Brexit Megathread Part 3: COP26 and beyond. The Empire is no more.

[prettybird]

The old thread is nearly full so as COP26 is in my home town, I thought I'd start the next one.

I'm not expecting anything wonderful from COP26. The selfishness that is Brexit will extend to the rich nations - or rather corporations, countries and cronies - not wanting to do anything that might actually cost them money or hurt their profits and having made their money on the back of the resources of the poorer nations (in some cases quite literally ), they'll expect them to pay the price for the riches of the West.

The deliberate mistranslation of France's letter to the EU will distract from real issues - but that's ok for BJ as he can then blame the perfidious French.

Nothing changes.

There are so many things to call this government out on. I don't understand why opposition parties aren't doing this strongly.

Emily Thornberry on R4 PM just now basically saying they've an 80 seat majority we're impotent they can do what they want.

Time for a petition to remove the use of 'honorable' in Parliament?

I notice that a number of Labour MPs plus odds and ends of other parties abstained. If they had voted no, it would have been defeated. So I think Emily Thornberry needs to do a bit of work on her party - they are impotent normally but in this case would not have been.

I don't quite understand the abstention vote, it seems to include MP's who are ill or at COP and something about pairing.

Anyone who can explain?

@Peregrina

I notice that a number of Labour MPs plus odds and ends of other parties abstained. If they had voted no, it would have been defeated. So I think Emily Thornberry needs to do a bit of work on her party - they are impotent normally but in this case would not have been.

Could that be due to matched voting because of absence?

From HoP:
Pairing is an arrangement between two MPs of opposing parties to not vote in a particular division. This enables an MP to be absent without affecting the result of the vote as they effectively cancel each other out. Pairing is an informal arrangement which is not recognised by the House of Commons but must be registered with the Whips. Pairing is not allowed in divisions of great political importance.

Thank you

Good grief mine voted against, he's just gone up a hit in my estimation. Mind you, that was the only possible direction from his starting position.

Seems a bit rich that Owen was allowed to vote…

I still don’t know what they’re harping on about this ‘natural justice’ malarkey but there’s probably quite a few women people who feel they’d like some of that themselves.

He got a 30 day suspension nor 30 years hard labour
But yes wtf is natural justice

Wow, I somehow missed this from earlier today

In the end, Rees-Mogg reached for arguments which were so cynical even the most hardened parliamentary observers drew a sharp intake of breath. He deployed Paterson’s wife, who recently died by suicide, as a weapon in his cynical stitch-up. “The suicide of his wife,” he said, “is a greater punishment than any a House of Commons committee could inflict”.
inews.co.uk/opinion/columnists/mp-owen-paterson-vote-one-of-starkest-acts-of-corruption-from-british-government-in-recent-memory-1282427

"Natural justice is whatever I say it is" (almost)said Humpty Dumpty in Alice in Wonderland, see Lewis Carroll. and for innumerable similar see Brexit

As with Hancock and Cummings this will only change if all of us who have sleazy Tory MPs write to them and encourage as many others in our constituencies to do the same expressing our anger at their voting to support their corrupt crony.

He got a 30 day suspension nor 30 years hard labour

The thing is, that could lead to a recall petition, and on the subsequent by-election he could be kicked out. I don't know why he would be bothered about this - two options, make oodles of money being a Consultant to something or other, or be elevated to the Lords, which increasingly is the way with Tories who are disliked by the electorate.

BTW I hope karma comes and gets Rees-Mogg.

@Peregrina

He got a 30 day suspension nor 30 years hard labour

The thing is, that could lead to a recall petition, and on the subsequent by-election he could be kicked out. I don't know why he would be bothered about this - two options, make oodles of money being a Consultant to something or other, or be elevated to the Lords, which increasingly is the way with Tories who are disliked by the electorate.

BTW I hope karma comes and gets Rees-Mogg.

Would the people of North Shropshire not vote for a donkey with a blue rosette? Maybe they have already?

I did read somewhere (sorry can't remember where) that Johnson has had a problem with Kathryn Stone ever since his Mustique holiday that she said broke the commons rules.

It's definitely a donkey with a blue rosette seat. I have just looked it up and it's been wholly Tory since 1834. For two years prior to that a predecessor seat which covered this area had two members, one of which was a Tory and one a Whig.

Which makes you wonder why he didn't accept the suspension, fight a by-election and win again, although perhaps with a reduced majority, and then whinge about the waste of time and money. Are they changing the rules because they know that Johnson's behaviour is suspect, and therefore, he could face a suspension and recall petition? You can bet then that the Opposition parties would make damn sure that there were enough votes for a by election to be held.

I keep thinking it can’t get worse and then it does

It’s quite a lot to process. In the space of barely a week we’ve had...

-you can’t swim anywhere in open water because you’ll get ill as there’s sewage in the water.

-pissed pm who thinks he’s Jesus flies to a crucially important summit and falls asleep

-let’s have a trade war

-let’s abolish any independent scrutiny as that tends to be a bad thing, doesn’t it

It’s pretty grim, like an onslaught of bleakness.

It is grim and I can't see how it can be ended. I hope that Johnson destroys himself, and takes some of his clones down with him.

From Twitter;

2019 : Owen Paterson says EU is corrupt and anti democratic

2021: Owen Paterson let off for accepting bribes by Toris in parliament

Which makes you wonder why he didn't accept the suspension, fight a by-election and win again

That would have been the honourable thing to do. Johnson cynically saw and exploited the opportunity to remake the standards committee in his image. ‘Just in case’…oh I don’t know, that he/others may find themselves breaking ministerial codes?

And yet the public are seemingly oblivious. Apart from the Twitterverse, which cheers me up.

If 10% of voters petition for it, an MP is "recalled", and a by-election happens.

But only if the MP has been convicted.

But as of today, a safe conviction can be overturned on a whim, so there's no longer a way to get rid of your corrupt MP

Democracy inaction

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59150767

UK meat producers have started sending carcasses to the EU for butchering before re-importing them as they continue to combat a labour shortage.
According to the BMPA, the move will cost an additional £1,500 for each lorry load of carcasses. This includes transport fees, as well as Brexit customs requirements, such as an export health certificate for each consignment.

BREAKING: The people who said you can't just overturn a decision because you didn't like the result have just overturned a decision because they didn't like the result

PMK 🐈‍⬛

@DuncinToffee. I heard that too!