Wednesday 5 December 2018

May defeated at Westminster and in Cardiff Bay.

It seems that at the eleventh the opposition parties even those who support LEAVE have united to against the disastrous   handling of the Brexit negotiations  by the Prime Minister.
 The Guardian  reported 
Theresa May suffered an extraordinary three parliamentary defeats in a single day, as rebellious MPs at Westminster sought to wrest back control of Brexit.
The start of a five-day debate on May’s deal was delayed by several hours, as MPs passed a historic motion finding the government in contempt of parliament for failing to publish in full the legal advice on Brexit.
The shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer, called the defeat a “badge of shame” for the government.
“By treating parliament with contempt, the government has proved it has lost its majority and the respect of the house. The prime minister can’t keep pushing parliament away or avoiding responsible scrutiny,” he said.
MPs had already voted down a government compromise, which would have referred the dispute to parliament’s privileges committee, delaying it until after next week’s crunch vote on May’s deal.
With the prime minister still waiting to open the formal debate, MPs then inflicted a third defeat, passing a cross-party amendment tabled by MPs including Dominic Grieve aimed at strengthening the
hand of parliament if the deal is voted down.

 Then there were equally extraordinary events  in the  Welsh Assembly has AM srejected Theresa May's Brexit agreement in a symbolic vote in the Senedd.Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford said the deal fails to meet the "fundamental interests" of Wales and the UK.After  votes of failing t stand up for the devolved administration Labour AMs backed a Plaid Cymru proposal to oppose the deal after a row over the Welsh Government's stance. 34 AMs backed the text, with 16 against.The Tories accused Plaid and Labour of trying to undermine the original EU referendum result.AMs discussed the proposed withdrawal agreement in a two-hour long debate in the Senedd on Tuesday.But the Labour-led Welsh Government was criticised for tabling a motion for a vote that did not give a clear view against the deal.The vote, which calls for the UK to stay in the EU's single market and customs union, stands as the official view of the assembly but is not binding on the UK government.In an unusual move, rather than back their own motion, the ruling group backed a Plaid Cymru amendment.Labour’s motion “noted” but crucially didn’t oppose the Brexit agreement.

The Plaid amendment went further and “rejects” Theresa May’s Brexit deal.

Critics may claim that the vote was symbolic. However Llywydd (Presiding Officer) Elin Jones said  it was right to allow AMs a lengthy debate about Brexit despite their vote having no bearing on any decision being made in Westminster, 

Elin Jones said that it would have been "unbelievable" for AMs not to have their say despite it having no legal bearing.

"Since the referendum result, Brexit has dominated much of the work of committees in the Assembly and many of the debates we have had. In terms of working out the effects of Brexit on various aspects of our communities and the economy, and also scrutinising the legislation that is now coming in front of the Assembly on Brexit," she said.
"The biggest issue now facing the UK generally is the withdrawal agreement itself and it was appropriate that a debate of some significance took place this afternoon.
"Significance in that it allowed members to express their views on behalf of their constituent and parties on the withdrawal agreement.
"It was a passionate debate, as would be expected, many different views were expressed
.
The point is Mrs May has completely failed to deliver Brexit admittedly handicapped as she was by her own MPs.

The appalling thing is that the opposition in particular  Jeremy Corbyn has failed to oppose a disastrous  Hard Brexit , largely leaving true scrutiny to the SNP , Lib, Dems, Plaid Cymru and Greens.

In our own Assembly the Welsh governments after all capitulated over the long-running Brexit "power-grab" row relating to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill back in April leaving Scotland alone.


New Plaid leader would not disagree with his predecessor




Labour may have finally  decided  to act like a Opposition in Westminster and a Government in Cardiff but it is it to late?

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