Apparently Jeremy Corbyn has “stomped out” of a meeting of party leaders called by Theresa May to discuss the latest Brexit developments. The old boy left in high dudgeon when he saw that Chuka Umunna was there representing the Independent Group of MPs. Mr Corbyn didn’t think Mr Umunna should have been allowed in because TIG is not yet a proper party. Which it isn’t, but one cannot help finding it odd that after seeing fit to meet the IRA, Hezbollah and Hamas in the name of “dialogue” Mr Corbyn should cavil at a few minutes sharing the same air as a former member of the Labour party.
No skin off my nose, tho’. It all makes sense if we assume that he still is the Brexiteer he was for forty years. A stopped clock is right twice a day. He wants No Deal but with May taking the blame if it goes wrong.
Meanwhile Whatsername is due to address the nation. Overdue. You can look at some nice wood panelling on the YouTube livefeed here or the Reuters one here.
Ooh, noises! I just heard noises!
Update: Steps! She’s here… she’s boring.
“You’re tired of the infighting, tired of the political games…”
Not to mention tired of you.
OK, some quite good sense on the damage to trust if Brexit stopped.
Not prepared to delay Brexit past 30 June. Nothing new.
Wha… what? She’s gone away. Was that it?
It’s still “my way or the highway” though, isn’t it.
I fear she’s someone who confuses intransigence with resolve.
I am heartened to hear from the Prime Minister that it’s all Parliament’s fault, or rather, the House of Commons, that’s the same House that has confidence in her government.
The radio cut off Mrs May just before she got to an apology or a plan for going forward, it was for all the World as if there was nothing said. I suppose I’ll have to piece it together tomorrow.
One might think Mrs May announced an impossible and unachievable extension request to 30th June 2019, meaning EU Parliamentary elections, on the basis that it would be refused. President Tusk pops up quickly to say it would be possible to grant a shorter extension, if Mrs May’s deal were passed (cart pushing the horse). So hoping to give Mrs May a reason to bounce the House into passing the WA as it is, in which case no extension is needed anyway. So Mrs May has a pretext to bully MPs into supporting her deal, Tusk gets the EU £39,000,000,000 and a vassal state, and both sides are happy.
“He wants No Deal but with May taking the blame if it goes wrong.”
Thats been my feeling all along with JC. In an ideal JC world we crash out with no deal, the economy goes to sh*t, he can say ‘Its all the Tories fault!’, he wins the next election on the back of the economic slump, and gains power with no EU to gainsay what he wants to do to the UK. Everything he’s said and done is designed to engineer such a result IMO.
Incidentally, if Tusk has said the EU will accept a short extension IF Parliament passes the WA, how exactly can Parliament pass the WA, given that Bercow has just said it can’t be voted on in its current form again?
Jim–My question exactly. The tall turd Bercow will have to re-eat all his vomit from Tuesday-does his ego have the chops? Not to mention revealing his brazen EU bias. Its known but reversing his own decisions is a new frontier even for the little boot-scraping.
How can she change the crap unilaterally–without the ESpew approve? And she can only change it by making it worse still–no EU concessions coming. So any POS MP voting for it would be openly pissing on their own nation and people.
To amend my earlier comments–
If Jizz supports Treason May in her deal he announces the following–
1–He is double fucking his millions of Brexit voters–compounding his second ref betrayal.
2-He is swallowing all he said about her shite BRINO and is happy to appear in the “We killed Brexit” photo next to Treason May. Also not going to make millions of his former voters very happy.
3-He is happy to keep the Tories in until 2022
4-All the bad news from the EU kicking us under Treason’s BRINO–that’s the idea– has his signature on it as well as hers.
I hope and pray Natalie is correct.
As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.
In like manner Treason May returns, yet again to her BRINO deal. As with any polished and glittered turd it has one seller and no buyers. Quelle surprise!
However, Treason May is in the unique position of having options, simply because she is a PM who has already recently won the 1922 Committees booby prize, meaning she is secure from further challengers (from her own party) until December 2019.
Her options seem to be.
1. Revoke Article 50 and be condemned forever as hypocrite, repudiator and traitor
2. Threaten to do (1) unless MP’s vote for her BRINO polished and glittered turd
3. Request HM Queen to prorogue Parliament instantly delivering Hard BRExit
4. Threaten to do (3) unless MP’s vote for her BRINO polished and glittered turd
5. Bugger about with extensions and negotiations until even the EU gets bored and ejects us at the end of June 2019.
Having seen Treason May and her predecessor spaff 1,000 days up the wall since the referendum and delivered nothing but treason, gullibility and incompetence, my money is on Option 5. (“Bugger about until June and then get ejected”). Personally, I think it’s got legs!
This speaks volumes about the political incompetence of Treason May and Westminster / Whitehall in general.
Apologies.
The above should read “5. Bugger about with extensions and negotiations until even the EU gets bored and ejects us at the end of May 2019.”, since the EU is now arguing the toss (probably quite reasonably) that a short extension must end before the EU Parliamentary Elections commence on 23rd May 2019.
It isn’t June tho’ because Tusk said 26th May as he doesn’t want us voting in Eurotrash elections which we would have to if we stay till June.
Despite her blow hard cockrot about “we aren’t leaving 29th”–if Macron or anybody vetos then that is it. We can’t rely on that of course. And she still has to change the law to stop No Deal. Plus everybody is talking about next weeks vote when there presently is NO next weeks vote.
We–the people–should just announce that WE are leaving 29th and fuck what May and the EU say.
If Corbyn wants no deal, why is he in Brussels having separate Brexit talks with EUers at the same time as Theresa?
I trust that meeting him, and realising they might have to deal with him if we remained in, will motivate EU leaders to refuse any extension, but I do not think Corbyn sees himself that way.
Re. a MV3.
I think the Speaker ruled that if the house rules that the MV may be submitted a 3rd time, then the 400 year old convention that protects our constitution may safely be ignored and the MV submitted a 3rd time.
I’m hoping enough MPs will have second thoughts before they bypass such an inherent safety mechanism in our history, specifically here to prevent bullying by the executive, and thus allow bullying by the Executive. Once done once, it will be used again and again. Jezza will love it. Absolute power to force his will into the HoC.
On a related note, a major London incident might also allow some shenanigans. Contagious disease outbreak and certain MP’s quarantined? Time’s short, and incompetence may yet save the day.
The whole dispute is absurd.
The law says we are to leave in the European Union (regardless of any “deal”) on the 29th of March 2019 – that should be the end of the matter, there is no need for any more “meetings” and “talks”.
As David Davis (the minister at the time) has repeatedly confirmed, we could have had a “Canada” style Free Trade agreement with the European Union. Who undermined the chance of this? PRIME MINISTER THERESA MAY undermined the chance of this – because the Prime Minister wants the United Kingdom to REMAIN under European Union law in our INTERNAL affairs. That is what the Prime Minister’s “deal” is about.
The above is why I can not take this whole situation seriously – as the Prime Minister and her “enemy” Mr Corbyn have (in reality) much the same position in relation to the European Union – and are just “arguing” for party political advantage.
To paraphrase the Bard – “this is all sound and fury – which signifies NOTHING”.
There is nothing I can see to do to ensure the independence of my country – if I can see something I can do, then I will do it. Till then I will observe this political mess with contempt. I do have other things to do.
Mr Kilmartin–Possibly theatre. He can tell his troops he’s done all he can. His statement about a compromise that satisfies everybody is so stupid it almost has to be a wind up. The EU has no compromise for him and another day is being wasted.
Tim the Coder–what is your source? I’ve not seen anywhere else that that is what the little shite ruled.
Mr Ecks: I cannot remember where I first saw that, but it’s covered here, on the Propaganda Channel:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-47620235
Solicitor General Robert Buckland said a vote to overrule the Speaker was the most likely way forward.
He told BBC Radio Wiltshire that if enough MPs show they want another vote on the Brexit deal, it can return to Parliament despite the current block.
He said this would be a more practical solution than asking the Queen to formally close and reopen Parliament, which some have suggested would get round the rule that MPs cannot be repeatedly asked to vote on the same question in a Parliamentary session.
SG may just be farting in the wind though.
TTC–That would suggest that the little turd would have the power to rule if they can have a vote to overrule him. Is that likely–esp since they don’t have much leverage over the little bastard.
This is a farce and I’m off to buy a Yellow Jacket before the rush starts.
Guido shows some vote on Monday about section 13(4) “Section 13(4) of the Withdrawal Act relates to the Government making a statement relating to the next steps they will take rather than a meaningful vote itself. ”
So are they ignoring their own plan or–??
Also isn’t the 26th–Tuesday–the last day they can change anything?
Anybody any thoughts? Mr Kilmartin, Mr Galt, anybody??
TTC:
It strikes me that proroguing Parliament to get around the rule would create fertile soil for a new precedent, that the power to prorogue is one thing, but when it is substantially the same matter and the composition of the House is the same, it would be the basis for a precedent that the old precedent applies a fortiori as the Crown would be playing games with the House, and treating it with contempt, even if not in contempt, by using prorogation to re-serve the same corned beef hash.
Mr Ecks:
The Brexit Secretary can get ‘exit day’ changed by a Statutory Instrument, provided both Houses of Parliament approve by resolution the Statutory Instrument creating a change in the definition of ‘exit day’ (i.e. from 29th March 2019 at 11 pm GMT). I suspect that the plan is to lay the necessary instrument before the Houses of Parliament as urgent business and get the resolutions approved by the Remainer House of Commons and the Remainer Lords.
So perhaps we will see within the hours in which the European Council confirms its position a scramble to pass the Statutory Instrument to change the ‘exit day’ for an extension of the period before leaving, should the Withdrawal Agreement not get through, perhaps in the same half hour. And then there will be time to thwart it all together.
I understand Macron has said no extn without WA agreed. Must pass her crap before extn accepted. SI no good without vote.
Also SI’s can be subject to legal challenge I believe. It is certainly an overreach of their power.
Legal challenge is already under way. I’m going to put £250 in to help.
Check it out
@Mr Ecks – Given where we are right now I no longer know who’s doing what or why. Despite my absolute hatred for Treason May she was right that people are getting tired of procedural games and other political bullshit.
Where she and I differ is she thinks that her polished turd of a BRINO deal is the answer to this, whereas I sympathise with the ERG MP’s in that her shitty deal is a trap that is to some extent WORSE than being in the EU in the first place.
All of this seems to be a ploy to justify the effective repudiation of Leave (either by direct revocation of Article 50 or through May’s BRINO deal), but I honestly don’t think they realise the level of simmering anger that exists in an unknown portion of the 17.4 million Leave voters.
So I guess what I am saying is that I no longer know where we are going with this. I have no faith that the handful of MP’s who genuinely support Leave have any means of delivering it.
If this was some dime store political thriller you’d throw it in the trash for being unbelievable. Yet here we are, an entire country being tossed around on the winds of fate because those who would deign to call themselves our elected representatives refuse to follow the explicit instruction we have given to LEAVE THE EU.
I have no idea where we are going to go from here. The only thing I do know is that barring some miracle like another EU country vetoing an extension or the EU itself preventing it by setting the prerequisites of an extension too high (2nd ref, new elections, etc.), it seems increasingly unlikely that the UK will be leaving the EU in 8 days time.
So BRExit has been officially deferred until the 12th of April 2019 at the very earliest and most likely 22nd of May 2019. So much for hopeful talk about Victor Orban, the Spanish or even the French vetoing an extension.
😡
European Council (Art. 50) conclusions, 21 March 2019
Remarks by President Donald Tusk after the European Council meeting (Art. 50)
Cabinet chatter reported in the Financial Times suggests that Treason May has become reconciled to a Hard BRExit if her BRINO deal fails to pass at the 3rd time of asking Parliament.
How May decided she was willing to accept no-deal Brexit (Paywalled)
However, I would take this with a bucketful of salt given that she has repeatedly said that we are leaving on 29th April 2019 and now it seems that we aren’t.
JG. Bad news indeed. Me 😡 too.
Near as I can tell the delay till 22 May is contingent on May’s deal getting approved as-is. Supposing that doesn’t happen before 29 March, surely that’s that. The question is: can May get MV3? I’m assuming Bercow’s no-substantial-change objection can be trivially waived, so the only question is whether she can get a majority for MV3 next week (or this weekend even). I’ve no idea whether she can. Brexiteers are surely out-numbered in Parliament, but also now none of them will vote for MV3, and of the rest, there will be many who still have Brexit constituencies and who will think three or five times before voting yes.
@Nico – You’ve obviously missed the mood in Parliament which took great offence at her remarks from earlier this week.
Even if Speaker John Bercow can be persuaded or overruled by MP’s themselves to allow a 3rd meaningful vote, there is still no majority for it unless the opposition parties decided to throw in their lot with the government (which seems unlikely at this stage)
I’m not saying it is impossible for Treason May to finally win the backing of Parliament for her BRINO deal, but it remains highly unlikely.