Brexit stuff

I am running out of things to call these Brexit blogs.

But here goes.

Again.

The ERG had a news conference today, and shows that there is very little actual research going on, with them getting many basic stuff very wrong.

Thing about the Irish Border and the GFA is that it brought about the impossible, peace on Ireland, both sides of the border, and a prolonged period of prosperity. Speaking as someone who was viewed as a legitimate target by Republican terrorists, this made it very real, and would not like to go back to where people had to check under their cars every morning, or vary their route to the shops each time just in case there was an ambush. This was the reality for me and thousands of service men and women.

It speaks volumes that the ERG and Brexiteers can just ignore or pretend that the border is an issue that needs settling to the satisfaction on both sides of the border, and not just dismissed by people in in the right wing Westminster bubble as being fabricated.

The so called technological solution has been rejected in all its formed, mainly because it will take a decade for it to be ready, and it will have to be up and running possibly in 5 months, never going to happen.

So, yet it has upset the little Brexit "project", but that what comes when you pretend something that is very complicated to be simple. Brexiteers have had over two years to fix it, or come up with a workable solution, and they haven't or can't. Brexiteers have both been Minister for Brexit, and they have failed; but as the were DD and Raab, we should not be surprised.

May today said she is looking again at the so called "max fax", or technological solution again. Good luck with that.

The DUP failed to vote with the Government last night, even voted against it a couple of times, but as Labour could not get all of its MPs in the chamber, the Government won by 5 votes, and 7 Labour MPs failed to make, one being only the bloody leader, Corbyn! Could an opposition be any more useless?

The WA is 585 pages long, written in dense legalese, and each part references or cross-references other parts, and so understanding the relationship and interactions takes a lot of time. I have done three lots of training to understand a slim volume called ISO 9001, ten chapters spread over about 26 pages, with clauses and subclauses that reference each other, and have to be read together to get full understanding. A simple document like this took 5 days to have the most basic understanding. Anyone who thinks they had a grasp of it in a few hours or days, is just lying and trying to score political or dogmatic points.

One of the things that isn't spoken about much is that the leave vote was largely carried by English voters. In Scotland and NI, the vote was heavily to remain, and despite May saying she would consult with the devolved institutions, she has really only spoken to the DUP as they, to this point, have propped up her Government. The SNP have made it clear they are not very happy with NI getting special status in the WA and there not being one mention of Scotland.

The snap election of last year was fought, in Scotland, on a single issue, and not Brexit. It was so called "Indy Ref 2", and it was clear that there was little appetite for a second independence referendum, but Brexit changes that. NO partly in both the SM and CU, and Scotland not, then NO might get investment that Scotland might have got otherwise. The Conservatives, or the Scottish COnservatives won a dozen seats, and so more than the DUP prop May up, and the Scottish Tory leader has some very different views from May.

But it was always assumed that a newly independent Scotland would be denied membership of the EU by Spain, who it was said would do so to deter Catalan independence. Today, however, Spain said it would support an independent Scotland becoming a member of the EU, so all bets could be off.

Interesting days and weeks ahead as things become clearer for Brexit. But it is clear that just saying something is simple does not make it so, or believing in something really hard doesn't make it happen either. And things we thought impossible, might just be.

And finally, The Government failed in its final attempt to block the reference of the question of whether the A50 can be unilaterally revoked by the UK or not was referred to the UCJ. The reason why the Government would want Parliament not know whether the notification could be withdrawn or not would limit what they could decide to do in the event, likely event, if there is still stalemate in domestic politics and so the WA could not be passed by Parliament. Almost if they did not want sovereignty being returned to Westminster, one of the pillars of Brexit.

And, one more thing: The Government conceded every amendment in the finance bill, including one from the SNP, to avoid defeat after the DUP voted with the opposition.