General British Politics Thread.

[Kevin]

The motion to see a delay on Brexit passed 412-202. It’s all in the EU’s hand now whether to approve the delay.

[Kevin]

Theresa May has resigned as PM. I hope whomever your next PM is does a much better job than she did!

[Covskin]

Not likely with these potential frontrunners:

Jeremy Hunt - damaged the NHS, leading to worries of backdoor privatisation
Michael Gove - pissed off all the school teachers with his terrible approach to education
Boris Johnson - professional public buffoon, scheming backstabber in "private", lead Brexiter with that smegging lying bus.

Then you get the usual idiots like Truss, Raab and Leadsom being mentioned, and I'm not sure what to make of others like Javid and Stewart.

It certainly doesn't inspire confidence that things will get better anytime soon.

[QuantumEdge]

Farage must be cackling in his throne room like Palpatine right now.  To be honest, I really don't think we'll be seeing another Tory PM without another election.  Labour will be frothing at the mouth for another one (despite Corbyn as leader).  If I had to guess though, I'd say Boris is the most likely, which would be weirdly fitting, seeing how much of a joke driven sitcom parliament is.

[Kevin]

Well, we can say goodbye to any chance to Boris Johnson being the next PM.

[Ellipsis-Ultima]

On 5/29/2019 at 5:29 PM, Kevin said:

Well, we can say goodbye to any chance to Boris Johnson being the next PM.

Aaaaand they threw out the case.

[Kevin]

On 6/8/2019 at 3:39 AM, Champion Ellipsis-Ultima said:

Aaaaand they threw out the case.

Well shit!  Please, UK, don't make him Prime Minister! 

[Salamander]

7 hours ago, Kevin said:

Well shit!  Please, UK, don't make him Prime Minister! 

Unfortunately, the U.K. doesn't get a say; only members of the Conservative party..

[Kevin]

Meet Boris Johnson as your next PM

[Salamander]

It's not surprising, and it's not like the alternative was much better, but it's still disappointing.

[Covskin]

Oh God this Cabinet is horrifying so far.

 

Raab as Foreign Secretary in particular is dismal.

[PaddyFancy]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-49807552

So the UK Supreme Court has ruled Boris Johnson's prorogation of parliament unlawful.

A friend of mine who supports Brexit has said that even in the event of a no deal, we won't be crashing out because of World Trade Organisation rules. I don't really know what that means. Can someone here with brains explain it and say if that's accurate?

[Salamander]

Here's a BBC Guide to the term.  Basically, World Trade Organisation rules are the baseline for how countries or blocs trade with each other if they don't have a specific trade deal with each other.  Falling back on WTO rules is exactly what people mean when they talk about "crashing out" without a deal.  The expectation is also - I don't believe anybody challenges this - that if we do crash out without a deal and fall back on WTO rules, any government's first course of action would be to then... negotiate a trade deal with the EU.  And also the U.S., China, anyone else with whom we don't currently have a trade deal because we trade with them as part of the EU.  In other words, the second we're out on a no-deal basis, we're right back to the negotiating table with the EU and in fact the rest of the world, and without a comfy transition period to cushion the impact of the changes.

[Kevin]

Well it looks like Boris Johnson could be forced out as PM next week if a no confidence vote is held in Parliment.

[Kevin]

So all the hype and build up for this morning's parliament session has come to...you guessed it....more waiting!

[Ellipsis-Ultima]

Brexit has been extended again, to 31st January 2020.

And now they're voting to have elections next month. They're really going around in circles.

[Patticus]

Anything that keeps the country from crashing out is a good thing, just as long as Boris doesn't win out in the end. But more time also means more time for the right-wing press to spread its lies and propaganda.

[Tani Coyote]

Honestly, from everything I hear, it sounds like Corbyn is going to keep this from going in a good direction. I hear a persistent frustration is he's basically the obnoxious centrist who won't give a clear position on Brexit, and it makes him and Labour look really bad.

Of course, a lot can change during a campaign (May sure got a surprise when she held that election with good polling numbers only to lose seats), but the likely scenario is Conservatives come out ahead and this moves forward.

Now unless the Conservatives get a super clear majority yet their plans still fall apart due to infighting, (Lord knows stateside how hilariously bad the right wing Party's grand plans collapsed once they actually got back in power) I just hope that Scotland, Northern Ireland, etc. are all given a choice to break off and do their own thing. The Scottish people in particular voted against economic uncertainty, yet England gave them it anyway. So I say let them have another chance to make their own destiny.

[Kevin]

The exit poll is now out and it is projected to be a conservative majority.

 

Con 368 seats, Lab 191, Lib Dems 13, SNP 55, Plaid 3, Green 1, Brexit 0, Others 19

[Patticus]

The worst night in modern British political history, and the opener to what will likely be the darkest five years of our lives.

Expect sharp increases in persecution of minorities, the LGBTQ etc communities, expect sharp rises in poverty and homelessness, among many other things. This election also marks a final end to Britain's role in combating the climate crisis, and the implementation of left-wing policies that might mitigate it, or its knock-on effects.

If you can leave the country, I suggest you do so.

[SenEDDtor Missile]

14 minutes ago, Patticus said:

The worst night in modern British political history, and the opener to what will likely be the darkest five years of our lives.

Expect sharp increases in persecution of minorities, the LGBTQ etc communities, expect sharp rises in poverty and homelessness, among many other things. This election also marks a final end to Britain's role in combating the climate crisis, and the implementation of left-wing policies that might mitigate it, or its knock-on effects.

If you can leave the country, I suggest you do so.

It seems like the entire world wants to go full fascist, and just burn everything to the ground in the name of their fragile racist egos, not even caring how they're dooming the entire planet in the process.

[Conando]

I can’t say all that much, being an American, but it’s very distressing England didn’t learn from our 2016 mistakes. Bringing suffering on yourself just to make minorities, and foreigners, suffer more is a disgusting trend. Seriously, filled with so much hate you’re willing to run your country into the ground.

[PaddyFancy]

Isn’t Corbyn considered an anti-semite? Also he would give Northern Ireland back to the Irish which would result in the return of the Troubles? Is there any more accuracy to this than those inflicting Johnson?

[Conando]

I don’t know much about that, but I can point out suspicious accusations of Anti-Semitism are showing up in the American election cycle. Aimed at Bernie Sanders, a Jewish man. You read that right.

[Salamander]

Labour and Corbyn's record on anti-Semitism is poor, but how much of that can be laid at any one person's door is debateable.  He's certainly not openly anti-Semitic, but what he is is a long-time supporter of Palestinian rights.  That is in and of itself no bad thing, but it's possible that it blinkers him.  My impression from some of the allegations I've heard is that some members of the Labour party have crossed a line from being pro-Palestinian and into anti-Israeli, and from there into anti-Semitic.  I think sometimes these are wilfully conflated.

The idea that Corbyn would "give Northern Ireland back to the Irish" is a new one on me and frankly pretty laughable.  I have a hard time imagining how that would even work.  It's debateable whether Ireland would even want it, because the peace process as it presently stands appears very much-loved and the biggest threat to that is new border checks because of Brexit.