Saturday 16 June 2018

The final countdown

I can now confirm that the EU is preparing for there to be EU elections in the UK next May, in case Brexit is either delayed or cancelled.

This is why hardline Brexiteers want any kind of Brexit, the harder the better, as if that is rejected then Brexit gets softer and softer until we really won't notice the difference. Only that UK will not have a voice in setting the rules, just has to accept them.

The Government believe, that when push comes to shove, enough of its own MPs, including the 17 the PM lied to last week, will vote with the party on Wednesday.

Of course if all the 17 vote with the "opposition" then she will lose. But if the bill is changed to reflect what May did promise the 17, then up to 60 ERG members will probably vote against it, meaning either way, May loses. If the 17 and/or the ERG keep their word, although the ERG have been shown to be flaky to say the least.

The UK has two land borders with the EU, one we know of and I have been talking about for two years, the other has hardly been mentioned as it sits at the very tip of Spain. Gibraltar is a UK overseas territory, and even has a UK based MEP to look after their interests. In the referendum, as they got to vote, though UK citizens living in Spain and the rest of the EU didn't, voted 95.9% to remain. So their voice of the people was clear.

Not that long ago, Spain closed the border, and supplies had to be flown in and queues of hours and even days built up. As both sides of the border are in the EU, both have to respect each other and Spain cannot block the border now. But upon Brexit, then the gloves are off, and there is the clear possibility that Spain could use a veto to block any Brexit deal it doesn't like, say, were it not to include something about the future status of The Rock?

It is suggested that the UK might even use Gibraltar in negotiations with Spain to ensure some kind of deal for the rest of UK, doubling down on Gibraltar's voice of the people.

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