The now-enacted will of (some of) the people

StefanAVFC · July 6, 2016

2 minutes ago, brommy said:

We'll have to wait and see.

You've really put my mind at rest there.

brommy · July 6, 2016

Just now, StefanAVFC said:

You've really put my mind at rest there.

Glad to be of service, although, to be honest, there's nothing much more we can do. Like any divorce, it was always going to be messy, take time and we all knew the kids would be upset. Hopefully the partners will be grown up enough to complete it without damaging the kids long term. Either way, for so many, the marriage was failing.

Davkaus · July 6, 2016

Maybe the parents shouldn't have promised to spend £350m a week on toys before asking the kids what they thought about the divorce.

StefanAVFC · July 6, 2016

3 minutes ago, brommy said:

Glad to be of service, although, to be honest, there's nothing much more we can do. Like any divorce, it was always going to be messy, take time and we all knew the kids would be upset. Hopefully the partners will be grown up enough to complete it without damaging the kids long term. Either way, for so many, the marriage was failing.

Yeah, as Davkaus said above. That analogy is far too simplistic.

You forgot the toys that were promised, all of the divorce lawyers stepping away from the case because it was too difficult and the one parent deciding to leave because he/she doesn't like his/her partner's friends.

brommy · July 6, 2016

2 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

Maybe the parents shouldn't have promised to spend £350m a week on toys before asking the kids what they thought about the divorce.

Agreed and the other parent shouldn't have promised the kids they wouldn't have to share their toys with any more than 99,999 other kids.

MakemineVanilla · July 6, 2016

Here's Mark Blyth explaining austerity, the purpose of the Euro and why people voted for Brexit.

BOF · July 6, 2016

I'll put this here. Excuse the abortionesque wysiwyg formatting.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jul/06/boris-johnson-to-back-labour-motion-on-eu-migrants?CMP=twt_a-politics_b-gdnukpolitics

Boris Johnson to back Labour motion on guaranteeing EU migrant rights

Johnson says he will ‘passionately’ support motion urging government to guaranee rights of EU migrants to remain in UK

Labour will force a division in the Commons after its opposition day debate on Wednesday to ramp up the pressure on Theresa May, who has so far refused to guarantee that EU migrants will have full rights to remain in the UK.

The home secretary has said the status of EU migrants was an issue for Brexit negotiations, and rights of UK citizens living in Europe also needed to be guaranteed first.

Johnson, who was heckled in the Commons as he stood to speak, said he wanted to “set on record that the Vote Leave campaign gave exactly this reassurance to people living and working here, and it is very disappointing this should be called into question.

“It is absolutely right to issue the strongest possible reassurance to EU nationals in this country, not just for moral or humanitarian reasons, but for very strong economic reasons too,” he said.

“They are welcome, they are necessary, and they are a crucial part of our society and I will be passionately supporting this motion tonight.”

John Redwood, a leading Eurosceptic, also said he hoped Labour’s motion “would not be opposed”.

The opposition day debate and vote is non-binding and has no effect on government policy, though Burnham said that if the motion was passed it would put pressure on ministers.

Burnham, whose wife is Dutch, said the issue would “directly affect the lives of millions of people living in this country” and said the government should consider even abstaining on the motion, rather than defeating it, in order to send a message to EU citizens.

“To throw any doubt over their right to remain here is to undermine family life, the stability of our public services, our economy and our society,” he said. “But sadly, it is what the home secretary has done.”

Burnham said any post-Brexit immigration rush to Britain to secure rights to remain could be avoided if it was made clear that the qualifier would be to have been resident before 23 June.

He called on the Tory benches to defy the home secretary’s position, saying May’s comments may have been made “to woo the grassroots of the Tory party” in the leadership election.

“If there is ever a day for parliament to do the right thing, surely it is today. I would hope members opposite put their conscience first, their constituents first and do the right thing tonight,” he said, calling it “a step back to sanity and stability [to] pass this motion overwhelmingly”.

Labour MP Andrew Slaughter called May’s refusal to guarantee the rights of EU citizens “one of the most extreme statements” he had heard made by a home secretary.

“If they can say this about one group they can say it about others, I’ve had a bigger postbag on this issue than on any other ever,” he said.

Home Office minister James Brokenshire said the government “could not support the motion”, saying it was important the government fought for the rights of UK citizens abroad. “Any decision to pre-empt negotiations risks undermining our ability to secure the rights of UK nationals and EU nationals.”

He denied EU nationals were bargaining chips. “We will never treat EU citizens as pawns in some kind of cynical game of EU negotiation chess,” he said.

It would be a priority to secure “a fair deal for EU citizens as we look to secure a fair deal for British citizens in the EU” he added but stopped short of guaranteeing one without the other.

“That is the responsible approach and that is what we will do. We want to be able to guarantee the legal status of EU nationals living in the UK, I am confident we will be able to do just that,” he said.

BOF · July 6, 2016