Niklas Hallen/AFP
By
Hazel Speed
MPs voted on a Government amendment to Labour’s Opposition Day Motion on the Government’s Plan for Brexit. The Amendment accepts the need to publish a plan for Brexit and calls for Article 50 to be triggered by 31st March 2017.
Results
461 Ayes Votes to agree
89 Nos Votes against
After listening to live televised debates throughout the day the usual Brexit issues were gone through again like someone looking through an underwear draw to find a new pair of socks or tights but allowing for some to be looking for clean underwear!
Both Mrs May – who was absent due to being abroad, and Mr Corbyn also absent, meant that the linguistic tennis match was held by the Leader of the House David Lidington and the Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry. Although they put on a fair performance the edge was with Mrs Thornberry.
PA photo
Others throughout the broadcast however were quite boring and inexperienced from the Labour side reading from extensive notes to cover so many facets imaginable rather than concentrating on making one effectual quote or point of their own.
Earlier in the day there were some marvellous jokes lobbed from the Government benches at the Opposition – “This is like Mutiny on the Bounty being reshot by the Carry On Team.”
Another confirmed that one does not disclose one’s hands to one’s opponents during a poker game, not that it affects the Opposition (Labour) as they only have one card and that is The Joker!
The result of this vote however concedes that the Government will have to publish a plan before triggering Article 50 but the smart money is on the key point that publishing a plan does not in itself compel the Government to disclose specific details.
As the results of the Supreme Court Appeal will not be known anyway until January this vote does strike one as if the cart is before the horse but otherwise a Vote of No Confidence may be called thereby resulting in a General Election.
If the Government wins their Appeal at the Supreme Court – and the result made known in January, then presumably they can carry on with private negotiations as they prefer to do with Europe.
At this point one begins to try and recall one’s name.
Mr Drax, of the Conservative benches, earlier spoke eloquently in Parliament. In essence he was saying in simplistic terms that the people had voted to Leave Europe and that was that but not all these other aspects aimed to thwart or delay matters at best or overturn the vote at worst.
Labour really showed their intellectual inexperience during these debates and their arguments comprised of regurgitation and splintered content. A debate is only a debate amongst felicitous equals.
When one wishes to say goodbye to a neighbourhood, or leave a party then surely they just leave, so how many first say ‘can I still have access to your food and drink at a special rate’ or ‘can I still pay your husband to mow our lawn at our new house as it will be cheaper than finding someone else.’ That, in essence is what the Soft Brexiteers want whereas Brexiteers who just voted to Leave Europe are being called Hard Brexiteers. Funny isn’t it that they were considered too lacking in knowledge to know what they voted for but now are expected to be attributed and understand the discrepancies within.
Hazel Speed
Photo (c) Hazel Speed – used by kind permision to Tuck Magazine