Westminstenders: The wrong homework

[HashiAsLarry]

I'm no rtb but I'll give it a shot, though her efforts deserve much more than me.

The August negotiation round has, well, fizzled out in much the same way as any other. It's taken over a year to get to written position papers and there's still no clue as to a direction from the UK government.

Japan, meanwhile, is about to sign off on a deal with the EU. A deal we want to copy.

@faisalislam
^but if post brexit britain's trade deal with third biggest economy in world is to be based on Brussels' deal, what about rest? TTIP? Canada?
...when PM signs off statements like this on primacy of EU-third party deals, one wonders how temporary the temporary customs union will be^

The NHS is now launching a drive to recruit foreign GPs, like the ones that have left thanks to Brexit. It's a good job they'll be £350m a week better off now. Oh hang on...

I feel DD purports himself very well.

I don't know what this means, but he's a laughing stock in Europe now. You need a negotiator with skills and credibility, not someone who knows how to play to an audience in the HoC.

I think that the risk of no deal has risen sharply in the last week.

EU Commission MM from 17 July, with Barnier's detailled report back in Section 9, pages 16-24

http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/rep/10061/2017/EN/PV-2017-2220-F1-EN-MAIN-PART-1.PDF

His comment that DD "did not regard his direct involvement in the negotiations as his priority"
is interesting comsidering that the UK now wants to speed up talks.
Maybe DD should do his job fulltime instead.
Or maybe DD is not bothering until he gets offered the cake deal..

Section 9 ends with the sobering reminder (which we must keep telling
"The lack of agreement would not lead to a return to the status quo, but rather to a dioosrderly withdrawal of the UK from the Union."

A lot of Lib Dems were angry about the Coalition - you might as well have voted Tory straight off. Clegg was naive and didn't realise what Cameron was like. The only consolation I get from all that, is that Cameron, who wanted to be PM because he thought he would be good at it, will go down in history as one of the total incompetents.

Howabout The Liberals in 2010 received too few votes to have their policies enacted.
We can see now, in contrast, how much the Liberals softened that Tory govt

When a party gets under 50% of votes, it is reasonable imo that parties get together and compromise.
Most Germans are very happy with coalition govts. I also look forward to the coming coaliition.

At least the SPD have been in govt most years,
better than waiting 15-20 years to put in "pure" left policies, which then get overturned as soon as the Tories get in - building up public services takes much longer than destroying them.

Everyone can vote for the party they really want, instead of voting tactically.
Schulz came from a career in the EU Parliament, so not reallly tied to the SPD record
He proposed some interesting new policies, but not enough voters want to move left.

No worries: German conservatives fully embrace well-funded public services, modern infrastructure, the social contract.
That's why coalitions work here - most politicians & voters agree on the basics

In fact, Merkel is better for the UK:
Schulz, like most on the left, have long opposed the selfish neoliberal agenda that UK Tory govts have been pushing for years in the EU

Clegg should have got Arlene to negotiate for him

The FDP here, when they achieve their 5% requirement, wield significant power in coalition with the CDU/CSU, but also compromise a lot.
Their voters expect & want coalition, so are happy to get it.

If you want to be in the driving seat, then win the most votes.

Cameron was so toxic to Brown & Clegg when working "with" them, that it's understandable JC refused to go on a Remain platform. with him, during the ref.
No use Cameron whingeing afterwards

His comment that DD "did not regard his direct involvement in the negotiations as his priority"

He's spotted that DD's priority is becoming PM.

DD will do anything to become PM. If May takes the hardline position that naturally puts him into the role of a more moderate / compromising roll.

This is particularly key as commons numbers favour a cross party compromise on Brexit.

And every time May plays to the hardliners she plays into DD's hand.

In 2010 Labour (29%) plus the LibDems (23%) had a combined vote of 52% and 315 seats compared to the Conservative's 36% and 306 seats. Different choices could have been made. However if large parts of the Labour Party had not been agitating to get rid of GB the minute he became PM that would also have helped.

fptp sucks !

Here, parties totalling 50+% form a coalition govt
If gives a better basis imo than governing with 36%, or May's 42%

Local election results tonight:

Skerton West (Lancaster)
LAB: 61.5% (+24.5)
CON: 34.6% (+8.7)
LDEM: 4.0% (+4.0)

Labour HOLD.
No UKIP, Grn and Ind as prev.

--------

Labour GAIN Fortissat (North Lanarkshire) from Conservative.
First prefs:
LAB: 38.5% (+2.0)
BUSP: 23.3% (+12.2)
SNP: 20.6% (-8.4)
CON: 11.5% (-1.8)
IND: 5.0% (-5.1)
GRN: 0.7% (+0.7)
UKIP: 0.5% (+0.5)

--------

Ely South (East Cambridgeshire):

LDEM: 39.9% (+13.2)
CON: 31.1% (-19.7)
LAB: 29.0% (+6.5)

Liberal Democrat GAIN from Conservative.

--------

Eye, Thorney & Newborough (Peterborough):

CON: 52.3% (+17.4)
LAB: 28.5% (+15.2)
UKIP: 14.3% (-7.5)
GRN: 3.1% (-6.4)
LDEM: 1.8% (+1.8)

HOLD

--------

Cardonald (Glasgow) first prefs:

LAB: 48.6% (+10.1)
SNP: 36.7% (-7.5)
CON: 10.3% (-1.7)
GRN: 2.7% (+0.2)
LDEM: 1.5% (+1.5)
LBT: 0.2% (+0.2)

Lab Hold

--------

Sudbury South (Babergh) result:

LAB: 42.7% (+16.3)
CON: 42.6% (+5.3)
LDEM: 14.7% (+1.6)

One vote majority.
No UKIP and Grn as prev.

Labour GAIN Sudbury South (Babergh) from Conservative.

--------

Shrub End (Colchester):

CON: 38.6% (+19.4)
LAB: 32.4% (+20.5)
LDEM: 21.1% (-13.9)
IND: 3.1% (-9.7)
UKIP: 2.9% (-10.9)
GRN: 1.9% (-5.6)

Conservative GAIN Shrub End (Colchester) from Liberal Democrat.

--------

South Norwood (Croydon) result:

LAB: 59.0% (+7.9)
CON: 16.8% (-3.4)
LDEM: 13.7% (+6.7)
GRN: 7.7% (-3.3)
UKIP: 2.8% (-7.9)

Labour HOLD.

--------

St John's (Suffolk) result:

LAB: 62.9% (+5.3)
CON: 24.4% (-7.3)
LDEM: 10.1% (+5.1)
GRN: 2.6% (-3.1)

Labour HOLD.

--------
Hednesford South (Cannock Chase) result:

GRN: 48.3% (+42.1)
CON: 29.3% (-11.9)
LAB: 17.9% (-13.2)
UKIP: 4.5% (-16.9)

Labour GAIN Hednesford Green Heath (Cannock Chase) from Conservative.

--------
Hednesford Green Heath (Cannock Chase) result:

LAB: 43.9% (+11.1)
CON: 36.8% (-3.7)
GRN: 10.5% (+7.4)
CIP: 5.1% (-0.2)
UKIP: 3.5% (-14.7)

Green GAIN Hednesford South (Cannock Chase) from Conservative.

--------

Hednesford & Rawnsley (Staffs):

CON: 32.5% (-3.5)
LAB: 31.9% (+4.2)
GRN: 28.9% (+3.8)
UKIP: 3.8% (-3.9)
LDEM: 1.5% (+1.5)
CIP: 1.4% (-2.1)

Conservative HOLD Hednesford & Rawnsley (Staffordshire).

--------

Ouse Valley & Ringmer (Lewes) result:

GRN: 38.7% (+22.3)
CON: 30.6% (+1.6)
LDEM: 21.2% (-8.0)
LAB: 7.7% (-4.4)
UKIP: 1.8% (-11.5)

Green GAIN Ouse Valley & Ringmer (Lewes) from Conservative.

------

Andrew Teale‏*@andrewteale*

Scores on the doors for #SuperThursday Lab 7 (+3) C 3 (-5) Grn 2 (+2) LD 1 (-) 1 result to come

Smooth and Stable

Err.... Smooth and Orderly.

The brainwashing has had a malfunction from all the mindless slogans.

Nice local election results.

Still no ERG membership list Peregrina but think there will be calls for one.

Math Hoping that now the ERG are getting lots of publicity; shady deals with Atlantic Bridge, Leave funding and DUP will be more widely known.

Christopher Howarth worked for the MP Mark Francois when he was shadow Europe minister, and for Baker when he chaired the ERG. Baker, now a minister in the Department for Exiting the European Union, has also received money from the secretive Constitutional Research Council: the same outfit that channeled £435,000 of ‘dark money’ to the DUP to campaign for Brexit.

Tory MPs who spoke to openDemocracy on a strictly non-attributable basis, described ERG members as engaged in “their own whipping operation”, using a closely-guarded WhatsApp messaging network, and sticking rigidly to the ERG’s agreed policy-line on any matters relating to Brexit. One MP said “Their private newsletter is not a subject for discussion, it is a directive to be obeyed.”

James McGrory, Executive Director of Open Britain, the cross-party campaign group who believe the government’s Brexit strategy is destructive and chaotic, said: “It will surprise many people to learn that their taxes are being used to fund a group of hard-line Brextremists operating as a ‘party within a party’ in the Conservatives. IPSA should investigate this quickly and thoroughly to judge whether this is the legitimate use of public funds its members claim it is.”

www.opendemocracy.net/uk/brexitinc/james-cusick-adam-ramsay-crina-boros/revealed-tory-mps-using-taxpayers-cash-to-fund-sec

Found this, rather panicky write up about ERG in conservative home in late June.

www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2017/06/the-leading-conservative-pro-brexit-group-joins-the-government-or-rather-its-leading-lights-do.html

I'm still impressed by that debate, BigChoc both Merkel and Schultz were eloquent and humane, even thought the debate was skewed to a right wing agenda. Nifty foot work.

@stephenkb 9h9 hours ago
What could you possibly give the DUP to vote away their leverage on this?

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/theresa-may-rigging-parliament-committee-of-selection-standing-committees_uk_59b1a514e4b0dfaafcf68a04?47u

The motion, tabled by Leadsom on Thursday for a vote next Tuesday, states that Commons rules will be changed so that “where a committee has an odd number of members, the Government shall have a majority”.

And “where a committee has an even number of members, the number of Government and Opposition members shall be equal, but this instruction shall not apply to the nomination of any public bill committee [which hammers out the guts of legislation

Apologies, work v busy this week so the thread is tl;dr and this may have been discussed - but that ERG letter is something else. It is illiterate ("conveyer") and blatantly ignorant (the bit about deporting foreign criminals). What MP of any stripe could put their name to such a display of mediocrity? Regardless of political opinion.

It's downright embarrassing.

Interesting election results.

So Leadsom's committee move: what's the point of having committees if they have a built in Tory majority?
(They'll vote on that motion on Tuesday.)
We seem to be straying from democratic principles, inch by inch.

m.huffpost.com/uk/entry/uk_59b1a514e4b0dfaafcf68a04

Extending [full] EU citizenship to UK nationals ESPECIALLY after Brexit
vip.politicsmeanspolitics.com/2017/09/06/extending-full-eu-citizenship-to-uk-nationals-especially-after-brexit/

Well I did wonder about the idea to use the 'extra' MEPs that the UK leaves space for after we leave to Europe wide representatives and the possibility of UK EU citizenship.

How else does the idea work if every EU country is already represented proportionally by population and country? If you made EU wide MEPs in any other way, it just favours those countries with the biggest population which would not make the idea at all acceptable to all the 27. It's of French origin so potentially it is about extending the domination of the big players but because of what it would need to be introduced, makes that not credible.

The suggestion makes no sense at all unless you consider representation of people who are not otherwise included as EU citizens. Who would that mean if not Brits? EU citizens living outside the EU? People who live in the EU on a long term basis but do not otherwise count as EU citizens on the basis of their nationality? Partners of EU citizens with settled status but not an EU passport? Why not include them in the elections process of country they are settled? Could it be given to refugees in a a way to get around current resettlement issues? The whole concept did make me wonder what the purpose of doing it was.

Increasing the number of MEPs for the 27 would seem more logical if it's about making the number of MEPs fixed. Or simply reducing the number of MEPs to the current number less the British MEPs.

The idea being floated gives rise to the notion of national borders not being everything and perhaps the idea of a separate EU nationality in the future which scares the bejesus out of many across Europe (though would be popular with others). I don't know. It just seemed an odd suggestion.

amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/07/europeans-british-dream-uk-immigration-future
These Europeans came to live a British dream. Is it all over?

Lügenpresse.
vimeo.com/232816480?utm_source=Hacked+Off%3A+The+campaign+for+a+free+and+accountable+press&utm_campaign=c37d1c4cab-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_09_07&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d7b79fe6c3-c37d1c4cab-73951141

Adam Smyth @ adamcsmyth
DUP' Nigel Dodds pulled out of a prearranged interview on @BBCgmu this morning after the Ian Paisley story broke last night.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/07/mp-100k-gifts-brexit-trade-deal/amp/
The MP, the £100k gifts and the Brexit trade deal: Questions over DUP MP's register of interests after Sri Lanka trip

Ian Dodd has taken £100,000 in free holidays for him, his wife and 4 children from Sri Lanka who he is trying to secure a trade deal with.

Martin Shultz actually made me cry at the kitchen sink when he came onto the radio the morning after brexit to talk about how the result would mean a worse future for young people (having two DDs of my own aged 20 and 17 probably didn't help!).

Sorry Ian Paisley took the holiday but Nigel Dodds is avoiding interviews.