With just 14 days until the Brexit deadline and no plan in place for how the country will leave the EU, it’s probably safe to say that nobody has a clue what’s going on.
While MPs voted to extend the Brexit deadline on Thursday, this can’t actually happen without the agreement of all 27 other EU countries.
And in an interview with the health secretary Matt Hancock after the vote, Channel 4 presenter Jon Snow summed up everyone’s thoughts when he told the minister:
Secretary of state, you know better than I do that parliament is for once deeply representative of the country. It's completely asunder.
Nobody in the country knows what’s going on.
Pointing to the Houses of Parliament, he continues:
Nobody in there knows what’s going on.
And you know nothing about what’s going on – even inside the cabinet.
The cabinet is at sea, the country is at sea.
We are a laughing stock.
Snow initially asked Hancock what the government would do if the EU only allows a long extension of about two years for the Brexit deadline.
Hancock responded:
I think a long extension like that would be a disaster. I think people want to get on with this.
He added:
I tell you what I feel strongly for, and that's delivering on the referendum result and making sure we can do it in a way that's good for this country. And we can do that by having a meaningful vote in the next week I hope.
Lots of people on Twitter strongly agreed with Snow's argument that even cabinet ministers are clueless when it comes to Brexit.
At bloody last: a journalist who faces a politician and says with force: “You know nothing about what’s going on, e… https://t.co/olEdE6UCkK— Dr. Jennifer Cassidy (@Dr. Jennifer Cassidy) 1552600640
@Channel4News Go @jonsnowC4 . Thanks for one level-headed persistent mind in light of all this mess.— Antje Wiener (@Antje Wiener) 1552592357
@Channel4News @ianboogiebrown I was waiting for Jon to go full Malcolm Tucker🤬maybe by next week? Keep at it @jonsnowC4👏👏👏— Catherine Redmond (@Catherine Redmond) 1552600570
@Channel4News JON SNOW IS ALL OF US!!!— Red❤️💋 (@Red❤️💋) 1552610545
In response to Channel 4 presenter's argument, Hancock said:
What I accept is that there is a path through this, which is to support the prime minister's deal.
And the various options, the range of options, is narrowing because the House of Commons is voting on different options and rejecting them.
After MPs voted to delay Brexit on Thursday, European Council president Donald Tusk tweeted that he will appeal to EU leaders "to be open to a long extension if the UK finds it necessary to rethink its Brexit strategy and build consensus about it".
Theresa May is now expected to bring her twice-defeated Brexit deal back to parliament on Tuesday.
You can watch the whole interview here:
"Nobody in the country knows what's going on... and YOU know nothing about what's going on, even inside the Cabinet… https://t.co/1h3Pa9ZNsR— Channel 4 News (@Channel 4 News) 1552591943
More: 17 of the most viral reactions to MPs voting on a second Brexit referendum
More: Brexiteer MP Mark Francois roasted after bragging about his army training
