Londoners react with dismay to Brexit deadlock

An activist poses with his face painted in the EU and Union Flag colors during an anti-Brexit campaign stunt outside EU headquarters during an EU summit in Brussels on March 21, 2019. AP

BRUSSELS — London commuters have reacted with a certain amount of dismay to the continuing Brexit deadlock and a speech by Prime Minister Theresa May in which she blamed Parliament for the impasse.

Commuter Stephanie Marshall says the will of the people is being ignored.

She says May has shown an “appalling lack of leadership,” saying she can’t understand how the prime minister couldn’t listen to the people time and time again.

Marshall added: “It just defies comprehension to the point where I don’t even want to go there.”
Student Joseph Graham-Bradley called May’s speech “quite shocking.”

He said that “I just thought the way she was trying to pit Parliament against the people could be quite destructive in the sense it could inflame quite a few opinions and I think it could lead to quite potentially damaging consequences.”

French President Emmanuel Macron will leave for Brussels earlier than expected to meet with British Prime Minister Theresa May before a crucial Brexit summit.

The French presidency says Macron will have bilateral discussions with May as European leaders are gathering for the summit at which they could grant Britain a short extension to its departure from the bloc.

The meeting with May wasn’t initially on Macron’s Brussels agenda.

According to the Elysee, Macron will also hold one-on-one talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Thursday. He will meet with Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte on Friday.

A petition asking Britain to remain in the European Union has caused a government website that hosts petitions to crash.

About 600,000 people backed a call to revoke Article 50, the mechanism that triggered Britain’s departure from the European Union, before the site crashed. That surpasses the 100,000 threshold needed for the petition to be debated in Parliament.

Actors Hugh Grant and Jennifer Saunders, author Caitlin Moran and ex-Labour press chief Alastair Campbell urged their social media followers to sign the petition.

Five hastags related to remaining in the European Union were trending on Twitter on Thursday. They included

“Revoke Article 50,” and #NotOnMySide, a reference to May’s speech Wednesday in which she told the public that she was “on your side” in her efforts to carry out the result of the 2016 referendum. /ee