New Tory PM at no. 10, come tues?

[yinyang]

Irish PM says hard Brexit would raise issue of Irish unification

GLENTIES, Ireland (Reuters) -
If Britain leaves the European Union without a deal on Oct. 31, the question of planning for a future unification of Ireland and British-ruled Northern Ireland will inevitably arise, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Friday.

Asked at a politics forum if the Irish government intended to begin to publicly plan for a united Ireland, he said it did not as it would be seen as provocative by pro-British unionists in Northern Ireland.
“But in the event of a hard Brexit, those questions do arise,” he said.

“If Britain takes Northern Ireland out of the European Union against the wishes of the majority of people in Northern Ireland – takes away their European citizenship and undermines the Good Friday Agreement - in doing so, those questions will arise, whether we like it or not,” Varadkar said at the MacGill Summer School conference in the northwest of Ireland.

“We are going to have to be ready for that.”

Over 3,600 people died in three decades of violence between Irish nationalists seeking a united Ireland and the British security forces and pro-British “unionists”.

 

[yinyang]

 

[Hypocrite-The]

 

[laksaboy]

It is highly entertaining to watch BoJo humiliate Commie Corbyn in the UK Parliament.

 

[yinyang]

It is highly entertaining to watch BoJo humiliate Commie Corbyn in the UK Parliament.

His retort speaks of charisma... really tarok Labour bloke.

 

[laksaboy]

Left wing nutjobs like Corbyn, Bernie Sanders etc must never be allowed to run a country.

Even the non-whites are waking up.

 

[yinyang]

Not surprising, flip flop after initial euphoria, when nearing the deadline. Sounds familiar, wheeling and dealing?

Boris Johnson to 'hold out the hand' for new Brexit deal
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-49146480

Boris Johnson says there is "every chance" the UK can get a deal with the EU
Boris Johnson has pledged to "hold out the hand" and "go the extra thousand miles" to strike a new Brexit deal.
During a visit to Scotland, the prime minister said the existing withdrawal agreement negotiated with European leaders was "dead" and had "got to go"

However, he said there was "every chance we can get a deal".
But Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said Mr Johnson had set the UK on an "almost inevitable path to a no-deal Brexit".
Preparations for leaving the European Union without a withdrawal deal are being ramped up, with Mr Johnson saying the UK must leave the EU by 31 October.

While in Scotland he met Ms Sturgeon and Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson - both of whom have positioned themselves against a no-deal exit.

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Two committees have been set up as the UK government intensifies preparations for a possible no-deal exit, including a "daily operations committee" of senior ministers.

Meanwhile, the pound has sunk to a 28-month low against the dollar, apparently due to concerns about Brexit.
Speaking at the Faslane naval base near Glasgow, Mr Johnson said his "assumption is that we can get a new deal", but said it was "responsible for any government to prepare for no deal if we absolutely have to".

'Withdrawal agreement is dead'
He said: "I don't want the UK to be aloof or hanging back, I want us to engage, to hold out the hand, to go the extra thousand miles, and what we want to do is make it absolutely clear that the backstop is no good, it's dead, it's got to go.
"The withdrawal agreement is dead, it's got to go. But there is scope for us to do a new deal.
"We will make it very clear to our friends - we're talking to the Irish today - what the limits are and what we want to do.
"We're very confident that with goodwill on both sides, two mature political entities, the UK and EU, can get this thing done."

Mr Johnson announced a new Office for Veterans' Affairs while visiting the Faslane naval base

Meanwhile, the prime minister's chief Brexit negotiator, David Frost, has urged his EU counterparts not to "underestimate" Mr Johnson or his commitment to the 31 October deadline.

'Strengthen the union'
Mr Johnson has faced scrutiny over his Brexit strategy from colleagues and opponents alike during his visit to Scotland.
Ms Davidson has peviously said Mr Johnson has her "full support" in his efforts to secure a withdrawal agreement with the EU, but that she will not support a no-deal Brexit.

After a meeting at Holyrood, the Scottish Tory leader said the pair had discussed their "shared determination to strengthen the Union", adding Mr Johnson had "made clear the government's preference is to leave the EU with a deal".
Mr Johnson, meanwhile, said he was Ms Davidson's "number one fan".

 

[steffychun]

Boris will kick Pinky in any debate.

 

[laksaboy]

No deal is also a good deal.

The EU is a shitty organization which every European country should be striving to get out of. In fact, the EU is nothing more than a German Union, like a Fourth Reich. National sovereignty is better than being a slave of Juncker and Merkel etc.

 

[steffychun]

No deal is also a good deal.

The EU is a shitty organization which every European country should be striving to get out of. In fact, the EU is nothing more than a German Union, like a Fourth Reich. National sovereignty is better than being a slave of Juncker and Merkel etc.

And Marcon with his horse wife.

 

[yinyang]

UK PM Johnson heads to Northern Ireland,
Brexit's toughest riddle

BELFAST (Reuters) - Britain’s new Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be confronted by the most intractable riddle of Brexit on Wednesday when he visits Northern Ireland on a nationwide tour.

A week after he took power, Johnson’s office made no mention of Brexit in a statement overnight announcing plans for his visit to the province, the only part of Britain to share a land border with the rest of the EU.
Plans for the border have become the most contentious issue in Britain’s negotiations with the EU over the terms of its exit. The bloc insists on a “backstop”, an insurance policy to prevent border controls by requiring Britain to obey some EU rules in case both sides fail to agree a later trade deal.

Johnson rejects that demand as “undemocratic” and says Britain will leave the EU with no deal at all unless the EU drops it. He says technology can ensure a friction-free border even if Britain adopts separate customs and regulatory rules.

Northern Ireland voted to stay in the European Union in 2006 when the rest of Britain voted to leave. A Northern Irish political party, the Democratic Unionists (DUP), props up the minority government of Johnson’s Conservative Party.
A DUP source said Johnson arrived in Belfast on Tuesday evening and held a “political meeting” with party leader Arlene Foster, Nigel Dodds, the deputy leader, and another senior lawmaker Jeffrey Donaldson.

Johnson’s office said on Wednesday he will call for Northern Ireland’s suspended power-sharing executive, a critical part of the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement that ended 30 years of conflict, to be restored as soon as possible.
The power-sharing administration was suspended two-and-a-half years ago because of differences between the parties representing mainly Protestant pro-British unionists and mainly Catholic nationalists who favor a united Ireland.

“The people of Northern Ireland have now been without an executive and assembly for two years and six months – put simply this is much, much too long,” said Johnson, who will meet the leaders of the province’s five major parties.
“Northern Ireland’s citizens need and deserve the Executive to get up and running again as soon as possible, so that locally-accountable politicians can take decisions on the issues that really matter to local people.”
The Good Friday agreement dismantled all physical border infrastructure, guaranteeing that people and goods on either side can move freely.
Johnson promised on Tuesday to lead Britain out of the European Union on Oct. 31 “no matter what”, after speaking to Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar.

That hardline message sent sterling tumbling as financial markets concerns of a disorderly no-deal Brexit grow.
The Irish government repeated the EU’s stance that it would not reopen the divorce agreement and that no other alternative to the backstop had yet been identified.

 

[yinyang]

Brexit: Bill designed to stop no-deal 'will clear Lords'

• 1 hour ago

Parliament suspension 2019

Media captionLord Ashton of Hyde says Brexit bill will be ready to be presented for royal assent
The government has said a bill to stop a no-deal Brexit will complete its passage through the Lords on Friday.

The proposed legislation was passed by MPs on Wednesday, inflicting a defeat on Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
There were claims pro-Brexit peers could deliberately hold up the bill so it could not get royal assent before Parliament is prorogued next week.
But the Conservative chief whip in the Lords announced a breakthrough in the early hours after talks with Labour.
The peers sat until 01:30 BST, holding a series of amendment votes that appeared to support predictions a marathon filibuster session - designed to derail the bill - was under way.

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But then Lord Ashton of Hyde announced that all stages of the bill would be completed in the Lords by 17:00 BST on Friday.
He added that the Commons chief whip had also given a commitment that MPs will consider any Lords amendments on Monday and that the government intends that the "bill will be ready" to be presented for royal assent.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn previously said his party required the bill to gain royal assent before it would consider backing Mr Johnson's call for a general election.

Baroness Smith, Labour leader in the House of Lords, confirmed the opposition supported the move in the Lords overnight, and said she hoped there would be "no further frustrations" of the bill as it goes through all its stages on Friday.
"It has been quite a night. It has been a long debate - and I am grateful to the noble Lords who have stayed the course - it shows the importance of the work we do and the issue we are debating," she said.
"I am grateful that we are now able to confirm that we will be able to complete all stages of the bill in a time-honoured way by 5pm Friday."

What does the no-deal bill say?
The bill, presented by Labour MP Hilary Benn, says the prime minister will have until 19 October to either pass a deal in Parliament or get MPs to approve a no-deal Brexit.
Once this deadline has passed, he will have to request an extension to the UK's departure date to 31 January 2020.
Unusually, the bill stipulates the wording of the letter Mr Johnson would have to write to the president of the European Council.
If the EU responds by proposing a different date, the PM will have two days to accept that proposal.
During that time, MPs - not the government - will have the opportunity to reject that date.
The bill also requires ministers to report to the House of Commons over the next few months. potentially providing more opportunities to take control of the timetable.

The bill to block a no-deal went to the Lords after it passed all its stages in the Commons in one day, backed by opposition MPs and 21 Tory rebels working to push it through ahead of Parliament being suspended next week.
The prime minister was also defeated on Wednesday over his plan to hold a snap general election on 15 October.
Labour and other opposition MPs would not back the move while the option of a no-deal Brexit on 31 October remained open to the PM.
He needed two-thirds of all MPs to vote in favour - under the rules set by the Fixed Terms Parliaments Act - but, after Labour whipped its members to abstain, there were only 298 in favour of the motion and 56 against. That left Mr Johnson 133 short of his target.

Speaking after the vote, the prime minister said Mr Corbyn was "the first leader of the opposition in the democratic history of our country to refuse the invitation to an election".
He said he "urged [Mr Corbyn's] colleagues to reflect on the unsustainability of this position overnight and in the course of the next few days".
But earlier, the Labour leader likened Mr Johnson's offer to "an apple to Snow White from the Wicked Queen... offering the poison of a no-deal".
He added: "Let this bill [to block a no deal] pass and gain royal assent, then we will back an election so we do not crash out."