Thread by @Usherwood

A quick thread about the intrinsic importance of the 31 October deadline

1/

This is the current date set for the UK's withdrawal from the EU, under the terms of Article 50 of the Treaty on the European Union

2/

That date was determined by:
- the submission of the UK's notification to withdrawal on 29 March 2017, starting a 2-yr period;
- the subsequent requests by the UK (and agreement by the EU) to extend that period to 12 April 2019, and then once more to 31 Oct 2019

3/

The current extension deadline reflected a compromise between a shorter extension to try and move things along and a longer one to give the UK plenty of space to address domestic ratification problems

4/

In the context of the EU, 31 Oct has no great meaning, bar being the end of the current Commission term.

Any further extension raises a Q of whether a UK nomination for Commissioner is needed, but that is not the biggest problem right now

5/

Likewise, for the UK, 31 Oct has no particular significance, in terms of political calendars, bureaucratic processes or anything else

6/

At present, the PM's position is that the UK will leave on this date, although that conflicts with the requirement of the Benn Act to request an extension if no deal is reached by 19 Oct

7/

As a reminder, Johnson and 11 of his current Cabinet voted against the original request for an extension, back in March: commonsvotes.digiminster.com/Divisions/Deta…

8 Cabinet members voted in favour, with 1 abstention

8/

tl:dr 31 October is a date without real intrinsic significance, so its raising to a date for 'dying in a ditch' over is a political choice, rather than one driven by legal, financial or bureaucratic reasons

/end