Westminstenders: The gall of the french

[RedToothBrush]

We are full steam ahead with European Parliamentary Elections! Something that seemed unthinkable a few weeks ago.

May still remains adament that they will not happen, but the die has been cast.

May is off to beg Macron and Merkel to back an extension but the French are already stating they want assurances we won't screw thing up for everyone else.

May still is pushing for a deal with Corbyn and a Not a compromise.

Still there is no sign of a breakthrough either for an extension nor over a cross party deal. It drags on, but at least no one has mentioned the WA for ten minutes.

We might yet be in Europe for another Eurovision. Psychologically this feels important.

The ERG are not happy.

Julie Girling, Alyn Smith and Catherine Stihler are all MEPs I worked with in my old job and they're all great. Especially Julie Girling, who did a massive amount to helps with our campaign and is a thoroughly good MEP and someone I liked very much. Richard Howitt was another one, although he's stepped down now.

It sounds like Julie in particular has had a rough time and it's great to see her get some recognition on here. I wish I lived in the south west because I'd definitely vote for her. She knows her stuff.

The Tory MP, John Redwood, ...business now, in many cases, feels very let down that they are not being able to use all their contingencies, which they have spent good money on.

Now an MP for Wokingham, once an Oxfordshire councillor. Wokingham in not all that many miles from Oxford City - BMW shutdown brought forward at great inconvenience to all concerned. Nor is it far from Swindon - Toyota pulling out.

Please never let this brainless idiot anywhere near the Fire Brigade or indeed anyone responsible for Disaster Planning!

Sconded. Please electors in Wokingham, have the sense to kick this zealot out.

Please electors in Wokingham, have the sense to kick this zealot out

Not a chance. I am fairly close to Wokingham, it's a very similar demographic to where I live, which is a very safe Tory seat with a no deal zealot. It doesn't matter what they say or do, anything with a blue rosette gets elected.

Crucial to know when and on what basis UK will ratify the Withdrawal Agreement (Mark Rutte)

Mark we want a long extension so we can end up remaining.

A short one won't help.

Ironically ( for the xenophobic of the Leavers) talent will have to come into the UK from the commonwealth like in the 50s/ 60s / 70s.....

They will be more than happy, so long as it's the White Commonwealth - Australia, New Zealand, Canada and white South Africans.

I don’t know why I’m surprised given its clear bias but there is not one mention of the Cooper-Letwin bill on BBC News...

Although the BBC were reporting Parliament live until just after midnight.

‘They hope the numbers will be so great they cannot be ignored’ ??? Moment of rage. What hypocrites these Brexiteers are. Why not apply the same logic to the millions who want to revoke article 50? Ah yes that’s different, those people aren’t special people.

Ah yes you’re right Peregrina, the old “live” page is there; just surprised it isn’t a main page story or even on the daily briefing

The BBC is reporting it in their lead Brexit story this morning.

I cannot forgive Rudd for her wilful neglect and actions, towards unaccompanied children in Calais, who were abandoned over there, despite many of them having a legal right to come over here. I will never, ever see her as one of the good guys. I cannot tell you how deep my fury runs towards her.

Just seen this on the BBC website about OFSTED's Head of Research:

www.bbc.com/news/education-47853438

He's saying his application for settled status has been rejected; the Home Office is saying no, they only asked for "further clarification".

Who to believe!

{Norton does a fine job on Eurovision but I do miss Wogan.}
Although Wogan was great in the earlier years his last couple of presentations of Eurovision had some rather nasty comments thrown in.
Maybe for penance the UK should just have the Hungarian commentary feed.

He's saying his application for settled status has been rejected; the Home Office is saying no, they only asked for "further clarification".

It seems that

• he has worked for UK universities and government agencies continuously for 20 years
• he is currently a deputy director at Ofsted
• the settled status app could not find a continuous record of employment so rejected his application pending provision of further information

This is happening to quite a lot of people.

Peston @peston
I am now told by reliable sources that the most likely outcome of the special summit on Wednesday is another kicking of the Brexit can down the road, but only till a bit after the elections for the European Parliament at the end May - so that a potential no-deal Brexit...

cannot infect those elections, but not so far that all pressure to sort Brexit dissipates. Just possibly the delay will be closer to what May has requested (end June) than what Tusk suggested (a year) - presumably to reduce the potential for a new PM (maybe called Johnson) to...

wreak what EU leaders would view as havoc.

I'm not a Eurovision fan but then I have never been invited to a Eurovision party so I accept that maybe I don't know what I'm missing

One of our local NW MEPs, Julie Ward, has put in an FOI request for NHS trusts no deal contingency plans... the ones they've been forced to sign NDAs for. Be interesting to see where she gets to.

I feel anxious about it all again today after having been settled... maybe it's the proximity to Friday but I think it's the way the whole thing is a slow motion car crash and my personality is just hurry up and get it over with already. I find angry days much easier than anxious days - hoping for a good dose of faith and activity to help today.

From the legendary @BrexitComic

And he's not the only one. Some first person experienced taken from twitter:

"In the summer 2002 I got my NI number, and I have had a job ever since. This morning my application for settled status was declined, and I was asked to provide further evidence that I have lived in the UK for the last 5 years. Further evidence! I'm furious."

"So, applied for settled status today, denied pending more proof! I’ve only been working & living in the UK continuously for the past 17.5 years ... where did all this go wrong ... Oh I know, when the leave campaign started to spout their lies!"

"So according to the home office I am not entitled to settled status and have only been living in the UK for a bit over a year but I have been paying tax with the same national insurance number they checked to make the decision since 2011??"

"It seems that working full time and paying taxes for 6 years is not enough proof of residency for @UKgovcomms #settledstatus is clearly not working and insulting"

An immigration lawyer tweeted:

"Scheme seems to be creaking. We assisted a client yesterday and the App rejected input of their valid NI no. Ended up with need to file additional evidence of residency"

Can't help wondering if this has been Theresa's plan all along.

She's smashed the ERG and Remain now looks like a distinct possibility after all.

Quelle surprise - yet another Government IT system falling over under load.

Has anyone tried switching the Home Office off and on again?

Even if it is just "further clarification" required for settled status, if a full NI contribution record and being employed by the public sector are not enough, what is the point of the supposedly simple App?

And it doesn't give much reassurance about a "virtual" approval if it is so easy to get wrong.

As someone said on the last thread, if it's getting "easy" ones wrong (and "just" 5% of 1,000,000 is still a lot of 50,000 people ), what's it going to be like for the ones who've had a more chaotic life/are poor without regular employment (but still employed)/aren't as articulate/aren't able to access help/have mental health problems and can't deal with the uncertainty?

If the Home Office can't get it's data together for people that have been resident in the UK for many years what does it say about their capability for sorting out criminals and those who should really be kept tabs on?
Not fit for purpose may I suggest?

Eurovision party?
Invite some friends with their children over for the evening.
Maybe make up some simple quiz questions or 'rate' the entries, Best hair/Best lyrics/best tune/etc.
An assortment of drinks from around the EU, and 'nibbles' from various countries. Job done.

@redtootbrush

Yes after the unhelpful comments of jrm wanting to wreak havoc, I can see why thé EU would not want the European Parliament vulnerable to capricious vetoes by the UK. Although they don’t want to pull the rug out from under the uk, the pathetic childish politicians mean thé EU will protect their own interests.

I'm not seeing any change here. Last week she wrote to the EU and said steps were in place to do the elections, if necessary.
Shes also already asked for an extension to which we know we will likely get a flexible extension and can finalise it all anytime up to that date.
There was no point in that Cooper bill. There's no change to the status of the elections.
I don't know what everyone is going on about :s

I can't stand Eurovision

However, I prefer it to Bill Cash. Heard his speech on R4 this morning - his language was appalling and completely inappropriate. Gammons on twitter loving it, of course