Westminstenders: What The Hell Happens Next?!

[RedToothBrush]

John Bercow has just spent over at an hour dealing with a Points of Order, in which he has argued that he is defending the soverignty of the House of Commons and that is his duty, not to simply to be a cheerleader for the executive.

Taking back control seems to have rather upset ERG Brexiteers.

As Jess Phillips astutely pointed out:
"People only care about procedures, and protecting and conserving the procedures, when they don't like the outcome of the thing that is about to happen and never when it is going in their favour."

And given what we have seen the Executive do over the last few months in terms of trying to use procedure for its own political gain, this is quite a fair point.

There are however certain constitutional questions this is all raising. And we have a very real constitutional crisis here.

Bercow has ruled that he CAN allow an amendment (because the previous vote had prevented only a motion and a debate) put forward by Grieve to go to a vote.

This amendment would - if it is passed by the house - require May to report to the house within 3 days if the WA fails to pass next week.

This would be a significant victory, if it passed because at present the position is where May can delay reporting back to the house until it start to get to the point where politically the opposition can't influence things, and a 'meaningful vote' will in practice be more like a gun to the head by the Executive, rather than the House of Commons acting in a sovereign manner and being free to make its own decisions rather than be forced into a corner by Parliamentary Procedure and the politicking of Parliamentary Procedure to undermine the independence of the HoC.

Allowing more time for the opposition to hold the government to account, does not necessarily change anything. It just means the executive can not just run down the clock in the way it perhaps has been intending.

The HoC could of course, vote against the amendment.

The WA is to come to the HoC next week.

And we have no idea what the hell is going to happen next.

UK in a Changing EU @UKandEU
What will happen if there's a no deal Brexit? Conservative MPs expect:

•no long queues at ports
•no drop in house prices
•no medical shortages
•no flight cancellations
•BUT a significant drop in the £

Our latest polling of MPs with @MileEndInst:
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/what-mps-really-think-about-may-s-brexit-deal-sq0hq27z7

Luke Skywhiskers suited and booted, reporting for duty and ready to be the next Bercow if he's out

What a bunch of tory toffs think might happen really shouldn't be news to anyone.

Thanks, red 💐
Knife edge stuff

imo, the most important part of the Speaker's job is to let the HoC hold the executive to account - if they want to.
The objections to that look nitpicking

Especially since the executive have been breaking a few precedents themselves, to let May force her Brexit version through

If that vote had been lost though, Bercow would have faced an NC vote to remove him and likely been ousted.
There may still be an attempt, but hopefully those who took advantage of their right to vote would vote for the person who allowed them to do so.

Place mat king

Bercow is actually doing a really good job there.

Especially since the executive have been breaking a few precedents themselves, to let May force her Brexit version through

Yes exactly, TMs attempts at circumventing of Parliamentary process have been unprecedented in modern times. When the inner circle of management behave like that it sets a precedent.

{ Had that gamble been lost, Bercow would certainly have faced an organised and potentially successful attempt to oust him as Speaker. But it wasn’t, so he survives, protected by the one rule in Westminster that really matters.}
I feel really assured that the fate of the UK hangs on a few lines of possibly disputable procedural text.

Tory Brexiter MPs deep in denial - remember that poll includes the Tory Remainers

This may indicate a huge drop in Tory IQ since the ref though, 🤔
because before the ref, even Tory MPs were heavily in favour of Remain, probably about 200:100

and since few of them were mad keen Europhiles, there wish to remain was presumably based on economic grounds.

Thanks
I prefer my cat to have the mouse organ attachment.

Is that correct that if TM calls election for early April then Brexit will happen as the govt is dissolved?

Bercow did the right thing all said. But its still a big risk. What happens if the next Speaker uses this as a precedent to ignore precendent to do whatever they please rather than in the interests of the HoC?

Anyway, my shopping really needs to go away. Which is easier said than done given I bought a few extras today, with the spectre of No Deal likely to get a lot more real to the general public next week.

WHat do you all reckon May will do now?

Westminster is definitely a theatre and a great drama!

Just back from the dentist to have my infected gum put back together
One side of my face is frozen, so I'm sitting here drooling and not allowed to eat chocolate (or anything) for another hour. 🤯

God I need choc

Bloody hell . Whilst I have been accepting a new extra freezer delivery ( for Brexit frozen extras) all this happens!
The new freezer will be useful (and fits very nicely in our shed which has a proper electricity plug point) but I will be very glad if it’s a nice to have rather than a necesssity.

So this means TM actually has to get her thinking cap on? Maybe now all the unicorns will come home to roost

< thinking if unicorns do roost or just bed down in rumplstilskin straw>

BCF for your mouth

Placemarking with jealousy in my heart over all your lovely cats. All three of us are allergic so no cats for us.

Just back from the dentist to have my infected gum put back together

Ouch. Poor you. Hoping for a swift recovery.

If May calls a GE, I don't know if the HoC can change the date if she deliberately makes it

@Red However, she can't dissolve Parliament this long before April, surely ?

Otherwise, what is to stop a dictatorial PM - like her - declaring a GE right at the end of the Parliament, in this case May 2019 and being able to rule without the HoC until then ?

There must be a legal limit, how long a PM is allowed to rule - as "caretaker" - without the HoC

Anyone know this ??

Thanks, 2bees, Adequatefood
Counting the minutes until choc time !

.

Mind you, I can see the EU being very sympathetic to a Fast Track Rejoin request from a new govt
if we are bundled out of the EU by such a ridiculous undemocratic fix of calling a GE to dissolve a rebellious HoC.

red I'm not worried by the precedent if just giving MPs more chance to vote.

The executive has become ever more powerful over the decades - not just this govt -
and the UK executive even before this had fewer checks on its power, because of having inherited the powers of the monarch.

The UK PM is becoming more like an elected absolute monarch.
So it is long past time that Parliament was given more powers, to help redress this.

The PM needs two thirds of the house to vote in favour of an early GE though doesn't she?

I didn't think she could just call one on her own?

"The conditions for when a snap election can be called have been significantly restricted by the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 to occasions when the government loses a confidence motion or when a two-thirds supermajority of MPs vote in favour. Prior to this, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom had the de facto power to call an election at will by requesting a dissolution from the monarch – the limited circumstances where this would not be granted were set out in the Lascelles Principles."

^ From Wikipedia.

I doubt she would get her two thirds if she was just doing it to coast to a no deal Brexit? Surely