Westministenders: Sub-Prime Minister at large

[BigChocFrenzy]

Our Sub-Prime Minister BJ is threatening a govt tantrum strike until he is allowed his Haribo GE on 12 December.

If MPs vote for a GE, he has promised them "more time" to debate the WAB,
but that would only be from 29 October to 7 November

• ridiculously inadequate for such complex legislation -

before Parliament is automatically dissolved for the 25 sitting days before a GE.

The GE debate starts Monday 2:30 pm in the HoC
Corbyn says he'll agree to a GE if BJ takes No Deal off the table

BUT wIth this WA,
No deal cannot 100% be taken off the table whilst the Tories are in office:

they could still No Deal after transition ends on 31 December 2020,
if they don't request a transition by July.

We don't know when the EU will give their decision on an extension, or what it will be:

The EU may decide only after the HoC vote
- in which case MPs would be voting "blindly"

Tusk, Merkel & most other leaders want to grant the Flextension until 31 January,
but Macron & a few others want to give a short extension of only 2-4 weeks, to pressure MPs to pass the WA in November

• in which case the GE would take place shortly after Brexit, which would be a gift to BJ.

A 12 December GE would also cause serious logistical problems for local council officials:

Apart from their poll station bookings clashing with Xmas bookings for church halls & schools,

they are legally required to send out all the polling cards based on the current electoral roll,
then at the GE, check names against the new electoral roll which must be updated on 1 December

The Rebel Alliance want a long extension, so they have time to add amendments to the WAB,
e.g. a CU, the Level Playing Field agreement in May's WA, maybe even a PV
So many may want to vote against a GE before that ..... but what does Corbyn want ?

BJ as PM could still change the date of any GE after he has agreed to it, if it suits him.

What does BJ want ?
Alice Cooper said it:

"I'm your top prime cut of meat, I'm your choice
I wanna be elected
I'm your yankee doodle dandy in a gold Rolls Royce
I wanna be elected
Kids want a savior, don't need a fake

I wanna be elected
We're all gonna rock to the rules that I make
I wanna be elected, elected, elected..."

m.youtube.com/watch?v=cSvy8HpxFxo

• Post edited to correct dates

Indeed Peregrina

I did like the way that Ian Blackford managed to get in that he was a liar during PMQs - without being slapped down by the Speaker - by referring to the fact that the PM is a man who has been sacked twice for lying....

He is of course also a wanker and a fuckwit, who has put forward a crap deal that will leave us all in the bloody shit - but none of that can be said in Parliament but I've added to the MN word count

Well, quite Basilpots. For something so important and urgent, heels do seem to be being dragged suddenly. And I take issue with getting it done by a certain time being more important than getting it done right. I have enough of that at work when we have to accept that "done is better than perfect" when we are stretched, but the Brexit bill is a teeny bit more important than my latest marketing email....

It's utterly ridiculous that instead of just giving it the time it needs (as per Ms da Costa's 37 day plan), BoZo throws a tanty and just pulls it. Who's the one causing delay in that instance? And why the fuck aren't the press ripping him to shreds for a) proposing a fucking stupid timetable to start with and b) not just tabling the bloody bill for the requisite time? I'm fucking sick to the back teeth of how he's being allowed to get away with this shit.

But, I'm seriously on the fence about a best time for an election. Pre-Brexit, post-extension really does seem like the best way to split the right wing vote. If we wait, Brexit may be rammed through and can't be stopped at all. And a post-Brexit GE will definitely have a BoZo-bounce.

It's like the trickiest game of chess ever!

Commemorative Brexit 50p issue "paused" while Saj works out what to do with ten million dodgy coins whose early production he ordered.

If anyone manages to get hold of even just a few of them, they will make a killing.

Seems very Brexit appropriate

Re workers' rights and so on. There is no doubt. at. all. that reduction in these rights is essential to a new outside the EU model. I don't know why there is any doubt about it.

Bizarrely -I've actually more time for ERG types who have this vision for a Singapore type corporate economy. I just wish they'd be honest about the sacrifices for everyone else the vision entails with some promises of a trickle down. (It's not the society I want and don't think it would work here but at least there's some logic to it.) It's the cake and eat it - we don't need anyone - great Brexit revolution -power to the people Brexit brigade that rile me more as there's no logic to that vision at all.

I try hard to see things from a Leave perspective, I really do. ( I'm not sure that effort is reciprocal by the way ). The way I see it there are 5 - only 5 - possible merits in the arguments for the ERG brave new world.

1. A feelz factor - Britain feeling empirish again. Union jacks, bunting, scones etc.

1. Unique opportunity to cut back consumer and employment laws in the hope it will increase corporate profit margins. ( I'm not sure that a demotivated workforce will buy into this but it's a valid possibility for increasing profit I suppose.)

1. Linked to 2 more aspects of the Singapore model. Ultra -business-friendly environment with low or zero corporation tax, low wages etc. According to the attached article this would likely include a significant temporary migrant ‘non-citizen’ workforce (around 30 per cent of the total workforce) without the protection of national labour laws or access to welfare provisions.

1. Reduced spending on public services. 63% of GDP currently goes on social protection, health and education. The real

agenda has to eventually be to slash this to make the Singapore model work.

1. The new corporate tax avoidance directive planned since 2015 only affecting big corporate groups that exploit disparities between national tax systems to reduce the amount of tax they have to pay.This is a minor aspect I think.

I want to believe in the Singapore model in case it happens. Like it or not this is still the vision of those who are in control. But with the FTPA how can this work because the people will eventually react against each step as it unfolds.

There is no doubt the workers rights bit is critical. Frances O Grady summarised it well - months ago.

FTarticle~on~workers~rights

LSE~on~Singapore~model

A 1936 Edward VIII penny will sell for around twenty quid.

Maybe Saj could start a little 'business' on the side.

The Brexiteers on my Twitter feed seem to be under the illusion that WAB information has already been discuss/debated for the last three years and as it is 95% the same as TM deal (ignoring the fact they hated that) only the changes to the NI bit needs looking at (ignoring that ministers give conflicting answers daily)

It seems to be conveniently overlooked that this bill was never published by TM and therefore never scrutinised at any point. The devil is in the detail.

The sheer shortsightedness is breathtaking.

Why do they not mint a coin design with no date on it ???

Seems à blindingly obvious answer.

@MockersthefeMANist I often think about what would have happened if Ed Miliband hadn't stood against his brother. God the whole course of history would have been different. I remember reading an article at the time about their mother encouraging Ed to stand as she didn't want one brother to be favoured over the other. I'm sure Mrs Miliband is a lovely woman but she is inadvertently responsible for Brexit it n my mind.

Why do they not mint a coin design with no date on it?

That's probably what the Royal Mint said to Saj after the last one was cancelled.

Spreadsheet Phil said only a few commemorative editions in presentation cases for collectors, but Saj wanted millions:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49308970

How did Ed get the nod over David ?

Didn't the unions vote for Ed, which tipped the vote to him? I could google, but I'm going by memory!

How did Ed get the nod over David?

Sam McFuckingCluskey.

The 'Butterfly Effect' Moment was when Eric Joyce thumped a Tory MP in the HoC bar. Big row over selecting a new candidate, McClusky took control. "It's the Wrong Miliband, Gromit!" Cameron, Referendum. Etc.

@Parker231 posted this on the Brexit Arms thread (I popped my head around the door before back out again and then fucking posted this on that thread by mistake ) which makes an excellent point.

Crafty cancelling the Budget - means the OBR won’t publish growth forecasts and public finance figures. Should have also included an assessment of the Brexit plan.

Another way of avoiding making bad news public.

Basilpots, you might also want to point out to the Brexiteers on your Twitter feed that humans and chimpanzees are 96% identical at the DNA level

Cheers all that was in the heady days of me only taking a small interest in politics.

Unlike now when I have to scour the t’internet on a daily basis to discover what new and interesting way our Government will find to fuck the country over.

Does anyone know the plan if bozo doesn't get a majority for a GE?

@QueenOfThorns would be completely lost on them.....

He will keep asking Bercows Like a petulant child.

He throws bigger tantrums than ds 🙄 I suppose he'll get one eventually but I hope it's when brexit is either done or abandoned so the full effects have been felt and him judged accordingly.

How was the brexit arms prettybird?

But the full effects won't be known by July when we have to ask for an extension to the transition period, meaning we will no deal on 01.01.21. So that's a risky process too.

It's a really fine balancing act as to when is best, hence me thinking that it's better to just do it now. I think. I'm torn.

I'm also really struggling to summon motivation for anything, even things I normally love, at the moment. I think it's Brexit malaise, but don't know what to do to buck myself up.

I hear you. We are all still in our pjs. Unheard of normally. Everyone is tired and meh. The weather doesn't help. I think it's rained solidly for over 24 hours now.

I've heard this, too. Rumour, obviously. But interesting to see Lis suggesting it as an opinion.

Actually, yes, no extension might actually lead to the numbers for revocation from the anti-no dealers. That would be interesting. Then they'd have to force BoZo to write the letter.