Westminstenders: Why the Irish Border isn't a Remain/EU Plot

[RedToothBrush]

I hope the events of this week give the ERG the kick up the backside over this that they need.

I doubt it will, but I live in hope. The alternative is too horrid to contemplate.

I'll leave this here instead as a reminder of what choice Brexit was always going to come down to.

Happy Easter everyone.

Anyone seen this? (Apologies if already posted, had a bad night's sleep).

www.express.co.uk/news/uk/960953/Brexit-news-donald-trump-NHS-freeloading-UK-pay-more-drugs-post-brexit-prescription-prices

Another good reason not to Brexit!

{Well now if that were the case it would have sailed through parliament wouldn't it?}

It would have if:
They had been involved in writing it.
They bothered to read what was written.
They were clever enough to understand that it is a necessarily complex document.
They weren't hypocrites who if it were another country trying to leave would have complained that it is not tough enough.
There hadn't been a continuous stream of lies about how great things COULD be but failing to articulate exactly HOW.

The UK is 'over a barrel' and frighteningly it is the UK that has done it to itself by inventing impossible scenarios and failing to negotiate.
Worse, it has gone about this in a manner of someone with tourettes and is on (illegal recreational ) drugs.
If you think getting the WA passed is a problem then just wait until the UK starts to get trade deals with others 'legally binding' rather than the (mostly) warm wishes that are being reported.

Do you think that Labour and Conservatives are intending going ahead with the the EU elections?

The Conservatives have done no preparation, so I wondered whether they may have hatched a plan together.

Do you think that Labour and Conservatives are intending going ahead with the the EU elections?

The Conservatives have done no preparation, so I wondered whether they may have hatched a plan together.

The Conservative government are stumping up the cash for organising the election. Posting polling cards is expensive for starters.

It just seems so quiet. No announcements by Teresa May at all.

Yes she was practically doing a weekly podium moment before Easter which is odd in itself.

The only thing to announce would be the inevitably inconclusive conclusion of the talks with Corbyn.

I suppose she can't effectively give a free party political broadcast about that just before the elections anyway.

{It just seems so quiet. No announcements by Teresa May at all.}

Maybe she is doing the '50 ways to leave your lover EU' and is going to quietly slink away to Switzerland before anyone notices?

Remember Eurotunnel suing HMG and being paid off out of court. ?

Now P&O are suing over that deal ...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48063672

Ferry firm P&O is taking legal action against the UK government, claiming a rival was unlawfully handed £33m of taxpayers' money.

Last month, the Department for Transport (DfT) was forced to settle with train operator Eurotunnel, which had challenged the procurement of no-deal Brexit shipping contracts.

As part of the deal, Eurotunnel agreed to make improvements to its terminal.

P&O argues that this put its business at a "competitive disadvantage".

(contd)

Brexit is immaterial now. Even revoking wouldn't stop this lawsuit. And the others backed up along the track behind it. (Do you see what I did there ?)

The Conservative government are stumping up the cash for organising the election. Posting polling cards is expensive for starters.

Ours came yesterday

Jim Pickard@pickardje
some of you may remember the £33m payment by the Department for Transport to Eurotunnel to settle claims it had been unfairly excluded from plans to keep cross-channel routes open in the event of a no-deal Brexit

Eurotunnel was angry that the government had ignored it when it promised payments of £89m to two operators, Brittany Ferries and DFDS (and at one point £14m for Seabourne Freight) to lay on alternative ferry services to prevent congestion at the main Dover-Calais artery

Now we have a new twist:

P&O Ferries has begun legal proceedings vs DFT after being excluded from no-deal Brexit preparations.

“If left unchallenged (the £33m) would put our services at a competitive disadvantage...we have initiated legal proceedings.”

On the face of it this may sound like a fresh blow for beleaguered transport secretary Chris Grayling.

But the action might save £ for taxpayers.

That’s because DFT/Eurotunnel contract says if the money is found to be “unlawful state aid” Eurotunnel could have to repay it...

so on this occasion is Grayling failing or prevailing? Let’s find out..

www.independent.co.uk/voices/tommy-robinson-european-elections-mep-campaign-far-right-edl-a8887236.html?amp&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter&__twitter_impression=true
Tommy Robinson's MEP campaign will be an utter failure – but I know first-hand where his real danger lies

In descending upon a Wythenshawe housing estate to launch his campaign, Tommy positioned himself as a hero of the working class, railing against both the “elites” and the perceived threat of “Islamification”, to a crowd chanting his name.

There was a big screen to broadcast campaign material, and free burgers for all, until Greater Manchester Police informed him it constituted “treating” under electoral law, and was therefore illegal.

1930s 'Bread and Work' anyone?

DGR
Yep, I have been having this train of thought too!

Jane Merrick @janemerrick23
Lib Dem leader Vince Cable says to applause he has "a couple of regrets" about the Euros - firstly "that we're not standing on a common platform with the other remain parties to stop Brexit ... we should be standing together"

FACEPALM

This is the leader of the Lib Dems. Not a backbench MP.

m.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/outrage-as-tory-council-asks-public-if-they-support-cuts-to-free-disabled-bus-pass_uk_5c765943e4b0031d9563885e?ncid=other_twitter_cooo9wqtham&utm_campaign=share_twitter
Outrage As Tory Council Asks Public If They Support Cuts To Free Disabled Bus Pass
Authority quietly gauging support for measures to combat slashed budgets.

Among the ideas that would flout current legislation were:

Half-fare on buses for pensioners and people with a disability;
A charge to enter household waste and recycling sites;
An annual fee for membership of the library.

I think we can see the future here.

Won't pensioners rebel and not vote Tory then ? Oh dear, what a pickle ....

that we're not standing on a common platform with the other remain parties to stop Brexit ... we should be standing together

Do we infer he tried and others refused? Change/TIGs don’t seem to be up for mingling.

Taken from the latest 'Connexions' online. Obviously the French are willing to help with a Brexit roadmap.

mother, fluffy The EU would rather No Deal than change the backstop
It protects the SM and Ireland

WA = exit bill + the EU terms to start negotiating any future trade deal
The UK has had its 2 years of negotiation and the 27 members are not going to reopen all that.

Read the terms of the extension: NO renegotiation of the WA, only the PD

The EU would be idiots to trust the UK without a legally binding backstop

.... and if there is No Deal, then signing up to the backstop and the other main WA terms would be a precondition for any negotiations
So, no minideals and the EU's unilateral No-Deal continuation of flights etc would end when they are ready

The backstop is required even if we went for the softest SM+CU type Brexit,
because otherwise right after Brexit an ERG PM will just run out the time in transition and go for WTO

The reason that Brexiters & the HoC are so opposed to the backstop is precisely because it prevents them from going for a Brexit that would mean a hard border.
Otherwise, they'd have signed up,.

They plan a deal with the US which would require a hard border to protect the SM
That is the purpose of Brexit: a US deal, along with the accompanying transfer of power to the huge multinationals and losing opportunities for the oligarchs

Won't pensioners rebel and not vote Tory then ? Oh dear, what a pickle

As a pensioner, with a bus pass, I would like to remind people that you have to claim them. They don't get issued automatically. You are at perfect liberty to pay the fare if you chose.

BTW I don't vote Tory either, and have no intention of starting.

looting opportunities for the oligarchs
(it's the plebs who lose)

Reading some MN threads, there seems great anger from some people that the disabled have all these "benefits"
and many of the young resent the old getting free bus passes.

Divide & Rule has been a successful Tory strategy since the 1980s

I wonder if that could be a strategy ... target the older folk and say it's bus passes or Brexit, you can't have both. And if your bus pass goes, then your house won't be far behind ...

"Bus passes or Brexit" is a tailer-made slogan. Royalties will reach me via MNHQ, thanks.

A bus pass would be no use to me as there are no buses.

Since another month has gone by since the EU were in theory 'ready' for a 29 March crash out, I suspect that many plans are now completed or damn close so they could 'pull out' at any time.

This is Chuka Umunna's explanation of why CUK are standing separately from other Remain parties.
www.independent.co.uk/voices/brexit-european-elections-mep-change-uk-the-independent-group-remain-leave-alliance-a8881306.html