If the deal passes tomorrow then when can we stop worrying about no deal?

[BercowsFlyingFlamingo]

ie when can we stop stashing and start eating? or more seriously: when can we relax and stop worrying about medicine and food shortages?

There is no way this deal should be allowed to pass until there has been time for it to be scrutinised in close detail. For MPs to pass it without fully understanding the content would be unforgivable. Apparently Gove has been selling it to ERG MPs as the route to no deal.

I don't understand why you think any Tory MPs want to get rid of workers' rights

I can’t believe you’re falling for the nonsense of pledges and the like from a conservative government when it comes to Tory rights.

History demonstrates that they give zero fucks about it.

workers rights not Tory rights 😂

And yes it’s a route to no deal. Absolutely

Which TV channel or radio station will be best for this today, do we reckon?

I have some work to do and an empty house. I’d quite like some constant background coverage this afternoon, which rules R4 out.

Boris speech bow on bbc1

Now

Might be all over by 2.30, IF it happens today. Rumour that if letwin amendment goes through The big vote will move to Monday

Thanks. When do they vote?

This feels like being at uni again. Always more reading to do

I don't understand why you think any Tory MPs want to get rid of workers' rights

Then go and read 'Britannia Unchained' - written by Raab, Patel, Truss, Kwarteng and Skidmore; all five are now ministers and 3 of whom now sit in the Cabinet.

The 'chains' that they want the UK to be released from include:

• employment rights
• minimum wage legislation
• working time regulations
• environmental standards
• food standards
• corporate taxation and transparency legislation

I don't understand why you think any Tory MPs want to get rid of workers' rights

Because a wing of the Tory party has moaned constantly about workers' rights. It was only when the Labour government came to power in 1997 that the UK joined the Social Chapter.

And the first thing the Coalition government did (or one of the first things) in 2010 was to increase the amount of time you had to be employed by an employer before you could claim unfair dismissal to 2 years. And introduced huge fees to bring cases to an employment tribunal (which were later ruled to be unlawful).

Most Tories do not like the plebs to have rights. Some on the moderate side of the party favour a decent minimum wage etc (probably because it means paying out less benefits, I have no argument with that, the state shouldn't subsidise tight fisted employers) but the EU have guaranteed a minimum threshold of employment protection.

What would we lose?

Working time would be an early casualty
Rights for agency workers
TUPE protection

and then they'd chip away at discrimination laws and introduce caps for unfair dismissal claims, possibly outlawing unfair dismissal claims altogether except if there is overt discrimination.

at some point British citizens are going to realise that by pulling up the drawbridge, they have not only kept the foreigners out, but they have also locked themselves in

Most of us without EU passports down the back of the sofa have always realised that!

It's rather confusing, because "No Deal" is being used to mean two different things. It can mean leaving without a WA, and now it's being used to mean trading with the EU on WTO terms, with or without a WA in place.

If the WAB passes next week that achieves two important things: firstly, a there would be a standstill transition until the end of 2020 at the earliest, and secondly, citizens' rights would be enshrined in law. Thus, UK businesses and individuals would be able to relocate to an EU country during the transition period. This would protect them from the effects of the second kind of "No Deal", in which the WA has been ratified but no FTA has been agreed by the end of the transition period. A No FTA scenario would replicate most of the economic effects of a No WA Brexit, but would predominantly affect households and businesses which had unwisely stayed in the UK after transition.

So basically, don't eat your stockpile unless you're about to move abroad.

So Letwin pulled it off.

This is messy.