Government Watch - 2

I know dj they need to stiffen their sinews.

People don’t seem to have any integrity these days.

Hopefully all those MPs who say now they will back Starmer and not pass May's catchall deal will stick to their guns this time, whitewave. Unfortunately, history shows it is not so, as the UC vote showed.

I want a guarantee relating to the various environmental protocols.

" MPs get the “final say on whether to approve the withdrawal agreement and how best to implement it”.
The transition period requested by the prime minister is added into the legislation.
A “completely different approach” to the use of so-called Henry VIII powers which the government argues it needs to make technical changes to regulations repatriated from Brussels, but which Starmer described as “silencing parliament and handing sweeping powers” to ministers.
A guarantee that workers’ and consumer rights, as well as environmental standards, are not watered down after Brexit.
A concession to devolved administrations which want repatriated powers that would normally fall under their remit to go straight to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, rather than first being taken over by the Westminster government.
Putting the EU charter of fundamental rights into UK law."

They all sound quite reasonable.

Hope he sticks to them, and this.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/oct/21/keir-starmer-tory-rebels-and-labour-will-unite-over-brexit-deal-veto

Sir Keir Starmer has laid some red lines down in defence of our democracy.

Good

The Conservative Party exists for a reason. The most successful political party in the history of democracy has, for centuries, served the sole purpose of preserving the interests of wealth. I stress that when saying so I am not suggesting that is exists between to serve the interests of business, as it would like many to believe, but wealth. This is the party of the rentier, not the business person.

Always something that adds to the picture as a whole - thank you Jen. The Tory economic failure is plain for all to see and now the idea that they are the party of business is beginning to be exploded. It is sad that those who are on the edge financially are still having to suffer but this but hopefully this government will be gone sooner rather than later.

We can but hope dj

Just to make some people happy.

www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2017/10/21/the-end-of-tory-rule-is-possible/

That's where The Treason Show was based, whitewave. I think it's a bit of artistic licence, though. Same as this.

dj I don’t know -we do have the Komedia so perhaps it’s there.

Some good news. MPs have voted through the emergency workers bill.

Is this really on in Brighton next month, whitewave?

Looking at Jess and Jen's post you feel something should be organised so that the regions get together and tackle this and don't let them buy the loudest shouters off.

Not unexpected, though.
This makes interesting reading. A performance tracker for the government.

www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publications/performance-tracker-autumn-2017

That's truly disgraceful .

After Grenfell, May promised that all councils would get financial help if they needed it to make housing safe for residents.
Yesterday she reneged on it. Now Sajid Javid has said the opposite.
You'd think the government could agree on something.

www.24housing.co.uk/news/javid-stresses-post-grenfell-support-for-councils/

Same up here, Jess. We were promised electrification of the lines.
What's rubbing it in even more is that they are made in Newton Aycliffe, in Durham.
May had the nerve to say again that they were the party of the Northern Powerhouse in PMQs.
Do you know how many of the front bench live in Surrey? At least six at the last count. They are really concerned about the Northern trains.
It was noticeable that it broke down at Reading, just outside May's constituency. Hope it was Reading West, as that's a tory seat. Labour took Reading East this year.

Yup the people in Swansea who were promised electrification only to have it taken away are pretty annoyed with him. And what, if anything, is he doing to lessen the amount of unproductive time people spend in traffic jams? They keep saying we should be more productive as a workforce. But they have no idea how they can somehow make us more productive. Better transport would help. As would fewer people forced into non productive work in order to get them off the unemployment figures.

Watching PMQs. If the PM points that finger much more some or something will bite it off.

John Crace called him ‘Failing Grayling’

John Crace brilliant as usual.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/oct/16/hybrid-trains-late-arrival-fails-to-electrify-mps-let-alone-the-rail-network

Which do you live nearest to, a lorry park, a market garden or a train that doesn't work properly?

Have you seen the mess that Grayling made of the new trains?
It was embarrassing. Yes, they had teething problems with the air-conditioning, which wasn't his fault, but it was his fault that they have to have diesel as well as electric engines, because the lines haven't been electrified; in fact the electrification of that line was cancelled.
Brand new train, fasted one in the country, and on its first run it did the run at an average 50 miles an hour. All the people on the train can claim compensation. Pathetic.

Our politicians have let us down. They have stepped back from their role as leaders and become docile followers of the right-wing foreign billionaire newspaper proprietors who control the gutter press and manipulate public opinion.

I think that this has been happening for far longer than we consciously realise. It's just that while we were jogging along quite nicely, thank you, it didn't really affect us greatly.

Oh varian, Sadly very well said.