Westminstenders: Sucking up to the 'enemy'

[RedToothBrush]

Phil Hammond called the EU the enemy. Then retracted it. A classic political move, to pitch to one group and then say you didn't mean it after all.

This is the UK's negotiation strategy. Because the negotiation isn't really with the EU. Its the ongoing debate over the what leaving the EU actually means since it wasn't officially defined prior to the referendum and has been left to politicians to say its one thing to persuade people to support them and then decided no that's not really what they meant after all.

The whole thing makes it impossible for the EU to respond to us, because we don't appear to know what we want.

The EU have been explicit in their position. So things they can not do because of the limitations of trade rules and EU law. Its possible work arounds could be possible for some things - but certainly not all which too many Brexiteers fail to acknowledge.

And then there is the a50 deadline which is like a snake coiled around May's neck slowly strangling her. A self imposed screwing of our negotiating position. One that kills off our Brexit options and ups the stakes into a brinkmanship battle - not with the EU but between the hardlines and the sane. Its not even about remaining, though that option might well end up being the only option left on the table through our own folly, rather than out of EU malice.

The longer we take to work out what we want the higher the stake become and the more we destroy the foundations of our economy in the meantime, even if we do stay in.

We have only just noticed that we've lost money worth 25% of our GDP and we have no net assets anymore, when in early 2016 we had significant assets. Project Fear they said was wrong. Well was it?

We are flat broke as a nation.

Then there is the Great Repel Bill. The Bill was supposed to be in the Commons this week. It was delayed a week due to the sheer number of amendments. There are nearly a dozen with enough Tory rebels to make them stick. Including one for parliament to have a meaningful vote on what option we take - including no deal. If parliament rejected this, we would be left in a situation where we sure as hell better hope a50 is reversible or we could end up unlawfully leave the EU by accident!

And the Lords could be fun for the Repel Bill. The Labour whip has vowed to examine every amendment properly even if the commons don't. And they are free and within their rights to do so.

Still May could exit stage left. Or left with egg all over her face as she has to suck up to the 'enemy' for being such a tool for the last 18months, because she hasn't made progress on the negotiations that really matter. The Tory party ones.

Whichever way you cut it, you can be sure on only one thing: it will go to the wire for both. And possibly beyond with an eleventh hour extension to prevent chaos.

There are hints that the public mood might be changing. Not fast enough. Yet. Interest rates? A break in the triple lock? Phil's budget sure will be interesting. Especially as Brexiteers want money to prepare and protect us from a no deal scenario which they also tell us will be just fine and won't be a problem. Bye Bye NHS, don't get flu this winter. As a note once infamously said: 'There's no many left'.

We are Greece. Only worse. And out of pressure and deadlines we alone created. We just haven't realised it. Yet.

And if this doesn't make you cringe and brace yourself in horror:

Danny Kemp‏ @dannyctkemp
May wants to take the floor at EU summit dinner on Thursday to explain Brexit policy to fellow leaders, senior official says

Just remember her party speech and think: What could possibly go wrong...

Most people think that the industrial revolution was what changed this country most.

It was actually the agricultural revolution that proceeded it which really allowed the industrial revolution to happen and was the key. Without it, the industrial revolution probably could not have happened.

Until this point, the population stayed stable, rising and falling periodically with times of plague and times of feast. It effectively had a 'ceiling' level where it couldn't rise above. But between 1750 and 1830 food production doubled, allowing people to leave the land.

One of the major developments that drove the agricultural revolution was the turnip and its role in crop rotation.

I bloody love turnips

Eating anything else is unpatriotic. On Halloween all these people with pumpkins are traitors. It should be a carved turnip if you are British. You should have turnip with your Christmas dinner.

Anyway:

Faisal Islam‏*@faisalislam*
Amendments to EU Withdrawal Bill will finally be debated from Tuesday 14th November, @commonsleader announces: week before Budget. Busy.
Programme motion said 6 more days, if amended there’ll be two more too. But Govt promised further days if not enough time too

One of these amendments which apparently the Tory Rebels are 'deadly serious' about is the prior enactment of a statute in law by parliament in approving the final Brexit deal.

In many respects even the most spineless of them, has a vested interest in actually DOING something over this one, as they will pretty much put themselves out of a job, if they don't.

Jacob Rees-Mogg says that women who seek abortion after rape are committing a “second wrong

The Tory MP made the comments during a heated interview yesterday

www.the-pool.com/news-views/politics/2017/43/jacob-rees-mogg-abortion-after-rape-is-second-wrong

I don't think we need to wait until the next election for removal.

If there is a sublime antidote to the affront to humanity that is JRM it's Lammy:
@16MillionRising

SMR Loves @DavidLammy and you can hear his full speech to the BFE #ProEUconf right here: www.mixcloud.com/SixteenMillionRising/smr-epsp-bfe-2017-conference-1 … (Rated PG) #StopBrexit

Matthew Holehouse‏*@mattholehouse*

when I said Brexit will end up resembling the mind-bending claustrophobia of Das Boot, this is the sort of thing I had in mind

Matthew Tempest‏*@MattTempest*
Interesting...

Maybe they need stronger encryption ?

@JohnRentoul

The only thing that has changed is that Opposition has twigged that if there isn't a deal, there can't be a vote on a deal.

@JohnRentoul

Labour’s new leader in European Parl just suggested to @LeftFootFwd Brexit could be halted

Richard Corbett MEP has just been elected as the leader of the European Parliamentary Labour Party (EPLP). With that, he gets a place on Labour’s ruling body, the National Executive Committee.

He is therefore, someone of considerable influence within the party – particularly when it comes to European matters.

The MEP spoke to us about the party’s Brexit policy, and the possibility of a second referendum.

Mr Corbett, like a growing number of people in the Labour Party, is keen to emphasise that Brexit is not final.

Indeed, he is open to the possibility of a second referendum

Gawd knows we don't want another one, but populism draws everyone down to the lowest common denominator.

I find myself very pro early termination of certain MPs

However it's not like no one know what jrm is like, and they still vote for him.

However it's not like no one know what jrm is like, and they still vote for him.

I'd suggest that there are probably quite a few people who voted for JRM who still don't know he's their MP. All they know is to put an "X" in the box for "Conservative Party".

If it's any crumb of satisfaction, it's these voters - both ends of the spectrum - who are more likely to be shafted by their respective parties. After all, if you always vote Tory, why should they do you any favours ?

Nothing to worry about here

@SeemaMalhotra1
Just asked DExEU Minister during @CommonsEUexit whether they have read the 57 Brexit impact assessments. They haven't. 1/3
DExEU Ministers don't know if impact assessments shared with the Cabinet. Or when list is being published. Or if the PM has read them. 2/3
DExEU Ministers are unclear whether the impact assessments they previously said were completed actually exist as reports. 3/3

This is a little light relief. New Statesman on responses to the Daily Hell's request for information on experiences of anti-Brexit bias in universities: here

What a shame if the DM were to be inundated with less than serious emails, eh?

DExEU Ministers are unclear whether the impact assessments they previously said were completed actually exist as reports

This is very interesting, so someone is lying. But this at least makes more sense, I just couldn't understand how these reports could have been written (involving many research staff / civil servants / possibly consultants) without anyone knowing of their content, and no leaks.

thecatfromjapan

you forgot to include the email address in case Mumsnetters wanted to report anti-Brexit bias to the Daily Mail.

[email protected]

Puigdemont Rejects Elections
—
^Catalan leader says independence now up to parliament.
The First Minister of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, has rejected calling early regional elections within the limits of the Spanish Constitution: "My duty was to try", he said in a statement to reporters shortly after 5 p.m. on Thursday^.

My responsibility was to explore all of the options in my hand to the very end."

No one will be able to say that I have not been ready to make sacrifices to guarantee dialogue

It is now the Catalan Parliament that will have to decide on the response to the application of Article 155", he added, in reference to the article of the Spanish Constitution that the central government will use—for the first time in the modern democratic period—to suspend home rule in a Spanish region.

Outside Catalan government headquarters in Barcelona, separatist supporters filled the square with chants of "independence" after Mr. Pugidemont made his announcement.

www.thespainreport.com/articles/1241-171026170546-puigdemont-rejects-elections

Mob rule, like here.

I suspect the DExEU ministers are lying, as they don't want to admit that the impact assessments are utterly terrifying. The alternative, that they haven't carried out any proper impact assessments, is even more terrifying!

Thank you, LurkingHusband .

I must admit, I'm crafting my reflections as we speak.

The bar's quite high, I think.

thecatfromjapan

You're welcome.

I particularly liked the reply which highlighted the pro-Europe bias in history by reprinting the "Hurrah for the blackshirts" feature from the 1930s Daily Mail.

Daily Mail: the newspaper that would love you to forget that it supported Hitler and fascism.

Here's a picture of a previous owner of the Daily Mail, with one of his besties ...

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/brexit-trade-deal-eu-australia-new-zealand-european-parliament-vote-meps-a8020716.html

An upcoming trade deal between the European Union and Australia and New Zealand will help to dramatically increase trade between the blocs, the EU’s trade commission has said.

Despite high-profile Brexiteers hoping Britain would do more trade with Commonwealth countries after Britain leaves the bloc, the EU has pulled away with a head-start in negotiating its own agreement with the two former British colonies.

Cecilia Malmström told the European Parliament on Wednesday that her negotiating team was moving to the next phase of preparations for the trade deal.

She announced that the European Commission had sent information about the upcoming talks to member states’ national parliaments so they could begin scrutinising the process.

The Trade Commissioner also confirmed that the EU would be taking a fast-track approach to the tripartite talks by agreeing to conclude a deal which either of the two countries individually, even if the other was not ready.

“Our current exports to these countries are more than our exports to Canada, and it can be much bigger,” Ms Malmström, a Swedish liberal, said.

“We have done a very thorough preparatory work with both Australia and New Zealand.

“They are aware of the debate here in Europe, they are aware of our sensitivities, they are aware of the political discussion in some of the countries relating to trade.”

MEPs are expected to give the go-ahead to starting talks in a vote later on Thursday.

Britain cannot open talks with either Australia or New Zealand until it leaves the EU in March 2019, giving the EU a significant head start. The delay opens up the possibility that Brexit might temporarily give the UK worse trade relations with its Commonwealth colleagues if the EU finalises its deal first and Britain is not included.

Some EU nations with big agricultural sectors are worried that opening up their markets entirely as part of the deal could harm domestic farmers. Some MEPs want to exclude some agricultural products from negotiations

Ms Malmström ruled out “full liberalisation” in order to protect European farmers but said that equally, agriculture could not be fully excluded from talks.

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said in his State of the Union speech that countries from around the world were “lining up at our door” to do trade deals with the EU. He pledged that the deal would be in place by the end of his mandate.

Despite not having any international allies, no army, a divided regional police force and more than 1,500 companies that have already moved their corporate addresses outside of the region due to the manifestly illegal and unconstitutional plan to secede from Spain, without even a clear popular mandate, Mr. Puigdemont and Catalan separatists now appear determined to push ahead and declare independence from Spain anyway, in a very, very reckless manner

www.thespainreport.com/articles/1235-171026175901-declaration-of-independence-imminent-in-catalonia

Sounds familiar?

Not surprising when one looks at who stands to benefit from Brexit and Catalonian 'independence'.

negotiating its own agreement with the two former British colonies

When does the remit for referring to any country as a former colony run out? 10 years? 100 years? Never?

Now of course the Daily Fail etc are going to be blaming the nasty EU for trying to beat us to trade deals. Trade deals that were planned anyway, and would have benefitted us too, before the lemming coup took control.

My email to the DM

I would like to share with you my experience of studying at a top university in the 90s. I can see now that as a student of modern languages and european studies I was subjected to a course of lectures which were nothing more than a propaganda tool for the EU.

The teaching on the institutions of the EU must have been nothing but fantasy as I now understand that the EU is an undemocratic protection racket run from Berlin. The only other office being the one where unelected beauraucrats make up silly rules about bananas purely to wind up the British.

I did complete an assignment on the blue beach scheme and have since realised that this can have had no impact on the cleanliness of our beaches as we in the UK are so above the rest of the world we must surely shit glitter.

In addition to this the foreign languages department was staffed in part by EU immigrants who had the cheek to insist we only spoke in their native languages during seminars. I mean if it hadn't been for them I could have left university only able to speak the superior language that is English.

Anyway I hope this is helpful to you. If you require any further details I will only be too willing to provide them. I am sure you will agree we should be providing a positive view of brexit throughout all our universities. As you journalists like to say don't let facts get in the way of a good story, or indeed a good education.

Jim Pickard‏*@PickardJE*

this may sound like satire but is apparently the actual truth

www.ft.com/content/5898bde4-b992-11e7-9bfb-4a9c83ffa852
There are alternatives: late Brexit or no Brexit
Two years was never going to be long enough to repatriate responsibilities

National Action: 'Leader of neo-Nazi terrorist group' charged with encouragement to murder Labour MP

Rosie Cooper, the Labour MP for West Lancashire, thanks police for 'keeping me safe

Mr Lythgoe, of Warrington, was one of 11 suspects arrested during a crackdown on National Action in September

^UK terror threat from Isis and right wing groups 'not diminishing'
Banned neo-Nazi terrorist groups still recruiting under aliases
Government bans two more neo-Nazi groups under terror laws
The organisation became the first far-right group to be banned in the UK last year and its aliases Scottish Dawn and NS131 have since been proscribed^

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/national-action-leader-christopher-lythgoe-neo-nazi-terrorist-group-banned-incitement-murder-a8021621.html

Does rather cancel the idea that MPs have much choice over their votes, with groups like National Action and Scottish Dawn around.