UK Politics

Yesterday Sajid Javid cancelled his first major speech as Chancellor and the government brought forward a spending review to next week. This fueled speculation that Boris Johnson was going to call a general election, but it turned out he was going so suspend parliament. I don't feel happy that the PM has the power to do that without being held to account.

Ruth Davidson is also on the verge of quitting as leader of the Scottish Conservatives over this and her relationship with Boris Johnson. That will end the Scottish Conservatives as a relevant part of Scottish politics and bring on the end of the United Kingdom.

Sad jams.
 
LooseCannon said:
As with many things in a Westminster-style system, the only recompense is to vote him out next time.
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Shutting the stable door once the horse has bolted.

I reckon there will be a lot of reforms in parliament and government once the Conservatives are out of government. The next general election campaign - whenever it is - will surely have many promises of reform from Labour and the Liberal Democrats. It looks like it will all be too late to save us from this mess though.
 
The_7th_one said:
what would happen if the Queen says no?
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I saw a “future history” style play about this over the summer called King Charles III. I think they made it into a movie as well. Pretty interesting what if scenario (although somewhat out of date having been written in 2014).
 
Boris has made his plan and executed it well. There won't be enough time for a writ, so if the anti-hard Brexit people collapse the government, they guarantee a hard Brexit. It can't be more clear now: Boris believes that the consequences for a no-deal Brexit are minimal. Britons should hope he is right.
 
So as an outsider my impression was that when Brits were given a binary choice it was between staying in the EU or a hard exit (no deal Brexit). Is that not what people voted for?
 
Mosh said:
So as an outsider my impression was that when Brits were given a binary choice it was between staying in the EU or a hard exit (no deal Brexit). Is that not what people voted for?
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No.

And it's not even the case now.

Even if they leave with no deal on 31st of Oct. there will still be a negotiation on what the future relationship with the EU and the UK will be.
 
srfc said:
Even if they leave with no deal on 31st of Oct. there will still be a negotiation on what the future relationship with the EU and the UK will be.
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Yes, but the customs/movement/all other restrictions will be in effect.
 
LooseCannon said:
Yes, but the customs/movement/all other restrictions will be in effect.
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True but my point is that that wasn't presented as a likely outcome of the original referendum.

The original question was a simple binary question to stay in or leave the EU. The future relationship with the EU, which is what the withdrawal agreement is concerned with, wasn't mentioned on the ballot paper. Actually, that's not even strictly true, the withdrawal agreement is about what the relationship with the EU would be like during the interim period between the UK leaving the EU and a new relationship being agreed between the EU and the UK.

Here's an example of what pro-brexit people actually said and campaigned on at the time (not all qutoes that are listed are relevant to my point)

https://twitter.com/x/status/1062773934192553984

As you can see very little of it matches up with what is looking likely to happen on Oct 31st.
 
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Mosh said:
So as an outsider my impression was that when Brits were given a binary choice it was between staying in the EU or a hard exit (no deal Brexit). Is that not what people voted for?
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As SRFC says, there was no detail presented and there were no plans (other than vague ideals). I think it's fair to say a good many people voted for out as meaning 'sever all ties and reject anything that isn't 100% in our interests', which adds up to pretty much the same thing as no deal. But there was no full public discussion of exactly what that would involve, and I heard very little discussion among leave voters themselves about anything other than ideals, aspirations and sentiment. I think some of the current political leaders are keen on being seen to play tough, waiting for the EU to climb down after the event, or for individual states to break rank and bargain with the UK in their own right. Or they don't actually care what will happen because all that matters is their personal kudos, and anything that bad that happens will be the fault of the EU. Chin up, old boy, it'll all work out in the end.

I'd have a lot more sympathy with Leave if there had been a structured plan, and there was a proper democratic process followed for all aspects of the withdrawal and UK constitutional change. At the moment, the leading Conservatives are riding a wave of populism and trying to force their own agendas through on all kinds of domestic issues before that subsides. I'm also concerned that we're being steered into a situation where the only option left is to agree a hideously one-sided deal with American business lobbyists/Trump.
 
Brigantium said:
I don't feel happy in general about the amount of power that a mere section of one political party currently has, and is claiming to wield in the name of "the people" based on the result of a referendum on one issue only.
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Hear, hear!

The current government are only representing a small part of the leave voters (the more extreme ones) and pandering to them with populist messages. It is shocking to see such a pragmatic country being led by such a bunch of loonies! Really concerning times for all involved.
 
If Parliament votes to prevent No Deal tomorrow then on Wednesday we should expect his Borisness to call for a General Election before the end of October, on the 17th or 24th. It has to be on a Thursday.

I was considering posting the Avengers Endgame poster but this is likely to drag on for a long time yet. Does anyone have some Pym Particles I can use to stop this before it began?
 
An emergency debate is taking place right now about preventing no deal. When an emergency debate is requested the Speaker asks if any MPs oppose the request. If any MPs shout that they oppose the emergency debate, forty MPs who support the debate are required to stand so show their support.

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:lol:
 
Parliament voted to take control of proceedings away from the government by 328 to 301. Boris Johnson is the first Prime Minister to lose the first vote of his premiership since Pitts the Younger in..... 1793. :lol:

He has also confirmed that the government is tabling a motion under the Fixed Term Parliaments Act for a General Election. PMQs is tomorrow too.
 
If BoJo loses an election, he will become the shortest-reigning PM since the Duke of Wellington's caretaker government in 1834. Since the Duke of Wellington had a previous ministry, he would become the PM with the shortest-total days in office.
 
Black Wizard said:
Parliament voted to take control of proceedings away from the government by 328 to 301. Boris Johnson is the first Prime Minister to lose the first vote of his premiership since Pitts the Younger in..... 1793. :lol:

He has also confirmed that the government is tabling a motion under the Fixed Term Parliaments Act for a General Election. PMQs is tomorrow too.
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