Westminstenders: In the Brexit Lane

[RedToothBrush]

I honestly couldn't think of a better starter to the thread than simply just this tweet

Robert Peston @ peston
We’ve got an official opposition tearing itself apart over antisemitism, the founder of the EDL running rings around the judiciary and a government negotiating a Brexit plan that its own MPs and ministers tell me is dead. When will we pull ourselves together, as a nation?

But don't worry, your blue passport will get you an extra special long wait at passport control. And no deal could lead to continued freedom of movement anyway. Something for everyone in there.

Just catching up on the last thread and not read this one yet but Wales isn’t a Principality and hasn’t really been one for about 500 years. It is a country in its own right and is even recognised as such by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO).

German journalist nails it.

Thanks for yet another new thread, red
Sorry to hear of your house-selling woes, which the latest news won't help.

Yes
It's why I emigrated literally days after the ref and put my Thames flat up for sale:
I sniffed the air, smelled political turmoil and a long-running economic recession.
Younger folk can wait around for 20 years, or JRM's 50 years, until there is an upturn; not us boomers.

However, I'm sure many Levers will be furious - but few will blame their own choices, naivety and blinkered thinking

Can I just say a big thankyou to red bigchoc LoveinTokyo and all the great contributors on these threads. I have learnt loads from them (wish I'd read them oh say 2 years ago) and also after only a tiny bit of engaging on other threads I'm amazingly impressed your brains haven't imploded st some of the interesting logic. Sorry for the off topic but honestly, thanks.

We all learn a lot on the Westministenders threads

Road Haulage Association says Time to Grow Up

A good call to action, covering the main issues.
They have been one of the few organisations to understand what no-deal, or even a hard Brexit will mean:

<a class="break-all" href="http://go.mumsnet.com/?xs=1&id=470X1554755&url=www.rha.uk.net/getmedia/c98d0219-fcf7-434e-b9cd-51f2ff0c316c/180730-Brexit-pull-your-finger-out-final.pdf.aspx" target="_blank">https://www.rha.uk.net/getmedia/c98d0219-fcf7-434e-b9cd-51f2ff0c316c/180730-Brexit-pull-your-finger-out-final.pdf.aspx

The Road Haulage document makes sobering reading, but it's only what the North's were saying at least a year ago. I would also have expected Road Haulage operators to be natural Tories.

Big story this one. Expect this to get picked up on.
amp.theguardian.com/politics/2018/aug/02/improve-emergency-brake-offer-to-stop-brexit-says-french-senator?__twitter_impression=true
Improve 'emergency brake' offer to stop Brexit, says French senator
Jean Bizet says safeguard on migration should be discussed at May-Macron meeting

Europe should try to keep the UK in the EU by improving its offer on an emergency brake on the free movement of people, first made before the 2016 referendum, the chair of the French senate’s European committee has said.

Jean Bizet was speaking to the Guardian before a meeting between Emmanuel Macron and Theresa May at the French president’s holiday retreat on Friday. Bizet is the first senior French politician to respond to an apparent shift in UK public opinion in favour of a further referendum on the final outcome of the Brexit negotiations

Curiously, the article states that Bizet is an old political ally of Barnier

And there is also comment from Clegg on it

Nick Clegg @ nick_clegg
This is one of the most significant suggestions in months. I have always believed an ‘emergency brake’ - EU wide, not just for UK - is essential to heal the Brexit breach. It will be dismissed by defenders of EU orthodoxy, but it is the best way forward.

I don't expect it will go anywhere, but I think it reflects a mood change both here but also in the EU too.

Jean Bizet probably doesn't know what he is dealing with, with Grease-Smug and chums. A logical sensible suggestion would not work with any of them. God striking the whole lot down with a Plague is probably the only thing which would make them take any notice.

Sarah Wollaston likes Jean Bizet's emergency brake suggestion but she's getting a lot of criticism for it from Brexiters.

mobile.twitter.com/sarahwollaston/status/1025094654801469445

I think the theory that the plague was spread by rats has been debunked, but it would seem entirely appropriate for JRM et al.

If they were struck down with the plague their supporters would probably claim they'd been chosen to ascend to heaven and it proved brexit was the will.of the.people...

More and more being made of the links between the Tommy Robinson case, the US far right, Russia, and (increasingly) Brexit:

www.ft.com/content/55bda610-95b6-11e8-b67b-b8205561c3fe\

On the upside, when Brexit reaches the Iraq War levels of "oh of course I didn't support it", there's a ready made excuse in the shape of Putin/Bannon. (Wasn't us, guv!|)

www.newsletter.co.uk/news/dup-ulster-scots-must-get-same-treatment-as-irish-language-1-8587637/amp?__twitter_impression=true
DUP: Ulster-Scots must get same treatment as Irish language

Sam McBride @ sjamcbride
Far from Arlene Foster's comments yesterday indicating implacable opposition to an Irish language act, actually they left wide open the door to the 'culture act' fudge the DUP & SF were on the verge of agreeing in Feb . The question now, as then, is whether they can sell that.

In today's News Letter, the man (wrongly) seen as the ultra-hardliner in the DUP, Gregory Campbell, makes clear that he is also "more than happy" to discuss Irish language legislation...so long as there is also something substantive for Ulster Scots.

This has been one of the sticking points over reassembling Stormont Executive.

Possibly worthy of note.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/esther-mcvey-loses-court-universal-13022252.amp?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar&__twitter_impression=true
Esther McVey loses in court on Universal Credit - but says she will still fight others
The long waits for help under UC continue to drive impoverished families below the breadline

“TP” is a dying cancer patient who was left living in squalor during chemotherapy after moving to a Universal Credit area to receive treatment on his doctor’s advice.

Meanwhile “AR”, who has severe mental health problems, was left starving and suicidal after being forced to move to a UC area by the bedroom tax.

In June, Mr Justice Lewis ruled that Work and Pensions Secretary McVey had unlawfully discriminated against the men. Yet, this week, both men were back in court seeking compensation from the DWP.

Even worse, when McVey’s department finally agreed to pay them, the Secretary of State’s lawyers tried to keep the sum a secret. Mr Justice Lewis was having none of it. “You are the government and we should know what you are doing and what public money you are spending,” he told the DWP.

He even told the court: “The government is trying to hide something... they lost and they do not want to admit they lost.”

As if all of that wasn’t enough, it seems that McVey is up to her old tricks again. Yesterday, the DWP confirmed to me that the Secretary of State will appeal the judicial review that found in the men’s favour. A DWP spokesman added that “in the interim we have agreed to make payments to the lead claimants”.

Is Blind Brexit this new idea where the EU might accept the WA with a bland non descript fudge on the future relationship, which given that Parliament would pretty much have to accept this would then basically give the government the ability to drive anything through ?

Esther is evil

Re blind brexit, I really don't understand why after being quite logical and consistent the EU would suddenly accept something like this?

Op Ed By Barnier

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/news/ambitious-partnership-uk-after-brexit-2018-aug-02_en

Important points he makes:

• First, we need to make sure that the UK's exit is orderly.

• 80% of the Withdrawal Agreement is agreed.

• We will protect the rights of more than 4 million EU citizens living in the UK and British nationals in the EU.

• The biggest risk caused by Brexit is on the island of Ireland.
  We need to make sure that Brexit does not create a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, and that the Good Friday Agreement, which has brought peace and stability to Northern Ireland, will be protected.

Apocalyptic from RNorth on consequences of no deal

"Those who are openly advocating a "no deal" scenario are seeking to open the gates of Hell, from which there is no return. "

He analyses in detail yesterday's press statement by the Road Haulage Association (I posted upthread too):

https://www.rha.uk.net/getmedia/c98d0219-fcf7-434e-b9cd-51f2ff0c316c/180730-Brexit-pull-your-finger-out-final.pdf.aspx

Does anyone know what the 80% of what has apparently been negotiated actually is?

So many people and organisations like the RHA and the Aviation industry are warning that no deal is a disaster, yet still May thinks that appeasing Grease-Smug is the only option. Unless this is only being done for UK consumption and quietly behind the scenes, Olly Robbins is working something else out.