Westministenders: Canada Plus and the Transition Phase

[RedToothBrush]

As we approach the 31st January, we slowly tick towards exit and transition.

Things are not yet signed off though the No Deal planning has quietly been stood down with no press release and the government have said they won't talk about trade deals post 31st Jan because the public are bored of them and don't understand.

The new EU president has said that the UK doesn't have time to make a full deal with the EU before 31st December with a deadline which isn't flexible.

We still have no idea what the government plans are. We still have many EU citizens feeling very vulnerable.

Perhaps we should start talking about this rather than Royals for a couple of weeks...

[GeistohneGrenzen]

pmk

[frumpety]

From the last thread , I don't know how I am supposed to be one of the voices that 'forms' the UK I want to live in ? I wanted to live in a UK that was a full member of the EU , with all the protections that entailed. Now I am in a UK with a Government that can basically do as it pleases, due to its majority, for the next five years.

How and to who do I need to make my voice heard ?

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

pmk

[Pan2]

'form the UK you want to live in' - in a world of choice, I am okay with the one we currently enjoy. Some amendments but overall okay.

Johnson to Sturgeon - reported in BBC as "refusing permission". That will do the cause a power of good.

Cousin at the Indy march in Glasgow at the weekend says there were numerous Irish and Welsh groups marching too.

[ContinuityError]

PMK

[AuldAlliance]

Update:
The refusal to fund students on Erasmus mobility beyond Jan 31st is not general.
It's my university.
They had to set aside emergency funds last year in case students needed to be repatriated in case of No Deal and, in a context where they can't afford to pay enough admin/academic staff, they are not prepared to do that again. The students who sent me panic-stricken emails had misunderstood and I should have checked before posting. My apologies.

Meanwhile, the HoL has marshalled certain amendments for debate, including that one. Which is a blow to democracy or a sign of it functioning, depending upon which parallel reality you inhabit.

[OhLookHeKickedTheBall]

Thanks red

[Motheroffourdragons]

PMK.

I wonder what Nicola's next steps are. She knew Bozo was never going to agree, so she may need to wait till after the Scottish parliament elections next year before she can ask again.

It will have to be a slow burner.

[pinboard]

PMK - thanks, Red
nothing positive / useful to add, sorry!

[QueenOfThorns]

PMK

[pinboard]

I think NS will not be unhappy that a 2nd IndyRef is 'unsanctioned' by BJ, esp in such pompous terms - 'not in her lifetime' etc
Now there can be a slow legal challenge- which will roll until the 2021 elections- when the SNP will do very well due to this issue alone

[pinboard]

(tips straight in with an opinion, usefulness of which is debatable!)

[Motheroffourdragons]

I agree pinboard - and of course you are welcome to jump straight in with an opinion, that's the point here .

I have just signed up as a supporter of the labour party after much hmmmmming and hawing.

Anyone but RLB for me!

[yolofish]

Morning all. I agree that the silence is alarming. And as for those bloody bongs, surely the 17m who voted for this shit can scrape that up between them?

[AuldAlliance]

Is it just me? When I see the word bong, I think of something not remotely resembling celebratory bell-ringing.

[prettybird]

Tim Martin and James Dyson could stump it up seeing as they wanted Brexit so much

[Mockers2020Vision]

Boris Johnson is the PM of the UK. Any non-statutory 'referendum' in Scotland would be an opinion poll with no legal standing whatever.

UK would not be as heavy-handed as the Spanish in Catalunya, but ultimately it can take any and all powers away from Holyrood if it breaks the law. (Or even if it doesn't. We are and remain a unitary state.)

[jasjas1973]

I don't know how I am supposed to be one of the voices that 'forms' the UK I want to live in?

You can't, no-one can, not even HateIs! Johnson can do as he pleases, tie the UK to the EU or as a former US govt adviser suggests "the UK needs to take more notice of the US now and less of the EU"

Its all very depressing.

[Motheroffourdragons]

Mockers - nobody is suggesting a non statutory referendum for independence.

But devolved powers will be returning to WM anyway - I forget now which ones, but there was a lot of talk about this around May's WA so it is a lose lose situation for Scotland, and Wales and NI to be fair.

[BigChocFrenzy]

Meanwhile, the govt silence on their trade deal may be worrying for us,
but the possibility of a bare bones / No deal is toxic to JIT manufacturers who export

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2020/01/14/fears-grow-vauxhalls-uk-car-plant-work-shifted-germany/

Production of a key Vauxhall Astra variant is being shifted to Germany from the UK,
raising fresh fears for the firm's Ellesmere Port plant in Cheshire.

Vauxhall owner PSA Group will make the Astra estate in Russelsheim from 2022 - ratcheting up pressure on Ellesmere Port and its 1,000 staff.

The estate model represents the vast bulk of the 59,000 cars which roll off the UK site's production line each year, and losing it is a severe blow.

[mrslaughan]

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jan/15/hs2-will-destroy-or-damage-hundreds-of-uk-wildlife-sites-report?CMP=ShareiOSAppp_Other

Just because HS2 is a topic we have discussed.
This ego project needs to be scrapped quickly- and money diverted to other projects

[DGRossetti]

UK would not be as heavy-handed as the Spanish in Catalunya, but ultimately it can take any and all powers away from Holyrood if it breaks the law.

Can it ?

The real question is where do the powers the Scottish parliament had reside ? I'm no constitutional expert, but it seems a lot of Scots Laws experts have noted that you can't sell what you don't own, and that means the Scottish Parliament did not sell the sovereignty of the Scottish People in the Act of Union as it wasn't theirs in the first place. Unlike England which has a completely different history of the powers of Westminster.

Going back to 1707 will be a doddle, since the 1600s was quoted only a few months ago in SCOTUK.

[Peregrina]

When it comes to an IndyRef2, I have much more confidence that Sturgeon knows what she is doing than Johnson or his advisers.

[Peregrina]

Going back to 1707 will be a doddle, since the 1600s was quoted only a few months ago in SCOTUK.

Or given that we heard a lot about Henry VIII powers in May's Government, going back even earlier.

[howabout]

By way of a sign in a wee follow up on the Merc story from the previous thread.

UK inflation today came in below expectations. One of the reasons cited was hotels "slashing" rates - my email inbox is currently full of "special offers". This is the point about sellers seeking to use Brexit to gouge. Experience to date suggests that the more sellers raise Brexit as an issue the more reticent their customers become and so far from being able to gouge they end up discounting.

If you are all correct in suggesting Brexit will actually depress growth then UK consumers will become even less likely to spend money on bespoke Mercs - I bought my VW new with an unusual high spec (10 years ago so far from new now) - I didn't have to pre-order and go bespoke - the dealer found me the closest model to what I wanted throughout his network and I grudgingly accepted a few additional extras at no extra cost - that is far more normal for UK car buyers and UK dealership are currently holding high stock levels due to falling new car sales.