Westminstenders: The Bill Cash Appreciation Society

[RedToothBrush]

We've had a new thread pretty much everyday for the last week or so, so I'm short on inspiration.

There haven't been too many new developments today. There have been two ministerial resignations. Both were ministers close to Boris Johnson.

We had a vote to add an extension if we still have no deal agreed at the end of next week to the Withdrawal Bill. May has said she will do this anyway; this would merely tie her hands. It passed by 5 votes. It now is fast tracked to the committee stage and third reading.

A business of the house amendment by Benn to secure a debate and Indicative Vote 3 next week failed after a speakers vote. Bercow followed convention and didn't create a majority where there was not one (though under Erskine May he is free to do the opposite at his discretion).

Corbyn has met May for talks which have been described as construction, though we have no further details though curiously Emily Thornberry put out a statement demanding a ref on whatever was decided which suggests Corbyn isn't keen on the idea. Rumours are of Schrodingers Customs Union: somehow being in a union but not a union. It can't be called a customs union. And Liam Fox has said Corbyn can't have his union. Though he may have a vested interest as he loses his job if Corbyn gets his way.

Oh and the Commons photocopier broke so no one knows what is currently supposed to be happening.

Otherwise it's been a quiet day, all things considered. Too quiet?

_ The U.S. Is Tracking Migrant Girls' Periods to Stop Them From Getting Abortions_

When racism and religious fanaticism combine .... just when you think the right can sink no lower
These are the people funding the far right in the UK

https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/politics/a26985261/trump-administration-abortion-period-tracking-migrant-women/

We still don’t know where 1,488 migrant children are.
The U.S. government lost them.
They admit as muchch_.^

Even though the court ordered a halt to the policy of family separation, 245 more children have been taken from their parentsts_.^

So they can’t figure out where children separated from their parents are, but by God, they can keep track of teenage migrant girls' menstrual cycles.

Is it fair to say that hard Brexit/no deal is now completely off the table and we 100% will not be leaving the EU with either of these things?

DHs Facebook friends are a mixed bunch socially and economically. But he culled anyone who was making fascist noises shortly after the ref. The face he's seeing this is concerning. It shows creep.

And as I say I'm hearing stuff I don't much like.

A gave a lift home to a drunk friend of DH a couple of weeks ago. I made a crack about stockpiling. He replied "I don't need to. Let's face it if it comes to that I can go to farm shop and buy venison for £50. Its just the 'povvos' who need to worry". There was only so much tongue in cheek. (he's a Remainer)

DH had a colleague at his previous job who was a Leaver who made some revolting comments about cleaning the streets of Manchester. DH isn't easily shocked. This did. It was firmly into fascism.

It's getting to me. Too many off the cuft comments and lack of humanity. It's everywhere.

Is it fair to say that hard Brexit/no deal is now completely off the table and we 100% will not be leaving the EU with either of these things?

I don’t think we can definitely say that yet!

my comment on no dealers arguing they were being disenfranchised was in the context of the option being excluded on a PV with only WA or Remain being on the ballot. It doesn't matter why I, you or anyone else thinks they are being stupid it will be their argument

I do understand the context of your comment and I understand what their argument will be. I think it’s important to reiterate, whenever we hear that argument, that they did not vote whether to leave with no Deal or not. They voted whether to leave or not, details of leaving TBC. Once we know the details of leaving it is surely entirely legitimate to offer a confirmatory vote on the details that have been agreed versus the maintenance of the status quo of staying in the EU, and not to include No Deal, which was not promoted by the leave campaign, was not voted for and has already been ruled out by Parliament on the basis of the catastrophic harm it would do.

Some people don't understand what it's like to be really poor,
how you can't cope with sudden costs or problems, the constant worry and atruggle
For the comfortably off, hard times might mean cutting back on coffees / meals out or foreign holidays
A different world.

This is why I can barely talk to my MiL and my dm at the moment. MiL grew up in Fermanagh smuggling butter over the border and trying not to get blown up. Her father was killed in the Troubles. She voted leave. Dm grew up the daughter of a dead immigrant dad in a mining community, no electric lights, no indoor toilet...until my gran managed to snag a wealthy second husband and they went from that to a car, electric lights, a bathroom and a tv almost overnight. Then as a teenager, he lost his business and they lost everything again. I thought up until she voted leave, she of all people understood just how easy it is to end up with nothing.

I think we will probably be okay unless tanks are involved but I spent most of my pre children life working with people who absolutely won't be.

Is it fair to say that hard Brexit/no deal is now completely off the table and we 100% will not be leaving the EU with either of these things?

No. Quite the opposite. The Cooper Bill makes no real difference in practice. Its a political and legal device but has holes in it.

Interestingly, I was just testing the 'sort' functions on the link
www.livefrombrexit.com/petitions/241584
and you can sort by constituency name and thus get all of the seats for a city in a group ....
amazing the variability in majorities and parties and signature percentages across small distances

nobody should assume anything about Brexit till it happens

havingtochange Google of randoms is no substitute for years of living in a country and listening to what people & politicians say

The effect of No Deal on the UK will be horrendous, a major and maybe irreversible decline
Hence why even May - and Gove etc - blinked

However, none of the E27 are losing all their trade deals with each other and the rest of the world,
not losing their agencies, their certification rights .....

The EU has moved on and thinks it can cope
The leaders have said so repeatedly
Listen to them

Even Varadkar, when asked in the EU Council if Ireland could cope with No Deal, reportedly said they could
Anyway, 450 million people can afford to subsidise the 5 million of Ireland

Thanks for the answers re Starmer/Lidington/Barclay.

Was wondering if it was some kind of snub to Labour.

If you wanted to trick the country into a no deal that has been clearly rejected, it's hard to think of a different way to go about it than what's happening now ....

@tobee more like a compliment, they're taking it seriously if Lidington is involved.

We need a proper plan and fast to get ND off the table.

Maybe TM and JC could find one that gets us one

If they went for deal plus Ref for example.

But that needs to go through HoC before 10 April not after as TM apparently suggested this lunchtime.

The Cooper Bill is a hurdle for No Deal, but it certainly doesn't prevent it.

Most obviously, the EU don't have to grant us an extension

No Deal is the table and we don't find out until next week whether we will be ditched by the EU.

It's getting to me. Too many off the cuff comments and lack of humanity. It's everywhere.

Same. I now have a zero tolerance policy towards such remarks and it has made a remarkable difference. For example, one Leave voter cast aspersions on the whole of Scotland. I challenged it and said I was happy to talk about an individual where there was evidence of some wrongdoing but to rubbish an entire nation was racism and I would not stand for it. That it had to stop.

Completely shut him up & he has been as good as gold since.

Ooh, ooh, ooh
geekiness overload moment
On that live from Brexit, if you click the MPs name it tells you their voting history on all things to do with A50 since it was invoked, up to last night
SWEET

My not so DB has suggested Mervin Kings 6month delay till no deal as a plan. Wonder how the EU would treat that?

A totally ridiculous problem for extension is if May really leaves the Order in Council for EP elections until 11 April

The EU Council are deciding on the extension on 10 April
They won't believe any promise from May promise, with her history of reneging

If she's serious about a plan, then why on earth not make the OiC this week ?

I hope the reports are false, or she changes her mind

That 6 months delay sounds like another version of the ERG plan to pay for a transition without the WA

I'd be astonished if the EU agree

Isn't it likely that the EU will grant us another extension if asked, as they do ultimately want to keep us within the EU? What are everyone's thoughts?

HoC is suspended because the roof is leaking.

We need a proper plan and fast to get ND off the table

The oy way to do that is to pass the WA...

Surely 'NO Deal' would destroy the Tory Party?

BCF my brother loves unicorns!

leaking roof, broken photocopiers. The Commons is not happy.

Wait until the foundations give way...