Theresa May – Page 2 – Slugger O'Toole

Theresa May ponders pact with Brexiteers to quit in exchange for passing her deal

Brian Walker on March 25, 2019, 12:02 am

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So far from being immediately ousted, Theresa May will only permit her divided and supine cabinet to get their first sight of her draft plan to reassert control of Brexit one hour before the cabinet meeting at 10 o’clock this morning. The secrecy is designed to prevent the sort of leaks which have kept predicting her imminent demise and recording their own disarray. The plan reports say contains her own series of indicative votes to rival those of the …

My Deal or No Deal no longer. Flying blind to Brexit with a choice of deals. Theresa’s desperate plan for survival

Brian Walker on March 23, 2019, 12:09 am

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Call it a lottery, call it chaos. Call it parliamentary democracy adapting to an unprecedented situation. From Laura Kuennesberg Theresa May has told MPs that a third vote on her Brexit deal may not take place next week “if it appears there is not sufficient support“. In a letter to all MPs, that was one of four “clear choices” she outlined, along with revoking Article 50 which she says would “betray the result of the referendum”, leaving with no deal, …

Theresa May is stuck with presenting an alternative Brexit to the EU

Brian Walker on March 22, 2019, 12:30 pm

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This is an interative post.. Friday is usually a day of anticlimax in public after the excitements of an EU summit This one is no exception. It leaves three days for the contending forces to prepare their battle plans for the next three weeks. But this week, the Friday truce is less than complete. The immediate note of anxiety came with the question of whether Mrs May would default to No Deal if MPs fail to approve her deal for …

For Mrs May, third time lucky, with the support of the DUP next week – or a desperate last throw

Brian Walker on March 14, 2019, 1:05 am

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What a topsy turvy world is conjured up by the spectre of No Deal. Despite yesterday’s vote to abandon it and with the extension of Article 50 to come, the nail hasn’t been yet driven through its heart. What happens when the usual parameters of behaviour are abandoned, the perverse effect, is every much in evidence. In an openly divided cabinet, a chancellor who defies his prime minister by warning against No Deal and then votes for it. A …

No Deal nightmare announced for Northern Ireland to keep the border open

Brian Walker on March 13, 2019, 9:10 am

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The No Deal scenario announced unilaterally by the UK this morning keeps the Irish border open but at a cost to Northern Ireland business and sets up a border in the Irish Sea for the Republic but not Northern Ireland. And while it’s intended to keep the border open, the Republic would be obliged to levy tariffs on some goods heading from the north to the south. Northern ports would be a back door from the EU including Ireland but …

Even though Karen Bradley is an embarrassment who should quit but won’t, there is an easier way than Bloody Sunday prosecutions

Brian Walker on March 6, 2019, 3:19 pm

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It is quite an event when a minister has to return to the despatch box of the Commons to correct a misstatement – in this case one so elementary it beggars belief, although in tune with her basic ignorance of local politics. Speaking in the House of Commons, Mrs Bradley was responding to a question from DUP MP Emma Little Pengelly about legacy issues. “Over 90% of the killings during the Troubles were at the hands of terrorists, every single …

Mrs May’s tilt towards nationalism in Belfast implies an appeal to Varadkar to be more flexible about the backstop

Brian Walker on February 6, 2019, 1:15 am

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Northern Ireland does not have to rely on the Irish Government or the European Union to prevent a return to borders of the past. The UK Government will not let that happen. I will not let that happen. A fundamental belief in the Union of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is part of my political heritage as a Conservative and Unionist – and that will never change. But the Unionism I believe in is one that respects absolutely the central …

It’s Ireland’s call as well as England’s – and both can still win the match!

Brian Walker on February 3, 2019, 1:40 pm

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Let’s go straight to the bottom line. Ireland and EU26 say the backstop is necessary to prevent a hard border. The UK says insistence on the backstop in its present form is the best way to guarantee a hard border. These are expressions of perfect deadlock. Nevertheless, after the defeat of the withdrawal deal by over 200 votes, Mrs May is returning to Brussels to seek an “alternative” to the backstop, either a time limit or unilateral exit mechanism to …

Delay, delay and more delay…. High Noon next week – latest!

Brian Walker on January 29, 2019, 12:24 am

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So where are we? On Monday morning, things were looking up for the prospects of Theresa May at least getting through the latest most momentous week in British politics since King Billy landed at Brixham ( I made the last bit up). By the afternoon, the rot had set in. On Monday evening, Mrs May took even cabinet ministers by surprise and laid her authority on the line at eleventh hour . Rather than risk fatal rejection directly, she did …

Varadkar offers a way out of deadock – or a hedge against failure?

Brian Walker on January 21, 2019, 10:44 am

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The UK national papers are united in hopelessness over May’s latest strategy, tempered only by disbelief. Plan B is Plan A. Even the cheerleader for Brexit the Daily Telegraph is not impressed. The Europe editor slaps down the chief political correspondent’s “ exclusive.” Theresa May is considering amending the Good Friday Agreement as part of a fresh attempt to unblock the Brexit logjam, The Daily Telegraph understands. Peter Foster But the mere suggestion that a British government wants to ‘amend’ the Good Friday Agreement should …

Brexiteers at bay after the first day of May talks widens internal party splits

Brian Walker on January 18, 2019, 12:23 am

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As Paul Waugh aptly says in Huffpost.. The lectern moment’ really is wearing thin as a useful dramatic device for Theresa May. She’s stood on the steps of No.10 so many times now that she’s devalued the currency of its impact. And after this week’s shattering defeat of her Brexit plan, more than ever it seems like her Downing Street announcements are all words and no action. May rightly said the nation needs to ‘come together’, but showed little flexibility or humility needed to make …

Eastwood “Continuing to chase after the DUP, who hold a minority view in Northern Ireland is a mistake”

David McCann on January 17, 2019, 2:14 pm

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The SDLP Leader, Colum Eastwood has criticised Theresa May for her lack of consultation with other parties in Northern Ireland. He said; With each passing day, the British Government show an ever increasing disregard for the people of Northern Ireland. The sheer lack of communication, and indeed recognition that Northern Ireland will be devastated by a Brexit set to be delivered by dysfunctional politics in London, speaks volumes. “Despite false utterings from the DUP about a border down the Irish …

In spite of a day without precedent, it’s still party before country from the Conservatives and Labour

Brian Walker on January 16, 2019, 1:06 am

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At the very moment Conservative and Labour MPs are passionately proclaiming the need to work together, the two parties are locked in the elemental struggle for power after a major defeat, a vote of confidence in the government. This is Labour’s ritual act to stave off having to commit to a policy. For theirs is a unicorn with a mighty horn, a customs relationship that allows unilateral free trade negotiations and a single market relationship that restricts free movement. On …

The Meaningful Vote: Welcome to Political Bandersnatch

Sarah Creighton on January 15, 2019, 9:35 am

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It’s hard to believe that Theresa May secured a draft Withdrawal Agreement from the European Union in November 2018. I feel as though I’ve aged 500 years since then. After weeks of parliamentary wrangling, countless amendments,a confidence vote and Sammy Wilson’s angry face on the television every night, the big day is here. I’ve written elsewhere about my thoughts on the Agreement. I would reluctantly vote for the Prime Minister’s deal. It is lukewarm tea, a soggy biscuit trapped at …

Excuse the dampener -don’t be surprised if the moment of truth is postponed – again

Brian Walker on January 15, 2019, 12:04 am

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To be fair, in her direct appeal to MPs “to take a second look,” Theresa May made a better fist at making the case for her Deal in the Commons than she did earlier at the Doulton pottery in Stoke. For the first time she was saying that the Scottish nationalists and the “Ulster” nationalists of the DUP would carry the can for a catastrophic result. As a proud Unionist, I share the concerns of Members who want to ensure …

Wobbles on the backstop and an eventual Fianna Fail- SDLP merger are new features of the countdown to the day of Brexit reckoning

Brian Walker on January 6, 2019, 2:17 pm

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As Sammy Wilson was among the first to remind us, Brexit wars have resumed again after the Christmas pause. Theresa May has just promised no delay to the meaningful vote scheduled for the week after next. But she declined to speculate on extending Article 50 if as expected MPs finally vote down the withdrawal agreement with the Irish backstop. According to the Irishman who is professor of Constitutional and EU law at University College London, Ronan McCrea.. the UK …

“I can take the despair. It’s the hope I can’t stand.” Theresa May in Brussels? Answer. Worse: humiliation

Brian Walker on December 13, 2018, 11:53 pm

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What was Theresa May actually expecting from the EU 27 leaders in Brussels? There was always the desperate hope for one of those last minute rush to settle against the declared odds. Instead… headlines… Daily Telegraph ( Brexiteer) Theresa May was humiliated once again by EU leaders last night as her attempts to improve her Brexit deal were thrown back in her face. The Sun (Brexiteer) and coiner of dreadful puns BRUSSELS ROUT Theresa May told to get stuffed by …

No sign of Ireland blinking over the backstop, as Theresa May races around Europe raising the bogey of No Deal

Brian Walker on December 11, 2018, 1:48 pm

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Theresa May at bay threw down one effective challenge to the massed ranks of her critics. “Come clean: do you want Brexit or not? “No”, chorused the SNP and she rolled her eyes. For as long as Parliament cannot settle on an agreed alternative she holds a narrow initiative. In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed woman is queen. In her whistle -stop tour of continental capitals, her ploy now is to seek “reassurances”, a time honoured feature of …

UUP calls for May Deal to be voted down with an extension of Article 50

David McCann on December 9, 2018, 1:49 pm

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The Ulster Unionists have issued a statement on the Withdrawal Agreement, calling for its rejection. “The Withdrawal Agreement negotiated between Her Majesty’s Government and the EU will erode the constitutional and economic integrity of the United Kingdom and should be rejected. “The Ulster Unionist Party warned of the potential consequences of the inclusion of the disastrous backstop in December 2017, but the DUP who claimed to be in a position of influence at the heart of UK Government were asleep …

The DUP would be fools to vote for no confidence in the government and boost the chances of a No Deal default

Brian Walker on December 7, 2018, 4:33 pm

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Politics is in a vortex of fast moving events over which the government has little control. According to the likely scenario, Theresa May will lose the meaningful vote badly next Tuesday night. What happens next is in uncharted waters. But this is how the meaningful vote fits into the prescribed timetable, courtesy of the FT: The vote is a legal obligation under the UK’s 2018 EU Withdrawal Act, which says such a vote must take place “before the European Parliament decides whether …