Brexit Series: European parliament sides with Barnier’s Brexit talk analysis; gridlock continues

The members of the European Parliament overwhelmingly voted in favor of the European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier’s assessment that the United Kingdom has not made enough progress on issues like Brexit bill, Ireland’s border control and the rights of the EU citizen to move the talk to the next phase where issues like future relations and trade deals are supposed to be discussed.

557 members of the EU parliament supported Mr. Barnier’s conclusion while only 92 members voted against it and 29 members were absent or preferred to abstain. MEPs meeting in Strasbourg hit out at British Prime Minister Theresa May's government, saying infighting in her cabinet was hindering talks on key divorce issues including Britain's exit bill. Some members called on Prime Minister May to sack the UK foreign Secretary Boris Johnson who suggested several red lines in Brexit talks which angered the European negotiators. Some of the members expressed frustrations about mixed messages coming out of the UK.

UK’s prominent Brexiteers like Liam Fox, Brexit minister David Davis, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, all downplayed the importance of the EU parliament vote and reiterated their stance that Britain has made sufficient progress on the Brexit issue and that Britain stands ready to walk away without any agreement without any satisfactory agreement.