No solution to Brexit in sight: China Daily editorial

The daggers are drawn so are the battle lines in the British Parliament.

A bill to prevent Britain from leaving the European Union without a deal on Oct 31, and therefore forcing Prime Minister Boris Johnson to seek to delay Brexit, was to become law on Monday.

But in an apparent bid to prevent the bill from becoming law, the prime minister's spokesman said Parliament will be suspended at the end of business on Monday until the middle of October, emphasizing that Johnson will not sanction any more "pointless" delays to Brexit.

Even three years after the Brexit referendum, the United Kingdom doesn't seem to have a viable solution to one of the biggest challenges it faces in its history.

Johnson is determined to withdraw the UK from the EU on Oct 31, with or without a deal, and has the support of hard-line Brexiteers, especially because the two-year Brexit process should have been concluded on March 29 as scheduled.

The longer the uncertainties over Brexit last the more the UK economy would suffer and the deeper the sociopolitical turmoil would be. Yet a no-deal Brexit, which Johnson is not averse to, could be disastrous for the British economy, with exports and imports, and the financial services, logistics and manufacturing sectors suffering the most.

Therefore, the opposition parties, the Labour Party in particular, have to take the lead in resolving the Brexit issue that has divided Parliament and British citizens alike. But many in the UK and EU believe the opposition should not try to reverse Brexit, as it could mean another long-drawn process which could further harm the European and global economies.

The UK seems to be caught in a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't situation. That perhaps explains why the opposition-controlled Parliament was eager to race through the bill, which would force Johnson to seek a Brexit extension if no new deal is reached by Oct 19.

Johnson, who doesn't have a working majority in the Parliament tried to score a point over the opposition by proposing snap elections so he could finalize Brexit by Oct 31. But the Parliament rejected the proposal. The problem for Johnson is that many of his Conservative Party colleagues have turned against him.

How the events will play out is not known. But one thing is certain. The situation is fluid, and hazarding a guess would be hazardous.

Hopefully, Britain finds a solution to all its problems sooner rather than later.