Westministenders: Slow News Fake News

[RedToothBrush]

Things have been slow whilst we are in proroguation, ahead of next weeks Queen's Speech and the EU summit.

We've been in full spin mode, from the likes of the far right and an unnamed source at No.10.

People seem to be waking up to the reality that its highly unlikely we will get a deal now, unless something significant. And No.10 has worked out the NI problem. FINALLY.

Anyway, if you have a little time this week and you are interested in the history of where technology change and fake news meet and how where we are now is merely things repeating themselves, Ian Hislop's Fake News: A True History, is essential viewing.
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m00095hv/ian-hislops-fake-news-a-true-history

I really feel strongly this is stuff that should be being taught in schools somehow as its what protects us from extremism.

"removing workers’ rights"

I would be very surprised if the EU agrees to any Exit deal that omits the "level playing field" conditions of May's WA

Those workers & consumer rights, environmental regs etc are important for our quality of life but cost business billions

The EU would be v reluctant to give a large economy, right next door to them, such a big advantage over EU businesses that must obey all these rules.

Any future trade deal could only then at most be a Canada -- unless the UK adds these regs back again during the future negotiations

Even then, the UK would have a big advantage when trading with RoW

So I expect the "level playing field" to be part of this deal,
which means a chunk of the ERG - probably including Raab, Patel & the other dirty dozen ministers - would vote against

If any PDFs are released, it would be instructive to see if any tell tale metadata has been left in the file .

"Why was it rejected the first time round?"

Also partly because the DUP were keeping the Tories in power with their 10 votes for Confidence & Supply.

So, Arlene could threaten Tory MPs that they would face a GE and risk their seats.

The DUP has lost its veto power with the Tories being a minority govt of about -44

Thanks for the explanation, Eyewhisker.

Resurrecting it means that Johnson turns his back on the DUP.

I presume Johnson won't care about that if we have a GE and the Tories get a majority (without needing the DUP).

The fact that this WA has been negotiated by a Leave leader, still the darling of the Tory membership, gives it much more credibility,

compared to being negotiated by a (former) Remainer like May

• anything she produced was always going to be regarded with suspicion by hardcore / paranoid Brexiters

Also, of course, this does look like the last chance of avoiding No Deal, as even an extension just delays it / produces a GE that the Tories are fav to win and then No Deal

Caution.
Don't let's believe YET that a WA can definitely be made on this basis.

BJ lies whenever he exhales
He is the twistiest of reversing ferrets

He's only just finished spreading lies about his conversation with Merkel, so who knows what he might claim Varadkar agreed.

Yes, I know there were witnesses, but we saw BJ state at that hospital in front of all the press "there are no press here"
and Brexiters lap it up as The Truth

The DUP don't have the power they once wielded within the tory party, surely?

The "level playing field" requirement of the Single Market, especially with regard to workers' rights and environmental standards (which go beyond simple goods & services but have an impact on the costs of said goods & services) will be the real (and probably fatal) sticking point with the EU.

and yes they shouldn't have voted leave..... but it just makes me so sad for them...... Yeah right

If UK is outside EU single market and customs is level playing field not an issue for a trade deal?

Not for the businesses in NI

Otherwise they have an unfair advantage over the Irish businesses.

If UK is outside EU single market and customs is level playing field not an issue for a trade deal?

this deal creates a "UK" (mainland) and rUK (Northern Ireland). UK can do what it pleases, but rUK must remain aligned to EU SU/SM - which removes the need for a border.

Now I can live with that. But the argument you hear crashing into that acceptance is from Scotland who will immediately point out that if you can split the UK into UK+rUK, then you can also split it into UK+rUK+"Independent Scotland in the EU" using the same logic.

....so they would have to "accept" (and they probably would although the DUP would scream blue murder) having better workers' rights and environmental protections than the rest of the UK.

Labour objected to the 'blind Brexit' nature of the PD

Well that hasn’t changed, has it? I mean the ‘blind’ part. I have no idea whether Labour will see the need to get this through to avoid the cliff edge, but I’m not optimistic.

(Sorry, I feel like a right misery today. It’s Friday, I should be happy!)

I'll go with that DGR - although initially at least, I'll accept that NI is a special case because of the GFA.

....but once the principle is established.....

Does Scotland matter to the EU, Ireland, Westminster maths for passing a deal or Boris Johnson’s chances in an election?
I think Boris reckons he can do without Scotland.

I'd hope Scotland can later leverage something similar to NI,
since this or May's backstop look like the best of both worlds, UK+EU, for the NI economy

It's not so "blind" now though as hadn't BJ said that he wants to go for a hard Brexit (although of course, he contradicts himself depending on the audience ) - and everything that he has proposed re trade deals and the future of UK regulations suggest a hard Brexit

Judge him on the company he keeps

On that I agree with you Innui - although Brexit has done wonders for raising the profile of Scotland within the EU and to get us taken seriously, which is key for the long term strategy of independence

Personally, I'd remember that last week, Boris was claiming that "more of parliament" was backing his approach and that the EU should respect that (I can't be bothered to look the exact words up).

So the more cuddles this news gets, the more Boris gets to pretend to the EU and UK that "something" is happening.

Whether it's all part of a Grand Plan to do an end run around parliament by swerving a vote (because we're all in favour, right ?) remains to be seen. But it's Brexiteer SOP to make extravagant claims where they can't be disproved as "proof" of whatever the flavour of the day is. Once again, the comparisons with religion are not as facile as they seem.

Negotiations will take years

Attitudes can soften among Leave voters, once we have actually left
Also a new govt could bring a soft Brexit,
e.g. a hung Parliament would never pass a US FTA

Someone in Brussels shares my total distrust of BJ .... he's usually close to EU Commission thinking:

Fabian Zuleeg@FabianZuleeg (European Policy Centre, Brussels)

Whether we believe we can make progress towards a Brexit deal essentially hinges on how much trust we can have in Boris Johnson.

Yes, important to signal progress & willingness to negotiate but
^ I hope, going against diplomatic convention, @LeoVaradkar taped this conversation.^

< how the UK PM is regarded in Brussels >

Brexit has done wonders for raising the profile of Scotland within the EU and to get us taken seriously, which is key for the long term strategy of independence

I'd be amazed if once Brexit is done - however that happens - the EU doesn't look into ways of developing regions within member states as a means to help unity - it might help balance the north/south divide that has developed and also help Spain and the Basque region ?

It's probably inevitable that an EU without the dead weight of the UK will evolve into an entity that the UK would have wanted to stay in, had it not been for Cameron.

I wonder what a peek behind the scenes would reveal.

If this is just Boris buying time, then what for ?