Tonight’s justification for the headlong rush to force Johnson’s bill through HoC by the end of Thursday is it’s just the beginning. There will be plenty of time after it has passed to sort out our future . Which reveals the essential lie . This isn’t Getting Brexit Done
We’re Not Getting Brexit Done explained @VictoriaPrentis on #C4News to justify rushing Johnson’s Deal through with no economic assessment. It’s only the beginning says Victoria . There will be years to sort out the future
Dom Cummings won’t be impressed with Victoria’s #NotGettingBrexitDone message
There is an honesty in what Victoria says . This whole Get Brexit Done thing is based on a lie . It’s not doing anything of the sort . It is barely the end of the beginning . The future relationship still has to be sorted – without clarity yet about the destination .
The border in the Irish Sea suggests a Canada Minus Trade Deal but Johnson has been handing out assurances to Caroline Flint and her faction which go in the opposite direction. On the other hand Gove and Raab have convinced arch Brexiteer John Baron that No Deal is still in sight .
However Dom Cummings will be furious with Victoria for her relative honesty . His whole strategy rests on tapping into that emotional reservoir which wants Brexit over . That is the power of Get Brexit Done . It’s 2019’s equivalent of Take Back Control .
Apparently when focus groups learn that Johnson’s deal doesn’t – despite what it says on the tin Get Brexit Done – the news is greeted with a deafening silence . The news it’s not getting Brexit done goes down like a lead balloon . Here is Andrew Cooper’s experience :
Caroline Flint is firmly in the Get Brexit Done camp . We are witnessing the surprising spectacle of a Labour MP making common cause with Brexiteers who have removed Worker’s Rights , for instance , from the legally binding Withdrawal Agreement to the non binding Political Declaration .
Flint sought to provide a fig leaf for her support for Johnson’s Hard Brexit by claiming legal assurances on Workers’ Rights . An unsustainable claim .
It’s not as if there is any mystery about who is driving HMG’s Brexit . It’s the Vote Leave Team in Government with a Cabinet full of the authors of Britannia Unchained .
By Monday evening Caroline Flint had moved on from claiming legal assurances on Workers’ Rights , presumably recognising she was on shaky ground . She opened up an attack on EU for outsourcing and zero hours contracts , which drew fire from respected commentators .
By the time she appeared on Channel 4 News she appeared to have stripped down her arguments :
@CarolineFlintMP was also on #C4News dismissing need for an economic assessment on Johnson’s Deal . Apparently it was a time for politics not economics . Assessments could tell you anything. Time to get on with it . And yes – years to sort out future because this bill is #NotGettingBrexitDone
This is hugely significant . Flint under challenge on the arguments to make her case for Brexit falls back ultimately on only one . The political argument for Getting Brexit Done trumps any other consideration – including any assessment of the economic impact of Johnson’s deal.
Flint gets dangerously close to arguing any deal on withdrawal from EU will do – as it is only the beginning of a process and there will be plenty of time after we have left to negotiate the future relationship .
Significantly two MP’s within minutes of each other on Channel 4 News making the case that Johnson’s deal should be passed because it was only the beginning of a process of negotiating our future relationship with EU .
Of course this is true . Just as it reveals Johnson’s deal is Not Getting Brexit Done as he claims .
As Jill Rutter commented there is now a headlong rush to get Johnson’s Withdrawal Agreement Bill through –
Government is planning to push Bill through without any economic assessment –
Until the failed Prorogation Attempt and the Supreme Court decision Johnson and Cummings were going to crash UK out of EU with #NoDeal . But court decided suspending Parliament knocked away central pillar of good governance:accountability
The Supreme Court decision galvanised Parliament to pass Benn Act to prevent Johnson and Cummings crashing UK out of EU with #NoDeal . With their backs against wall they had no choice but to negotiate
When the penny dropped the Alternative Arrangements fantasy was never going to wash Johnson caved in . He dumped the DUP and accepted the Deal May had rejected . With the border in the Irish Sea that he had said no Conservative Prime Minister could ever accept
Dom the Spin Master billed Johnson’s abject abdication of everything he had previously claimed as a negotiating triumph. Brexit Press hailed the conquering hero . Remarkably @bbclaurak and @Peston repeated the #DomSpin
Dom wouldn’t let go of the Do or Die Hero legend he had created for Johnson. Kept up for days the spin of a legal loophole through which Johnson would avoid requesting an extension. Laura and Robert relayed every meaningless syllable of #DomDrivel
So Spin Master Dom set up the Super Saturday Showdown between his Do or Die Hero and the delayers and ditherers of Parliament.
Of course the resolve of Parliament to have a properly conducted decision making process prevailed over Johnson’s false My Deal or No Deal choice .And Johnson caved again. He sent the Benn Act letter . The legal loophole was revealed as petulantly not signing it.
Insignificant .
Johnson and Cummings remain addicted to confrontation. Now there is a headlong rush to force 100 page bill published tonight through its Commons stages by the end of Thursday , Without an economic assessment. Without proper scrutiny. This is simply an affront to democracy
The headlong rush has in truth one purpose . To make the story about the confrontation between Johnson – the Do or Die Hero – and the ditherers of Parliament , and by so doing conceal the central lie . This deal just isn’t getting Brexit done
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