Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May faces a confidence vote Wednesday after suffering a historic defeat in parliament Tuesday when British lawmakers resoundingly rejected the deal she struck with Brussels for leaving the European Union later this year. Many in her own party voted against the deal but Prime Minister May is vowing to carry on. As Henry Ridgwell reports, Europe has warned the risks of Britain crashing out with no deal have increased.
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British Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday suffered the biggest parliamentary reversal ever handed a sitting government, with lawmakers — including more than 100 rebels from her own ruling Conservative party — refusing to endorse a highly contentious Brexit deal.

The government’s defeat plunges into greater disarray Britain’s scheduled March 29 divorce from the European Union.

The much anticipated historic vote by the House of Commons of a draft deal, which took two years of ill-tempered haggling with European leaders to conclude, now throws up in the air the whole Brexit project, with major questions remaining unanswered about when Britain will exit the EU, how it will do so and even whether it still will. ​Just 202 lawmakers backed May’s deal with 432 voting against her deal. The defeat dwarfed the previous 1924 record when then-Labor Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald lost a vote by 166, triggering the collapse of his government and a general election, which he lost.

​After the vote, May complained “the vote tells us nothing” about what the Commons would agree to when it comes to Brexit. Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main opposition Labor Party, immediately announced he had tabled a motion of no confidence in the government, which if May loses, would trigger a general election. Most analysts say they expect May will win a confidence motion, which will be debated Wednesday.

Vote delayed in December

The defeat of May’s Brexit plan will give further momentum to a burgeoning campaign in the House of Commons, and among Remainers in the country for a second referendum, according to analysts. Remainers hope a replayed referendum would reverse the Brexit plebiscite of 2016, which Leavers narrowly won.

The vote on the deal, which was due in December but was delayed by the government when it became clear there was insufficient backing for it to pass, also leaves hanging in the balance May’s own future as prime minister. Her aides insisted at the end of a day of high political drama that she won’t resign. 

“She is the person who has to deliver Brexit,” said British business minister Claire Perry, who said May doesn’t need to resign.

“There will be other attempts at this. There will be strenuous efforts to improve on the deal,” Perry said.

Earlier on Tuesday, May discussed post-defeat options and indicated she would plow on. Her officials say she will try to buy more time and return to Brussels to try to cajole EU leaders into a renegotiation.

But the sheer scale of the defeat throws into doubt whether even a reshaped Brexit Withdrawal Agreement would secure parliamentary approval in the future — that is, if the EU is prepared to reopen negotiations.

“Her Plan B, more of the same, is hopelessly optimistic,” said commentator Isabel Oakeshott.

EU chief Jean-Claude Juncker canceled an event planned in Strasbourg, France, Wednesday so he can remain in Brussels for possible emergency talks with May. May’s RAF jet was put on standby, readied for her to travel to the Belgian capital.

Juncker tweeted when news of the historic vote broke: “I take note with regret of the outcome of the vote in the House of Commons this evening. I urge the UK to clarify its intentions as soon as possible. Time is almost up.”

EU president Donald Tusk reflected the frustration of many in Brussels, tweeting: “If a deal is impossible, and no one wants no deal, then who will finally have the courage to say what the only positive solution is?”

As the vote neared, May’s aides made several last-ditch efforts to minimize the scale of the crushing defeat by offering amendments to the main motion on the deal that they hoped would peel away some of the Conservative rebels. But to their fury, Commons Speaker John Bercow, blocked their moves.

Labor’s Tulip Siddiq, who is pregnant, was pushed through the voting lobbies in a wheelchair after postponing a planned Caesarean section so she could vote against the Brexit deal.

Noisy crowd awaits word

While the drama played out in the House of Commons, outside the parliament, noisy, placard-waving crowds of Brexiters and Remainers mounted protests urging the draft plan be approved or cast aside. There was a hush among the protesters in the minutes before the result was announced. 

The minority Northern Ireland party May relies on to keep her minority government in office has said it would back the government if Corbyn tries to oust it. 

May has until next Monday to offer a new proposal to the House of Commons, but it isn’t clear what she will propose. EU leaders have flatly rejected the possibility of renegotiations several times since the deal was concluded in November. But with Tuesday’s defeat, which followed five days of intense debate, British officials hope Brussels now may offer enough concessions to secure parliamentary backing on a replayed vote on an amended deal. 

In the run-up to the vote, which the government was bracing itself to lose, May offered a series of carrots and sticks, pleas and warnings, to try to persuade unenthusiastic lawmakers to back her deal. To Brexiters, she warned it could result in Britain never exiting the EU. To Remainers, she cautioned it might lead to Britain leaving without a deal. 

Final plea from May

Minutes before the vote, May told a packed and feisty House of Commons that they should “honor the democratic decision of the British people.” She said a vote against her deal would be a vote for “uncertainty, division and the very real risk of no deal.”

Corbyn countered that the “government’s own economic assessment clearly tells us it is a bad deal.” To accompanying jeers and cheers, he added, “This deal is the product of two years of botched negotiations in which the government spent more time arguing with itself than it did negotiating with the EU.

“We need to keep in mind that the vast majority of people in our country don’t think of themselves as Remainers or Leavers,” Corbyn said. “Whether they voted leave or remain two and a half years ago, they are concerned about their future. So, Mr. Speaker, I hope tonight that this House votes down this deal, and then we move to a general election.”

With the draft deal, May tried to square the circle between Britons who want to remain in the EU, or closely tied to it, and Brexiters. The withdrawal agreement would have seen Britain locked in a customs union with the EU for several years, while a more permanent, but vaguely defined, free trade settlement could be negotiated with its largest trading partner. 

In the temporary customs union, Britain would have been unable to influence EU laws, regulations and product standards it would have to observe. And it would not have been able to implement free trade deals with non-EU countries. 

Customs checks

The transition deal was agreed to avoid customs checks on the border separating Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. But British lawmakers who voted against the deal feared Britain would be shackled indefinitely to the bloc, even if a final free trade deal couldn’t be agreed upon.

Both Brexiters and Remainers claimed the Brexit agreement May negotiated would turn Britain into a vassal state, a rule-taker and not a rule-maker. Brexiters maintained the deal would keep Britain too closely aligned with the EU.

A huge range of possible Brexit outcomes has been opened up by Tuesday’s defeat. These include leaving the EU with no deal; a more managed no-deal exit — a pivot to Britain adopting a Norway-style relationship with the EU that would see Britain being half-in and half-out of the bloc; a second referendum; or a second vote after a renegotiation with Europe. 

But with British politics in an uproar, with normally disciplined political parties fractured, it is hard to forecast what will happen next. While there are majorities in the House of Commons against leaving the EU without any deal, there are no clear majorities for any alternatives. 

Constitutional clash

The defeat also opens the way for parliament itself to take more control of any future negotiations with the EU, setting the stage for an unprecedented constitutional clash between the House of Commons and No. 10 Downing Street. 

A cross-party group of senior lawmakers headed by former Conservative ministers is conspiring now to sideline the embattled May by reducing the power of the government to control legislative business in parliament and giving the responsibility of future negotiations with Brussels to a parliamentary committee. 

The group also wants to force May to ask the EU to delay the scheduled departure date of March 29 to avoid Britain crashing out of the bloc without any kind of deal. Another group of powerful lawmakers is drafting legislation for a second referendum. 
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President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday he had discussed a safe zone which Turkey would set up inside Syria along the length of their border, during a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump which he described as positive.

Trump, who announced he was pulling U.S. troops out of northeast Syria last month, suggested in a tweet on Sunday creating safe zone, without elaborating.

“The safe zone issue, including a safe zone along Turkey’s borders that will be formed by us — an issue that I have brought up since the Obama era — was reiterated by him as 20 miles,” Erdogan told members of his AK Party in parliament.

He later told reporters that the zone could be extended beyond 20 miles, but did not say by how far.

Turkey has promised to take over the fight against Islamic State in Syria following the U.S. withdrawal. However, bitter differences between Washington and Ankara over the Kurdish YPG militia had soured talks between the two NATO partners.

The YPG has been a main U.S. ally in the fight against Islamic State, but Turkey views it as a terrorist organization and an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) that has waged a decades-long insurgency in Turkey.

Monday’s call between the two leaders came after Trump threatened Turkey with economic devastation if Turkish forces attacked the YPG militia.

Erdogan said he was saddened by Trump’s tweet but that the phone call later in the day was positive.

Trump’s threat to devastate Turkey’s economy also sparked concern among investors, sending the lira down as much as 1.6 percent on Monday. Erdogan said he and Trump had agreed to improve economic ties during their phone call.

“Turkey will continue to do what it has to in order to solve this issue in line with the spirit of its alliance, so long as our rights and laws are respected,” he said. “We reached a historic understanding with Trump last night.”
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Britain’s parliament votes Tuesday on the withdrawal agreement that Prime Minister Theresa May’s government negotiated with the European Union.

May canceled a previous vote in December when it was clear she did not have enough votes for the deal to pass, and since then little seems to have changed.

Both pro- and anti-Brexit lawmakers oppose the terms of the agreement. May sought to garner last-minute support Monday by asking them to examine it again while warning of the consequences if the deal fails.

The biggest point of contention has been the arrangement to have an open border between Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland that would keep Britain in some way tied to EU trade policies until the two sides can negotiate a new trade deal.

EU leaders said Monday the so-called “backstop” arrangement would only be in place as long as necessary.

Negotiators from Britain and the European Union agreed to the terms of the Brexit deal in November after difficult talks, and if the British parliament votes against the agreement there is great uncertainty about what will happen next.

May would have until next Monday to put forth a new proposal. There is also the chance Britain could reach its March 29 withdrawal deadline with no terms in place to specify just how it will relate to the European Union when it is no longer a member.

Some lawmakers have proposed holding a second referendum like the one in 2016 that set Britain on the path toward leaving the EU. Others want parliament to take control of the Brexit process from May and her Cabinet.
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President Donald Trump has declared he has “never worked for Russia,” days after news reports suggested he might be beholden to Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump’s denial to reporters Monday was in response to a New York Times article published late Friday that the FBI had opened a counter-intelligence investigation into whether he was acting as a Russian agent when he fired James Comey as FBI director in May 2017. VOA’s Brian Padden reports.
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Anti-government protesters and political rivals of President Emmanuel Macron criticized a sweeping “letter to the French” he issued after two months of weekly demonstrations, saying Monday his response was inadequate to quell anger over his economic policies.

The letter released Sunday explained how Macron wants to address the concerns roused by the yellow vest movement with a “grand debate” on taxes, public services, climate change and democracy.

The three-month initiative is supposed to take place at local meetings around the country and on the internet starting Tuesday. The French leader said no topics are prohibited and he listed more than 30 questions.

He suggested that citizens express their views on which taxes should be lowered and offer ideas for reducing the cost of transportation, heating and food.

Yellow vest representative Jeremy Clement told BFM television the president’s letter “settles part of the problem” but doesn’t go far enough to address the sinking purchasing power of French citizens.

One protester, Jerome Rodrigues, told CNews he thinks Macron failed to recognize “the urgency” of financial concerns among low-income workers and retirees.

Others criticized Macron for ruling out restoring a wealth tax on households with assets above 1.3 million euros ($1.5 million.)

Opposition leaders also criticized the letter.

The spokeswoman for the conservative Republicans party, Laurence Sailliet, said “this letter doesn’t allow us to know if Macron will realize the mistakes he made and will actually change his policy.”

The spokesman of far-right National Rally party, Sebastien Chenu, called it “hypocritical claptrap.” Far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon called the letter “a failure” that doesn’t address the French’s concerns.

Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer, speaking on France Inter radio, said “the message of the yellow vests has been heard. We are making something constructive out of it.”

An online poll by French institute YouGov this month showed 40 percent of respondents said they wanted to take part in the debate while 39 percent didn’t want to and the remainder didn’t know.

Skepticism about the debate’s usefulness appeared on social media.

Paris resident Jerome Huntziger told the AP the public conversation “won’t change anything.”

“The feeling of the French is a fed-up feeling on a certain number of things, a feeling of not being listened to by the national representatives,” he said.

The French Interior Ministry said about 84,000 people turned out on Saturday for the ninth straight round of demonstrations across France.

Thierry Paul Valette, founder of a group called “yellow vests citizens” told the AP the yellow vests would have “no break. The mobilizations continue.”

The movement emerged in mid-November as a response to fuel tax increases, and is named for the fluorescent garments motorists are required to keep in vehicles.
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The retired Vatican diplomat who accused Pope Francis of turning a blind eye to the alleged sexual misconduct of former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick is begging the American to publicly repent for his crimes for the good of the Catholic Church.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano wrote a letter to McCarrick that was published Monday on an Italian blog, Vigano’s way of communicating after he went into hiding following his bombshell accusations against the pope in August.

In the letter, Vigano noted the Vatican is expected to shortly deliver its verdict against McCarrick after gathering testimony from at least three men who accused him of misconduct.

The McCarrick scandal has thrown the U.S. and Vatican hierarchy into crisis since it was apparently an open secret that the powerful retired archbishop of Washington slept with seminarians.

Vigano wrote that a public show of repentance would be a “gift” to the church to help it heal from the sex abuse crisis.

“Time is running out but you can confess and repent of your sins, crimes and sacrileges, and do so publicly,” Vigano wrote. While saying McCarrick’s own eternal salvation was at stake, Vigano also said the credibility of the church was also in the balance.

“A public repentance on your part would bring a significant measure of healing to a gravely wounded and suffering church,” Vigano wrote. “Are you willing to offer her that gift?”

The McCarrick scandal erupted just before a grand jury in Pennsylvania accused some 300 priests of abusing more than 1,000 children over seven decades, while superiors largely stood by. The combined scandal, plus Francis’ own missteps in handling abuse cases, has created a crisis of confidence in the Catholic hierarchy.

Vigano added fuel to the scandal when he demanded the pope himself resign over what he said was his role in the McCarrick cover-up. In an 11-page denunciation in August, Vigano said he told Francis of McCarrick’s misdeeds in 2013 but that Francis went ahead and rehabilitated him from sanctions imposed by the previous pope.

Francis has never responded to Vigano’s claims, but a top Vatican cardinal, Marc Ouellet, tried to shoot them down. Ouellet urged Vigano himself to repent, for having launched such an unprecedented attack against the pope.
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Britain’s heated debate over migration as it leaves the European Union has been fueled by a spike in the number of asylum seekers arriving on the south coast from France in small boats.

 

A small number of migrants usually attempt the crossing each year, but the government says over 400 people have tried to cross the 30-kilometer English Channel in the last four months. It has declared a ‘major incident’ and has pulled back patrol vessels from a joint European Union mission in the Mediterranean Sea.

 

Visiting the port of Dover recently, Home Secretary Sajid Javid questioned the motivation of those seeking asylum in Britain.

 

“If you are a genuine asylum seeker then why have you not sought asylum in the first safe country that you arrived in? France is not a country that anyone would argue is not safe,” Javid told reporters.

Most of the recent arrivals appear to be from Iran. They are attempting the crossing in inflatable dinghies in the middle of winter. It is a journey fraught with danger across one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, with strong tides and currents.

 

Critics say the numbers are still relatively low and accuse the government of manufacturing a crisis to suit a political narrative, a charge it strongly denies.

 

While the political focus has been on the migrants coming across by boat, most asylum seekers arrive by air. Others try to hide underneath or inside trucks heading to Britain. Experts say increased security in French ferry ports could be driving migrants to attempt the sea crossing.

 

Noorulhadi Oryakheil fled the Taliban in his native Afghanistan and came to Britain hidden inside a refrigerated truck three years ago, aged just sixteen.

 

“When it [the truck] starts, and he starts the fridge, that was too cold, right. We were just hugging each other and sitting in the middle of the lorry [truck]. When he opened the door we just ran away and jumped off the lorry. So after we were walking on the motorway, like finally we were on the motorway and the police catch us,” he told VOA.

Oryakheil gained asylum in Britain, aided by the charity Kent Refugee Action Network. The organization’s Bridget Chapman says the government’s reaction to the influx is driven by politics.

 

“It’s a crisis in that people are being forced to put their lives at risk to make a claim for asylum, that’s completely unacceptable. But I think we’re talking about roughly 250 people over two-and-a-half months. That isn’t a crisis,” Chapman said.

“Amongst certain people in power there’s a lot of juggling to see who can be the toughest on migration, because I think they see there may be a chance for a leadership bid. And that to me is playing politics with people’s lives,” Chapman added.

 

The government says the deployment of naval vessels is needed to deter people smugglers and migrants from making such a dangerous journey.

 

Others warn the naval ships could persuade more migrants to attempt the journey in the hope they will be rescued.

 

 
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French President Emmanuel Macron has released what he calls a “letter to the French,” encouraging a national debate on issues that have led to two months of anti-government protests.

 

“This is how I intend to turn anger into solutions,” Macron said Sunday. “Your proposals will help build a new contract for the nation, organizing the actions of the government and parliament, but also France’s positions at the European and international levels.”

 

Macron plans to hold a number of town hall meetings across the country over the next eight weeks.

 

Among the questions he is opening for debate are which taxes should be cut, what public spending should be a priority, are there too many bureaucratic layers, and questions surrounding the environment and immigration.

 

While Macron said no topic will be off the table, the right of people to seek asylum in France will not be up for debate.

“We won’t agree on everything, which is normal in a democracy. But at least we’ll show we’re a people which is not afraid of talking, exchanging [ideas], debating.”

 

So-called “yellow vest” marches erupted in France in November against a now-scrapped fuel tax. But they have since expanded into a general anti-government protest, especially in rural France, where many see Macron as someone more interested in the wealthy than their problems.

 

Some of the marches have turned violent, leading to government proposals to ban anyone wearing face masks from joining in or starting their own march.

 

The free speech group Reporters Without Borders has called on protest organizers to condemn violence against journalists covering the marches.

 

The group says reporters have been beaten, kicked, and threatened with rape.

 
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Some of Germany’s largest and busiest airports are facing a possible strike by security staff on Tuesday.

The German trade union Verdi on Sunday expanded the call for a strike to include Munich and Hamburg airports in addition to the country’s largest airport in Frankfurt.

One-day walkouts are also expected Tuesday at the smaller Hannover, Bremen, Leipzig-Halle, Dresden and Erfurt airports.

The union is demanding that security staff get paid a minimum of 20.00 euros ($23.10) per hour. Security companies say that amounts to a prohibitive 30 percent raise in some cases.

Last week, a strike by security staff forced the cancellation of more than 640 flights at Duesseldorf, Cologne and Stuttgart airports.

Lufthansa, the country’s largest airline, has said it anticipates a “significant” impact on flights Tuesday.
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Four people have been confirmed dead Sunday in a suspected gas explosion in Paris a day earlier.

Authorities found the body of a woman reported missing the day before underneath the rubble at a bakery, the site of the explosion, in the French capital. Two firefighters and a Spanish tourist were also killed and dozens injured in Saturday’s blast, which left nearby buildings severely damaged.

Around 50 people have been provided temporary accommodation as authorities continue to search the rubble for bodies and assess the safety of damaged buildings.

Firefighters were responding to calls about a gas leak Saturday when the explosion occurred.

French president Emmanuel Macron tweeted his condolences to the firefighters and their families Saturday.

“Their mission: saving lives. To accomplish this they gave their own,” Macron tweeted, adding that his thoughts were with all the victims.

The blast is believed to have been accidental, but authorities have not yet ruled out other causes in a city which has fallen victim to numerous terrorist attacks in recent years.

 
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