Church of God News

Brexit and Theresa May

COGwriter

UK Prime Minister’s Theresa May’s election gambit did not go as she hoped:

June 9, 2017

LONDON — On the day after British voters delivered an astonishing repudiation of Prime Minister Theresa May at the very moment that she had expected to be her crowning glory, she tried to go on as though nothing much had changed.

She would stay on as prime minister. She would keep her cabinet’s elite circle. Her plans for Brexit would go forward.

“That’s what people voted for last June,” she announced defiantly outside 10 Downing Street after meeting with Queen Elizabeth II to discuss her new government. “That’s what we’ll deliver. Now let’s get to work.”

But beneath the bravado was a creeping reality: A year after voters stunned the establishment with a vote to get out of the European Union, they had done it once more. In the process, they may have thrust a dagger through the heart of a young premiership that only days ago had looked to be on the verge of achieving power of Thatcher-esque proportions.

“It’s not clear to me that Theresa May is going to survive the next few days,” said Ian Kearns, co-founder of the European Leadership Network, a London-based think tank. “The level of damage that she’s done to her own brand is immense. The rebellion against her is just getting started.”  https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/mays-gamble-ona-snap-british-vote-backfires-spectacularly-as-losses-trigger-calls-to-step-down/2017/06/09/d2c7c106-4c9a-11e7-987c-42ab5745db2e_story.html?utm_term=.bcc402b9bd13

The New York Times ran this as a headline: Britain Will Pay for Theresa May’s Election Gamble.

Brexit is a major concern with all of this as the intent of the UK’s Theresa May was to have a stronger majority in Parliament in order to better negotiate the UK’s departure from the EU.

This vote seems to be a complicating factor:

9 June 2017

So what does the UK political upheaval mean for Brexit negotiations, slated to start in 10 days’ time?

And does the hung parliament indicate that a hard Brexit, a softer Brexit or a cliff-edge Brexit (where there’s no deal and the UK simply “falls out” of the EU) becomes more likely?

All questions redirected firmly today by Brussels back to the Dover side of the Channel.

The ball is very much in Britain’s court.

Brexit – to state the obvious – has been driven by Britain all along.

Almost a year ago, the UK voted to leave the EU. Since then it has been riven by divisions between Leavers and Remainers, and between fans of so-called hard Brexit – where the UK leaves the EU single market and the customs union – and a softer Brexit, where the UK maintains the benefits of those associations.

It was the British government that delayed the possible start of face-to-face Brexit negotiations, by calling a snap election. And it is the new British government that can say, again, it needs more time, s’il vous plaît.

EU negotiators ready

The EU position is that it never wanted the UK to leave, but since Brexit is happening, it is ready and waiting.

While the UK has struggled internally with political turmoil ever since its referendum, Brussels has had almost 12 months to quietly get its Brexit ducks in a row and ensure a unified and detailed negotiating position, on behalf of the 27 member states, the European Commission and the European Parliament. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40220247

The EU wants the UK to understand that Brexit negotiations have a time limit:

June 9, 2017

NEGOTIATION RISKS

“We need a government that can act,” EU Budget Commissioner Guenther Oettinger told German broadcaster Deutschlandfunk. “With a weak negotiating partner, there’s a danger that the (Brexit) negotiations will turn out badly for both sides.”

There was little sympathy for May from some Europeans.

“Yet another own goal, after Cameron now May, will make already complex negotiations even more complicated,” tweeted Guy Verhofstadt, the former Belgian premier who is the European Parliament’s point man for the Brexit process. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-election-idUSKBN18Z2UQ

June 9, 2017

EU leaders were quick to warn Theresa May that the clock is ticking on her hopes of a successful Brexit deal – as one senior MEP said she should resign.

The presidents of both the European Council and the European Commission rammed home the message that the Article 50 exit talks must end in two years, unless the EU agrees an extension.

If Britain crashes out of the bloc with no deal, it will inflict huge economic damage, according to the Treasury’s pre-referendum analysis. …

“We don’t know when Brexit talks start. We know when they must end. Do your best to avoid a “no deal” as result of “no negotiations”, tweeted Donald Tusk, the Council president.

On behalf of the Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker restated the EU’s determination that the talks must settle the so-called “divorce” bill, before future trade could be discussed.

He said: “We are waiting for visitors coming from London. I hope that we will not experience a further delay in the conclusion of these negotiations.”

One Brussels source said the comments reflected the EU’s view that – while it was up to London to decide the next steps – “in the meantime the clock is ticking”. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/theresa-may-brexit-deal-election-results-hung-parliament-eu-leaders-warning-a7781661.html

Since the Brexit vote, the election of Donald Trump, and even Donald Trump’s refusal to publicly reaffirm article 5 of the NATO agreement when in Europe last month, these factors have pushed the Europeans to more and more wish to militarize.

It should be noted though, that today President Trump did say that the USA would defend NATO in accordance with article 5–see Trump Affirms US Commitment to Defend NATO Nations If Attacked.  But that, in a sense, is more confusion for the Europeans.

And speaking of Europe reader sent me the following that came out before Donald Trump’s article 5 statement today:

9 June 2017

EU nations must step up their military co-operation as they cannot simply rely on the US to defend them, EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker says.

“Our deference to Nato can no longer be used as a convenient alibi to argue against greater European efforts.

“We have no other choice than to defend our own interests in the Middle East, in climate change, in our trade agreements,” he said in Prague. …

Mr Juncker told the Prague defence and security conference on Friday that “the way forward starts with making sure that we spend what is needed on our defence”. …

“The protection of Europe can no longer be outsourced,” Mr Juncker said. …

Mr Trump’s criticisms of Nato have raised questions about the US commitment to defending Europe. …

The EU has formed some joint battlegroups, intended as a rapid reaction force, but they have never been tested in combat. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40217085

Prophecy shows that the USA and UK will be among the places that the EU’s military will see combat. Europe will win and it will lead to the end of the UK, as well as the USA:

24 His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power;
He shall destroy fearfully,
And shall prosper and thrive;
He shall destroy the mighty, and also the holy people.

25 “Through his cunning
He shall cause deceit to prosper under his rule;
And he shall exalt himself in his heart.
He shall destroy many in their prosperity.
He shall even rise against the Prince of princes;
But he shall be broken without human means. (Daniel 8:24-25)

39 Thus he shall act against the strongest fortresses with a foreign god, which he shall acknowledge, and advance its glory; and he shall cause them to rule over many, and divide the land for gain. (Daniel 11:39)

The ‘he’ is the European King of the North. The strongest fortresses in the 21st century belong to the USA, and to a much lessor degree, its British-descended allies. And these lands will be divided (see also Will the Anglo-Saxon Nations be Divided and Have People Taken as Slaves?). Part of the King of the North’s power will come from the USA and UK, as well as through deceiving them (cf. Daniel 8:25; Lamentations 1:1-2).

The Bible shows after problems happen, the UK peoples will try to make another deal with the Europeans, prophetically sometimes referred to as the Assyrians (cf. Isaiah 10; see also Germany’s Assyrian Roots Throughout History and Germany in Biblical Prophecy).

For now, the EU is becoming less and less of a place that the UK wants to be in, but a fractured political situation will make negotiations more difficult for the UK.

The UK will likely take steps because of political compromise that it would not have had to without this UK election.

This will not end well for the UK.

Without national repentance (which is unlikely) the UK (and USA for that matter) are doomed. But personal repentance is still possible.

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This entry was posted on Friday, June 9th, 2017 at 2:30 pm and is filed under Prophecy.

• Theresa May asks for a no later than June Brexit delay; Donald Trump Jr. says she should have listened to his father
• Theresa May announces resignation
• Brexit? Britain has world’s top economy
• EU to UK: No deal, leave April 12th or our deal, leave May 22nd or maybe you should cancel Brexit
• British Supreme Court rules that Parliament must approve Brexit, but that Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland have no say
• ‘UK’s May signals clean break with EU: No partial membership’
• UK’s May wants more Brexit negotiation clout and Germany’s Merkel threatens that the UK will pay a price if EU opposes UK’s post-Brexit immigration plans
• Talks seem to suggest a relatively ‘hard’ Brexit
• UK hopes a weakened proposal may prevent a hard Brexit
• Theresa May: UK to invoke ‘Article 50’ for Brexit by end of March 2017