Westminstenders: The beginning of the dictatorship and the end of Boris?

[RedToothBrush]

Brexit is being fought in the UK media and parliament on the premise that the EU is being difficult and obstructive.

The fallacy can not be understated.

What the UK fails to understand is the right of the EU to put their own interests before the UKs. It doesn't under that our demands cannot be met even if the EU wanted to for practical and legal reasons - not political ones because our understanding of the situation and law is so poor.

The net result is the slippage of the next phase of Brexit talks being pushed to Christmas by the EU due to lack of progress by the UK. Barnier is open to more regular and intense talks but this is bad news for the UK with the a50 clock ticking.

The main stumbling block is NI a with Barnier warning not to use the border as a way to test EU resolve. Brexit always about the NI border. The UK have never provided a solution to the EU that does not produce a hard border. The idea being pushed by the UK will create one despite claiming it won't. The reality is the only viable solutions are either staying in the single market and customs union or NI being granted special status and being different to the rest of the country. The former is opposed by the government, the later opposed by the DUP.

The DUP are getting a taste of their own medicine. They have been warned that Assembly Members might have pay frozen and if they don't reform Stormont they won't get their Billion Pound Booty. Plus Ian Paisley Jr just found a new scandal for the party.

May is trying to channel Venezuela by getting rid of democracy when it suits. The Great Repel Bill (aka as the Withdrawal Bill) faces it's challenge. The much feared Henry VIII in clause 9 are not only facing criticism from Remainers but also from the secretive crackpots of Tory Bastard Club (aka ERG). The TBC want hard cliff edge Brexit. May seems to support given her goodwill burning interference at the Home Office which seeks to discriminate against all foreigners and make them sign a register. The visa system and how it will attract much needed staff for the NHS makes the mind boggle.

The Repel Bill also could end the possibility of transition due to clause 6 which requires us to leave the ECJ. Given the May's ambition to make EU citizens display their stars in job applications this is totally unable to the EU. If it passes the chances of transition drop dramatically. Bye bye Smooth and Orderly.

Then there is the May-Bot paradox: the one were she gives a friendly speech to the EU and a nasty on to the Swivel Eyed Loon gathering. As if neither will be reported to the other audience.

On top of this May is attempting the Parliament Rigging Act as she has a 'majority Government'. Yep I know, this is the general election version of 'will of the people'. The Rigging Act seeks to stack parliamentary committees with Tory majorities so they can stop any bill they don't like getting anywhere need the main chamber this limiting the power of opposition to irrelevant. Sadly I think this one will get through due to maths of the HoC atm.

We shouldn't forget the role of the HoL though and the lack of a majority government (why do you think May is saying majority government? It's down to the Sewell convention and trying to make the case it applies when the argument is it doesn't for a minority government).

The other development is the rumours that Boris is for the boot. And Rees-Mogg might get a promotion.

The ordinary stuff wasn't the core of the deal. The 'families' had a deal to give them power over certain domains. Both are benefiting enormously.

DUP were quite happy to forget about it. It was suggested last week that assembly members may not be paid since they haven't done anything since February except fingers point and bicker which might focus minds.

Oh, and Gina Miller pointed out that the DUP couldn't have their bung without parliamentary approval - something the government conceded so fast, you'd wonder if they're having second thoughts about giving it to them.

Will the headbangers decree that we had a Referendum on leaving the EEA and therefore the will of the people must be respected?

That sounds like a difficult situation, LH. Do you have a cat? My old pudser had died and we didn't yet have our two kitties when a mouse decided to move into my house. We had been doing work in the garden and left the french doors open. I was at my wits end. It gnawed the wooden floor around upstairs radiator pipes and you could hear it under the floorboards. They eat any food crumbs and it is dispiriting to see their droppings and having to scrupulously clean them up, even on the sofa! Even packaged food on a worktop can be gnawed through. You think of all the diseases they can carry. They can flatten themselves and get under small door gaps.

I didn't want to lay poison or kill it and humane traps and sonic deterrents were useless. After about a week I eventually caught it by leaving bread in an open plastic bag and when I heard it rustling I pinched the top shut and ran outside to the footpath to lay the open plastic bag down. Mousie obligingly ran under a parked car.

Whether it is true or not, I heard somewhere that even the scent of a cat can deter rodents. So even as my two are stretched out on bed or sofa, they are hard at work. And now completely understand why we brought cats to live with us to deter rodents.

LH. Do you have a cat?

Not personally, but there are 3 neighbourhood ones that like to prowl around. MrsLH is not a cat person, but I love picking them up and tickling their tummies.

Our rubbish is safely in it's wheelie bin, in our bin store - as rodent proof as you can get.

Out on the street, it's less rats than pigeons, magpies, crows and foxes ...

I would worry about Brummies too much. Until 2015 they just put black bags out (no wheelie bins) so are very much used to rubbish strewn streets. (It was better I made that observation without my London accent ...).

(paywall) Trade chief Crawford Falconer would scrap regulations to strike new deals

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/trade-chief-crawford-falconer-would-scrap-regulations-to-strike-new-deals-5wp2885g2

Britain’s new chief trade negotiator has backed scrapping domestic regulations to get a trade deal

in defiance of business leaders and ministers who vowed not to allow a “regulatory race to the bottom”.

Crawford Falconer, 63, a British-born New Zealander, took up his job last month after a million-pound search for the right candidate to negotiate trade deals after Brexit.

His enthusiasm for leaving the European Union became clear through
his role as a member of a “special trade commission” set up by Legatum Institute,
an influential think tank that has espoused a hard Brexit.

Don't know if this has been posted:
www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/09/theresa-may-takes-her-darkest-most-desperate-turn-yet

‏ @davidallengreen 1h1 hour ago
This by former Brexit minister Lord Bridges in the House of Lords last night is worth a very close read.

hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2017-09-12/debates/71AF5C51-1AE5-4421-BA27-1F3ADFABDF3F/UKAndEURelations#contribution-866997A4-E8A9-4735-AEA6-22ED807EF308 …

Re: The DUP and the Tuition Fee Vote.

This from yesterday:

Sam Coates Times‏*@SamCoatesTimes*

Labour says tomorrow's vote trying to block rise in student tuition fees from £9,000 to £9250 is binding. Any reason to think otherwise?
Tories still investigating whether tomorrow's student fees vote is binding - Labour says it is.
Motion, if passed, would revoke regulations from December.
On student fee vote tomorrow Tories argue the regulations themselves are out of time to be revoked & there has been an election
Labour reject Tory claim that vote isn't binding
Student fees vote: Gvt says it's a motion to annul not a motion to revoke. Motion to revoke not binding has no legal effect.

Seriously.

Sam Coates also had a cracking article yesterday about the Department for Business.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/department-for-business-energy-and-industrial-strategy-seeks-help-to-solve-mystery-of-disappearing-staff-jqkncwsg0
Ministry seeks help to solve mystery of disappearing staff

It reads like a cry for help smuggled out of an unloved corner of Whitehall. Greg Clark’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has offered £80,000 to any outside company who can find out why it is losing 600 staff in a year. In an unusually frank admission, it says: “There is no reliable data to inform us of the reasons they are leaving”.

@MirrorPolitics 5h5 hours ago
Theresa May's 'lie' about police pay just got blasted by police themselves
www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/theresa-accused-telling-downright-lie-11163144 …

George Osborne reportedly says he wants Theresa May ‘chopped up in bags in my freezer

www.politico.eu/article/george-osborne-theresa-may-chopped-up-in-bags-in-my-freezer/

Gideon's going to the conference too.

@NickJTimothy
Replying to @NickJTimothy @EsquireUK
“He doesn't want people to think he’s an arsehole, because he's not an arsehole,” said a former aide.

about freezer George.

Paul Waugh‏*@paulwaugh*
V signif. Tory sources say their MPs will not be expected to vote on ANY Opp Day debates for rest of Parliament.

Anita.Hoener‏*@anita*_hoener
Disgusting. Tories doubled the length of this sitting but effectively halved the number of opposition days. They are terrified of scrutiny.

JMD‏*@landiejm*
What does this mean in practice?

Pay Cap Is Not Dead‏*@arachnochist*
It means the government, which lost its majority in the election, is sticking two fingers on its ears and telling the electorate to f off.

So yet another affront to democracy by May.

It understood that the Conservatives have decided not to force votes on any opposition debates as a way of avoiding embarrassing Commons defeats

www.politicshome.com/news/uk/political-parties/labour-party/news/88953/conservatives-accused-running-scared-after-dodging

No more voting in contests tories can lose.

The last election probably was the last election.

cross post.

Steve Bullock‏**@GuitarMoog**
Someone asked me the other day what I thought the worst thing about Brexit would be 1/
There are of course almost endless bad things about Brexit 2/
But perhaps the very worst thing isn't even directly related to leaving the EU 3/
I think the very worst thing might be the seemingly irreparable damage done to standards in political and public life 4/
Since the referendum constitutional conventions have been broken flagrantly and without consequence to those breaking them 5/
The convention of individual ministerial responsibility requires the resignation of a minister for serious errors by their dept 6/
And yet 100 expulsion letters can be sent to legal residents without even talk of the Home Secretary resigning 7/
Not that long ago at all, the PM and Parliament would have required their resignation. 8/
The convention of collective cabinet responsibility requires Ministers to hold the line of Cabinet in public or resign 9/
This is extremely important. We have only one government, and its ministers should speak with one voice 10/
Yet Cabinet ministers bicker and contradict one another in public constantly, without even serious approbation. 11/
And they do so on the most important issue facing the UK in decades 12/
Being found to have knowingly lied, particularly but not exclusively to Parliament, was regarded as the most serious matter 13/
And yet on numerous issues around Brexit, Ministers have lied and misled with total impunity 14/
To point out any of these things though is to be a whinger, a loser, as if it is special pleading or pedantry 15/
Our ministers of state consider it normal to refer to vast swathes of the electorate with silly insults 16/

Ian Dunt‏ @IanDunt
Alun Cairns (Welsh secretary) just said "Remoaners" like it was nothing. That's the kind of language May's ministers use.

Steve Bullock‏**@GuitarMoog**
Many MPs dismiss or ignore constituents' legitimate concerns & block them on FB or twitter 17/
And why not? Once you've done any of these things once, and got away with it 18/
it doesn't seem such a big deal to just carry on doing it 19/
It's not even just about getting away with it. Doing it well can now get you a ministerial post 20/
But once the rubicon is crossed, once conventions have gone and a new normality is established 21/
Getting back any regard for conventions and personal honour, things which hold our constitution together, may be impossible 22/
Like an escalating arms race, if your opponent does it, you must too or risk defeat 23/
It's all out political war, and those with scruples or regard for this stuff pay for the luxury of morality by losing. 24/
This in turn leaves a lot of the public, that should be outraged, simply expecting this new normality 25/
And worse, it gives credence to a public discourse focussed on winners and losers, like a cut-rate game show 26/
It snowballs to the point that we can have an unashamedly anti-Parliament Repeal bill 27/
Grabbing executive power on a scale that could not have been dreamed of only a few years ago 28/
And it being promoted as essential, with opposition to it being couched as betrayal of the people 28/
Whatever your views about the EU, this erosion of any regard for truth and honesty 29/
This idea of honour and probity as something for the weak and the losers 30/
And the casual disregard for the constitution, must be opposed right now 31/
To allow these low grade charlatans to succeed is to consent to this new normality, and to perpetuate it 32/
The damage may already be too great to undo. It may be too late. But we have to try 33/
They might not be, but the rest of us are better than this. If we let them get away with it, this may be the worst consequence of Brexit 34/

Otto English‏**@Otto**_English
How can NATO object to a joined up coordinated EU military force when all these EU countries are in the EU #FarageOnLBC @lbc

Otto English‏**@Otto**_English

The UK is already intertwined, courtesy of Lancaster House Agreement in one of the closest military partnerships in the world - with France.
Weirdly, despite all claiming to be military experts no Brexiteer seems to have noticed or acknowledged this.

This is hilarious really.

If France got embroiled in a war, the UK would too. It doesn't matter if we are part of an EU army or not.

See : How World War I started.
Schools might not teach everything about British history but I'm pretty sure that how WWI started is on the syllabus and has been a consistent feature for a great many years now.

-------------

Michael Fabricant‏*@Mike*_Fabricant (Tory MP)
Unless we leave the Single Mkt, we cannot control immigration, Supreme Court is not supreme, & we're forbidden to make bilateral trade deals

Oliver Norgrove‏*@OliverNorgrove* (Vote Leaver Staff)
Oh my god. The lack of basic understanding here.

Spot the deliberate mistake:

Strikes need solidarity and willingness to sacrifice for each other. I'm not sure if those qualities still exists in sufficient amounts

Despite my general levels of cynicism in systems / institutions, I still believe in the general goodness of individuals. Without wanting to out myself too much, just this week a random woman contacted me via my networks asking for my help in a very complicated situation involving abuse, loss of children, an abusive powerful ex. I could not help in the timeframe she needed so sent out a call to the sisterhood. at midnight Sunday. By 6am Monday morning I had offers of advocates, supporters, pro-bono barristers, financial assistance, a journalist offering publicity if it would help, free accommodation - the works. It made me proud to be a feminist and once again renewed my faith in the general goodness of - well women really.

Just seen the Tories defeated on NHS as DUP did actually side with labour

The shock was at a party doing as it said. Not a judgement on the defeat.

That Bullock thread is spot on on integrity and politesse.

Interesting Dunt article on options for 'soft brexit' including using article 127, but.............

Some believe that the government is scared an announcement on Article 127 would trigger a legal battle which would end with them having to hold a vote on single market membership in the Commons. And they could easily lose that vote.

www.politics.co.uk/blogs/2017/09/12/the-eea-option-saving-britain-from-hard-brexit

She is too weak to even do that.

^PMQs: Theresa May is losing two elections for the price of one
It is increasingly plain to see that the referendum is not the only one of David Cameron’s cans Theresa May cannot carry^

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/pmqs-theresa-may-elections-lose-dup-jeremy-corbyn-a7945081.html

Anyone want to bet an EU badge she'll be out by xmas?

I didn't think shed last the summer....
Contenders for pm?
No one in their right mind would want....oh..

"Greg Clark’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has offered £80,000 to any outside company who can find out why it is losing 600 staff in a year. In an unusually frank admission, it says: “There is no reliable data to inform us of the reasons they are leaving”"

Absolutely nothing to do with having to work their arses off to deliver a policy which they find ludicrous and abhorrent, eh?

I have just read the Hansard summary of the HoL debate, although I did skim read a couple of paragraphs, so maybe I can't be said to have given it a close read. I found the Tory position utterly depressing - no real attempt to engage with the practical issues which must ensue even if we do exit, and of course, I hope we don't. Just the same old pie in the sky stuff.