Senin, 01 April 2019

UK lawmakers discuss halting Brexit after petition hits 6 million - Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - British lawmakers debated halting Brexit on Monday after a record six million people signed a petition to revoke the process that set Britain on course to leave the European Union.

Anti-Brexit supporters protest outside the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain, April 1, 2019. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis

Britons voted to leave the European Union by 52 percent to 48 percent in 2016, and the following year British Prime Minister Theresa May gave notice of the intent to leave the bloc on March 29, 2019 under Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty.

But May has failed on three occasions to pass her EU Withdrawal Agreement, forcing a delay to Brexit until at least April 12 and leading to some for call for the whole divorce to be cancelled altogether.

The online petition to revoke Article 50 took off after a speech when May said that she was on the side of the British public over Brexit. Its website repeatedly failed as it garnered as many as 2,000 signatures a minute.

“This petition has been supported by an unprecedented number of people, although it’s not surprising because we live in unprecedented times,” Catherine McKinnell, an opposition Labour lawmaker, said as she introduced the debate.

The debate is largely symbolic and did not take place in the main chamber of the House of Commons, where discussions on alternatives to May’s Brexit plan were taking place.

Petitions on the government’s website are debated after they reach 100,000 signatures and the government must respond to all petitions with more than 10,000 names.

“This government will not revoke Article 50. We will honour the result of the 2016 referendum and work with parliament to deliver a deal that ensures we leave the European Union,” the government said in response to the petition.

The revoke petition is the largest parliamentary one ever, beating the 4.15 million signatures for a 2016 petition which called for another EU referendum in the event that neither the remain or leave camps achieved 60 percent of the vote.

More than 1.8 million people signed a petition calling for U.S. President Donald Trump to be prevented from making a state visit to Britain, leading to a debate in parliament in 2017

Reporting by Alistair Smout; editing by Michael Holden

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https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-eu-article50/uk-lawmakers-discuss-halting-brexit-after-petition-hits-6-million-idUSKCN1RD2YK

2019-04-01 17:30:00Z
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Brexit: In another round of ‘indicative votes,’ Parliament hopes to break the political stalemate - The Washington Post

LONDON —  After voting “no” so many times, the British Parliament may be ready to vote “aye” on something.

On Monday, Parliament will again try to seize the steering wheel from Prime Minister Theresa May, as the House of Commons stages votes on four proposals on how to exit the European Union.

Among the top options are two that would call for much softer Brexit than May has envisioned.

The two proposals would see Britain remain in closely tied to European trade rules and tariff regimes. One option would essentially mean that Britain would surrender its ability to control European immigration. The other would likely keep Britain from setting off to strike its own independent trade deals.

Trade experts, describing the two options, say they could deliver a kind of “ultra-soft” Brexit, that sees Britain “take back a bit of control.” 

Another popular option may push the government to stage a second referendum to take the questions of how or whether to leave back to the people.

And the fourth essentially seeks to cancel Brexit.

These will be non-binding “indicative votes,” expressing the will of Parliament. An earlier round of votes failed to produce a majority for any of eight proposals last week. But a big shift by the Labour Party and other political maneuvering may change the math on Monday evening.

All this comes amid growing signs that the British prime minister has lost control of Brexit, her party and her cabinet.

The Conservative Party is open revolt. Over the weekend, a bloc of 170 Conservative members, including 10 cabinet ministers, wrote to May demanding that Britain leave the E.U. “with or without a deal,” according to the Sunday Times of London.

Her cabinet, meanwhile, is now staffed by coup plotters and direct competitors. Hardline Brexiteers and those ministers pushing for a softer Brexter are both threatening to resign if they don’t get their way.

The government secretaries have become so unruly that May’s own chief whip, Julian Smith, in a rare on-the-record interview with the BBC, described them as the “worst example of ill-discipline in cabinet in British political history.”

Smith’s bold statement of unprecedented bad behavior was remarkable not only for what he said — but who said it. 

Chief whips are supposed to be like Victorian children in the extreme, never seen nor heard. They are virtually invisible to the world outside the Palace of Westminster, and their one and only job is to enforce party discipline; in other words, to “whip” their members — via text and WhatsApp group — to vote one way or another.

In his remarks, Smith also said that after the results of the 2017 general election, when the Conservative Party dramatically lost its parliamentary majority, May should have been clear that the result would spell a softer kind of Brexit.

Instead, May made bold speeches and erected red lines.

And yet, May still could get her deal passed. Her supporters say it is likely that the prime minister will try a fourth time to get it through the House of Commons.

Why would lawmakers approve on a fourth vote that which they have rejected three times before? May’s latest threat: If her Conservative members don’t rally round her deal, she will call for a general election.

This appears an empty threat by a weakened party leader. In part because the latest opinion surveys show the opposition Labour Party are polling ahead of the Tories — despite Labour being equally divided between “leavers” and “remainers.” In that environment, it’s hard to see Conservatives helping to provide the two-thirds majority required for a general election.

Last week, May said she would step down if her deal finally, somehow, gets over the finish line, thus allowing someone else to take the reins in the second phase of Brexit negotiations. May could by replaced as leader of the government by her own party without the need for a general election. 

In no time at all, Boris Johnson, the former foreign secretary and a favorite to replace May as Conservative leader, dropped his opposition and backed May’s deal.

“We need to get Brexit done, because we have so much more to do, and so much more that unites the Conservative party than divides us,” Johnson wrote in Monday’s Daily Telegraph, which sounded to some like a leadership bid. 

“We have so many achievements to be proud of – and yet every single one is being drowned out in the Brexit cacophony,” Johnson said.

On Monday, Parliament was scheduled to first discuss the more than 6 million citizens who signed an online petition to cancel Brexit, making it the most popular petition ever hosted on Parliament’s website.

On Monday evening, Parliament will renew its attempt to find an alternative to May’s deal.

One soft Brexit option could include a commitment to remain in a “permanent customs union” with the E.U. — such an arrangement allows those within the union to trade freely without tariffs, but sets an external tariff on all goods coming into the bloc. Such a deal would make it hard for Britain to go global and cut its own trade deals abroad, as it would be locked into E.U. tariff regimes. But it could control European immigration. 

Another soft Brexit option is a Norway-style relationship that would involve staying in the E.U. single, or common, market. This path may allow Britain to seek trade deals outside the E.U., but would likely mean that Britain would have to allow for free movement of E.U. citizens into Britain.

When Parliament held similar series of “indicative votes” last week, the closest over the customs union, which only lost by six votes.

Some Conservatives remain deeply opposed to these options, in part because they see it as “Brexit in name only,” crossing all their red lines — preventing Britain from striking new trade deals with countries like the United States and China while keeping the borders wide-open to European migrants.

Steve Baker, a Conservative lawmaker and arch Brexiteer, is one of those adamantly opposed. He told the BBC that joining opposition parties and supporting a vote of no-confidence in the May government was “on the table” if the government were to adopt this option.

Ken Clarke, a veteran Conservative lawmaker who proposed the customs union motion, told the BBC that the option would indeed limit Britain in its ability to agree tariff concessions to non-member E.U. countries. But he pointed out that Britain could strike trade deals on services, which make up about 80 percent of the British economy. He added some Brexiteers espousing the benefits of Global Britain striking new trade deals with countries like America are “getting carried away.” 

The idea that “Donald Trump is going to suddenly open up his market to us with joy because he’s so pleased we’ve damaged the European Union. That is total nonsense,” Clarke said.

Read more

Frexit? Italeave? After watching Brexit, other European countries say: No, thanks.

What is Brexit? Britain’s political drama, explained.

Brits pretend they’re sick of Brexit. But truth is they’re obsessed.

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/brexit-latest-news/2019/04/01/a609fccc-5258-11e9-bdb7-44f948cc0605_story.html

2019-04-01 17:03:45Z
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Indicative Votes: round 2 | Brexit LIVE - The Sun

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPiSOu9OvcA

2019-04-01 14:27:42Z
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Turkey local elections: Setback for Erdogan in big cities - BBC News - Cengiz Adabag News

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRQzKAFmMKE

2019-04-01 13:43:08Z
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Reiwa: Naming a new era in Japan - BBC News - Cengiz Adabag News

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5cLIDFRtJ4

2019-04-01 11:35:23Z
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Ethiopian crash could be largest non-war aviation reinsurance claim: Willis Re - Reuters

FILE PHOTO: Ethiopian Federal policemen stand at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash, near the town of Bishoftu, southeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia March 11, 2019. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri/File Photo

LONDON (Reuters) - Liability claims related to the Ethiopian Airlines crash and the grounding of Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft could be the largest non-war aviation reinsurance claim on record, hitting reinsurers’ profitability, reinsurance broker Willis Re said.

The crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 302 on March 10 killed 157 passengers and crew, the second deadly crash involving a Boeing Co 737 MAX 8 airliner in five months.

As the crash site and black boxes are investigated, the 737 MAX 8 has been grounded worldwide as a precautionary measure and regulators are stepping up action to improve air safety while Boeing is carrying out a software upgrade to the plane’s automated flight control system.

Liability claims for the passengers’ loss of life and in relation to the grounded aircraft could total around a billion dollars, James Vickers, chairman of Willis Re International, told Reuters by phone, a large sum for the aviation reinsurance market which Vickers said was “very small and very, very specialist”.

Reinsurers help insurers share the cost of large claims, in return for part of the premium.

The losses could erode three to four years of aviation reinsurers’ premium in the “global excess of loss” category of reinsurance, Willis Re said on Monday in its summary of reinsurance activity at the key April 1 renewal date.

In excess of loss reinsurance, the insurers are on the hook for the first part of the claim, and reinsurers only pay out on claims above a certain level.

The world’s biggest reinsurers include European firms Munich Re, Swiss Re and Hannover Re, U.S. billionaire global investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and companies operating in the Lloyd’s of London market.

British insurer Global Aerospace led a consortium of insurers and reinsurers providing cover for Boeing.

Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; editing by Simon Jessop and David Evans

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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ethiopia-airplane-reinsurance/ethiopian-crash-could-be-largest-non-war-aviation-reinsurance-claim-willis-re-idUSKCN1RD1TR

2019-04-01 09:42:00Z
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The Latest: Erdogan loses support in Turkey's big cities - Fox News

The Latest on Turkey's local elections (all times local):

1:45 p.m.

The opposition candidate running to be Istanbul's next mayor has declared victory after unofficial results showed him leading in Turkey's local elections.

Ekrem Imamoglu, the candidate from an alliance led by the secular Republican People's Party, thanked all Istanbul voters on Monday.

Unofficial results by state-run Anadolu news agency said he had won 48.8 percent of the vote Sunday and his opponent, former Prime Minister Binali Yildirim of the ruling party, had captured 48.5 percent. One percent of the votes were still to be counted.

Parties have three days to file objections and official results are expected in the coming days.

If the opposition won in Istanbul, Turkey's largest city and commercial hub, that would be a watershed moment. Erdogan's own ascent to power began in 1994 as Istanbul mayor and the city has been held by his party and allies for 25 years.

___

10 a.m.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared victory in municipal elections but the opposition's success in key cities dealt a significant blow to his party's dominance.

According to unofficial results, the ruling party lost the capital, Ankara, and the head of Turkey's electoral board said the opposition was also leading in Istanbul.

Sunday's local elections were widely seen as a test of support for Erdogan as the nation of 81 million people faces a daunting economic recession with double-digit inflation, rising food prices and high unemployment.

Ballot counts were still underway Monday morning in an anxious wait for Istanbul, Turkey's largest city and commercial hub. Both candidates —Ekrem Imamoglu for secular Republican People's Party, or CHP, and former Prime Minister Binali Yildirim for the ruling party— claimed they had won.

Electoral board head Sadi Guven said votes were still being counted.

___

Fraser reported from Ankara.

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https://www.foxnews.com/world/the-latest-erdogan-loses-support-in-turkeys-big-cities

2019-04-01 11:07:23Z
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