Legislation planned to reduce required Commons majority to one
Boris Johnson, fearful that he may be unable to obtain the two-thirds majority to call an early general election under the Fixed Term Parliaments Act (FTPA), is planning to bypass the FTPA by calling one via new legislation. A new Act will require a parliamentary majority of only one, according to parliamentary sources.
Johnson is looking desperately for ways to make his botched threat of an election feasible if MPs vote in favour this week of taking control of the parliamentary agenda to prevent a no-deal Brexit.
The FTPA was introduced by the Tories to prevent them being ousted early amid their vicious attack on public services and social security – and now a different Tory PM is looking to bypass it in order to mask his weakness as he tries to push the UK over the no-deal cliff.
MPs who want to avoid a no-deal Brexit must work hard to pass an amendment fixing a pre-Brexit date in Johnson’s ‘GE Bill’, so that he cannot get a majority to call a pre-Brexit election and then change the date afterward to a post-Brexit poll.
Labour is ready for a general election and welcomes it, but not as a Johnson ruse to paralyse the country until it falls off the cliff.
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It’s crazy to ask for a GE when the single issue will be Leaving without a deal – because the popular Johnson (and rescue dog) would win. Call Johnson’s Bluff and see if he dares crash out; he may well as he has nowhere else to go. It wouldn’t be the end if the World, such things can be repaired but it may well be that the subsequent mess sees hard Right Toryism dead for a generation.
Paul……its called cutting your nose to spite your face
The price the poor, sick and vulnerable would pay for another 3 years of Tory rule in a situation where even the limited protections the EU affords no longer apply,is not to be countenanced.
It is a liberal fantasy that the EU affords even “limited protections” to the poor sick and vulnerable. Ask the Greeks.
As for the “bonfire of workers’ rights” myth see this excellent piece by Professor Mary Davis.
https://braveneweurope.com/mary-davis-the-chimera-of-workers-rights-in-the-eu
Danny,you are like that other bookend SteveH,not to be taken seriously.
🤷♂️
Another link to a posting on ‘the full brexit’.
Blames the EU for not legislating enough worker protections – ignoring the fact that brexit lets the Tories ditch them all.
Like every other ‘brexit pseudo-lefty’ she conveniently ignores the fact that we don’t actually have a Labour government at this time – and that we can’t guarantee an election win with the BBC propping up the Tories so effectively.
The choice as of today is between the Tories gaining a free hand to commit whatever atrocity they wish upon us or their being restricted – to whatever degree – by EU worker protections.
AND BY THE EU ANTI TAX AVOIDANCE DIRECTIVE.
Perhaps a comment on something other than brexit next time ‘professor’?
Caw, caw, goes Danny, the Brexit Black Crow of Death!
Is he the editor of The Full Brexit or something?
Dearie me, John Thatcher, some advice on the structure of logical argument :
you cannot simply refute Danny’s statement , (with it’s link to a detailed explanation of why his statement is correct), merely by posting up a completely content-less denial, and an irrelevant additional “bookend” comment about the troll, Steve H. I know this must be a revelation to you Left Liberals, who believe every unsubstantiated cliche statement of yours must be true simply because you want it to be ! Maybe you should do a little research about the entirely neoliberal EU , and THEN build a fact-based counter argument ?
First of all methinks Danny and Bad Penney are one and the same Cockwomble,
Bookends possibly more like Pantomime horse, make your mind up which is the hintend
EU reform from within or without is not going to happen through any democratic process but through the mother of all economic meltdowns
The other reason i voted to Leave was to be on the outside with a floating currency and our own democracy to take whatever measures needed to survive the shockwave
I’m listening to the debate in parliament as I scan this.
What is striking is how much like Johnson’s repetitive bluster are the postings by the Danny-Ha’penny troll-fantasist boy band.
We *know* about the neoliberal framework of the EU.
ITS NOT NEWS. WE AGREE.
But neither is it a definitive argument.
Try engaging with the wider arguments.
The Corbyn that Danny dismisses makes Johnson look like what he is – a bag of b…b..b..b. b.ll..ustering .w…w…w..wind. And, to be honest, so does Ian Blackford. Even Ken Clarke placed a well-aimed kick to the balls.
Johnson’s repetitive bluster is utterly embarrassing. He knows he’s out of his depth and just living out his childhood fantasies of being King of the World. While he still can!
I am afraid Danny is correct. The EU affords no protection to the poor and weak as it is EU rules “not to interfere in the internal policies of member states” when it suits them. They have given this answer before when asked to lend a helping hand with the systematic abuse which this government inflicts on its own citizens. Truth.
So because the Greeks got a rough deal (and that was because they are part of the Eurozone, which we are not) we should not expect our rights to be upheld? A very slippery slope using that argument.
I agree with Paul above that “the popular Johnson would win”. True enough, anything can happen in an election: but a Tory government, even another minority one, is the more probable result.
The polls have turned against us since Corbyn caved in to the People’s Vote and made Labour the Party of Remain. (Funny how Skwarkie’s hostility to the PV mysteriously vanished the moment Corbyn caved in!)
More compelling than national polls, however, are the Tory/Labour marginal constituencies, the target seats which we have to win off the Tories. Of these, 35 voted Leave and 10 voted Remain. As regards the vast majority of these seats, therefore Labour has rather cooked its own goose by flipping to Second Referendum and Remain.
Of course that would not be the case if the electorate would somehow start believing, Corbynista-style, that all this EU business is a terrible distraction from the NHS and food banks etc. But that really is not going to happen. Brexit would be the overwhelming issue in any general election in the near future: our prospects are too dodgy for the Party to bust a gut in favour of having one.
“The polls have turned against us since Corbyn caved in to the People’s Vote and made Labour the Party of Remain.”
Bollocks on speed.
The decline has been in progress since mid-2018; without any real sign of increase in the Tory vote, either.
This is from the same source that thinks that there’s a coherent revolutionary working class vote in favour of Brexit (based on the Daily Bile as the real Morning Star)… which is about as reality-denying as you can get.
Boil it down, and the vision is based on Tory voters all becoming Labour Party supporters.
Doh!
Danny
No allowance for Brexit party or LibDems or FPTP
My only advice is do not bet on any of your predictions
Why was Watson not pictured with the rest of his shadow cabinet comrades in Salford?
your blinded by the obsession with brexit.
you make the election about the real issues then dont you!!
you force the change to the narrative and force policies to the front!
this election is about who makes the laws and policies of the country first and about our role with the EU second.
every possibility is better with a labour government
anyone that fails to understand this is not a supporter of the labour party and not a supporter of the helpless , vulnerable and poor.
and now the binary thinking obsessed may continue swinging handbags.
We could start by exposing their fiscal incompetence.
The IFS said these announcements are being made on the basis of a fiscal headroom which would be wiped out if the Treasury used up-to-date forecasts incorporating the recent slump in economic activity.
Its director Paul Johnson said: “Making big fiscal announcements in a period of great economic uncertainty means we will have little idea how sustainable or costly decisions made this week will be.
https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/economy/government-borrowing/news/106252/government-will-need-find-extra-£5bn-pay-spending
I see the Corbyn naysayers are still flogging the dead horse propaganda that he is unelectable.
Read Steve Howell’s ‘Game Changer’ for the story of the 2017 GE and how he increased the Labour vote share by almost 10% during the two month campaign. He did it precisely by displacing the Brexit obssession with Labour’s manifesto policies.
In or out if the EU, the enemy is neoliberal market fundamentalism.
Quite right lpt
IN places that was 14% swing to Labour, in our own constituency it was 14% and that is in a Tory held, Leave voting county. We did it by breaking all the Blairite rules of canvassing, and we expect to win this time.
“anyone that fails to understand this is not a supporter of the labour party”
Is anyone seriously suggesting Danny’s a supporter of the Labour party?
That was a reply to marti@12.42pm, btw
I thought the primary purpose of the FTPA was to solidify the Tory-liberal democrat government. Either way, the Liberal Democrats are getting an easy ride over their part in creating the FTPA & then later extending the number of days needed for an election.
“The FTPA was introduced by the Tories”
It was actually the Tories *and* the LibDems. Condemnation where condemnation is due.
As to the generally desired GE … key tactical issues of context and timing here. It’s not a cure-all at this moment, noting that the current position is not as propitious as 2017 when the Tories – despite a smack in the teeth – still won a majority.
Watching Cummings glove puppet live and as a gambler have yet to witness any killer punch that will carry a GE,
Talks a lot but says nowt
One point that probably comes a close 2nd to the NHS is the vast majority in this country just want Brexit over with
Very little appetite for No Deal or No Brexit
Dont think I’ve seen Mini Maggie May so happy, inside she’s dancing,
Go on bonnie lass, finish him off
Boris will not go for a short bill because that would be amendable, and hence the opposition could attach a date to the bill, which would defeat the object as far as Boris is concerned.