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.

Bus passes are useless if you use a wheelchair. Unless you're involved in some sort of project to count how many buses can go past with wheelchair spaces taken by buggies.

Of course, in some parts of the UK that could be a once a day bus ...

CLEAR THE LOBBY!! THE AYES HAVE IT!! THE AYES HAVE IT!! Ds is off on one again

Mum has a bus pass.
Has never used it.
Would not go on a bus on her own ever.
I suppose she's got me to ferry her everywhere though!

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

My brother almost broke his neck to get his bus pass and then couldn't use it, because he lives on the outskirts of a village with a one bus a week situation.

I do use mine, quite regularly - it is a bonus, and saves traffic congestion.

Can one of you lovely peeps help with a query please. One of dds friends who is gay and been married for a year to a Polish guy who has only lived here for 3 years. They tell my dd that the Polish guy has to go back to Poland in order to apply for a work permit to come back as he has been here for less than 5 years. Is there any way because they are married that he could apply to stay without having to go back to Poland? Gays are not recognised in Poland.

This is if brexit happens and I should say please and thanks!

Sos
Rather than asking here surely the best way would be for the person concerned to get the info from the 'horses mouth' the DWP or whatever they call themselves now, and do it smartish.

Umunna's explanation makes sense.

I do think though in this instance, we all need to get behind CUK, a very strong CUK vote maybe our last chance to halt brexit.

I'm voting for changeuk in the EU elections

I'm not delighted about it but there are my only option

My only worry about voting change UK is that - whilst we are all politically engaged and know who they are - most people don't. The politically disinterested aren't going to vote for a new party they don't know much about - they'll just tick the same box they always tick. And because the apathetic outweigh the politically engaged by a wide margin... that might make a vote for the TIGs essentially a wasted vote (because no one is going to care about combined vote share for remain parties)
... but then will the politically apathetic turn out to vote at all?

I want to send a message - but it isn't much of a message if other people aren't sending the same one. And I don't know which message other remainers are going to send.

It must be so much easier to just support Farage... disastrous in the long run, of course, but easier in the short term.

I will be voting for the Liberal Democrats who are campaigning to Stop Brexit.

mother, fluffy The EU would rather No Deal than change the backstop

Bearing in mind I specifically said that the backstop wouldn't be changed, but maybe other elements could if there weren't any red lines, I'm really not sure why you've mentioned this?

Mother said the same as me too!

@Icantreachthepretzels I voted for Labour in last GE. It’s traditionally the party i vote for but it was not a vote I was comfortable with at all due to the current leadership team. However I live in a seat that is often used to predict how a Ge will go. This time the Tory got in but I have now been lumped into the 80% that voted for Brexit.

I regret my vote for this reason only.

I think this time I will vote with my heart.

If Labour do not come out with a clear and concise commitment to a confirmatory referendum then they do not have my vote. Most likely they will not get it anyway as I don’t trust Corbyn at all.

My dad uses his bus pass, I don't think my mum does though.

Do you have to apply for one, or does it just show up? If it's the latter, that's a waste of resources for a start.

I'm in pretty much the same position as you Random18 - since the story about the campaign leaflets not mentioning a final say vote and pushing their brexit plan, I've crossed Labour off my list as a possibility to vote for.

But that still leaves me with the Lib Dem/ ChangeUK/ Green conundrum - and no idea which is the best way to cast my vote. It's currently two labour, two con and 2 UKIP MEPs in my region - I think a vote for any small party is probably a waste of a vote, so it's a matter of trying to second guess which will be the least wasteful vote and vote for them. And I have no idea...

{I am suggesting that this WA does not work. It is based on her red lines, and it is not acceptable to anyone.}

Although not as good as 'No departure' WAS to the EU, it is the only acceptable offer that the EU will make, the UK HAS to accept that.
I say was, because there will become a time when the UK remaining will be more trouble than it is worth. The EU has stuff to sell, and the UK NEEDS to buy it, so a deal will happen eventually although there will be much screaming and kicking beforehand, and a final readjustment to a new normal.

It's a difficult conundrum but I think a vote for CUK is not only a vote for Remain but a vote for...well...change. The LDs on the ground here are a strange mixture of old style hair and sandals, good solid local politicians with yonks of experience, some quite posh individuals, a variety of traditional backstabbers and nitpickers and new style woke gender non specific dudepeople (pretty much one or two of each). I think long established parties offer a home for many people with bees in their bonnets and an inability to listen because of the sound of buzzing. CUK seem bland, competent and normal in comparison. I increasingly long for normal.

The Backstop is what is blocking HoC approval to the WA

That's why we keep seeing all these demands that May limit or remove the backstop

There aren't really other specific changes requested to the WA, just to the PD
and - purely for the UK - an attempt to block an ERG PM from tearing up the PD

A few battier Brexiters have demanded that the Exit Bill should only be payable once a future trade deal has been signed,
but the Exit Bill is just money owed, for which the EU can sue in the ICJ , or the transition fee

If you wade through the WA text, it's only the backstop that is really unusual

• and that has the option to become NI-only if both sides agree

Otherwise, given that the WA has to handle the unique situation of reducing current trade access,
it handles all the issues one might expect, to protect the single market from a neighbour that is disengaging.

Just watching Coveney/Bradley press conference.

Made me want to ask Westminsterenders people why they think we seem to have so many poor quality politicians in uk at the moment? Not very bright. Lazy etc. Or is it just my perception?

Anyone want to wax lyrical?

There are 2 choices: WA or Revoke
The UK is wasting this extension by refusing to choose

It is doubtful if the E27 will grant a further extension in October when they see the UK just uses extensions to postpone making the choice

Most people seem to forget that there is also a June Review, at which E27 opinion about a later extension is likely to be formed

Chris Greyy@chrisgreybrexit*

Britain looks set to squander the extension period.

The October deadline is really not that far away and the signs are that the UK is going to use it to keep going round the same nonsensical loops as before.

http://chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2019/04/britain-looks-set-to-squander-extension.html

I was in Germany this week where, amongst other things, I gave a talk on Brexit.
.....
Over and over again I was asked some version of the question ‘but, surely, that’s just nonsense’?

And, embarrassingly, so it is: to almost anyone outside of the Brexit debate in the UK what is happening makes no sense
....
The problem comes when, as the nature of Brexit means it must, this domestic nonsense comes up against the realities of the outside world.
.....
. In a report this week for the European Policy Centre, Andrew Duff argues that “the most likely scenario is continued political paralysis in the UK leading to a demand for a further extension of Article 50 in October”.

If this paralysis means there has been no progress by the time of the June review, he predicts that the position of EU leaders and, especially, Angela Merkel will harden
(indeed, the German foreign minister has already suggested (£) that the October extension will be the last).

In a similar vein, writing in the Financial Times this week (£), Wolfgang Munchau suggests “the UK does not really have more than five months to make a decision.
In reality, the effective timescale is just a few weeks”.

He also goes on to argue that the consensus of EU leaders is likely to shift against the granting of a further extension beyond October.

Bradley is an example of a politician who has disgracefully poor knowledge of UK current affairs and recent history
as was shown by her astonishing ignorance when she became NI SoS

Her knowledge of NI was - and is - far below what I would expect from an intelligent educated person who is NOT a politician