Allegedly, according to Bloomberg, unless there is a trade deal within a week, Brexit trade talks are likely to flounder to no deal. A very bleak prospect. This outcome would, I suggest, be the most monumental act of self harm, perhaps ever, in British history. I fear that Rees Mogg’s father – remarkably, a former… Read more
Category:
Constitution
Economic health – or not
There is an interesting post from Simon Wren Lewis from last month where he suggests that: in the UK Treasury cutting the deficit generally takes priority over the health of the economy He says: The UK Treasury bears some responsibility for the disaster of 2010 austerity, yet it has not accepted or understood the mistake… Read more
Daily government incompetence and worse…
I recommend all readers take a look at the ‘Russ in Cheshire’ tweet stream – effectively it has already seen comment on ProgresssivePulse here – although the original source is no longer available- but the author is the same. If you are on Twitter it is worth following ‘Russ in Cheshire’. You will probably be… Read more
Red tape becomes true blue
This really must have struck a chord as, indeed it should.. with the European Parliament’s Brexit co-ordinator: As David Allen Green has remarked, taking back control of our borders seems to mean resiting them by setting up border control in Kent – fully policed by criminal sanctions for lorry drivers. While the Tudors famously lost… Read more
Johnson’s government proves the truth of ‘perfidious albion’
This tweet from the BBC’s Europe correspondent provides another possible reason for Johnson’s Internal Market Bill: Katya Adler@BBCkatyaadler Opinion amongst EU diplomats is broadly that IF PM is talking about EU threatening integrity of UK endangering peace in NIreland etc IN ORDER to eventually sell idea to Tory party that doing a trade deal with… Read more
No light at the end of the tunnel…
If the the UK Internal Market Bill does not get thrown out by the Commons it surely will be by the Lords. In effect this means that the Bill suffers a year’s delay. But as the UK Internal Market Bill is time critical because the UK leaves the EU on 31st December, it is difficult… Read more
The Salisbury Convention
Following on from my previous piece, a friend has advised me that the Lords are constitutionally incapable of rejecting a manifesto commitment. As indeed they are, under the so-called Salisbury Convention. (Goodness knows why the government should object to the Lords rejecting a bill when they themselves think they should be able, without problem, not… Read more
Only the Lords can now save us
From the collapse in the rule of law achieved by the Conservative’s United Kingdom Internal Market Bill… The Lords are our last hope. Very simply, relevant clauses “have effect notwithstanding any relevant international or domestic law with which they may be incompatible or inconsistent”. Whilst there is doubt I suggest, whether this in itself is… Read more
The satire in how far we have come…
This, in the video below, is what the Brexiters originally told us. All of it has turned out to be lies: And yet this (below) is what Thatcher – rightly – said in the Tory Conference in Blackpool of 1971: It is true that she later got frustrated with the EU – but few haven’t… Read more
Influencing behaviour by opaque messaging?
This social media advert is from the government, though the most prominent logo is that of the NHS, which has turned out to be a favourite technique in an endeavour, presumably, to get us onside. But we are now allowed to gather inside in pubs in untold quantities but apparently not more than 30 outside,… Read more