Westminstenders: 1001 Ways to wait for EUCO - Sprouts, Nits and Brexit

[RedToothBrush]

Not much more to say other than, all we can do is wait to hear our fate.

Which seems to lie in the hands of Macron.

I think these tweet sums a lot of it up from a couple of jaded soft leavers

Iain Martin @ iainmartin1
This terrible farce in Brussels tonight is like being British during the eurovision song contest. British entrant awaits fate, watching humiliating results come in, trying to smile for the audience back home.

George Trefgarne @georgetrefgarne
To be honest I think Buck’s Fizz and Cheryl thingummy would have made a better job of it

My advice: Don't wait up!

Pippa Crerar @pippacrerar
EU source on Macron: "He is in a bit of a schizophrenic situation - (his) domestic audience demands that he is tough on Britain for historic reasons. On the other hand, France is among the most-hit in any no-deal Brexit. It will take hours before we pull him down from his tree."

So Macron may end up being the one who gets the UK what it wants but is doing it to be tough on us. I'm not sure I understand EU politics.

31st Oct would only just be long enough because it takes a minimum of 24 weeks to deliver a #PeoplesVote

She's right and BCF is right to share it. Whilst TM does change her mind - GE2017 anyone? - she usually does it slooowly and we have literally a few weeks of which they are only sitting for part.

This is not good for hopes of a PV though I accept it was the best compromise and the EU have been generous with us - throughout including tonight.

Tusk actually seems unusually despondent and uncertain at the Q&A of the press conference. It could just be that he is totally drained.

....remembering of course that he is talking in English after a looooong day, at 2.30 in the morning and knowing that our press and politicians would jump on any mischosen word.

He's actually got Juncker to support him in the answers.

But it finished with humour from them both

Tusk: It is still much easier to build a majority or even unity here [amongst the E27] than the House of Commons

Juncker: The Sphinx is an open book by comparison to the British Parliament

@lewisgoodall tweeted at the end of last week “NEW: The chief executive of the electoral commission told me today that a referendum would ideally in held in six months but if parliament passed the legislation quickly from their point of view could be held in less, perhaps a minimum of three.”

Someone on BBC news earlier said the Electoral Commission say 20 weeks for a referendum. Which means parliament would need to agree that within a few weeks. Unlikely but not impossible. We need to think back to where we were two weeks ago to give us some idea of how quickly things can change within HoC.

Even if we miss that, if the UK had managed to agree a referendum on Remain vs WA there's a good chance EU27 would extend again for that.

In some ways JC refusing to come out for a PV could be a good thing - it makes it easier for Tory MPs to back one while the talks are ongoing. So when the cross party talks break down (inevitably imo) there may be enough Tory support to get it through HoC.

X-post. If the electoral commission say 3 months that's even better.

Jeez watching May's press conference it's all pretty embarrassing. 😬

Not really in touch with reality. Still. No change.

Does she seem to be talking quicker than normal?

How many times can the ladies and gentlemen of the press ask the same question of the prime minister? And how many times can she answer it as if it's a new question each time? And pretend she's still in charge of everything?

PMK

That was a pretty swift exit! God I bet she's going to love getting into bed tonight! Although god knows if that's Brussels or Downing Street?

Maybe she's taken an upper to keep her going at this late (early) hour

Still blaming lack of Brexit on MPs inability to vote for her deal rather than accepting she’s gone about things the wrong way.

Pmk. Checking back in, having taken a few days respite. Mostly spent knitting, binge watching German TV dramas on all4 and trying to get DS to take his bloody antibiotics.

No matter how much can kicking happened tonight, and how likely it is that we’ll be in the exact same spot 6 months from now - I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Might even get a few blissfully Brexit-free weeks and focus on life! Plus, 6 months delay means I’m 6 months closer to being granted settled status (in theory). It’s not much, but it’s something.

I commented to DH on Sunday that she looked as if a huge weight had been lifted off her, same again at PMQs. Tonight she looked positively jubilant. Either she knows she's going PDQ or she (hopefully ) thinks we're deliriously close to revoking. Other alternative is drugs.
Either way I don't begrudge her a little happiness.

I feel pretty depressed, I don't blame Macron but I fear we have enough time for can kicking and not enough for anything useful.
I'm happy to be proved wrong but I'm not sure where the solution comes from. It also shows that decisions that don't benefit us will unsurprisingly become the norm.

.

Well just caught up on the 🎃 news after my nightly loo trip.

I don't feel as relieved as I thought.Thinking out loud...

An analogy I've posted before is from an HR perspective it's often better for an employee wishing to switch from full to part time working to say to a resistant employer "let's try it for three months until the summer". Then extend again until Christmas whilst everyone gets used to it. It then morphs into a permanent arrangement.

There's an element of that here. For most of the Leave voter wing a sort of perpetual ~we ~are ~on the ~brink ~of~ leaving would be enough of a solution to placate them. Then we get the benefits of membership whilst retaining the psychological feeling of invincible solitude.

Unfortunately for the other member countries, business and the families affected that uncertainty would be a festering sore..

But attitudes are shifting, the Leave sun is setting - I guess now there's more time for that to continue. It's just a shame it's not a longer flextension. But Macron may mellow by October too depending on his domestic politics.

I'll try and return to sleeping now!

Halloween!

At least we can enjoy our summer holidays now.

seems to be frosty, hope my sunflowers survive. (got woken, rather appropriately by a fox screaming outside my window)

Thanks, Red :)

Well the EU certainly know how to choose their dates, don't they! I got up at about 3 a.m. to see what the result was, can't say I'm surprised they've gone with a 6 month extension, I just hope the UK can actually come to a decision in that time, based on the last 3 years it doesn't bode well! Wonder if May will quit before October? A new PM could make a huge difference to what happens next.

I’ve also been here since the beginning of these threads - most of the time lurking and relying on them for accurate facts.

I’m glad there is some sort of longer extension - hoping it gives time to build a swing to revoke or PV. Would love there to be a proper investigation into the Leave campaign too which all the dodgy links of the main players out in the open.