Yesterday I and a few other MPs complained about the delay in Brexit and asked what it is for. Under the terms of the Statutory Instrument we now leave on 12 April unless the government has gained approval for the Withdrawal Agreement by Friday night. We are told the government may seek another debate and vote on it on Friday. I will post my speech in the debate later this morning.
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March 28, 2019
I note that the statutory instrument seeking to delay independence passed in the Commons last night. I wonder what became of Steve Baker’s comment on “Peston” that “there are some things we could do” to stop it?
I read that, in 2012, Mr. Rees-Mogg participated in the filibustering of a Daylight Savings Bill. I also read that, recently, the EU Parliament backed a proposal that would affect member states’ policies on the twice-yearly clock change. I would have thought that, if Mr. Rees-Mogg and others had previously been inspired to take such action concerning this single subject area, they would have had all the more reason to take similar action to liberate us from an organisation for whom this area is but a small part of its claimed jurisdictional competence.
March 28, 2019
Sir John, I saw two great speeches/interventions from you yesterday. Sir Bill Cash’s question/speech ditto. I’m not sure the minister (RW) understood Sir Bill. And the Attorney General did not answer.
March 28, 2019
JR, it was okay but not forceful enough. The remainers are taking quite traitorous tactics supporting and working with Labour.
Do not forget May keeps warning about a Corbyn government but Ken Clarke and other traitors vote for His Proposals! No more is Corbyn the bogey man, especially to uninformed Joe Public. It will give him credibility to uninformed Joe Public that Tory MPs vote with him and his colleagues.
The indicative votes have been excellent in determining which associations need to get rid of their Tory MP who has deceived them, the party and nation. It is now clear which MPs and ministers need to be got rid of. If your party does not then it is abundantly clear to the public. So in that sense Letwin has outed the names of those traitors. Start with those who voted for a customs union as it is directly against what they were elected on, not leaving on 29/03/2019 without a deal. Again totally against the manifesto.
I trust every association chair will carefully read names against voting and manifesto. After all the associations raised funds and campaigned for them on points they have now voted against. Come on associations take heed of the results and act brutally to those who abused you and your trust.
March 28, 2019
The Conservative MPs who voted against this and/or the 157 who voted for “no deal” should form a Brexit Deliverance To Restore Democracy” group.
“It does what it says on the tin.” Make it crystal clear.
The BDTRD group must maintain Clear Blue Water & Clean Hands.
March 28, 2019
ConHome today reports that Mrs May’s three-line whip on the Conservative side for The Betrayal S.I. was defied by 93 Noes & 67 abstensions.
(Including: “Seven Cabinet Ministers. Half the Whips Office. Eleven Ministers. All these failed to back the Government in yesterday’s extension vote.”)
March 28, 2019
It strikes me that MPS despite all the talk of the need for some coherence across the house failed miserably to produce it. Yesterdays opportunity for clarity became an indulgence. For sure the decision of 17.4 million voters was ignored and a chance to bring Leave and Remain to a viable solution lost in self indulgence.
So what are we left with. The WA which should fall for a third time. Then we should leave on WTO terms on 12th April, appoint a leave PM and Cabinet, submitt a draft FTA and invoke Art 24 of GATT. It is the only option that satisfies the referendum result, party manifestos and numerous declarations confirming leaving.
March 28, 2019
Don’t bank on it. Come 12th April both sides will stare at no deal and decide they really don’t like it, so we get delay #2 – this time much longer.
March 28, 2019
I do not. I would not bet on night following day were it in the hands of the current HoC.
March 28, 2019
Not liking No Deal is just code for not liking Brexit.
March 29, 2019
Yes! Whatever happened to “No deal is better than a bad deal”? Suvo
March 28, 2019
Would you stop posting garbage about Art 24 GATT? Art 24 GATT applies only if both parties AGREE. If the UK rips up the agreed terms of withdrawal and walks away with no deal, there is not a snowball’s chance in hell that the EU will agree to talk about trade. If the UK wants to jump off a cliff, get on with it, but don’t pretend Art 24 provides a parachute. It does not
March 28, 2019
There are plenty of opinions to the contrary and government has worked on it.
March 28, 2019
Tory in Cumbria – It seems Mr Redwood agrees with this and doesn’t like to admit it?
March 28, 2019
So what do you see following this ripping up and no TRADE deal? No chance, you say, that ”the EU will agree to talk about trade” (and is that because they won’t get their bribe?) So what then? Nobody imports/exports, all trade stops, etc etc? Please don’t blather – you should make yourself clearer instead of posting garbage.
March 29, 2019
If no deal, we trade with the EU on WTO terms only. Right now not one country in the whole world trades on WTO terms only. That is because WTO terms only are very very bad terms, far worse than doing trade deals. WTO terms only are, in trade terms, like being in the Stone Age while everyone else has the internet. So if you drew up a league table of free trade after a no deal Brexit, the Uk would be somewhere alongside North Korea at the very bottom. No deal plus WTO terms only is economic catastrophe
March 28, 2019
“So what are we left with. The WA which should fall for a third time. ”
I sincerely hope so. Bercow or votes against should mean the end of Withdrawal/Surrender Mark3. Until that actually happens I am still slightly nervous that some last minute stroke will enable it to survive for further consideration.
March 28, 2019
So What Are We Left With the Withdrawal Agreement.
Remember what JR wrote (what has changed?):
8 things wrong with the Withdrawal Agreement
By JOHNREDWOOD | Published: DECEMBER 27, 2018
1. Signing the Withdrawal Agreement gives the EU what they want, taking away most of our bargaining power.
2. The financial commitments are open-ended, with some very long lasting. They will doubtless be much more than the Treasury £39 bn forecast. This is money given for nothing in return that we do not legally owe them.
3. We have to accept and follow any law they pass for the next two years or more, without any vote or voice to try to stop laws that damage our interests.
4. We cannot sign any trade deals with other countries all the time we stay in the so-called Implementation period.
5. Under the Agreement we might be another 45 months stuck in the EU, making a total of 78 months or six and a half years from our decision to leave. Parliament promised to enact the decision of the People’s vote, not to delay it indefinitely.
6. The Irish backstop splits the UK up.
7. The Withdrawal Agreement is legally binding. The Political Declaration is a vague wish list including the contradiction of a possible free trade agreement and a possible customs partnership.
8 Far from ending business uncertainty it prolongs it and makes it worse, as it makes a good outcome for the UK less likely.
This is an unbelievably bad Agreement for the UK and a great one for the EU. It is not a deal, as it does not offer the UK any of the things the PM said she wanted. It is an invitation to much more uncertainty and more talks on worse terms for the UK.
March 28, 2019
John, please put yourself forward for PM.
Nobody would stand a better chance of saving the party if there’s an election. If it’s not you the Brexit Party will win.
March 28, 2019
Quite frankly I can’t think of a better person than Sir John.
March 28, 2019
My vote would be for Chancellor. Sir John would be excellent.
March 28, 2019
It’s a pity, Sir John, that we don’t have the facility to ”up vote” a comment here – we’d all have seen then how many of us agree with Chris!
March 28, 2019
All those MPs who voted FOR the Iraq war should have been made to resign after the debacle they helped create and the misfortunes they heaped upon that country. They are responsible for the misery of millions of refugees fleeing their homes and risking life and limb.
Have they no shame?
March 29, 2019
The MPs were mislead by Blair and his cabinet margaret.
March 28, 2019
Good morning
If the disastrous WA is voted down, again, does that mean we Leave on the 12th April ?
Whatever happens I, and I am sure many others here, would like to thank our kind host for all he has done.
March 28, 2019
One is sure the MPs in Parliament thought that spending a whole day or more and “debating” options and failing to agree to any was worthwhile. No-one outside Parliament thought so.
What a waste of public money and time!
They do need to wish to leave the EU as a precondition, really. They don’t.
They really are in a bubble.
Pointless Parliament being open for business. It may as well close down and an Administration of some kind take over minus MPs.
It is stuck!
March 28, 2019
I was able to watch most of the debate on the SI. Sir William Cash raised pertinent points about the sequence of events before the motion was tabled and failed to get any explicit answers even though the AG was present. The AG’s silence was telling. My conclusions are that the PM acted outside the ministerial code, did not ask the AG’s advice beforehand, and in law acted ultra vires when she sought delay beyond 29 March.
The sooner she resigns the better. But I will only believe it when she actually leaves No 10. I expect a repeat performance when she seeks a further extension and her excuse to remain in office. This time we have been forewarned about her likely modus operandi. I hope that this time MPs will be able to hold her to account.
March 28, 2019
Doesn’t the SI have to go through the HoL and be ‘signed off’ by the Queen as well?
Does this need to be completed by/before the 23rd?
March 28, 2019
The HoL passed it without vote.
March 28, 2019
I don’t think the Queen has to be directly involved. The primary legislation, the Act, did need Royal Assent, but the Act then empowers a minister to make the necessary regulations through this secondary legislation. The Lords debated it for nearly two hours yesterday evening:
https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2019-03-27/debates/9DBCE6DB-DFC2-4ED9-9229-78C64C2B9196/EuropeanUnion(Withdrawal)Act2018(ExitDay)(Amendment)Regulations2019
March 28, 2019
No one knew about poss SI? Very odd.
Watched speech..JR did us proud!!
March 28, 2019
The problem is that Mrs May has become the boy who cried wolf. She has made so many promises and then reneged on them that I fail to understand how anyone can believe a word she says. It would not surprise me in the least if she offered to resign after her deal gets voted through and then went back on it after she got the result she wanted. Trust is easily lost and hard won. History is not on her side.
March 28, 2019
It would appear that the delays – We can expect more than the one upto April 12 are purely there to twist more MP’s arms into voting for the May deal ….. She has given notice that she can keep this up for 2 years or more… and will do so.
She has nothing more to offer, except total surrender with her alleged deal – It really is time that all MP’s of integrity actually did something to stop her plans – Even Mogg junior was unable to persuade her otherwise, so something more serious is needed!
It is time for ERG and everyone else to make a move – involve the Queen if possible, invoke some instrument – ANYTHING, just stop this confounded treachery, and leave on WTO terms.
March 28, 2019
What else can decent Tory MP’s do?
May is not going to back down – It is time for serious action FGS….
– Work to rule / be disruptive / go on strike …whatever
– MP’s should seriously consider mass resignations from the Tory party to force elections – That would reduce her working majority and force a rethink…
Let’s face it, it is time the decent right of the Tories split – the party as a whole has moved too far left… and after the next GE the Tory party as it stands now will be decimated – Make the break now while it will still make a big impact!
March 28, 2019
Following May’s visit to the EU last Thursday and the the EU extending the leaving date in Article 50 from 29th March to April 12th caught all who want to leave totally off guard.
EU law over ruled what we had passed into law months before, clearly illustrating the power of this dictatorship.
We have a devious PM supported by a bunch of ”near useless MPs” so we have to be super alert to anticipate their next twist or turn to keep us in the EU. That is their ambition and they are very adept at kicking the can down the road. If we don’t out-think them it won’t be long before they kick the can right out of the park!!!!!!
We must come out on April 12
March 28, 2019
What else can decent Tory MP’s do now?
May is not going to back down – It is time for serious action FGS….
– Work to rule / be disruptive / go on strike …whatever
– MP’s should seriously consider mass resignations from the Tory party to force elections – That would reduce her working majority and force a rethink…
Let’s face it, it is time the decent right of the Tories split – the party as a whole has moved too far left… and after the next GE the Tory party as it stands now will be decimated – Make the break now while it will still make a big impact!
March 28, 2019
Yes the missing item on the paper given to MPs was :
Will you honour the result of the Referendum ? Yes /No?
March 28, 2019
May shouldn’t be allowed to stand down if her WA is agreed! Your party will just elect another remainer like Rudd or Lidington who is even weaker if that could be. She has tied the hands and feet of her successor and its a poisoned chalice. I’d rather remain that watch this WA agreed and our Country be reduced to a snivelling wreck with remainers overactive over the next two years blaming leavers for everything she has tied and bound us to.
March 28, 2019
Now the commons has voted and not agreed, what is the point of a delay except to deny the people’s decision and for more chicanery.
March 28, 2019
Under the terms of the Statutory Instrument we now leave on 12 April unless the government has gained approval for the Withdrawal Agreement by Friday night
Why “by Friday night”? Why couldn’t it be approved on, say, Wednesday next week?
Reply Because the EU said 29 March is the deaaline and Mrs May accepted
March 28, 2019
Reply Because the EU said 29 March is the deaaline and Mrs May accepted
Ok. So they set May 29th a s deadline for the vote. Right – thanks.
March 28, 2019
I watched the Commons debate on this and it struck me that those now controlling the Tory party have still not caught up with the basic idea that a minister or official should not just go off to Brussels and agree to some important decision or measure on the EU or international plane without first checking that it will be acceptable on the domestic plane.
Yet it was the Tory party in coalition with the Liberal Democrats which pressed for the European Union Act 2011 which made it a legal requirement that domestic approval of a draft measure must precede agreement in the EU, for example:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2011/12/notes
“6. In addition, Part 1 provides that an Act of Parliament would be required before the UK could agree to a number of other specified decisions provided for in TEU and TFEU, either in the European Council or in the Council of the European Union (referred to as ‘the Council’ in the Act and in these Notes); and that certain other decisions would require a motion to be agreed without amendment in both Houses of Parliament before the UK could vote in favour of specified decisions in either the European Council or the Council.”
Of course a decision to extend the Article 50 period was not included in the long list of decisions which required prior parliamentary approval, which would be given if –
“(a) in each House of Parliament a Minister of the Crown moves a motion that the House approves Her Majesty’s Government’s intention to support the adoption of a specified draft decision, and
(b) each House agrees to the motion without amendment.”
but surely the same principle should have been applied?
March 28, 2019
I read that May has used an executive power to extend the leaving date. However, on the constitutional law web site they argue strongly that there is no such executive / prerogative power with regard to treaties under EU law.
Perhaps you should be challenging this extension URGENTLY (ion the courts, presumably, a la Miller) – then we leave tomorrow.
March 28, 2019
BR
I agree x 1000000
Many are saying this.
March 28, 2019
Mystic Mick has looked into his crystal ball.
I see an 11th hour “breakthrough from the EU” to remove the backstop from the WA.
This will be sold as a very generous and helpful gesture from our EU friends to “help” the UK get Mrs Mays deal.
The DUP will then have their major block removed.
Wow what a wonderful offer from those nice people across the pond !!
Actually I have seen this coming since Chequers. I just cant predict the lottery numbers nearly so well !