the day after the deadline: can the union survive brexit and other deep questions

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DXCCqL5WAAUIlyw.jpg

Spare a thought for those of us Camden dwellers inside the congestion charge zone, for we exist and are all thinking ‘WTF Boris?’

grr arg https://twitter.com/i/moments/968202293328957440

xp
jesus, if a 10 yr old kid was talking the fatuous nonsense Boris does about very real and serious issues in the realm of adult human beings that will affect their lives and livelihoods. You might be excused for using a taser on them. But different rules apply to the FS.

People are laughing at BoJo comparison of post Brexit Ireland border issues as equivalent to those as between two London borough as his usual buffoonery. We shouldn't. 1/

— brian lucey (@brianmlucey) February 27, 2018

that was vg, one of the RoI responses I heard on the radio earlier was way too polite + restrained.

Don't taig police us

taig it or leave it. pal!

Ai of the taiger

Don't even see this customs union idea as a significant thing rn - doesn't this contradict on Diane Abbott's immigration speech from last week (basically against a more humane approach to migration in general)? 'Goods yes, people no' approach keeps business and the likes of Hoey happy, but how sustaianable is it in the long run?

It's significant because it gives Labour, Tory rebels and other parties a potential blocking vote in the House of Commons, which all of course depends on the size of the Remainer Tory rebellion. 'Goods yes people no' is not an approach that is likely to especially delight business especially when labour and skills shortages start kicking in in parts of the country, not to mention it's repellent on a moral level. Immigration might still be the issue that breaks Labour's current coalition of voters, although they might have to wait until they're in power, probably post-Brexit, for that.

Tomorrow is going to be a shitshow, isn’t it? EU publishes its “no fucking cake for you” draft, Boris‘s “sod the border” memo has been leaked and the DUP are in a tight spot.

All this and PMQs too!

this is what sparked the following reaction from Lord Heseltine: “This is the most remarkable revelation of duplicity” pic.twitter.com/IJ16bQACku

— Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) February 27, 2018

well Heseltine is a complete cunt, but I like it when he correctly makes Boris look like a stupid little kid in the office.

"..even if a hard border [was] reintroduced, we would expect 95%+ of goods to pass border [without] checks" - is a reference to HMRC currently checking "4% consignments arriving in the EU at the UK external border"
- playing down the impact of a hard border in letter to PM"

"that is the position of all borders"

oh shit maplins has gone tits up

toysrus too but i don't really feel much affection for them as a business. obviously sucks for their staff though

they can now enjoy the benefits of our record high unemployment that the bbc keep referencing, sure they'll be fine.

*record low* i meant!

In the pre UC era I went through quite a few liquidations and layoffs, it never seemed like a big deal. Imagine the trepidation some people will be feeling about finally getting sucked into this enveloping UC nightmare they've been reading about.

mind if Maplin/ToysRUs were zero hour contractors, they might be already deeply in this shit.

EU publishes plan to keep Northern Ireland in customs union

Good luck UK etc

"Barnier pretty blunt there. UK said it would provide explanations of a better way to do Irish border and it hasn't."

Dan Hannen is losing his mind rn

it’s good he is a secret stalinist tho

Boris couldn't face the prospect of a Thornberry grilling and did one at PMQ.

Leavers are very angry that the EU has failed to work out how the UK might solve problems created by UK government's failure to make decisions forced on UK by UK Prime Minister's Brexit red lines.

— Rafael Behr (@rafaelbehr) February 28, 2018

the saddest otm

Theresa May appeared to accidentally commit to continue "dithering" on the Northern Ireland border today.

In an apparent slip of words, the prime minister said she was "absolutely committed to dithering" on the question of how to solve the problem of preventing a hard border with Ireland after Brexit.

I didn't think she was capable of honesty, v refreshing.

Remember when Gordon Brown used to get absolutely slaughtered for being a 'ditherer'?

nostalgia for a golden age of steady, unspectacular shitpoliticking

The SNP’s Joanna Cherry asks Lidington to confirm that what is in the draft treaty published today is “exactly” the backstop that Theresa May agreed to in December.

He says there will be no cherry picking.

bit rude

Remember when Gordon Brown used to get absolutely slaughtered for being a 'ditherer'?

Major as well. It's standard for the unpopular follow-up PM.

Although given what we've seen of TM's decision-making, dithering is probably the best she could be doing right now.

say what you want about Thatcher or Blair, if it came to making decisions that killed people they didn't dither

stephen bush's line on TM is that she is in fact prone to sudden rash decisions which she then very stubbornly sticks with

(one of these was deciding to hand brexit negotiations to bjohnson ddavis and drl"the disgraced"fox)

Indeed.The "cautious May" narrative is almost entirely evidence-proof.

— Stephen Bush (@stephenkb) January 24, 2017

Gavin Williamson "Can I be Def..."
May "YARP"

Labour + rebels supposedly have enough numbers to defeat the government on the Trade Bill amendment (the one committing the gov to customs union):

Conservative Brexit rebels tell me at least two more Tory MPs are signing the Trade bill amendment on the Customs Union, making a total so far of 10. https://t.co/DOvV6aGfjP

— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) February 28, 2018

Indeed the press attacks on the Brexit rebels appear to have backfired and rallied support amongst Remain-backing Conservatives, who are no longer scared of the Brexit-supporting press.

"I've been through all that now so that doesn't worry me at all," one of the Tory rebels told Business Insider this week.

Only question is if they’ll do it.

xxp you could see this dating back to some decisions as Home Secretary, like including students in immigration stats. It was unpalatable with much of the Cabinet and ironically increased the net migration figures, but she still wouldn’t budge.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/feb/28/theresa-may-concedes-on-eu-migrants-residency-rights-during-brexit-transition

I'd be very leery of ever sharing a daily mash thing on this thread but "Northern Ireland border could be beaded curtain, says government" was a genuine LOL esp with the accompanying photo.

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/politics/politics-headlines/northern-ireland-border-could-be-beaded-curtain-says-government-20180228145116

"if we use one, it’ll mean everyone knows exactly where the border is while not presenting any kind of barrier that would upset the IRA because you just part it with your hands.

“And if anyone tried to take terrorists or drugs or imports from China that don’t meet EU standards through, we’d know immediately because we’d hear the beads rattle.”

It's significant because it gives Labour, Tory rebels and other parties a potential blocking vote in the House of Commons, which all of course depends on the size of the Remainer Tory rebellion.

Which almost certainly won't happen..

Mad Lizzy on form:

Talking about 5 secrets of UK’s economic success @telegraph 1. Celebrate entrepreneurs 2. Control size of government 3. Shake up markets 4. Open professions 5. Take on NIMBYS #InvestinginBritain pic.twitter.com/t5mpnmowly

— Elizabeth Truss (@trussliz) February 28, 2018

The pathetic attempts at hashtags are always a winner but don't sleep on those subtle non-committals ("I have found this generation to be one of the most independent minded, enterprising and anti-establishment of our times #freewheelin #youngguns" / "Some of their ideas border on the absurd...forcing landlords to accept pets.")

“Invest in gin, Britain” seems like sound advice tbh.

I was thrown by her tweet about growing up listening to Whitney Houston, for some reason I assumed she was much older, similar age to my accursed MP Amber Rudd. I realise I'm on shaky ground talking about a woman's appearance, and this is perhaps something I need to get used to because I suppose I've always assumed politicians, especially Tory ones, are a lot older than me, but she's only just over a year older than I am.

6. Unlock forecasts
7. Non-non-non-doms
8. Macwofweakonomy

9. open up new Pork Markets

the only MP older than me is frank field

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