Jo Swinson’s reaction to the defeat of the government by 27 votes tonight:
The attempt to shut down Parliament by Boris Johnson is authoritarian and anti-democratic. The fact that the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom wants to silence the people and their representatives shows that Boris Johnson will pursue Brexit at any cost, even at the cost of our democracy.
“That is why the Liberal Democrats, along with a majority of MPs in the House of Commons, have voted to take control of the order paper tomorrow.
“We look forward to voting for cross-party legislation to stop Boris Johnson’s plans for a No Deal exit on October 31st in their tracks
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
Follow @LibDemVoice on Twitter
Like us on Facebook
Subscribe to our feed
Sign-up for our daily email digest
Could this be the reason I have a strong interest in Edwardian Liberalism? This is me in a sailor suit
Councillor joins Lib Dems in Suffolk
Encounters
The Time I Met Paul O'Grady and Lily Savage at the Same Time
My tweets
UK Government to reintroduce Victorian prison hulks?
Roads and pavements improvements for the West End 2023/24 #dundeewestend
David Evans
Jeff
Roland
22 Comments
The website of the party only tweeted a second or two, impressive, can we see the speech or full bit? Stayed with it on tv, waited so …..couldn’t find her at all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Channel 4, bbc, give us less coverage than before!
Sky are best!
Well done Doc and you are very welcome.
Totally agree about Sky, it’s like we don’t exist on the BBC
Now for a general election. It is obvious that the Prime Minister has been on a course for this for a long time. We can see the people from the government side giving the same prepared answers whatever the question. Things like – the PM does not want an election – we are simply making sure that the decision of the people is respected – and so. All this has taken preparation and resources.
The key question is how do we counter this? We do not have resources or time.
We might also ask where the resources for the PM come from. It was interesting to read reports of the funding declared for his successful leadership bid.
The Lib Dems have slumped in the YouGov poll and the Conservatives have gone up. People ar fed up with all this never ending manoeuvering and will give Johnson his majority. Another opportunity missed sadly. The party seems to have a death wish.
Do we really want a GE? Is the make-up of the House thereafter likely to help or hinder the aim of either having another referendum or revoking Article 50? FPTP could easily deliver a government that is even more alien to the majority of voters. Isn’t that what Johnson wants?
Newsnight had Philip Lee. Is he still persona non grata in certain LD circles? Oh, and then there was Layla Moran on Politics Live. You know, I actually missed Bake Off to watch the Parliament Channel last night. What IS happening to me?!
As for wanting a General Election, what’s the point? Around here there will only be one winner.
After Boris through his Toys out his prom, is this the start of the end of the Tory Party?
Tory Leadership candidate Rory Stewart said on BBC tv today 4/9/19 that the Conservative whip was withdrawn by text message. He was at an awards ceremony where he was voted Politician of the Year. He intends to stand at the next general election as a Conservative but will consider standing as an Independent if necessary.
Rory Stewart continues to support Theresa May’s deal and was consistent with his previously announced views. He does not appear to be a possible defector to the Liberal Democrats at the moment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rory_Stewart
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penrith_and_The_Border_(UK_Parliament_constituency)#Elections_in_the_2010s
Dennis Wake – you don’t take every single opinion poll as gospel. The way to look at polls is to take the average trend. On that basis we’ve been fairly stable at around 18% for weeks. Of course its disappointing to see one where we have dropped, but it could be an outlier. Watch the average.
The plan appears to be clearer now.
Remove all the Tory MPs blocking leaving the EU without a new treaty.
Block the wrecking bill in the Lords.
Get a new election or just leave on the 31st October regardless.
Bless John Peters and then what happens on the 1st of November. Sunlit uplands, unicorns and faeries or a long hard slog you that your ilk are ill fitted to survive. Yep in your world tis fantasy land awaits, reality will not be kind to you.
Lorenzo Cherin: 21 Tory MPs expelled (or to be expelled?) including Ken Clarke, Nicholas Soames, Philip Hammond (reselected Monday this week by Runnymede Tory party)
On the BBC Radio 4 today 4/9/19 Jo Swinson continued to press for a People’s Vote.
It is not raining at Old Trafford.
@frankie
Thanks frankie, I appreciate your blessing and kind words.
Reality has been very kind to me so far and I see no reason to doubt it will continue to be just as kind in the future. My motto is hope not hate, and I’ll be happy for you to join us in the sunlit uplands (I don’t believe in unicorns or faeries).
Dennis Wake, 2 days earlier the LIb Dems went up 4% in a You Gov poll, so really no change.
If we are to be different to Labour we shall have to go for “Repeal of Article 50”, should hold a lot of votes at a General if that happens, doubt it, not this year, as we will be led by a Ken Clarke unity government till the Spring..
Ah John, reality might have been kind to you, it may even be kind going forward but to many of your ageing. economically inactive and poorly educated brethren it will be very hard. Still I’m sure you’ll put your hand in your pocket and help them out. Only joking a few fine words is all they are likely to get and you can’t eat words.
OMG
Just had to pinch myself as I looked at the Torygraph business pages.
‘City warms to Corbyn as Sterling Tumbles’
Jeremy Warner ‘No deal is just going to deepen the economic uncertainty, not end it’
What is going on. Is the worm turning?
http://www2.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2019/09/04/the-cummings-johnson-strategy-could-well-be-dubbed-as-the-charge-of-the-light-in-the-head-brigade/
BoJo-Cummings strategy of throwing Scottish Tory MPs under a bus looks likely to threaten their chances of getting a clear majority
https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2019/09/02/proponents-of-the-new-bill-to-stop-no-deal-face-a-significant-dilemma-over-queens-consent/
Good point made by LSE re Queen’s Consent. I suspect that a refusal by the government to certify this on 3rd reading may be fatal to the Bill.
@John Peters
The plan appears to be clearer now.
Remove all the Tory MPs blocking leaving the EU without a new treaty.
Well deselecting those Tory party members who vote against him is certainly part of Boris’s agenda. As are ways to prevent Parliament debating and/or voting on anything to do with Brexit, since they might not simply rubberstamp his foolishness.
Block the wrecking bill in the Lords.
Boris will most certainly do his upmost to block anything that goes against his desire to only have a no deal Brexit on the table on the 31st – I hear its supposed to focuses minds, trouble is that whilst it may focus minds, they may not be in quite the way Boris wants.
Get a new election or just leave on the 31st October regardless.
From Boris’s statements in the last 24 hours both of these are in his ‘cunning plan’.
So from this, I think Frankie is being a little unkind, you really are a fan of the status quo remain rather than no deal leave.
@Roland – I’m sure there’ll be a shedload of filibustering in the HoL, but the ultimate line of defence for the government will be refusal to certify Queen’s consent on 3rd reasoning – see LSE advice.
@Geoffrey Dron – I see the Tories allies in the HoL have already released a shedload of time wasting amendments… You would of thought that they would of welcomed the opportunity to actually debate something of substance about what the UK is actually going to do with respect to Brexit. I hope someone is keeping notes, as it does seem Brexit is opening up all the holes in the constitution, providing many opportunties for real constitutional reform [Aside, as we are seeing changing the voting system doesn’t change the way business is actually transacted, whereas something as simple as the Fixed Term Parliament Act is causing assorted changes.]
WRT the FTPA, I hope that Labour (and others) have the good sense to show their confidence in the current Government and thus put a spanner in Boris’s idea of a quick election – as with a minority government the stage is set for a couple of years of “steady and stable” politics, which history has shown is good for the country…