Westminstenders: Governing by U-Turn

[RedToothBrush]

Johnson's determination to get brexit done and to have 'a clean break from Europe' on terms which involve other countries happily returning fishing rights they bought from us (without recompense for the said previous purchase) in addition to the EU accepting terms they don't feel create a level playingfield and risk their economic future make any deal impossible. Our demands simply aren't achievable.

The alternative is adherence to the Withdrawal Agreement in which we are unable to bail out businesses via state aid and to have no deal which creates huge trade barriers and tarriffs overnight and massive customs red tape which we simply are not yet prepared for because the systems for running this are running behind schedule. This would lead to massive food shortages and Brexit lorry parks throughout the country for the forseeable future.

Johnson's latest bright idea is that he seems to think he can avoid chaos by a strategy which would cause even more chaos by deliberately reneging on the withdrawal agreement which is an international agreement just months after throwing a hissy fit for China doing exactly the same thing. This wouldn't just be hypocritical but would make a mockery of our credibility internationally and potentially endanger every other international agreement we've currently in place because well, why should anyone else stick to an agreement with the UK.

We could face years of legal wrangles with god knows which countries and businesses suing the British government.

But y'know Johnson thinks this is a sensible strategy and a cracking plan to force Brussels to blink first rather than actually take the subject seriously and do something in the country's interest rather than prevent Johnson from damaging his internal reputation with leave voters and because he thinks this is the correct hill to die on to prove he doesn't govern by u-turn. Johnson's ego seems more important to him than feeding the nation and having an international reputation.

Or he could do another u-turn.

The Brexiteers in my environment feel that it won't be Brexit until the transition period is over and we are having those lovely food and medicine shortages and chaos truly free.

Exactly the point I was making DGR. We’ve left.

Perhaps some Remainers have internalised and sadly accepted it more than some Leavers who still apparently crave it.

yaaay - we've a UK-Japan trade deal outside the EU:

www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-and-japan-agree-historic-free-trade-agreement
Government analysis shows that a deal with Japan will deliver a £1.5 billion boost to the UK economy

So so much better than the EU-Japan deal:

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/716166/CCS0618802374-1_EU-Japan_Impact_Assessment_Approved_Web_Accessible-7.pdf

We estimate the UK share of this benefit to equate to between £2.1billion to £3.0billion. The mid-point between the two estimates, £2.6billion, is reflected in the best estimate scenario presented above

(Better in brexiteer maths where of course 1.5 is much much more than 2.6.)

yaaay - we've a UK-Japan trade deal outside the EU:

If the UK decides to stick to it, that is.

"Tory MPs set to rebel against Boris Johnson's bill, as Gordon Brown attacks 'act of self-harm"

Meanwhile, the ERG wants the entire bill ripped up.

As there's only 30 rebels against, I expect the bill to go through, but be shredded in the House of Lords. In the meantime, it looks like the Tories are on the verge of civil war.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-news-live-boris-johnson-update-bill-parliament-trade-deal-eu-b421846.html

If the UK decides to stick to it, that is.

When i read:
We have also committed to uphold the principles of net neutrality, as well as introducing a ban on data localisation, which will prevent British businesses from having the extra cost of setting up servers in Japan

I thought that our 'commitment' will last only as long as our plans to tax Amazon/Google etc did against Trump's sabre rattling - and this will entail changes to the DPA as that ban is unlikely to be one-sided.

BBC are saying the trade deal is yet to be approved by Japan's parliament.

The Japanese value honour and integrity rather highly, I thought.
They may be reluctant to sign off a deal with an untrustworthy, lying Government that renegades on treaties and agreements.

.

DGR why am I not surprised?

Which paper is this?

Not worth the paper it's signed on....

@Darker

DGR why am I not surprised?

Which paper is this?

Not sure at the moment ... a lot of things get thrown across my desktop from all over the world.

A good summary of the situation with BJ and DC

Cummings and Johnson are breaking down the entire notion of democratic legitimacy

www.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2020/09/11/cummings-and-johnson-are-breaking-down-the-entire-notion-of

What is even more frightening is the lack of awareness from maybe 90% of the public. What will it take for them to wake up??

I don't think most people will wake up.

Until there's no food in the shops. That will probably wake people up a bit.

(NZ) Otago Daily Times: Can NZ trust Brexiteer Boris?

Countries around the world have twigged that the UK govt may break any international treaty it doesn't like - just a few months after praising and signing it

www.odt.co.nz/news/global-insight/global-insight-can-nz-trust-brexiteer-boris

‘‘It raises in to question whether we should be signing a free trade agreement with a country that has demonstrated it will not necessarily honour an international agreement it has signed.’’

Breaking the WA was planned back in February

23 February Times (Tim Shipman) Brexit team seeks to evade Irish Sea checks on goods

See photo of Times story:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/brexit-team-seeks-to-evade-irish-sea-checks-on-goods-mv3pqjkcm

"They believe the new attorney-general, Suella Braverman, might have to give new legal advice to justify the move.

Insiders say she was appointed because her predecessor Geoffrey Cox was not willing to countenance action that will be seen in Brussels as a breach of the exit agreement."

Joanna Cherry (SNP MP) started some of the court cases against the govt last year ....

Joanna Cherry QC @joannaccherry

The #InternalMarketBill is an attack on #Scottish democracy as well as the #RuleofLaw
& it poses a potential problem for #indyref2.

Just how do we negotiate effectively with a rogue state?
< that's also what the EU and several other countries will be wondering >

www.thenational.scot/news/18712765.joanna-cherry-uk-rogue-state-scotland-needs-innovative-strategy/

"Finally, for the legal geeks, clause 45 of the bill seeks to prevent judicial review on any normal domestic law or human rights grounds of any regulations
to be made under clauses 42-43 of the bill.

Generally, the courts take a dim view of attempts to oust judicial review of secondary legislation and so a potential court battle over the true extent of parliamentary sovereignty could be on the cards.

This might dovetail nicely with a Scottish challenge to the UK Government’s broader plans to “reform” judicial review on the grounds that they would breach the Treaty of Union."

@Darker

DGR why am I not surprised?

Which paper is this?

It’s from The Daily Fail:

www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-8720407/amp/SEBASTIAN-SHAKESPEARE-Max-half-brother-Boris-Johnson-shot-arm.html

@QuestionMarkNow I read these threads, and talk with friends and family about this. We are aware what's going on, but I'm unsure how being 'awake' can help. What can we do, beyond talking about it?

BJ keeps looking for the "silver bullet rescue " from every serious problem he faces

However, grownup politicians realise that solutions take masses of hard work, accumulated knowledge from experts and sensible decision-making over the period of the crisis

In a crisis, politicians need competence and honesty, to take the public with them

Long-awaited NHS Covid contact-tracing app will FINALLY launch in England and Wales in two weeks,
Department of Health announces - a day after Sturgeon launched it in Scotland

England's beleaguered mobile application was meant to be ready by May but trials of software failed 
Nicola Sturgeon beat Boris Johnson to the punch once again by setting Scotland's app live yesterday
App uses tech made by Google and Apple after UK officials U-turned on decision to shun tech giants

Officials in Westminster originally promised the app, hailed by ministers as a 'game changer', would be ready by May, but its rollout was repeatedly delayed because the software struggled to pass trials on the Isle of Wight.

The app will add to the NHS Test & Trace service which aims to track down people who have been close to those infected with the coronavirus. It will use Bluetooth to keep an anonymous log of everyone each user has

been close to, and alert them if one of them tests positive for Covid-19. But the software won't be downloadable for another two weeks, meaning England and Wales will be the last places in the UK to access to a contact

tracing app, after Northern Ireland started using its own version in early August and Scotland went live yesterday.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said today: 'We need to use every tool at our disposal to control the spread of the virus including cutting-edge technology.

The launch of the app later this month across England and Wales is a defining moment and will aid our ability to contain the virus at a critical time.'

The launch of England's app came suspiciously soon after Mrs Sturgeon rolled out her 'Protect Scotland' software yesterday, in another sign that Whitehall is trying to play catch up with officials north of the border.

It is the latest in a line of issues on which the Scottish First Minister has bettered Boris Johnson, either by announcing measures first or taking more sensible action. Mrs Sturgeon yesterday announced the same 'rule of six'

on social distancing that Mr Johnson unveiled yesterday but has decided to exclude children.

HoL Constitution Select Committee has written to Robert Buckland, Lord Chancellor:

We know how seriously you take your oath of office and responsibility to uphold the rule of law and when you appeared before the Committee in July you spoke passionately on the subject. Therefore, we should be grateful for a statement from you on how you believe the UK Internal Market Bill complies with international law

committees.parliament.uk/publications/2514/documents/24959/default/

[quote SabrinaThwaite]HoL Constitution Select Committee has written to Robert Buckland, Lord Chancellor:

We know how seriously you take your oath of office and responsibility to uphold the rule of law and when you appeared before the Committee in July you spoke passionately on the subject. Therefore, we should be grateful for a statement from you on how you believe the UK Internal Market Bill complies with international law

committees.parliament.uk/publications/2514/documents/24959/default/[/quote]
I suspect it will go unanswered.

theconversation.com/eat-out-to-help-out-crowded-restaurants-may-have-driven-uk-coronavirus-spike-new-findings-145945

For interest, and not surprising

I wonder if we should rebrand the United Kingdom, the Democratic United Kingdom. Just to alert the rest of the world we're not anymore (if indeed we ever were. I'll leave that to the war crimes tribunal in years hence).