, British Official Warns
LONDON — Struck off the guest list for dinner at a European Union summit, Britain’s prime minister, Theresa May, faced a second embarrassment on Thursday, over warnings that trade talks on quitting the bloc could last a decade, and even then might fail.
Despite the June 23 referendum decision to leave the European Union, Britain remains a full member until the end of negotiations on British exit, known as Brexit, which Mrs. May aims to complete by the spring of 2019.
Britain’s ambiguous, and increasingly isolated, position was underscored by the format for the gathering in Brussels on Thursday in which the other 27 leaders were to debate their own strategy for Brexit over dinner — and without Mrs. May.
The awkwardness Mrs. May faced when she was politely asked to leave the room was compounded by a leaked warning from her own top aide in Brussels, highlighting the mind-numbing complexity of undoing four decades of European integration.
According to the BBC, the advice, given to ministers in October by Ivan Rogers, Britain’s ambassador to the European Union, suggested that completing talks on a new trade relationship with the bloc could take 10 years — and even then might not survive a process of ratification by each of the 27 other nations.
Mrs. May’s office did not deny the substance of the report, but said that the ambassador was reflecting the views of other member countries, not his own assessment of the situation.
Nevertheless, it presents a stark contrast to some British assertions that a new relationship could be struck within the two-year timetable envisaged under the formal process for withdrawal, which Mrs. May intends to begin by the end of March. Even this timetable may be optimistic, because Michel Barnier, one of the European Union’s lead negotiators, has said that in reality, a deal would have to be done within 18 months to allow time for ratification.
In the meantime, Britons remain fiercely divided over Brexit, with supporters encouraged by the fact that the economy has so far not suffered the dire fate predicted by some ahead of the referendum. Their opponents say the negative effects will become visible next year, after being delayed by the post-referendum stimulus injected into the economy by the Bank of England and a competitive edge gained by the depreciation of the pound sterling.
While some of those who favor Brexit fret that they could be cheated of their referendum victory, many businesses worry about the apparent lack of a coherent government strategy, almost six months after the referendum.
Their big fear is that two years of negotiation will fail to yield a trade deal, leading to a “cliff edge” plan in which import and export tariffs are applied with little time to prepare. Continue reading main story
Despite the June 23 referendum decision to leave the European Union, Britain remains a full member until the end of negotiations on British exit, known as Brexit, which Mrs. May aims to complete by the spring of 2019.
Britain’s ambiguous, and increasingly isolated, position was underscored by the format for the gathering in Brussels on Thursday in which the other 27 leaders were to debate their own strategy for Brexit over dinner — and without Mrs. May.
The awkwardness Mrs. May faced when she was politely asked to leave the room was compounded by a leaked warning from her own top aide in Brussels, highlighting the mind-numbing complexity of undoing four decades of European integration.
According to the BBC, the advice, given to ministers in October by Ivan Rogers, Britain’s ambassador to the European Union, suggested that completing talks on a new trade relationship with the bloc could take 10 years — and even then might not survive a process of ratification by each of the 27 other nations.
Mrs. May’s office did not deny the substance of the report, but said that the ambassador was reflecting the views of other member countries, not his own assessment of the situation.
Nevertheless, it presents a stark contrast to some British assertions that a new relationship could be struck within the two-year timetable envisaged under the formal process for withdrawal, which Mrs. May intends to begin by the end of March. Even this timetable may be optimistic, because Michel Barnier, one of the European Union’s lead negotiators, has said that in reality, a deal would have to be done within 18 months to allow time for ratification.
In the meantime, Britons remain fiercely divided over Brexit, with supporters encouraged by the fact that the economy has so far not suffered the dire fate predicted by some ahead of the referendum. Their opponents say the negative effects will become visible next year, after being delayed by the post-referendum stimulus injected into the economy by the Bank of England and a competitive edge gained by the depreciation of the pound sterling.
While some of those who favor Brexit fret that they could be cheated of their referendum victory, many businesses worry about the apparent lack of a coherent government strategy, almost six months after the referendum.
Their big fear is that two years of negotiation will fail to yield a trade deal, leading to a “cliff edge” plan in which import and export tariffs are applied with little time to prepare. Continue reading main story
Thursday, October 13, 2016
GB Forever? Scotland Plans New Independence Referendum from U.K. Over Brexit
LONDON — Scotland is drawing up plans for a vote on independence from the rest of Britain over Brexit, deepening the political fallout from the U.K.'s decision to quit the European Union.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Thursday she would publish draft proposals for a new national ballot.
She told the annual conference of her ruling Scottish National Party that she wanted the bill in place to give her the possibility of calling another referendum before Britain is expected to formally leave the EU in March 2019.
Scots rejected independence by 55 to 45 percent in 2014, and opinion polls suggest there is still no clear majority in favor of a split.
However, Britain's decision in June to quit the EU may shift attitudes in Scotland, which voted to remain in Europe in now faces losing access to the single market because the U.K. as a whole voted to leave.
Sturgeon said she would press ahead with a new referendum unless British Prime Minister Theresa May kept Scotland's membership of the European single market.
"I am determined that Scotland will have the ability to reconsider the question of independence and to do so before the UK leaves the EU if that is necessary to protect our country's interests," she said.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Thursday she would publish draft proposals for a new national ballot.
She told the annual conference of her ruling Scottish National Party that she wanted the bill in place to give her the possibility of calling another referendum before Britain is expected to formally leave the EU in March 2019.
Scots rejected independence by 55 to 45 percent in 2014, and opinion polls suggest there is still no clear majority in favor of a split.
However, Britain's decision in June to quit the EU may shift attitudes in Scotland, which voted to remain in Europe in now faces losing access to the single market because the U.K. as a whole voted to leave.
Sturgeon said she would press ahead with a new referendum unless British Prime Minister Theresa May kept Scotland's membership of the European single market.
"I am determined that Scotland will have the ability to reconsider the question of independence and to do so before the UK leaves the EU if that is necessary to protect our country's interests," she said.
Monday, July 11, 2016
David Cameron to resign July 13 as Theresa May to become British PM
London (CNN) British Prime Minister David Cameron is to resign Wednesday, paving the way for Home Secretary Theresa May to take the reins.
May was officially named Conservative Party leader and successor to Cameron "with immediate effect" Monday, said Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 Committee, a collection of Conservative members of Parliament key to electing the party leader. She will replace Cameron on Wednesday evening.
In remarks shortly after her leadership was affirmed, May said her priorities will be to administer Britain's exit from the European Union, a move approved by voters last month, to unite the country and to create a "strong, new, positive vision for the future," not just for the privileged few, but for everyone.
Cameron had already announced he would step down by October after failing to convince the country to remain in the EU in the divisive June 23 referendum that sent shockwaves through Britain's political establishment.
But Monday, May's only remaining rival to replace Cameron -- Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom -- pulled out of the race following controversy over comments she made about motherhood and leadership.
"Obviously, with these changes, we now don't need to have a prolonged period of transition. And so tomorrow I will chair my last Cabinet meeting. On Wednesday I will attend the House of Commons for Prime Minister's questions," Cameron told reporters Monday outside 10 Downing Street.
"And then after that I expect to go to the palace and offer my resignation. So we will have a new prime minister in that building behind me by Wednesday evening."
The vote between May and Leadsom was supposed to go to the wider Conservative Party of 150,000 people, but being the sole candidate, May sidestepped the party rule.
Cameron welcomed Leadsom's decision to drop out of the race and said he was confident May would steer the country in the right direction, calling her strong and competent, and offering her his full support.
May was officially named Conservative Party leader and successor to Cameron "with immediate effect" Monday, said Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 Committee, a collection of Conservative members of Parliament key to electing the party leader. She will replace Cameron on Wednesday evening.
In remarks shortly after her leadership was affirmed, May said her priorities will be to administer Britain's exit from the European Union, a move approved by voters last month, to unite the country and to create a "strong, new, positive vision for the future," not just for the privileged few, but for everyone.
Cameron had already announced he would step down by October after failing to convince the country to remain in the EU in the divisive June 23 referendum that sent shockwaves through Britain's political establishment.
But Monday, May's only remaining rival to replace Cameron -- Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom -- pulled out of the race following controversy over comments she made about motherhood and leadership.
"Obviously, with these changes, we now don't need to have a prolonged period of transition. And so tomorrow I will chair my last Cabinet meeting. On Wednesday I will attend the House of Commons for Prime Minister's questions," Cameron told reporters Monday outside 10 Downing Street.
"And then after that I expect to go to the palace and offer my resignation. So we will have a new prime minister in that building behind me by Wednesday evening."
The vote between May and Leadsom was supposed to go to the wider Conservative Party of 150,000 people, but being the sole candidate, May sidestepped the party rule.
Cameron welcomed Leadsom's decision to drop out of the race and said he was confident May would steer the country in the right direction, calling her strong and competent, and offering her his full support.
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