European Union News - Topic

Conservative MP Phillip Lee has defected to the Liberal Democrats ahead of a showdown between Boris Johnson and Tory rebels over Brexit.

Dr Lee, the MP for Bracknell, took his seat on the opposition benches as the PM addressed the Commons.

His defection means Boris Johnson no longer has a working majority in the House of Commons.

He said the government was "pursuing a damaging Brexit in unprincipled ways... putting lives and livelihoods at risk".

Mr Johnson has vowed to leave the EU on 31 October with or without a deal, but a number of MPs against no deal have come together across party political lines to try to stop it happening.

They have submitted a motion for an emergency debate to Commons Speaker John Bercow, and if successful, they will bring forward a bill that would force the prime minister to ask for Brexit to be delayed until 31 January, unless MPs approve a new deal, or vote in favour of a no-deal exit, by 19 October.

Welp there's a defector. No more majority for BoJo.

Does this mean General Election is close?

dro94

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#4223

Sep 3 2019 12:58pm

Quote (balrog66 @ Sep 3 2019 06:11pm)

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-49570682

Welp there's a defector. No more majority for BoJo.

Does this mean General Election is close?

It's more dependent on whether the govt loses the vote tonight. If they do, Boris has indicated he'll seek a general election, but for that to happen 2/3rd's of the house will have to vote for it.

Now here's the interesting part! Corbyn and Labour in general have been banging the election drum for like a year as a way to solve the impasse...but if Boris is forced to look for a deal and possibly extend the transition period, Labour may vote against the (potential) subsequent vote for a general election. That would put Boris and his cabinet in purgatory.

IMO it's a disgrace he's saying that he wants a deal and the house is trying to block our negotiating strength when EU leaders have said within the last 7 days that the UK still hasn't put forward any proposals to replace the backstop.

This post was edited by dro94 on Sep 3 2019 12:58pm

thesnipa

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#4224

Sep 3 2019 01:55pm

Quote (dro94 @ Sep 3 2019 01:58pm)

i used to think Trump was worse than Brexit. now tho i realize our govt setup prevents Trump from doing much of anything legislatively, whereas yours cripples the entire country trying to find a way to make "the will of the people" law.

as time rolls on Brexit is looking like more of a problem than Trump, and it hasn't even really happened yet.

dro94

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#4225

Sep 3 2019 02:12pm

Quote (thesnipa @ Sep 3 2019 08:55pm)

We have been the envy of the world for our democracy and liberalism without having a proper constitution and everything being done 'gentlemanly', but this debacle demands we set more rules in stone. The uncertainty around Brexit is causing a massive drop in FDI as well as domestic investment.

dro94

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#4226

Sep 3 2019 03:52pm

Government has lost the vote so now the house can force the govt to ask the EU for an extension if they haven't reached a deal by 15th October. Johnson has responded by forwarding a motion for a vote tomorrow on an election, but this needs 2/3rds of the house to vote for it and Labour have indicated they won't vote for it until no deal has formally been taken off the table and extension granted until Jan 2020.

Meanwhile, the 21 Conservative rebels who voted against the government are being formally removed from the party, including the guy who was chancellor of the exchequer until 3 weeks ago?! What the hell, the government doesn't even have a working majority as of today...

Meanwhile

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#4227

Sep 3 2019 08:42pm

Months ago i was pointing out the "anonymous" aspect of MPs allowing them to make discutable decisions.
Maybe democracy will work; a new PM will be elected with a short majority and will accept the brexit agreement for a limited time; the time for another referendum...? :lol:

This post was edited by Saucisson6000 on Sep 3 2019 08:43pm

NatureNames

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#4228

Sep 3 2019 09:02pm

When things don't go how you want, rip up the papers, knock the game pieces off the table, and most importantly throw your only allies under the bus. That will show them /s. Boris really does seem like Trump.
🤦

Black XistenZ

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#4229

Sep 4 2019 02:20am

Quote (thesnipa @ 3 Sep 2019 21:55)

the key problem in all of this is still that the HoC can only agree on what it doesnt want, but not on what it wants.
two or three months ago, they were debating I think 12 different compromise bills, and every. singl. one. of them fell through in the HoC.

so the HoC is basically "we dont want a hard brexit, we dont want to outright overturn the brexit referendum out of democratic concerns, and we cant agree on ANY compromise - Pm, how dare you try to carry on without us?".
if the HoC had been presenting any way forward, neither May nor Johnson would have had a reason to ram their idea of Brexit through without support from the legislature.

at the end of the day, a new general election imho is the best option. this time around, every single candidate in every single constituency would have to take a clear side, so the resulting balance of power in the House of Commons would de facto imply a 2nd referendum.

This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Sep 4 2019 02:23am

Meanwhile

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#4230

Sep 4 2019 07:05am

I guess today they will vote to force the PM to stick on a delay while cancelling general elections motion.

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