Wednesday 18th May 2022

[Willow904]

Morning All

[Willow904]

From the G liveblog:

Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, told Times Radio this morning that she thought the EU was being “overzealous” in the checks it wanted on goods entering Northern Ireland from Britain under the Northern Ireland protocol

Why is Rachel Reeves making the government's arguments for them?

Fine to make the point that if the government are unhappy with how the EU are applying the agreement that there's a mechanism within the protocol do deal with that very problem so there's no need to threaten to suspend it but it's completely possible to make that point without implying Johnson is right to have a tantrum over the EU applying checks he signed up to ffs.

[notnowsonny]

Reeves did qualify her remarks by suggesting that negotiation was the way forward. Taken as a whole it was probably a sensible comment but needed also to point out as heavy- handedly as necessary the incompetence of those who want a trade war. The inept way this government is working(!) should be a recurring theme of all Opposition spokespeople.

[gilsey]

Bernard Jenkin calling for the £20/wk UC to be restored, why aren't Labour.

One senior Tory, Sir Bernard Jenkin, the chair of the liaison committee that holds the prime minister to account, will warn on Wednesday that “the economic situation is far worse than the government is prepared to admit”.

He is expected to highlight new figures obtained from the House of Commons library showing pensioners and the lowest income households face paying £1,000 more a year for food and energy, arguing that any help for them cannot “wait until the autumn”.

“The measures that need to be looked at are £20 uplift in universal credit, transferring the cost of energy green levies to the exchequer, abolishing VAT on domestic fuel, increasing the warm homes scheme, and increasing the pensioners’ fuel allowance,” he will say.

Rishi Sunak faces Tory clamour to act now on cost of living crisis

[notnowsonny]

Incidentally, like Refitman we’re abroad - in Capri. With osteoarthritis in one knee I’m starting to feel an old man now as it worsens. Gone are the days of dancing up and down flights of stairs - and as the island is hilly there’s a lot of those here! Nice weather, nice food, nice wine. What more can you ask?

[Willow904]

Reeves did qualify her remarks by suggesting that negotiation was the way forward. Taken as a whole it was probably a sensible comment but needed also to point out as heavy- handedly as necessary the incompetence of those who want a trade war. The inept way this government is working(!) should be a recurring theme of all Opposition spokespeople.

The whole remark should have been that negotiation is the way forward, it's all she needed to say. Obsequious justifications for Johnson's infantile behaviour such as the following are the job of the Tory backbenchers not the opposition. This is emotive language which effectively supports the government's position. Why use it? Why not choose to couch the EU's approach in more neutral language and use the opportunity to highlight the government's incompetence in signing a deal they disagreed with? She chose to start with this and thus creates a very strong impression that Labour think the EU are in the wrong, ergo the government is right. Why?!!!

I think the EU are being overzealous in the checks.

[notnowsonny]

@willow
Don’t disagree at all. I suppose I can just about accept an incremental move away from no criticism at all to something much more robust - even though, as just suggested, I’d rather they waded in and let rip!

[frog222]

I wonder if Rachel Reeves has read this EU proposal from 10/21, and knows what on earth happened to it ?

EX " Here, we propose to expand the scope of the existing scheme on ‘goods not at risk' of entering the EU's Single Market to a wider group of businesses and products. For example, more small and medium-sized enterprises could benefit from this scheme, while goods covered by this scheme are free of customs duties because they stay in Northern Ireland.

We also propose to cut in half the customs formalities and processes that are required today for these goods. For instance, a Northern Irish car dealer ordering car parts from Great Britain will only need to provide basic information to the customs authorities, such as the invoice value of the car parts and the parties to the transaction. Once again, up to 50 percent of the current formalities will be removed.

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/pressco ... ch_21_5245

I'm guessing, Frostie the ' NO Man' turned it down ?

Not guessing, why did Reeves not point out that orgs representing the majority of NI businesses are in favour of the NIP, probably with tweaks, but they DO want stability . And that most people there are more concerned about surviving the next few months and the coming winter .

[Willow904]

@willow
Don’t disagree at all. I suppose I can just about accept an incremental move away from no criticism at all to something much more robust - even though, as just suggested, I’d rather they waded in and let rip!

Ed Miliband has already waded in and let rip, though. Labour's response has been pretty robust which is why Reeves conciliatory tone is so frustrating.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Bernard Jenkin calling for the £20/wk UC to be restored, why aren't Labour.

One senior Tory, Sir Bernard Jenkin, the chair of the liaison committee that holds the prime minister to account, will warn on Wednesday that “the economic situation is far worse than the government is prepared to admit”.

He is expected to highlight new figures obtained from the House of Commons library showing pensioners and the lowest income households face paying £1,000 more a year for food and energy, arguing that any help for them cannot “wait until the autumn”.

“The measures that need to be looked at are £20 uplift in universal credit, transferring the cost of energy green levies to the exchequer, abolishing VAT on domestic fuel, increasing the warm homes scheme, and increasing the pensioners’ fuel allowance,” he will say.

Rishi Sunak faces Tory clamour to act now on cost of living crisis

Haven't the opposition actually forced a Commons vote on it before now?

[Willow904]

Boris Johnson now trying to take credit for crossrail

[AnatolyKasparov]

Journalists now scouring the lists of Tory MPs who didn't attend PMQs today to see who fits the police description.

[gilsey]

Twitter knew who it was last night.

[gilsey]

Haven't the opposition actually forced a Commons vote on it before now?

When it was first withdrawn? Does that mean they can't mention it again?
They could check to see how Jenkin voted, and let us know.

[AnatolyKasparov]

My point is that doing that is a rather more than just "saying" it. And they are a bit spoilt for choice regarding attack lines at the moment.

[gilsey]

Ed Miliband has already waded in and let rip, though. Labour's response has been pretty robust which is why Reeves conciliatory tone is so frustrating.

Look what you could have won, in 2015.

His rant at Sunak last week is worth watching as well.

[gilsey]

[AnatolyKasparov]

If you want some gallows humour, there are worse places to start than the Financial Times editorial for the 2015 GE - which not just said "vote Tory" but enthusiastically so. It was effectively *that* Cameron tweet in extended form.

[gilsey]

Canada’s foreign minister, Mélanie Joly, said Vladimir Putin “cannot imagine a reality in which the press is allowed to operate without taking their marching orders from the government”.

This caught my eye, we do it the opposite way round in the UK.