(AP)
JILL LAWLESS, RAF CASERT and RENEE GRAHAM March 13, 2019
DEAL, England (AP) — The people of Deal would like a Brexit deal. Above all, they want Britain’s divided politicians to make a decision.
This seaside town facing France across the Channel voted strongly to leave the European Union in Britain’s 2016 referendum. Almost three years later, residents of Deal, the rest of the U.K. and the EU woke up Wednesday to political crisis and warnings of economic chaos if Britain crashes out of the bloc on March 29 without a withdrawal agreement to smooth the way.
“Potentially it is going to be a nightmare,” said Michael Eddy, a district councilor who lives in Deal, a few miles from England’s main Channel port of Dover.
He says local authorities have modeled potential disruptions and believe that “a two-minute delay for every truck going through the port of Dover” would lead to a 50-mile (80-kilometer) traffic jam.
“What then happens with local people wanting to go about their business, wanting to get to hospitals, wanting to get their kids to school, all of that kind of stuff?” he said.
Residents, businesses and politicians across Britain and the European Union were bracing for a chaotic, cliff-edge Brexit after British lawmakers rejected Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit agreement for a second time on Tuesday by a decisive 391-242 vote.
Parliament will vote later Wednesday on whether to rule out leaving the EU on March 29 without a deal.
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