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Boris Johnson loses Parliamentary majority, faces Brexit showdown
Britain's Parliament returns from its summer recess and is facing a titanic showdown over Prime Minister Boris Johnson's plans to leave the European Union. Here's what we know:
● Johnson has lost his majority in Parliament, with the defection of Conservative Phillip Lee to the Liberal Democrats.
● The opposition, including members of Johnson's party, is seeking to pass legislation to delay Brexit.
● Johnson has said that if his foes succeed he will call early elections.
List of prime ministers of the United Kingdom by length of tenure
#54: George Canning, 119 days (1827)
#55: Boris Johnson, 40 days (Incumbent) (2019)
See also: Brexit: Tory MP defects ahead of crucial no-deal vote
How Brexit Blew Up Britain's Constitution
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 04 2019, @07:20AM (13 children)
Been following this from the side since the UK started talking about the idea of the Brexit, and I'm a bit stunned about how long this is taking now and when you think the situation can't sink deeper, some British find a way to a newer low. As someone from from main land EU I find it somewhat amusing, but also get tired of that whole postponing and so.
Maybe the EU needs to show it's balls and reject any postponing. The EU had enough time to build a safety net for its economy (which is IMHO the only reason why they keep accepting this). Get over with it.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Wednesday September 04 2019, @07:53AM (10 children)
It's a lot of red tape, extrication from a massive bureaucracy, laws that will need to be replaced, with a large group of politicians opposing or actively sandbagging the process.
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(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 04 2019, @08:14AM (7 children)
yeah the Brexit idiots really had no plan going into the first Brexit vote. And Boris Johnston still has no plan.
They have seriously not even sold a bill of goods to the British people. They are seriously out over the ends of their skis and have way over estimated their value to European and world economies.
The financial entities in City of London can relocate pretty easy. the trading pits are almost 100% electronic HFT bots anymore.
idiots.
(Score: 3, Touché) by takyon on Wednesday September 04 2019, @08:20AM (2 children)
Before they relocate, they could threaten to relocate in an attempt to get more sovereignty and other concessions.
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(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday September 04 2019, @08:38AM (1 child)
I have a bunch the rest of the EU has more financial clout than the City of London.
It's not about the transaction value, is about what you have (or can get) at the end of the day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Wednesday September 04 2019, @08:48AM
Maybe they get all the sovereignty, rebrand as Londoneu, join the EU as a Hong Kong style state landlocked within the UK, and UK tolerates it to keep all the rich people living there and leaking their rubles [theglobalist.com] outside of the Square Mile.
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(Score: 5, Informative) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Wednesday September 04 2019, @09:56AM (3 children)
They did and do have a plan and it is progressing:
- Con the public into voting for a soft Brexit, with impossible promises of pots of gold and return to empire and magical ice-cream farting unicorns for everyone.
- Shift the goalposts towards an ever harder brexit. Condition your supporters into rejecting all rational debate and instead seeing everything in terms of conflict and treachery, label any and all criticism as "Project Fear".
- Crash out no-deal and make shitloads of money from the wholesale rape and pillage of the UK, it's economy, institutions and people.
- Watch Britain burn on TV while sipping champagne off the coast of Monaco.
There was never a plan for a deal. No deal is and always was the plan.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Wednesday September 04 2019, @11:56AM (2 children)
Another part of the plan, and the reason the DUP are in the government, is that they want to go back to the "Good Old Days" of a militarized Northern Ireland, complete with random bus bombings and indiscriminate murders. Indeed, I can't help but wonder whether there are people in the government secretly hoping to attack and annex Ireland again in a stupid attempt to restart the British Empire.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 04 2019, @06:15PM
that seems like it would be bad for business.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 04 2019, @06:37PM
As the Brits say, "Not bloody likely."
(Score: 2) by quietus on Wednesday September 04 2019, @09:54AM
How big is that massive bureaucracy, actually? Can it be compared against the number of officials in the UK?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by VLM on Wednesday September 04 2019, @11:22AM
Slavery takes minutes, escape from slavery takes decades, apparently.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Arik on Wednesday September 04 2019, @08:11AM
But they are unlikely to self-own quite that profoundly.
So far they've pursued a clear policy of cowing the UK back into line; either by forcing them to retract the Brexit notion and beg for forgiveness, or in alternative by forcing them to accept an exit deal that leave them effectively a puppet state. If they actually did what you suggest, they would force a no-deal Brexit, which is the last thing they want to actually happen.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 3, Funny) by PiMuNu on Wednesday September 04 2019, @03:59PM
The EU is the main cause of the delay - they have refused to negotiate a trade deal.
Nb: I voted Remain to start with, but the EU's total failure to deal with Brexit has turned me strongly against the EU. There are huge structural problems in EU which they have failed to address in any way. Others will follow.