Westminstenders: Plan B is Plan A again.

[RedToothBrush]

The voting starts around 7pm and is expected to finish up between 8pm and 8.20pm.

May is expected to lose. The question is by how much.

We are then expecting an immediate motion of no confidence in the government by Labour to be put forward.

May is expected to make a speech to calm the markets and then go to Brussels for an utterly pointless visit.

The Labour No Confidence is expected tomorrow afternoon after PMQs. Its expected to fail.

We move no closer to a resolution and ever closer to no deal.

Half the Cabinet want to go into cross party talks. Half the Cabinet don't.

May is apparently insistent that Plan B is Plan A. Which is what you would expect her to tell the house to comply with Grieve IV. Which again is bollocks.

But Bercow could yet refuse to indulge it.

If Plan B is Plan A again, then what's Plan C?

Crisis with a Capital C.

The stalemate grows.

btw, the reason for Gibraltar being another issue where the UK would be pressured after Brexit
is that when Spain joined the then EEC, the UK was already a member
and because of this, the other members supported Britain in demanding concessions from SPain on Gib

Once the UK Brexits, of course the EU will side with its own member against a non-member

The EU might allow a short extension, even without a prospective PV or GE, purely to give it more time to prepare for a No Deal Brexit.

Its latest contingency communications were clear that they were now making their plans without consultation with the UK.

We have a serious issue with Westminster MPs having 2nd jobs

• despite the fact that they can legitimately claim up to about 400k each for expenses, including employing family members.

Maybe if they concentrated on their duties as an MP, they wouldn't be so bloody ignorant about what No Deal means

Robert Peston@peston
.@vincecable says do not pick up phone and speak with him on Brexit solution unless she will rule out no deal and consider referendum. She replies she won’t bother. The impasse nutshelled #PMQs

Helpful.

As an aside, I'm fascinated by the narrative on another thread, that the BBC are enemies of the people, because they're slavishly devoted to the EU .

May just loves losing friends and alienating people.

{You think our politicians don't have an "elitist" outlook, don't fiddle their expenses, don't ward dodgy contracts to their chums at both govt and local level ?}
Obviously forgetting the MPs expenses scandal not that many years back. OUTRAGE (in a Daily Fail way) from the Labour benches, until a load of them were found to be at it too.

To be fair the NI backstop is as much to protect the SM from Trump as it is to protect NI.

However I do feel the EU do genuinely want to protect the GFA and NI peace in away the Brexiters don’t. The EU haver always treated NI and Ireland with great respect, which cannot be said for the Brexiters.

"Pure robotic fantasy"

Nice 3 word summary on TM strategy.

Ok I used to know this (I think!) but I'm having a brain freeze due to all this stress...
Can you have customs union without membership of the Single Market?
Just trying to evaluate how unlikely it is the Tories will accept Labour's plan.

This is a negotiation. There's no reason for the EU to arrange an extension unless the UK signals it is prepared to change something more than the colour of it's passports.

If people are being led to believe an extension is a mere formality, then the ground is being prepared for a crash out no deal to squeals about it being the EUs fault for which the only audience will be the UK. The rest of the world twigged a long time ago what the score was. They also know that if the UK wants to play the "poor us" card, it only weakens their negotiating position even more. Wolves attack the weakest of a herd, not the strongest.

However I do feel the EU do genuinely want to protect the GFA and NI peace in away the Brexiters don’t. The EU haver always treated NI and Ireland with great respect, which cannot be said for the Brexiters.

WW2 would not have happened if the Treaty of Versailles had been upheld. (Discuss )

Can you have customs union without membership of the Single Market?

Yes. I think Turkey are in CU but not SM. But, in our case, it doesn't solve the problem of the Irish border. So probably not good enough for the EU to agree it.
Plus - if we're in a CU we cannot strike up our own trade deals as we have to adjust our tarrifs to those of the EU. So not good enough for the ERG.

The CU is nowhere near enough
It removes tariffs and some border checks

BUT
Frictionless trade - which our JIT need - only comes with the SM

Turkey belongs to a CU with the EU - and the quueues of goods trucks at their borders to the EU take 12-30 hours to get through.
OK for them, as they don't have a highly developed modern economy with a lot of JIT manufacturing

Well, after No Deal neither will the UK

To avoid significantly damaging the economy, the UK needs the SM - and accept FOM - plus a Customs Arrangement which need not be full CU

The WA focused on ending FOM with least pain to trade - still not frictionless -so that backstop was CU plus nearly all the SM rules except FOM - the border didn't need that because of the CTA

Talking of campaign funding and profiteering, George Soros and his Open Society Foundation have made large donations to the anti-Brexit groups Best for Britain and the campaign for a PV.
Soros was of course 'the man who broke the Bank of England'

I'm sure he's purely altruistic of course.

A lot of the Tories (even otherwise sensible ones) seem to think that it's better to be in the SM but not the CU, because the "ability to negotiate our own trade deals" is the most important bit of Brexit...

Just dipping into some French reportage, it seems the message from Germany is that there is still time to negotiate.

campaign funding and profiteering

In what way is Soros profiteering? Do you by any chance think he is profiteering in a "Jewish banker" kind of way?

Please don't misread that last comment by the way. Here in France there is way too much yellow dogwhistling about "bankers" when what the person really means is "Jews".

The likes of Crispin Odey won't bother the leavers I've spoken to. They, apparently, admire such entrepreneurs. It's exactly how they want their leaders to he gave. Pragmatic good business.

Leavers seem so angry today. Well, most days. They won. They should get over it...

Thanks

*behave.

Making profits is fine and we need more of it

What is hypocritical is claiming you are doing something for "Britain" when in factyou only make the big bucks if the UK goes down the toilet.

It's natural to think that person actually doesn't gve a fuck about Britain
giving that they are betting hige sums that it will fail badly

Soros may well make more money if Britain stays in the UK and prospers
I LIKE it when someone's profits depend on the country doing well

Misrtigri
Are you accusing me of something? I am really upset by your insinuation of anti-Semitism.
I'm off