Brexit

There's talk that the government is negotiating in bad faith. Making promises about NI to get a deal through (to try and win a subsequent election), which they have no intention of honouring. If this is indeed the case, it should be shown by the way the DUP/ERG headbangers respond.

If the DUP acquiesce, I reckon it's a con job. They'll have been told we don't really intend to honour any promises made, which would, of course come back to bite us in the backside in a major way - you aren't going to get favourable trade deals from other countries if you've already shown you aren't interested in following agreements. If the DUP complain, but the ERG back Johnson in any case (they really don't care one jot about NI), then perhaps there is serious intent behind the 'plan', whatever the details may be.

Will be interesting to see how parliament respond if the deal is put to the vote. I'd doubt that those backing a confirmatory vote would have the clout to get it through parliament, even if they had some way of getting it to a vote. Assuming the deal is then passed, my guess would be that the Brexit Party will find a way to be unhappy with the outcome (Farage's ego would demand it) so it would be amusing if Johnson missed out on a majority in the coming election thanks to the Kippers.

So, a deal has been agreed. Not with the support of the DUP so that's their votes gone. Will the ERG-ers ignore their stated principle of following the DUP to back the government in a vote? Quite possibly, because as has been noted, they really don't give a toss about NI.

On the face of things, it seems like a worse deal than that negotiated by May so it seems unlikely that Parliament will pass it so perhaps Johnson really is trying to deliberately force through a no deal Brexit, despite his claims otherwise? Let's face it, he's not exactly known for his honesty so wouldn't be a surprise. "It wasn't me, it was those nasty politicians".

It will be interesting to see what Parliament does now. It actually wouldn't surprise me if enough Tories (past and present) put party before country once more and hold their noses to vote it through in an attempt to regain power in a snap election. Bevan really wasn't wrong about a lot of them. They'll need to be assisted by some of the Labour/former Labour MPs but there are plenty of useful idiots around.

As I've said in the past, I'd be happy enough for any deal to be put to a confirmatory referendum, so let's see if this can somehow make its way through parliament.

On another note, the Royal Mail is more than doubling their surcharge for international deliveries to 6.5%, citing Brexit uncertainty (and the subsequent devaluation of the pound) as the reasoning behind this. Great stuff, eh? Brexit really is the gift that keeps on taking for businesses.

Does Boris still have the backing of the 23 MPs he sacked if he does not he will have no chance of getting the deal through.

Isn’t this basically the same deal May put forward (minus NI) Johnson resigned over last year?

Apparently, the political declaration is the dodgy bit. They are throwing NI under a bus as expected, but the changes to the PD make it clear we'll be diverging greatly from EU rules and regs. In other words, we'll be ending up as the 51st state in all but name.

The Tory headbangers think this is a good thing - heck, they've already decided to copy the Voter ID nonsense to disenfranchise the poorest. Next step, voting machines. Gah.  

Quoted from Maringer

Apparently, the political declaration is the dodgy bit. They are throwing NI under a bus as expected, but the changes to the PD make it clear we'll be diverging greatly from EU rules and regs. In other words, we'll be ending up as the 51st state in all but name.

The Tory headbangers think this is a good thing - heck, they've already decided to copy the Voter ID nonsense to disenfranchise the poorest. Next step, voting machines. Gah.  

Maybe we are heading towards being in the pocket of the US.... if their businesses can see opportunities to be exploited here, I'm sure they will take them

It does annoy me though when there's scaremongering from politicians here...… last night on Question Time there was a Labour representative stating that in the US they only have 10 days annual holiday and that we should be concerned that this would become our norm

I just cannot see that happening at all.... everyone who is in work in the UK, just blindly accepting they will have to work another two-three-even four extra weeks for nothing?

It would never get approval and if a party tried to implement that, they'd soon be shown the door I'm sure

Quoted from FishOutOfWater

Maybe we are heading towards being in the pocket of the US.... if their businesses can see opportunities to be exploited here, I'm sure they will take them

It does annoy me though when there's scaremongering from politicians here...… last night on Question Time there was a Labour representative stating that in the US they only have 10 days annual holiday and that we should be concerned that this would become our norm

I just cannot see that happening at all.... everyone who is in work in the UK, just blindly accepting they will have to work another two-three-even four extra weeks for nothing?

It would never get approval and if a party tried to implement that, they'd soon be shown the door I'm sure

There are people who will blindly vote for whatever party a newspaper tells them to vote for regardless of policy. That’s why it’ll be able to happen.

Quoted from LH

There are people who will blindly vote for whatever party a newspaper tells them to vote for regardless of policy. That’s why it’ll be able to happen.

My view is people can be / will be swayed by pre-election "promises" ( or should we call them lies ) but seriously.... if someone has it in their manifesto that workers holidays,  currently a statutory 20 days, would be cut in half as blind as people are, they'd be absolutely crazy to go with that.

FOOW, I think it's cute that you still think the Tories election manifestos bear any semblance to their actual plans.  

Just look back to 2010 especially and even 2015. Half the stuff they did afterwards didn't get a mention in the manifesto. Heck, they completely reorganised the way the NHS was structured at the cost of billions and this wasn't mentioned in the slightest before the election.

Ultimately, they are becoming more and more like the Republicans, doing the bidding of their millionaire/billionaire funders with less and less embarrassment each time they are elected. People will believe any old shite that The Sun/Mail/Express/Telegraph tell them, regardless of how far from the truth it actually is.

I voted Brexit to spite the way things are being run in this country by the Gov+Eu, that seemed to have worked because issues I care about like controlling our own immigration is finally being dealt with.

The thing is Boris is actually electable whereas Jeremy isn't, maybe in Iran he is.