Westministenders: Stalling for Time

[RedToothBrush]

After 14 defeats, the Withdrawal Bill exited the Lords. In much worse condition than anyone dared to predicted.

Now we have those who were viciously against Lords reform, all of a sudden shouting about how much we desperately need it. Well fancy that. Tradition isn't so attractive if you aren't getting your own way.

Daniel Hannan has suddenly admitted that Brexit is not 'going to plan' (there was one?) and Johnson is still his weekly resignation threat.

It now throws things back into Corbyn's court. The Tory Rebel Forces think that they have the numbers to stay in the Single Market, but are blocked by Corbyn's opposition to it.

The decision on the customs union has effectively been pushed back to the Autumn by May, but we have to make a decision about the Irish border by June or trade talks won't go ahead as planned.

The trouble is that the Cabinet can not decide on which option they want to take, but neither is particularly viable anyway. Max Fac means a border in the Irish Sea which the DUP won't like and the Customs Partnership isn't acceptable to the Empire Tories. In any case it seems unlikely that either option could get through the Commons in their current form due to the growing number of Tory Rebel Forces.

May also has a problem with the grass roots. It is more or less impossible for her to deliver the Brexit they desire whatever she tries.

The growing backlash about the hostile environment also undermines the point of Brexit in reducing immigration. Its is growing apparent, WHY we need immigration and that the people who are being targeted for deportation are simply the easiest to pick off and not the ones that people see as 'a problem'. Indeed you have to wonder about how many immigrants ARE a problem. The idea to control immigration after Brexit was not through the border but through the hostile environment, yet this seems now to be something that will be impossible to continue with politically.

Leave.EU have now been referred to the police for breaking Electoral Law. It also turns out that they found numerous ways to beat the spending limit legally. The female data controller has also been found to have data protection law. Meanwhile Banks and Wigmore as well as Nix (CA and SCL), Cummings (Vote Leave) and Silvester (AIQ) have all been summoned to appear because the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee. Zuckerberg also does not appear to have completed his answers to the committee as Facebook have had their homework deadline extended to Monday (and has been asked to appear by the 24th May whilst he is in Europe).

Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee Dates
Electoral Commission - Tuesday 15th May
Silvester - Wednesday 16th May
Cummings / Nix - Summoned to appear Tuesday 22nd May
Banks / Wigmore - Tuesday 16th June

Also in parliament in next weeks is and interesting looking ten minute rule bill named 'Representation of the People (Gibraltar)' - Tuesday 15th May

Anyway, we are all set for the predictable 'who blinks first' brinkmanship with the UK aware that if the EU don't blink we go over the cliff and parliament aware that if May delays long enough she bypasses parliamentary democracy or put it in a position with a gun to its head.

Who is looking forward to this year's 'row of the summer'?
It could be a long, hot summer.

Anyway, I want France to win Eurovision and the UK to get some points and not come last. Its not going to happen is it?

The poster Alan Bell on RNorth's blog yesterday referenced the Land Registry re JRM and an unusual house transaction:

Last June, he claims, JRM apparently bought 7 Cowley Street, London, SW1P 3NB for only 35k from Lord Ashcroft ??
but its £5.625 million this January ?

Typo in Land Registry, or am I just too ignorant about how property deals work at their wealth level ?
Or maybe the poster / LR got the wrong names for buyer / seller ?

http://landregistry.data.gov.uk/app/ppd/search?et%5B%5D=lrcommon%3Afreehold&et%5B%5D=lrcommon%3Aleasehold&limit=100&nb%5B%5D=true&nb%5B%5D=false&paon=7&ptype%5B%5D=lrcommon%3Adetached&ptype%5B%5D=lrcommon%3Asemi-detached&ptype%5B%5D=lrcommon%3Aterraced&ptype%5B%5D=lrcommon%3Aflat-maisonette&ptype%5B%5D=lrcommon%3AotherPropertyType&street=Cowley+Street&tc%5B%5D=ppd%3AstandardPricePaidTransaction&tc%5B%5D=ppd%3AadditionalPricePaidTransaction&town=London

Anyone see Rees-Smug complaining about the housing crisis and how it affects him.
He's so in touch with the average person. Or is that the problem, he may literally have to interact with some average people now?

BigChoc it looks to me as though the £35,000 transaction was the purchase of the freehold interest, and the £5million+ was the purchase of the leasehold.

If there's a very long lease (it's not unusual to see 900+ year leases) then you'd expect the value of the freehold interest to be relatively low.

Many people like to own both the freehold and leasehold titles (unless it's a flat for various quite technical reasons) so it's probably something like that. There's a whole legal specialism in leasehold enfranchisement, although I'm afraid I only know the basics.

Who'd be a hero?

Or more to the point, where is it worth risking your life, for the benefit of others?

Ah thanks, Arborea That makes sense - the proportions look right for that

Brussels now has a plan B:
< thank goodness ! The UK doesn't even have a non-unicorn plan A >

https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-brussels-suggests-norway-model-for-uk-after-brexit-talks-negotiations/

The U.K. could temporarily become a member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) while both sides transition into their future relationship, a senior Commission official told POLITICO.
…
It’s an interim solution that causes the smallest possible disturbance for business on both sides of the Channel,” one European diplomat added.
Like Norway, the U.K. would not be part of the customs union, which means it could strike its own trade deals with countries around the world.

Such a plan, however, is a toxic idea for many hard-line Brexiteers because it would require the U.K. to accept the four founding EU freedoms of goods, services, people and capital.
One of the central themes motivating many people to vote for Brexit was taking back control of immigration policy.

Britain would also have to continue paying Brussels in exchange for access to the EU market.

amp.ft.com/content/195e41fa-6296-11e8-90c2-9563a0613e56?__twitter_impression=true
Abramovich becomes Israeli citizen as UK visa limbo continues
Move comes as Britain asks oligarch to undergo checks to prove origins of wealth

Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich has become an Israeli citizen after falling into UK visa limbo as tension worsens between Moscow and the west, two people familiar with the matter said.

Mr Abramovich, who is Jewish, received citizenship on Monday, according to an official from Israel's immigration and absorption ministry, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Hmmm...

Considering how long FTAs take, that means 7-10 years in EEA / EFTA
by which time people may well prefer to stay like that

And now the government is trying to make it harder to LEAVE the UK if you are British

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-latest-uk-citizenship-eu-nationality-foreign-nationals-passport-countries-a8369706.html?amp&__twitter_impression=true
Government hikes fees to renounce British citizenship after Brexit foreign nationality surge
Families must now pay more than £1,000 to Home Office

I'm surprised it's not been named the 'traitor tax' yet by the Mail.

Britain to take part in the next round of EU budget negotiations.

This is more important than it looks. We've apparently been asked by other EU nations effectively over the heads of the EU commission.

One of the reasons we could only have transition until end of Dec 2019 is to do with the next EU budget coming into effect on 1Jan 2020.

Instead we are being invited into talks to decide the budget and to tie us into 2027.

Apartly Brussels is furious over it. And of course Brexiteers are not to pleased either...

But if you are looking for a soft Brexit no even no Brexit, this really is what you want to be hearing.

m.huffingtonpost.co.uk/amp/entry/peoples-vote-campaign-second-referendum_uk_5b0805f0e4b0802d69ca6bc6/?__twitter_impression=true
'Get Out Of London!' MPs Blast People's Vote Campaign For Not Taking Fight To Brexit Areas
'A referendum on the deal won’t be won in Camden,' one Labour MP has warned

BoJo thinks that there are "realms of gold" to be found in South America as long as we leave the Customs Union never any thought about what the South American countries might want be wanting from us

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-customs-union-leave-eu-boris-johnson-cabinet-divisions-single-market-jeremy-corbyn-theresa-a8372491.html

What I did notice in the Independent article was that JRM implicitly acknowledges that we have to stay in the Single Market (regulatory alignment) as well as the CU if we are to have frictionless borders - a prerequisite for NI and a practical requirement for the ports and channel tunnel if we are to stop gridlock in their vicinity (and empty shelves in the supermarkets). Of course, he portrays it as a negative

It's apparently been reported in the Telegraph that we are ready to agree an Open Skies agreement with the USA. It didn't give sources so whether this is fact or wishful thinking, I couldn't say. I wonder how much damage that will do to our own airlines?

What is Boris Johnson's take on N Ireland - other than number plate recognition cameras like those which allow free movement between London Boroughs? Not that I have ever heard of London Boroughs having a 30 year Civil War.

Bojo is being misleading & deceitful < so what's new >

There is no restriction on importing (legal) goods between London Boroughs
hence they have no need to check contents of vehicles on crossing Borough borders

Totally different situation to the NI border, which would be the external border of a trading bloc

BoJo thinks that there are "realms of gold" to be found in South America

It's almost like he's ignorant of huge swathes of world history. FFS I find that wording offensive. But then I know the connotations of "conquistador"

"Boris Bingo" - a game the whole world can play.

As offensiveness goes, it's a little like George Ws "Crusade" references after 9/11.

Met 4 health professionals today (DW needed an MRI scan).

1 Albanian
1 Sri Lankan
1 Australian
1 Brummie

Albanian was delighted to see DWs surname (which hails from the same place as my username ....) and we had a brief chat in Italian. He's been here 18 years, but thinks maybe it's time to go home.

Speaking of (and in ) Italian, looks like I'll be voting in a General Election at least once this autumn.

Britain to take part in the next round of EU budget negotiations.
Wow That IS interesting.
Are they hoping to delay Brexit, or to derail it totally?

Re BoJo's delusional belief that number plate recognition could solve NI's conundrum....

Maybe the new as yet uninvented technology will incorporate sophisticated X-ray vision so that it knows what is inside the cars and trucks and whether they meet EU specifications

“BoJo thinks that there are "realms of gold" to be found in South America as long as we leave the Customs Union ”

BoJo needs to re-read the story of King Midas...

Presumably this deceptively good Brexit news hasn't been trumpeted because ...

www.abi.org.uk/news/news-articles/2018/05/drivers-get-the-green-light-for-hassle-free-post-brexit-driving-in-the-eu/

(snip)
Following representations from the ABI, Motor Insurers Bureau and BIBA over the last 18 months, senior officials at the DfT wrote to the ABI this week stating that the Government has formally decided to keep the UK within the Motor Insurance ‘Free Circulation Zone'.
(contd)

it comes with ECJ oversight

Meanwhile, back at the ranch ...

www.theregister.co.uk/2018/05/29/chief_eu_negotiator_tells_ukgov_to_give_up_on_soupedup_data_adequacy_dream/

The European Union's chief Brexit negotiator has poured cold water on the UK's dreams of a special deal on data adequacy* after it leaves the bloc.

In a speech given over the weekend, Michel Barnier said that the UK "needs to face up to the reality of Brexit" and the way the EU's decision-making systems work.

The UK has repeatedly proffered the idea that it should be granted a seat at the data protection negotiating table, and continue to be part of EU-wide mechanisms set out in the General Data Protection Regulation.

Brit MPs chide UK.gov: You're acting like EU data adequacy prep is easy

However, Barnier told the 28th Congress of the International Federation for European Law that the EU "cannot, and will not" share its decision-making powers with a third country.

(contd)

Not really sure how best to get the message across to the Brexiteers

the EU "cannot, and will not" share its decision-making powers with a third country

perhaps on vellum ?

and keen trollbot students will notice that the comments (and more importantly comment voting) on that article above are now natural. All of a sudden, Brexiteers are clearly in the minority in the IT world (well, I don't know many).

.....and therein lies the rub .

The UK Government still hasn't got its head around, let alone accepted the consequences, of what being a third country means .

It's not that hard unless you still think that the world is waiting with bated breath for the British Empire to rise up again so that they can all plead allegiance to it

The UK Government still hasn't got its head around, let alone accepted the consequences, of what being a third country means

Apart from HMQ, I'm guessing that there really are not enough people in the UK government machine who do. Even those that can go back to pre-1973 won't, because what it meant then to be "a third country" and what it means now are simply galaxies apart.

The older I get, the more I realise that one of the key flaws in human thinking is to exist in a little bubble where only the individual changes, but they believe everything else remains frozen in time. It would be funny if it wasn't capable of leading to some Really Bad Decisions (like Brexit !).

A few years ago, I worked for a company that owned a subsidiary that was struggling due to a non existent poor internet marketing presence. The reason for this was because back in 2003, they had taken a strategic decision to ignore the internet as over-50s (their core demographic) "don't use the internet".

Of course come 2013 ... then 2018 ...

It's a recurring theme a lot of strategic advisors (e.g. YouGov and Future Foundation) have noted everytime they give a presentation to our R&D team.

It's this same thinking which has played havoc with political demographics ....