There was never any doubt that May would get her way - and she did. Article 50 will now be triggered this month - and wholly on her terms.
Ironically, under the pretext of "reclaiming sovereignty from Brussels", this Parliament has handed over unprecedented powers to an unelected prime minister whose pro-Brexit agenda was only endorsed by 38% of registered voters! As a result, these spineless politicians won't even get to have a say over May's final deal - or no deal - after her coming 2 years of horse-trading with the EU! Talk about "sovereignty", when they can't even reclaim theirs' from Downing Street!
Of course, this lack of backbone - best illustrated by Corbyn's sheepish endorsement of May's Brexit agenda - has nothing to do with "principles" or "democracy", it's all to do with the crassest electioneering. Political careers come first in the Westminster world of self-serving politicians!
Brexiteers on the rampage
However, in the real world of those who produce all the wealth, our world, there are more vital issues at stake than bogus "sovereignty" and cushy jobs.
The pound's latest fall is yet another warning: the chaos of the capitalists' system is compounded by the irresponsibility of their political mouthpieces. Inflation will be part of the price to pay for the Brexiteers' folly. And who will - and already does - pay for it, if not the rest of us, workers, through our housing, petrol and supermarket bills?
But they have much worse than that in store for us. Their insistence on refusing EU workers any guarantee as to their future in Britain is not a negotiation ploy, as May would have us believe. Lest we forget, this comes after years of lies peddled by politicians to divert the frustration caused by their austerity policies, against migrant workers. Today, May's targeting of EU workers is just a follow-up - its real target is the working class as a whole, regardless of nationality.
Take the bewildering 85-page permanent residence application concocted by the Home Office for EU workers. For decades, this permanent status used to be a right for anyone who had worked in Britain for a number of years. No more, though. Today, applicants get turned down for failing to produce evidence of private health insurance, for having been in receipt of benefits, for having taken maternity leave, etc! Some even get threatened with deportation. Never mind that these workers pay taxes and NICs like all workers! Never mind either that none of this is legal!
Is this treatment of EU workers some sort of an unofficial pilot scheme in preparation for the post-Brexit days? Or is it due to the over-zealousness of obscure bureaucrats whose anti-migrant prejudices have been boosted by Brexit? Probably a combination of both. But it does give us a foretaste of what the Brexiteers are cooking up.
We're all targeted
And there's logic in their madness. How can the Brexiteers' treatment of EU workers not be compared with their increasingly punitive measures against welfare recipients and their cuts in vital public services like the NHS and social care? The truth is, that in order to boost the capitalists' profits and line the pockets of the rich, they will stop at nothing to rob the working class, especially the most vulnerable. And, in their drive, we're all "legitimate" targets, regardless of nationality!
Big business may be moaning against Brexit. But they'll get what they want. If state subsidies and tax cuts aren't enough for their taste, they'll set up shop in the far larger EU market, one way or another. Whichever way it goes, someone will have to foot the bill, though - and this is what May and her Brexiteers are preparing for, by starting to make us pay for the capitalists' future costs.
In this respect, there's one thing we can learn from the Budget. Overnight, May overturned one of Hammond's headline measures against the self-employed, announcing a "rethink". Of course, she's not concerned about the poor majority among the self-employed, who are forced into this position by greedy bosses. No, she's only concerned about not upsetting those of the well-offs who are using this status as a tax-dodging device and who got Tory MPs to protest on their behalf.
We, workers, may have no voice in Parliament, nor in any government institutions. But as the producers of all wealth, we have a voice that could speak far louder - by using our collective muscle in the streets and workplaces. Yes, the Brexiteers' drive against our standards of living must and can be stopped. But for this, we'll need to fight off all attempts at dividing our ranks in order to unite all forces, across sectors, industries and nationalities!