Off Topic Political Debate

mmm... I think so...... as power is what he will want..... and labour policies on health and social welfare etc would be acceptable to thsoe parties too

 

plus a coalition would not be expected to implement anything radical - except unbrexit.
If he were sensible it could convince voters to trust him at a later date on his own

 

I would hazard a guess that not one contributor to this thread is a regular subscriber to the musings of Britain First leader Paul Golding. I saw his latest rant as it was posted on another thread. He's basically slagging off AntiFA (no real problem there) and saying if they keep harassing politicians on the right Britain first will find out where they live and work and deal with it. Is anyone else slightly terrified at the direction our country is headed? They all need to give themselves a good shake

 

A friend of mine returned to see some friends in Norfolk at the start of the year. She had spent many years working at a hospice, a job that most of us would find difficult. She will not be going back again through choice. While she was there she was subject to abuse and was reduced to tears by the hate she experienced. Why did she get this dreadful treatment? She was driving a car with French number plates. So in answer to Dan, yes I am not happy with what is happening, even if by a small minority of extremists.

 

I would be careful of reading too much into individual cases. My best friend recently sold his French house and moved back to England - so of course had a right hand drive car with French number plates - he says nobody has ever as much as mentioned it. Also I live in a small seaside town with a lot of immigrants. Vote for brexit here was very high with a lot of older people yet I have not witnessed a single incident of abuse towards them.

 

Nice to see UKIP have kicked out Henry Bolton.
Do they have enough people eligible to stand for leader - they seem to go through them monthly. I am sure his replacement will be a tolerant friendly engaging and useful member of society and party would be proud of.

 

Unbelievably they still have 19 MEPs sitting in Brussels being paid by the EU. They are there until 2019, together with 73 British seats in the EU. Parliament. These seats will be left behind after Brexit and may be taken by trans-European candidates - thus EU. citizens would be voting twice after 2019. I am sure nobody will miss Ukip in Brussels - in fact the balance of the EU. Parliament may shift to the left without the British delegation.

 

I would expect the UK to have MEPs until we are no longer a member state.
Does UKIP vote on left- right lines then? Would not have thought the UK's MEPs would have altered that balance much.

 

The next European elections are in 2019. Allowing that once elected, MEPs would be there for the full 4 years (5 ?) and could not be removed during that period it appears logical to assume that there will be no more EU Elections taking place in the UK. As for the balance of power in the EU. Parliament - this may not be a straightforward right-left shift, but it will weaken the northern block - the British delegation tend to vote in similar ways to the Germans, particularly as regards austerity measures. Britain's leaving will strengthen the Mediteranean block.

 

Thanks re blocks - have to confess I have never much cared about MEP voting. I do not even know who my MEP is - only that when I voted it would not have been for UKIP
I guess it will depend on what the transition agreement says. If we are still technically in the EU at the time of the next election I suspect it would be illegal to deny the UK electorate their MEPs. Once we absolutely leave then our MEPs would simply not be allowed to sit as they would no longer represent anyone.

 

To be honest I'm not entirely sure of the legal position. I do not know if an MEP can begin a legislature period which cannot be completed. So a British candidate for a seat at the 2019 Election would need to be able to guarantee that his office would continue until the following election (ie. 2023/24) - which he, obviously cannot do. All the information I have heard indicates that no British MEPs will be there after the next EU Election (2019). Would they allow Scottish MPs to take a seat in Westminster if the country planned to go independent a year later ? - Would there be a mechanism for removing MPs after only a year ? I don't think so. You should work on the assumption that there will be 73 British MEPs returning from Brussels next year.

 

I am sure you are wrong there. Where would legislation ever have been passed that said an MEP had to guarantee his office would continue? Why would such a law ever have been required?
Elections are held. The term is x years - nobody would have considered that say war might have disrupted it - and certainly not a member state leaving.
Let us not deflect to other legislatures - who knows what different rules they may have. If the UK is paying its full membership fee I cannot believe their democratic rights could be denied - even if it were for a year. Once we are not a member state our MEPs could not sit as they would no longer have a constituency. I suspect the 27 might not like us having MEPs for a year or so till we leave and also that the UK probably would not want to be bothered. But if you do not think UKIP and others would demand their democratic rights then you have a better feeling towards them than I do. Do you think the UK will pay its full membership fees and not claim its clawbacks too?
I think you should work on the assumption that the EU will have to accept MEPs in a valid member state

 

The situation is not clear Arturo. The EU. Parliament is expected to vote before May this year on the redistribution of British seats - the plan is that 27 of them will be redistributed amongst other EU member states (14 are underepresented), 30 are ear marked for a transnational list and 16 are reserved for future member states. British MEPs are expected to be removed a few months before the 2019 EU. parliament election. They will not be able to stand for a 6 year electoral term in 2019. Any redistribution of seats would be in effect for the 2019 election, and the EU. Parliament has a maximum of 750 seats. I have heard it suggested that if Britain is still paying in then there may be some kind of interim arrangement for MEPs as well - eg. that the British can vote on budget issues but not on those involving the future of the EU. I personally do not see how they can remain in any capacity given the number of available seats there.

 

That will not be the point though. There are enough people who are angry enough to test any law and I cannot see how the UK can be denied its democratic representation while it is still a fee paying member. I am sure the UK government won't care - but it is not them who would bring an action.

 

I think that one of the problems is that most people don't know how the EU. works. Like yourself, most people don't know who their MEP is. Unfortunately attendance at EU elections is only about half of that for general elections, and we all know that small turnout profits the smaller parties - this is so for all electorates in Europe. So the accumulated result of people not taking EU elections that seriously is that we end up with 19 Ukip MEPs who are paid for by an institution that they want to destroy. There are also other parties which are overepresented there such as the AfD and the Latvian people's party. Smaller parties have always concentrated their efforts on these elections. The end result is an EU Parliament which struggles for legitimacy. I think most people don't know the separate functions of the EU Parliament, The EU Commission, the European Council, and the Council of the EU, or how they are elected. The British probably will be represented somewhere, but probably not in the EU Parliament itself. We must strengthen the role of the EU Parliament against those other organs of the EU. because it is the only one we elect directly.

 

As I understand it the UK's departure on 29 March means we leave all the institutions and therefore have no influence at any of the working groups or Councils. I think everyone's working on the basis that we won't have any elections for MEPs next year.
There's a general affairs Council at the end of March and it is expected that the transition period will be agreed then. So we can all spend Easter discussing what it actually means...
One thing I have noticed in all of this is the speed at which it's happened. We never started discussions till July because of the election so the progress made, in terms of how long these things usually take has been positively supersonic by EU standards. I am not convinced this good news but, as I have said already, even if we got a trade deal that was better than the status quo I would see little reason for celebration

 

That makes sense - if that is the date we technically leave then that is that.
The transition period is something totally different and we will have to agree all sorts of rules etc for then - but I am sure nobody will ask for us to have MEPs if we are not a member state.

 

Sorry meant to add something on funding as you mentioned clawbacks. I think the current funding period for schemes like the Common agriculture and fisheries policies is till 2020. As part of our financial commitments it's implicit that if we fully honour these schemes we will still get our share till those schemes expire. Of course we would have to comply with all the relevant documentation and governance procedures which will go down like a lead balloon with some. But hey ho...

I totally agree with you on legal challenge. The courts are going to be quite popular in the coming years - when intelligent my nieces and nephews that they really need to get called to the bar it won't be because my glass needs filling

 

Can it be that the Labour party is slowly moving Corbyn towards remaining in a customs union? In a speech he gave today he stated that, " We have to have access to European markets, we have to have a customs union that makes sure we can continue that trade, particularly between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. That is key to it.”

He doesn't say "the" customs union, but "a" customs union. There is a difference, but seeing as the EU already have one of their own, why would they wish to set up a second one just for the benefit of the UK?

 

I didn't know where to post this.... so it came on this thread....

It is so sickening how the major powers stand by whilst innocent people are being bombed to death in Syria. Have our politicians no shame???