Britons may be forgiven for their Brexit fatigue as parliament has spent more than 500 hours debating how to leave the European Union without much progress in nearly three years.
Britain has been living through a nightmarish version of "Groundhog Day" -- the repetition of the same issues and scenes -- ever since its voters decided to quit the EU in June 2016.
The British parliament has since debated everything from post-Brexit plant health regulations to fishing and official "flag flying days".
Prime Minister Theresa May has literally lost her voice trying to convince lawmakers to sign off on her divorce deal with Brussels.
Yet the original March 29 departure deadline has come and gone and now a new one is looming in 10 days' time.
Experts who crunch numbers for a living believe that one-sixth of all the endless hours spent talking in the House of Commons has been devoted to Brexit.
Institute for Government data analyst Gavin Freeguard said civil servants refer to the split as "the greatest challenge of peacetime".
"All the big things that (May's Conservative party) promised in their election manifesto have been dropped because of it," Freeguard said.
Here is a look behind the numbers in Britain's big Brexit battle -- a campaign that might yet drag on for many more months.
- Simple math -
3: Number of times the House of Commons has rejected the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement the two sides reached after 17 months of talks.
12: Number of "Plan B" alternatives to May's way forward that parliament has voted on in the past two weeks.
0: Number of "Plan B" alternatives parliament has approved.
2: Total number of Brexit-related initiatives backed by lawmakers this year. One called on the government to renegotiate its deal with the EU, which passed on January 29. The other was a non-binding motion prohibiting Britain from leaving without an agreement that prevailed on March 14.
1: Number of times May's Conservative Party tried to oust her over her handling of Brexit. She survived the December 12 coup attempt vote 200-117.
1: Number of times the opposition Labour Party tried to oust May's government over its handling of Brexit. May survived the January 16 no-confidence vote 325-306.
3: Number of times various parliamentary parties tried -- and failed -- to get Brexit put to a new public vote.
- Complex numbers -
The bigger numbers were compiled by Institute for Government analysts using parliamentary sessional diaries and other records.
501: Number of hours the House of Commons spent discussing Brexit from the moment Britain voted to leave the EU in June 2016 to the day it was supposed to have left last week.
33: The hours May has spent making statements on the EU withdrawal. But she also engages in weekly question time sessions in parliament that often last two or three hours and are consumed by heated Brexit talk.
200: Number of hours various legislative committees have spent discussing Brexit issues away from the main Commons chamber.
161: Number of hours peers in the House of Lords -- Britain's upper chamber of parliament -- spent discussing the EU Withdrawal Act.
- Intangibles -
So what are the issues driving all this talk?
The House of Commons Library summary of the Brexit topics debated this year alone is 26 pages long.
It starts with one about "Tobacco Products and Public Health" on January 7 and ends with "Flags (Northern Ireland) (Amendment)" on March 25.
The two chambers of parliament have touched on everything from criminal justice to train licences and public sector catering.
An accompanying reading list of all the publications released by parliament runs to 66 pages.
It features a section on artificial intelligence and ends with a March 29 briefing paper entitled: "Brexit means Brexit... but not quite yet".
Britons may be forgiven for their Brexit fatigue as parliament has spent more than 500 hours debating how to leave the European Union without much progress in nearly three years.
Britain has been living through a nightmarish version of “Groundhog Day” — the repetition of the same issues and scenes — ever since its voters decided to quit the EU in June 2016.
The British parliament has since debated everything from post-Brexit plant health regulations to fishing and official “flag flying days”.
Prime Minister Theresa May has literally lost her voice trying to convince lawmakers to sign off on her divorce deal with Brussels.
Yet the original March 29 departure deadline has come and gone and now a new one is looming in 10 days’ time.
Experts who crunch numbers for a living believe that one-sixth of all the endless hours spent talking in the House of Commons has been devoted to Brexit.
Institute for Government data analyst Gavin Freeguard said civil servants refer to the split as “the greatest challenge of peacetime”.
“All the big things that (May’s Conservative party) promised in their election manifesto have been dropped because of it,” Freeguard said.
Here is a look behind the numbers in Britain’s big Brexit battle — a campaign that might yet drag on for many more months.
– Simple math –
3: Number of times the House of Commons has rejected the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement the two sides reached after 17 months of talks.
12: Number of “Plan B” alternatives to May’s way forward that parliament has voted on in the past two weeks.
0: Number of “Plan B” alternatives parliament has approved.
2: Total number of Brexit-related initiatives backed by lawmakers this year. One called on the government to renegotiate its deal with the EU, which passed on January 29. The other was a non-binding motion prohibiting Britain from leaving without an agreement that prevailed on March 14.
1: Number of times May’s Conservative Party tried to oust her over her handling of Brexit. She survived the December 12 coup attempt vote 200-117.
1: Number of times the opposition Labour Party tried to oust May’s government over its handling of Brexit. May survived the January 16 no-confidence vote 325-306.
3: Number of times various parliamentary parties tried — and failed — to get Brexit put to a new public vote.
– Complex numbers –
The bigger numbers were compiled by Institute for Government analysts using parliamentary sessional diaries and other records.
501: Number of hours the House of Commons spent discussing Brexit from the moment Britain voted to leave the EU in June 2016 to the day it was supposed to have left last week.
33: The hours May has spent making statements on the EU withdrawal. But she also engages in weekly question time sessions in parliament that often last two or three hours and are consumed by heated Brexit talk.
200: Number of hours various legislative committees have spent discussing Brexit issues away from the main Commons chamber.
161: Number of hours peers in the House of Lords — Britain’s upper chamber of parliament — spent discussing the EU Withdrawal Act.
– Intangibles –
So what are the issues driving all this talk?
The House of Commons Library summary of the Brexit topics debated this year alone is 26 pages long.
It starts with one about “Tobacco Products and Public Health” on January 7 and ends with “Flags (Northern Ireland) (Amendment)” on March 25.
The two chambers of parliament have touched on everything from criminal justice to train licences and public sector catering.
An accompanying reading list of all the publications released by parliament runs to 66 pages.
It features a section on artificial intelligence and ends with a March 29 briefing paper entitled: “Brexit means Brexit… but not quite yet”.
