There seems to be the suggestion that both the Conservative and Labour Parties are on the brink of splitting along Brexit lines.
Is there any chance that the pro-remain MPs that split away from the traditional parties would come together to form a pro-remain party?
Too little - too late…
I don’t think that there is time to form a new party before the meaningful vote on the EU Withdrawal Bill.
I do think that there is a realisation that the ERG and DUP have had sufficient time to find an answer to the backstop and there is sufficient cohesion in the House to stop No Deal.
My understanding is that there now isn’t even time to pass domestic legislation to support leaving the EU under the terms of the WA - and that’s the smoothest path forward.
I’m signed up to the Gov.uk brexit updates and in the last few days I have had over a 100 new emails with technical notes about actions to take in the event of a no deal addressed to specific businesses, countries, products - you name it.
Only problem is that they say very little apart from “be prepared”! One of the ones I received this morning is about continuity of medical supplies and was more specific …and basically asks anybody supplying the UK to have an extra 6 weeks stock in the UK on 29th march. So it’s up to the producers to sort this out, make sure they have storage, bring forward production etc etc. Who’s checking that they have done so I wonder?
It is be oming abundantly clear that after the success of Project Fear in the Referendum the alt right are now using the threat of civil disturbance if Brexit does not go through.
They are actually fomenting unrest and I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t have a back door to the neo nazis and other disgusting groups.
I agree that the chance of unrest is a possibility but I think the effect of no-deal will not be felt with empty supermarket shelves on the 30th (unless there is panic buying on the 29th).
Perhaps those that stirring things up are doing so because they hope to control the direction of the anger of the population when the penny drops - that is a bit of a dangerous game to play.
Mat you make a valid point, I think May is finally starting to realise now that she is not going to get her deal through. Europe are simply not going to budge on the backstop issue and I think May has settled in her own mind to crash out. But, she is going to keep trying to ensure the clock runs down to prevent anything else. I think there is likely to be a fundamental shift in the face of British politics in the next decade and I don’t think it is going to be a shift in a direction for good. Factions will come forward from the far right stoked up by Mr Tusk’s recent unhelpful comments. And the far left socialist side fighting for the forgotten hard up and the political parties will gradually fracture over time. We could finally see a change in the political landscape not seen in centuries. This could be a defining moment in history when two major political parties poorly led see a shift of power to a third party way forward. If Vince Cable is astute he would be positioning himself to be be the moderate centrist party to pull together the moderates in the other parties. It won’t happen before any kind of exit/non exit happens but I think it could be the future of British politics after that.
In what way are his comments worse than anything Farage has said to the European Parliament?
They are ripe for being twisted, of course but he was clear the target was Farage, JRM, Johnson and the other architects of this mess, not Brits generally, even if they voted leave.
She probably won’t - but that is because, whatever the EU offer, it will never be good enough for the ERG or the DUP (apparently they have already fallen out over whether they support the Malthouse thing.
I agree I think there will have to be an extension to the Brexit date for us even to pass legislation to leave without a deal! That’s assuming they can even get a hard crash out Brexit through Parliament without it being stopped in a succession of votes.
Then there is all the talk from the Bank of England on a looming recession, great 10 years of austerity as a civil servant with no pay rises to speak of in that time. And what have we to show for it we have put ourselves back on the path of recession just as we hoped to finally be able to look forward and move in to surplus. Never saw that written on Tyneside of any buses did we!
The UK will suffer greatly for this chaos and I have to say I can’t see many countries lining up to want to negotiate trade deals with us in a hurry given the hash that been made of negotiating a withdrawal agreement. And let’s not forget that’s the only stage we are at currently negotiating the withdrawal agreement. We haven’t even begun to consider the future relationship with the EU and a trade deal! I can’t see our European allies being overly generous towards us after this fiasco, it would take a minor miracle.
I suspect May will get to a position of a hard Brexit, a fudged deal will all her red lines gone and a back stop work around in place and then resign. Leaving someone else to pick up the pieces. Why would she stay on when she has already said she won’t fight the next election. It would be the logical thing to do in my opinion
Well, not exactly - it will take ages to unravel no-deal, but the point is we will need extra time even if parliament agree May’s deal
I agree Paul I have nothing but sympathy for Mr Tusks comments I’m as equally frustrated as he is about it all. My language is usually less restrained than his though.
There is no majority for any solution. They should all now recognise this and go back to the people with a hard Brexit or no Brexit vote as the only options with a detailed factual campaign laying out the true facts for people to decide against.
Or call a halt to it all on the grounds that it is too socially and economically damaging for the country at this time with a view to carry out a further referendum in 7 years time following a full and frank analysis of all the facts so people can truly vote on a well informed basis after a period of reflection.
Anything is just surely destined to fail in total chaos.
Yes we will I agree
The fact that Tusk’s comments have been compared to the sort of thing Farage would say shows how poor they were.
It should be remembered that Tusks comments were only directed at those people who were promoting Brexit but without a plan of how to implement it, they were not directed at those people who were convinced to vote for Brexit.
By definition only those who should be angry at such comments are those Brexiteers leaders who did not have a viable plan - how many can you think of? Perhaps 10 people?
There has been an excellent program on BBC2 for the last couple of weeks about the EU - it is well worth watching.
It’s irrelevant who Tusk was aiming at, he is a senior figure at the EU and as such should behave accordingly, simples.
We’re in this mess because May would not stand up to the ERG, party before country and all that. It’s about time someone called a spade a spade.
What exactly has Tusk achieved Paul by using the language that he did?
He has earned my respect.
[edit] … and thinking on it I am sure there are many others who are now thinking “…,you know what? He’s right! They are a bunch of busted arseholes!” [/edit]