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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: 2) by theluggage on Thursday September 05 2019, @04:31PM
...as are the UK cabinet ministers who are the only ones who are practically able to propose UK laws. (Private member's bills have little chance of being passed without the tacit support of the executive).
...so when the UK Parliament is able to take control of proceedings and propose and pass a bit of legislation, that's a good thing, right? To be fair, I don't recall whether you, personally, have questioned that process, but you only have to turn on the TV and listen to any Brexiteer (from the Prime Minister down) flatly refusing to accept Parliament's decision and supporting every technique short of actually winning the argument to overturn the result.
I certainly haven't heard any Brexiteers suggest anything about governmental reform after the glorious day (beyond changing the House of Lords which is a whole other argument...) - you know, like introducing proportional representation (something the EU parliament does have), requiring more "direct democracy", getting rid of unelected "special advisors", stripping the PM of prerogative powers, executive orders and other Parliament-bypassing tricks...
Sorry to disillusion you, but your MP isn't going to vote down the Budget because of a few letters. Many MPs are brilliant if you write to them regarding some personal matter that they can actually fix or a question they can actually answer, but if you send them your thoughts on Big Politics there's little they can do beyond sending a memo to the Minister which may be recorded in some dusty ledger... and if its an EU matter they can just as easily send it to the appropriate person at the EU....
...as for changing your vote, if you live in a safe seat for one of the major parties, forget it because you're effectively disenfranchised by our electoral system. You're actually more likely to get a MEP that supports your causes thanks to the PR system used in the EU elections. Consequence: we elect UKIPpers/Brexit party members who only turn up to turn their backs on 'Ode to Joy' and fiddle their expenses.
...and that problem is firmly and squarely the fault of UK politicians and press for basically treating the EU elections as an opinion poll for the next general election, so the manifestos are packed with domestic issues and attacks on the rival parties. If you stay up until 3AM watching the BBC you might - if there's a 2 minute dead spot between soundbites from the more entertaining domestic politicians and infographics of what the House of Commons would look like if the numbers were repeated at the next GE - catch a brief discussion of the various multinational party groupings in the EU parliament and which ones our MEPs would... no, hang on, we're just getting an exit poll from Little Banging-on-the-Wall which was a key marginal battle ground in the last general election!!!
Seriously, for all the decades we've been in the EU the debate has been dominated by if/when we were going to leave and fake news stories about straight bananas and kipper bans. We take the EU elections less seriously than the Eurovision Song Contest (and half the population probably thinks that's something to do with the EU despite Israel and Australia taking part...).
Then we complain that we don't know who or what we're voting for in the EU.
No, I don't particularly like the fact that the EU used "the Common Market" as a trojan horse - but on the other hand, that was decades ago without that we'd probably not have any union, and I rather like the fact we've had all those decades without any of those pesky wars with France and Germany that used to happen every few years.