Chris Grayling was sent to do Today this morning. It is the kind of gig they used to get Michael Fallon to do, but he was unavailable for obvious reasons (Fallon was better at it). It was to face questions about how the idea of the UK not paying the EU a divorce settlement (“go whistle”) […]
Everyone seems to be taking the current situation with Ireland and the EU very lightly considering what is at stake
Ireland has an effective veto on allowing the EU-UK trade talks to proceed further. The EU has given the UK 10 days (now eight, I suppose) to come up with a solution to the border problem or trade talks will be further stalled. Furthermore, the Irish want a real solution to the problem, not a […]
More guff being spoken about Ireland and Brexit: I’m almost broken by this
The latest round of rubbish regarding Brexit and its relationship with the island of Ireland comes from Arlene Foster, the leader of the DUP. Let’s start with what she’s said: “The Irish government are actually using the negotiations in Europe to put forward their views on what they believe the island of Ireland should look […]
Shouldn’t “no deal” Brexiteers be celebrating the Irish obstructing the next round of negotiations?
The Irish government has made a bold and daring move. It has said that the next round of EU-UK talks cannot go forward unless the UK guarantees that under no circumstances will there be a hard border on the island of Ireland. In theory, this shouldn’t be tricky given the UK government has assured everyone […]
Why is the government so obsessed with getting the Repeal Bill passed this very second anyhow?
The pause on the Repeal Bill, a piece of legislation that will take the 1972 European Communities Act out of commission, has been lifted. The Committee Stage of the Bill roared to life yesterday and will continue for the next seventeen years (I exaggerate slightly). A host of twenty Tory MPs are threatening to rebel […]
Tory MPs cling to May as leader for fear of something worse. So should we all
At the end of the summer, I reviewed whether or not Theresa May remaining as leader of the Conservative Party was the best thing for that particularly party. Now I feel the need to consider whether or not her continuing as prime minister is in the best interests of us all, paying particular attention to […]
The 350 million pound problem with referenda and its consequences
Simon Stevens, chief executive of the NHS, is going to make a speech today alluding to the idea that the government should live up to its promise, one made during the referendum, of an extra 350 million pounds a week that is supposed to be spent on the National Health Service in the event of […]
Theresa May is hazy about when Brexit transition plans will be finalised, which is worrying
Theresa May made a speech this morning at the CBI conference which was centred on sexual harassment and Westminster. The Prime Minister sounded a lot more confident on this topic than on Brexit, which popped up in the questions afterwards. Asked when the public would get to know if the transitional deal with the EU […]
Theresa May should just release the Brexit impact studies – for these three reasons
The government has tried desperately to withhold publishing the Brexit impact studies, even from relevant parliamentarians such as the Exiting the European Union select committee. The answer they give as to why that is comes down to the idea that releasing them will negatively affect our negotiating position with the EU. It is hard for […]
This is what my problem with the government spending half a billion preparing for Brexit is
On Twitter this morning, I mentioned that I had a problem with the government spending half a billion pounds (which is what Davis revealed yesterday in terms of what the government is planning to spend in preparation for Brexit) on a procedure that was supposed to give us £350 million a week back. I got […]