Westminstenders: May's Deal or No Deal

[RedToothBrush]

Tonight: Votes on Amendments after May's Stitch-Up Promise which might nerf the crucial Cooper-Boles amendment as its now deemed 'unnecessary'. I think voting starts very shortly. (They are just summing up now)

A - Corbyn's Brexit deal
K - SNP's, banning No Deal
C - Cooper-Letwin bill paving amendment (which they hope not to move)
B - Alberto Costa's EU citizens rights
F - Spelman/Dromey's to enshrine PM's Brexit extension promise

Corbyn's amendment. You can ignore. Its going to fail.

The SNPs amendment should in theory pass, but with the vote on the 13th March and the government whip, it might fail today.

Cooper-Letwin (or Cooper-Boles whichever you prefer) needs to pass to ensure May can't worm her way out of the current timetable but it looks unlikely to pass. If it does it would come into effect on the 13th March.

Costa's amendment is interesting as he was forced to resign in order to table it (and protect his parents who are EU citz) even though the government have now backed his amendment. His speech was striking in how he stressed it was about people not party politics.

Looking like Spelman has been withdrawn. So possible there will be no vote on it, as May has promised a vote on extension on the 14th March.

The battle now turns to how long the (almost inevitable) a50 extension will be.

March 12th (or earlier): Second vote on May deal.
Its still unlikely to pass.

Which would lead to Cooper-Boles coming into effect (if it passes) though it now has effectively been accepted by May though she might renege.

We now face a vote rejecting no deal on March 13th. Which should ban no deal.

This makes the all important vote effectively on March 14th which will be about the extension. The detail and amendments on this are important and will affect what happens next.

March 29th is probably no longer important as we won't be leaving then.

If we only are able to get a short extension (which the EU might refuse and insist on a longer one! But I doubt it) then the end of April begining of May is crucial. If we don't pass the legislation to take part in EU elections then May can dictate to the HoC and force her deal through as the only alternative to No Deal.

The EU elections fall on May 23-26.

The new parliament starts on the July 1st. This is now effectively the cliff edge if May has her way.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/eu_referendum_2016_/3492426-Westministenders-Abbreviation
Abbreviation thread.

I recall a Leaver on these threads bemoaning our export of Live animals and assuring us that outside the EU we would ban it. I don't know much about the issue, but this doesn't really seem like the direction of travel does it?

However, we haven't got to give in to despair yet - at one time we accepted battery chickens as the norm, most of us not realising that the eggs weren't coming from hens running around on farmland, but the public mood changed. Similarly with the BSE crisis. I could imagine that a mass cull of lambs could cause an outcry.

Now what we need is a decent opposition which reminds people exactly where factory farming leads us.

The worst thing is that almost none of the useless bastards bothered to attend the debate on climate change. Only interested in playing party politics, while the earth burns.

Some articles on the difference between UK and US food standards from the American point of view:

www.thenationalstudent.com/In-Depth/2016-05-18/uk_vs_us_food_what_i_learned_during_my_time_abroad.html

foodbabe.com/mcdonalds-serves-what-in-london-the-outrageous-double-standard-in-fast-food/

TiP
In the US there is no routine labelling of
free range
imported
GM
chlorine washed
food there is ALL about aesthetics not provenance

That information is not found routinely on labels but it is found on packaging. These attributes signify and justify a higher price. Food - like everything else including healthcare - is all about profit.

Market forces determine what goes on packaging and what gets left off. Market forces determine what is sold. Consumers choose based on their own priorities.

British consumers won't know what hit them.

*I can buy lamb in almost all my local supermarkets year round, here in the midwest. Some of the smaller places only stock lamb at Easter. I always buy a boneless leg of NZ lamb at Aldi - for some reason they sell them around Christmas - so I have one in my freezer. Unfortunately Easter is a little late this year but I think the joint will be ok.

Thanks for that blog, Tanith.

Brown eggs cost more in the US...

Many people in the UK cannot afford to pay higher prices for premium food

They have to buy the cheapest - many will convince themselves that lower standard US imports are just as good,
because people are very good at convincing themselves that their choices are ok

Some here must be very privileged if they are unaware of the millions of Brits for whom price is everything when they shop,
who feed their families the cheapest packaged food, because their parents fed them the same way, the whole family like it and it's what they can afford.

There has been quite a change on diet from 10 years ago in UK though. Look at Change4Life and it's successes. Generally I do think the public are aware of healthy food and the benefits. I would hate to see us go backwards and am secretly hoping for a huge outcry.

Then I look at those I know who voted leave who have simply gone quiet rather than getting angry

Typical EU view of the mess the UK has got itself in:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/mar/03/liam-fox-extending-article-50-may-be-only-option-for-a-smooth-brexit

Meanwhile, the Danish prime minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, defended his own pledge to never put his country’s membership of the EU to a referendum
by highlighting the damage to the British economy in which “one car factory after another stops or cancels planned production”.

Rasmussen said the British public had been taken in by “some rhetorically skilled politicians who turned out to be untrustworthy conmen who subsequently left the sinking ship”.

He described Westminster as a circus and “a paralysed political system that is about to melt down”.

< yes, atm Westminster looks like a dodgy nuclear power station, 5 mins before the reactor core melts down. What happens afterwards may not be pretty >

I'm sure nearly all the well-to-do middle class will pay the higher prices.
However, I expect at least those in the lower 50% of income / wealth will not, the JAMS
I expect foodbanks will be full of the cheap crap too

Important article:

The Bureau Local @ bureaulocal
Today, in partnership with @HuffPostUK, we reveal the scale to which cash-strapped councils across England are selling off public buildings and spaces to make ends meet - and sometimes even using the money to make staff redundant #SoldFromUnderYou

Since 2010, local authorities have lost around 60% of funding in the name of austerity, leaving services shut and buildings closed #SoldFromUnderYou

A 2016 Government ruling allowed councils desperate for cash to sell off public assets - such as community centres, libraries, playgrounds, youth clubs & health clinics - but only if proceeds were spent on measures to save councils money in the future #SoldFromUnderYou

This means that many councils have been selling off buildings and spaces that really matter to local communities - and then, in a double blow, using the money to make people redundant, often affecting vital social care services #SoldFromUnderYou

So - we’ve gathered data from councils across England and worked with over 150 people in our network to find out what is being sold off and what the money is being used for #SoldFromUnderYou

www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2019-03-04/sold-from-under-you
Revealed: The thousands of public spaces lost to the council funding crisis

For example, in Birmingham the council used £49 million raised from selling land and buildings to cut costs, including spending a staggering £23 million on redundancies #SoldFromUnderYou

Example of different standards UK vs US:

McDonald's fries

The US fries have 14 ingredients, while the UK fries have only: potatoes, two kinds of oil, and (depending on the season) dextrose.

Note: among the additives in the US is dimethylpolysiloxane, an anti-foaming agent that's also an ingredient in Silly Putty 🤔

In our rather grim part of the NW England, one of our few joys are the neighbouring green spaces. Which have just been de-designated as greenbelt so the council can sell it off. There's a bit of a fight against it.

Which have just been de-designated as greenbelt so the council can sell it off.

Happening everywhere. What is happening is a lot of large land owners are paying for private surveys in order to get this done. We are talking corporate giants here and I could name one with large assets along desirable locations. Whilst they refuse to fix assets which are used by large numbers of the public which have a huge impact on the infrastructure and workings of entire neighbourhoods if not the entire NW. They can effectively hold councils hostage over it.

The whole thing stinks to high heaven.

Has any other PM in modern times used shameless taxpayer bungs to other parties to this extent ? 🤔

£1-1.5 bn for the 10 DUP MPs - and the nearly 0.5 bn in "Cash for Ash" that have been quietly written off
£1.6 bn for about 30 Labour MPs in Leave areas - the "Stronger Towns Fund"

Add to all the billions wasted by Boris (as London mayor) and Grayling (wherever he goes)

then there are the billions spent so far on Brexit
and the £100 bn cost after a few years of Brexit

Yes, indeed the party of "Fuck Business"

It's a disgrace.

What a shambles.

^^

True dat, BCF. And to think the Tories used to sell themselves as the paragons of fiscal probity. I'm sure many of their traditional supporters still think they are (or should be). Another line of attack in the next GE? The Tories can't be trusted with the economy - now where have I heard that before?

Once again we discover that the Magic Money tree is squirreled away in Theresa's back garden.

A discussion on BBC radio London, on at the moment about American chickenetc, any chance anyone who knows way more than me could ring in & inform?

It's hard to believe that these bungs can be legal?

Time and again, we hear Leavers moan we must respect the vote or it would irrevocably damage democracy.... yet strangely quiet that none of these bribes were in any parties manifesto.

There is a fascinating and horrifying piece in the Guardian today {The killing times} highlighting the horrendous treatment of the indigenous population of Australia.
It doesn't make me proud to be British.
Other European countries were similarly nasty in their conquests of course.

The government 'bung' to 'buy votes', yet ironically if this had been done through a proper scheme (and funded better) then Brexit probably wouldn't have happened in the first place. Supporting areas where the traditional industry had closed (for whatever reason) is what SHOULD have been happening all along.
The paltry sums now, too little too late which will probably be swallowed up by 'administration' as the local councils will squeal that because of their cuts they will need a fair chunk of the money to 'repair' what they have lost over the last 10 years or so.

£1-1.5 bn for the 10 DUP MPs - and the nearly 0.5 bn in "Cash for Ash" that have been quietly written off

This I get- it's a bribe to the DUP to help the Tories form a 'govern'ment.

£1.6 bn for about 30 Labour MPs in Leave areas - the "Stronger Towns Fund"

This I don't fully get. Is it:
• Labour Leave MPs vote with me?
• Or is it Leave voters - vote Toryee?
• Or is it you voted to trash our economy because of austeritee. Here's some more monee?

www.rte.ie/news/business/2019/0304/1034141-imf-warns-on-messy-brexit/

The government 'bung' to 'buy votes',

More divide and conquer ...