Westminstenders: Red Squirrels are British. Groundhogs are not.

[RedToothBrush]

Well the good news is we haven't got a GE yet, and it looks unlike one will be called this week. Purely because we haven't got a crisis point looming this week.

May has officially confirmed plan A is plan B. But says she will try and get more on the backstop whilst working with the DUP. Barnier and Ireland have said 'no'

We now prepare for the Meaningful Vote II.

And a week of speculation about amendments.

Here's a quick summary of likely ones:
Guardian Article on possible amendments

I think the Labour one will struggle to gain Tory support. The big thing about it is leans the party line firmly towards a customs union.

The Grieve one is handicapped by talk of a minority of 300 taking control of Parliament. Otherwise it might have support.

The two most interesting are:

The Benn 'Indicative Vote' as its reflective of the Brexit Select Committee recommendations.

The Cooper-Boles Block No Deal amendment which is cross party and seeks to place a final date on May passing her deal by 26th Feb, after which Parliament will take control. This I believe is being supported by Labour as a whole.

Bercow of course gets to say which amendments are debated and voted on but Benn and Cooper-Boles have broad support so are unlikely to be ignored by him. The two together seem to compliment each other.

The rest of this week is likely to be lobbying on this but otherwise fairly calm. Though someone is bound to throw a few curveball in there with leaks.

The only other thing to watch out for is talk of up to 40 ministers quitting if they are not allowed a free vote on some sort of indicative vote motion. This seems to be being lead by Amber Rudd. But I don't expect this to come to a head until the weekend at the earliest.

In other words, we have a couple of days of calm before the storm. Expect it to ramp up again at the weekend in craziness.

My family originally comes from across the border in Donegal and derr

Oops...
My family are from just across the border. We only ever heard Londonderry on the BBC... For those of you interested in Irish sensitivities to naming and history, I highly recommend the great Brian Friel’s play Translations.

Of relevance to not much, unless you are from the area Slaithwaite is often pronounced incorrectly.

PMK 👑

When my housemate taught me the 6 counties, it was Fermanagh, Armagh, Tyrone, Derry, Antrim, Down (he came from Ballycastle ...)

Does anyone know the stats re traffic to the brexit board? I'm curious

PMK! Just wanted to say a huge thanks to everyone who keeps this thread going. I don’t consider myself to be politically minded and this thread has been so informative and reasonable, and really encouraged me to do my own research on all matters brexit. So I just wanted to say thanks! And can’t wait until I get home to catch up with what’s been happening

quietrebel
I suspect the traffic levels will be rising significantly now

and as Bigchoc says
its about asking the right question
when I'm auditing I always try not to ask questions that will give the answer 42

I have to admit that MichaelMNHQs wording was rather a shock though

I have to admit that MichaelMNHQs wording was rather a shock though

Not sure why ? MN exists to make money. Anything which threatens that takes priority over nice feelz and warm hugs. I'd hope all posters know that. I'd have been more shocked if there was an admission that MNHQ just let the site run with no interference ...

DGR
My shock was linked to seeing silverysurfer bragging about getting threads moved off the busy boards.
So its nothing to do with MNHQ commercial interests I use an adblocker so do not worry about that
more pandering to a few button clickers
which IMHO is worse

PMK

Annoyed with myself that I missed Soubry's webchat - it was an interesting read

Place mat king - desperately trying to catch up since this morning!

So its nothing to do with MNHQ commercial interests

Ultimately, MNHQs policies have to support the commercial interests before posters interests ....

Having fallen foul of MNHQs arbitrary deletion/retention policy myself, you may be preaching to the choir ....

So its nothing to do with MNHQ commercial interests I use an adblocker so do not worry about that
more pandering to a few button clickers

It's probably both tbh. And mainly just because they probably don't budget much for their mods and they can't have them tied up refereeing Brexit fights all the time.

The knock-on effects of the return of organised violence affect vital services for the people of Derry yet again.
Housing services withdrawn www.derryjournal.com/news/housing-executive-services-withdrawn-from-several-estates-after-derry-hijacking-1-8778787

Also no mail today. www.derryjournal.com/news/housing-executive-services-withdrawn-from-several-estates-after-derry-hijacking-1-8778787

And yet the Derry Journal also carries the splash that...

The announcement was made by the E.C.'s Chief Spokesperson, Margaritis Schinas, at the E.C.'s midday press briefing on Tuesday. When pushed to speculate what the E.C. think will happen to Northern Ireland if the United Kingdom leave the E.U. under a 'no deal' scenario, Mr. Schinas said "I think it's pretty obvious - you will have a hard border."

Sorry for not being able to keep up, but what did MichaelMNHQs say?

Place marking

but their opposition to the backstop is perfectly rational. Violence aside.

It's not.

1. Because we're used to them opposing things and live with the consequences all the time. They opposed the GFA but we still went ahead, because a huge majority of the people of the north heard their arguments and ultimately disagreed with them.
2. Because they supported Leave in the referendum. Brexit is what they wanted, and there are consequences to Brexit. The people of NI, according to polls, clearly feel it is fairer for the small minority who wanted it to bear the consequences than the large majority who didn't.
3. Because they are propping up a Tory government that has red lines which are preventing a soft Brexit. And to have a hard Brexit, like they are supporting, there has to be either a border between rIreland and north, which will end the GFA and then in turn the Catholic population of NI will lose their hard earned equal rights, or between north and rUK which can be much softer because there is the sea and everything is being listed and catalogued anyway as it is loaded on and off ships.
4. Because it is a lie that there is currently one system for NI and rUK. NI is a devolved region and as such has differences in things like gay marriage rights and abortion; differences the DUP have enthusiastically supported. There are also already checks on live animal imports, etc.
5. Because the DUP are refusing to return to Stormont, which most of the people of the north are highly frustrated by. They are literally, yet again, removing the voice for the majority of the electorate.

This is what MichaelMumsnet said:

Hi and thanks for the question.
Threads which have drawn lots of reports are less likely to be featured in the active threads area.

Nick Gutteridge@nickgutteridge

Verhofstadt says an extension of Article 50 beyond July 2, when the next EU Parliament first sits, will be very difficult.

Adds: 'Certainly I think this is only possible in the case that the UK can indicate for how long and certainly what for.'

'When my housemate taught me the 6 counties, it was Fermanagh, Armagh, Tyrone, Derry, Antrim, Down (he came from Ballycastle ...)'

FAT DAD was how we were taught to remember them in school in Ireland.

Nick Gutteridge@nickgutteridge

Commission spokesman also said 'a no deal Brexit will clearly, clearly put' the peace process and cross-border cooperation 'in risk'.
....
Commission spokesman says that if there's a no deal Brexit 'you will have a hard border' in Ireland.
First time it's been put so explicitly on the record.

Nick Gutteridge@nickgutteridge

Commission on Polish foreign minister's suggestion the backstop could be limited to five years:

'We have a unanimous EU27 position on the Withdrawal Agreement and it’s clear that the doorstep statement was not part of the EU position.'

FAT DAD was how we were taught to remember them in school in Ireland

Or FAT LAD ?