That moment when you're a millennial lefty and agree with the Tory old guard...
There are no solutions that help the fortunes of the least privileged in the most stressful circumstances that are dissociable from public expenditure. If this House is going to vote solemnly and knowingly, as we have heard here today, for a slower economy, for lower tax revenues and for lower public expenditure, those who will suffer most are those least able to bear the strain.
When the election comes, it will have been a Tory who led the referendum campaign, it will have been a Tory Government who perpetuated the frozen living standards, and it will be a Tory Government who are blamed for what we are talking about today. I will have no part of it.
Brexit : bringing people together !
https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/top-stories/watch-michael-heseltine-speech-to-the-house-of-lords-on-brexit-1-5808081
Can the House of Lords block Brexit?
ReplyDeleteEDIT: Huh; apparently they've been voicing their opposition and have already attempted to block / revise parts of the Brexit legislation.
What are their chances of ending the madness?
No, it doesn't have any power to stop the Commons AFAIK. It can revise and delay but ultimately has to agree. The legislative can in theory intervene if rulings are illegal but that's unlikely to be the case.
ReplyDeleteThere's going to be madness of one form or another regardless. Brexit can be stopped outright in the Commons in several ways :
- May does the biggest u-turn of her career, calls a vote rescinding Article 50 and parliament accepts it. Never going to happpen.
- Much more likely but still not plausible : there's a Tory leadership election and a Remainer wins, who again tries to rescind Article 50.
- Parliament decides there needs to be a second referendum.
- The government collapses and a replacement forms which enacts either of the above options. Interestingly the Opposition can call for a vote of no confidence in the government, which I didn't even realise until a few days ago. In principle this means we can get a brand new government without a general election (https://news.sky.com/story/sky-views-corbyn-could-be-prime-minister-by-christmas-11566304).
- More conventionally, a general election is called. If whoever wins campaigns on a pledge to either revoke Article 50 or call a second referendum, both are possible.
I wouldn't care to guess the odds on any of these actually happening.
Rhys Taylor While it cannot override the Commons indefinitely, it can hold fast for whichever comes last - the beginning of the session after the one in which it refused to pass a bill, or 12 months.
ReplyDeleteAs the Rt Hon T May chose to make this a long session, not ending until summer 2019, the earliest point at which the Commons can override the Lords absent a vote of no confidence is autumn 2019, for refusals in 2017 and spring/summer 2018. Refusals to pass legislation by the Lords now cannot be overriden until December 2019.
So we're in a game of brinksmanship; if the Lords refuse to pass the Brexit deal legislation, they reduce Brexit to three choices; no deal, extend Article 50 by agreement, or stop Brexit completely.
Question is whether the Lords will take that risk…