The Brexit mess in a nutshell

In 2016, the UK voted to leave the European Union by 52% to 48%. The govt has reached an agreement with the EU, but is unable to get the House of Commons (compare to your House of Representatives) to pass it, three times running. The date for leaving the EU has been put back from 29 March to 12 April, and now to 31 October. Without this agreement, people and goods moving between the UK and EU would attract tariffs and stricter border controls. An added problem is the only land border between UK and EU, between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. This would ordinarily revert to a border with barriers and checks - but on account of the history of civil war with N Ireland (between 1968 and 1998), that is not desirable. A separate agreement, the Backstop, is designed to prevent that, but has run into stiff opposition in the House of Commons as well. The EU has bent over backwards (in my humble opinion) to accommodate the UK government's failure to secure passage in Parliament, but to the outside world it has degenerated into a farce.