Seb Dance, MEP (Labour), sums up the situation nicely:
Basically, May is trying to sell a lie to MPs. She knows, because the EU27 have told her - and indeed everyone - often enough that it's non-negotiable.
They, at least, draw their red lines at hurting people and (re)starting wars.
No backstop = breaching Good Friday Agreement = hard border = physically dividing communities and families = a return to the Troubles,
which is what the GFA put an end to.
We must not forget that the March 29 deadline is now barely 2 months away. Those who talk of extending it in order to re-negotiate are dishonest, as it is impossible unless May's viciously and self-destructively xenophobic 'red lines' are removed. Those who want to extend it to hold a referendum on "May's deal, no deal, or no Brexit" have a better chance, but they're kidding themselves if they think they'll be allowed a stay past 30th June, when the new European Parliament will sit for the first time.
Moreover, the suspiciously-funded No-deal Leave lobby started ramping up its Facebook and Twitter campaigns some time ago and the far-right UK tabloids continue to spread xenophobic lies unchecked, while denouncing anyone who disagrees with their perverted views as 'traitors' (I believe there's a word for that kind of attitude. Someone came up with it about 100 years ago).
Equally suspiciously, Theresa May has admitted to knowing the 2016 referendum was corrupt, while insisting on continuing with her destructive course, encouraging xenophobia and an ever-deepening split in the country. She has also blocked police investigations into known criminal activity that affected the result of the 2016 referendum. Why? Is she afraid one of the trails the police might undercover would lead to her?
Theresa May, and a number of her cronies, shouldn't be leading the country. They should almost certainly be 'helping the police with their inquiries', as the euphemism goes. Time for Toadface Farage is already running out: the FBI are after him.There is something deeply shaming about a foreign country being more willing to track down and punish criminals destroying your democracy and your country than you are.
So, there is currently no guarantee that the result of another referendum would be any less tainted with corruption.
There is only one option left, and it's the only option that can save the UK. It will annoy a small, but admittedly vocal and violent far-right thugs. It will upset the corrupt rich, who will lose money over it, as they've been betting on the £ continuing to plummet so they can asset-strip the country. It will really piss off Putin, who wants a weakened Europe for his own expansionist wet dreams. Fuck them all, and fuck them mightily.
It will require all Governments to stop using the EU as a useful scapegoat for their own misdeeds.
It will require actually educating the British (well, the English mostly, as other countries in the Union already have it) as to what Parliament does, what the EU does, what an MP does, what local authorities do, and so on. It's called civic education, and it should be obligatory everywhere.
It will require a vote of Parliament. It's feasible. The hard bit is of course getting certain MPs to understand that their job is to put their country before everything else.
Parliament must withdraw Article 50 and commit (because it's the only way to regain even a fraction of the trust lost over Brexit) to closer ties with the EU.
Anything else is just dicking around and trying everybody's patience.
