This thread exists to discuss British politics.
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Recent political stuff:
- The vote to see if Britain should adopt Alternative Voting has failed.
- Lib Dems lose lots of councils and councillors, whilst Labour make the majority of the gains in England.
- The Scottish National Party do really well in the elections.
A link to the BBC politics page containing relevant information.
Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 3rd 2023 at 11:15:30 AM
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Not really, because they also argue that the UK has to leave in order to strike the trade deal it wants, but they expect Germany to do what the UK has to leave for in order to be able to do...
Because the logic rest that the EU is making Uk be mediocre, one UK leaves they will be a awsome empi....nation again.
Oh, bother.
No-deal Brexit rehearsal in Kent 'a waste of time'
Between this, the contract to the ferry service that had never even used boats before and used terms for a food service in said contract, and the drone debacle at Gatwick airport, Chris Grayling is coming across as perhaps the most mediocre government official in the UK. And that's saying a lot.
Disgusted, but not surprised
Figure of Hourai
You forgot the fact every new train timetable in the past year has had problems being implemented, there.
Avatar Source
Oh, bother.
I knew I was forgetting something. So that's the land, sea, and air covered.
Disgusted, but not surprised
Seems the Brexit protests outside parliament are turning nasty(er)
Writing to Met Police commissioner Cressida Dick, the MPs cited "serious concerns" about the "deteriorating public order and security situation".
It comes after Conservative MP Anna Soubry was verbally abused on Monday.
She was shouted at - including being called a liar and a Nazi - during live TV interviews on BBC News and Sky.
The former minister was later called "scum" and jostled as she tried to re-enter the Palace of Westminster.
Ms Soubry later criticised police for not intervening and called for the protesters to be prosecuted under public order laws.
The Met said it was investigating whether any crimes were committed, after having received a third-party report of a public order offence on College Green.
College Green - the area opposite Parliament - is regularly used by media to interview politicians, as well as being a popular site for protesters to gather.
Labour MP Stephen Doughty coordinated the letter to Met Police chief Ms Dick, which has been signed by at least 55 MPs.
The cross-party group of MPs - which includes those both for and against Brexit - said many of the concerns had been "repeatedly raised" with officers and senior policing staff.
"We write to express our serious concerns about the deteriorating public order and security situation in and around the exterior of the Parliamentary estate including College Green," the letter read.
"After months of peaceful and calm protests by groups representing a range of political views on Brexit, an ugly element of individuals with strong far-right and extreme right connections - which your officers are well aware of - have increasingly engaged in intimidatory and potentially criminal acts targeting Members of Parliament, journalists, activists and members of the public.
"We understand there are ongoing investigations but there appears to be an ongoing lack of coordination in the response from the police and appropriate authorities including with Westminster borough policing - and despite clear assurances this would be dealt with following incidents before Christmas - there have been a number of further serious and well publicised incidents today."
The letter adds that it is "utterly unacceptable for Members of Parliament, journalists, activists and members of the public to be subject to abuse, intimidation and threatening behaviour and indeed potentially serious offences while they go about their work".
The abuse received by Ms Soubry - which happened while she was interviewed live on the BBC News Channel and also on Sky News - was widely condemned.
Ms Soubry, for Broxtowe and supporter of another Brexit referendum, said she objected to being called a Nazi.
Sky News presenter Kay Burley said the "increasingly vile, aggressive and intimidating" abuse had forced her to change her own route to Parliament and she now had to have security protection.
She told Radio 5 Live she had been interviewed three times by the police about the situation but the protesters knew their rights and what they could and couldn't get away with.
But she added: "How far does it have to escalate before the police have to take it seriously?"
Labour's Mary Creagh said the "really vile, misogynistic thuggery" that had been seen was not an isolated incident.
She pointed to the murder of MP Jo Cox, who was killed in her West Yorkshire constituency by right-wing extremist Thomas Mair in June 2016.
And Commons Speaker John Bercow said he was "concerned" about a "pattern of protest" targeting female MPs and journalists.
Also on Monday, political commentator Owen Jones published a video to Twitter that he had recorded while being followed and shouted at by a group of protesters outside Parliament.
Unacceptable
Ms Soubry has been in touch with the parliamentary authorities responsible for security.
Mr Bercow said he was aware of protests in recent weeks around the Palace of Westminster "involving aggressive and threatening behaviour towards members by assorted groups that have donned the yellow vests seen in France" - a reference to last year's "gilet jaune" anti-government demonstrations.
No 10 said the incident was "unacceptable" and MPs "should be free to do their jobs without any form of intimidation".
A Downing Street spokesman said there were laws dealing with public order offences and cases of harassment and threatening behaviour.
The BBC and other broadcasters have set up temporary studios on College Green ahead of the big Commons vote on Theresa May's Brexit deal on 15 January.
The BBC's assistant political editor Norman Smith said some MPs had expressed unease privately about being interviewed there given the frequency and vehemence of the protests.
Edited by SebastianGray on Jan 8th 2019 at 8:19:38 PM
Frankly, this attempt of the Brexiters to threaten wide-spread rioting and violence doesn't really worry me mostly because I am convinced whatever riot they can muster up, it pales compared to what will happen if the UK is hit with true economic hardship. Better to p... off a small percentage of your population instead of ALL of them.
Regarding the "stress test"...well, it fits the pattern:
EU: Does a proper impact assessment and publishes it on its website
UK: Claims it has made an impact assessment, then said the dog ate its homework and finally publishes something which can be only read by selected people in secret.
EU: Put out preparedness notices with detailed explanations early on.
UK: Cobbles something together which is partly quoted from a You Tube channel and basically tells the businesses in Northern Ireland that they should ask Dublin what to do.
EU: Buys new land around Rotterdam and hires more custom officers and vets.
UK: Buys invisible Ferries.
EU: Runs a test in Rotterdam which last a whole day to ensure that everyone is prepared.
UK: Runs a test with a handful of trucks everyone agrees was a useless exercise.
Oh, bother.
These protests are extra grotesque since, as the article points out, there's an ugly misogynistic streak to them too.
Disgusted, but not surprised
A procrastination in of itself
On the Ireland thing I was specifically talking about not seeing the idea of the Republic being forceed out of the EU, the idea that the Republic should leave has been floated for a while, but I don’t think anyone has yet gone full crazy and said we should use the military to force the Republic to quit the EU with us.
As for protesters outside parliament, I have some sympathy and obviously actual criminal conduct should be investigated, but my sympathy is pretty limited when it comes to Brexiter M Ps (a number of whom are lying Nazis, so calling them that isn’t abuse, it’s true), in the end they decided to try and destroy the future of millions of people, pushback was inevitable.
Plus the police would probably have an easier time monitoring the situation if the Tories hadn’t cut their budget to the bone.
Edited by Silasw on Jan 8th 2019 at 12:11:24 PM
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
Oh, bother.
Worth noting that said MP according to the article supports another referendum.
Tief girl with eartude
As I understand, it appears to be pro-Brexit groups who're doing most of the harassment.
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Yeah, the referendum protesters at worst hold up signs in the background of interviews. Anna Soubry is outspoken for a people's vote and against Brexit, and so far she has been harassed, threatened in a way that the police had to step in so that she could get to her car and now be called a Nazi.
There is no equivalence there. As usual.
Oh, bother.
I guess they call her a Nazi because she does not hate Germany or something.
Disgusted, but not surprised
Nah, it's because of the WWII mentality most leave supporters seem to reflexively fall back on. Darkest hour and all that. As they obviously are the good guys in this scenario anyone who opposes them are the bad guys, hence Nazis. Germany is probably only tangentially related at best.
Pronounced YAK-you-luss
lol, we've scared the Front National off from Frexit.
I believe that one isn't new, I vaguely recall them not campaigning on that in 2017.
So May lost a key vote today apparently. Cooper's amendment supposedly protects against a No Deal scenario unless Parliament votes for it.
How exactly? Just curious about the mechanisms in play here, especially since it was an amendment to a finance bill?
A procrastination in of itself
The treasury now can’t spend money preparing for a No Deal unless it asks parliament for the money first.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
I guess this is one way of preventing Cris Grayling from spending money on glaringly obvious grift... <_<
Now we just need to overturn Article 50 and get some investigations into what others messes the Tories have tried to cover up during their "preparations" for a no deal crash.
Edited by Euodiachloris on Jan 8th 2019 at 10:15:06 AM
Pronounced YAK-you-luss
To be clear, this is only a partial suspension of the government's abilities to amend taxes if they push through no deal without parliamentary agreement. The Twitter political set seem to think there's a non-zero chance the government will be able to muscle through this and find loopholes for the important dtuff. It is a useful piece of rhetoric to shift the blame for no-deal further towards the government, though, and since the opposition is generally pretty weak in a Westminster system, and Parliament's powers for averting something it has no control over by default are limited, that's quite handy for long-term damage-limitation.
What's precedent ever done for us?
Servant of the Omnissiah
I've got to wonder, all those people thinking the Germans are evilly-evil mustache twirlers - have they actually ever met a German person?
Probably not. Still, interesting if they have.
I hold the secrets of the machine.
Oh, bother.
NVM this is the British politics thread, not the German thread.
Edited by M84 on Jan 9th 2019 at 5:47:11 PM
Disgusted, but not surprised
I am pretty sure that Boris Johnson, Liam Fox and David Davis all have dealt with Germans at one point. Farage was even married to a German. Doesn't stop any of them to play on this weird obsession the Brits currently have with Germany.
Oh, bother.
Blame multiple generations of UK politicians constantly trying to invoke the spirit the British demonstrated during The Blitz. It kept the wound fresh and imprinted the idea that the best way to show British strength is by resisting Germany in everything.
Combine that with UK politicians also using the EU as a scapegoat for everything and the prominent role Germany plays in the EU, shake and stir for 40 years, sprinkle in an economic crisis or two and years of damaging austerity, and you've got a recipe for Brexit.
Edited by M84 on Jan 9th 2019 at 6:25:31 PM
Disgusted, but not surprised
Swan: actually is consistent, EU is a evil germany plan to conquer europe but when UK realize their awsome potencial by being britsh,t hey will trade a favorate deal(meaning they will get their better cut by being using the power of british master race).
Like I said, consistent.
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