People say to me: “What’s the point of Labour unveiling a policy on this, or demanding that Parliament be recalled to debate it? They’re not in power. They can’t do anything.”
No, they aren’t, but there is a very good reason for Labour to agitate about action that its leaders – and those of the other Opposition parties – think the Tory government should be taking.
Labour has called for MPs to return to Parliament early to deal with the cost-of-living crisis.
Thangam Debbonaire, the shadow leader of the House of Commons, has written to the prime minister asking him to recall MPs two weeks early on 22 August.
She said new policies were needed before a rise in the energy price cap in October.
we should recognise that Labour isn’t just saying this in a vain bid to see it happen.
It’s being said to highlight the fact that, despite such action being necessary, the Conservatives aren’t making it happen.
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It’s ludicrous. But people believe it – and that makes it dangerous too.
Yes, left-wingers in the Labour Party are calling for an emergency party conference – possibly to take place in June alongside the Women’s Conference.
But their reasons are perfectly rational: Keir Starmer’s lurch to the right – appealing to voters by waving the flag, wearing a suit and sporting a pretty haircut – isn’t working.
Poll results make this perfectly clear.
And this Huffington Post report spells it out:
The motion… reads: “Discussion in local Labour Party meetings has been suppressed; motions banned; scores of activists suspended; and anger and disillusionment is exploding across our lay membership across the party.
“Members are leaving in droves and many more are expressing frustration and dissatisfaction at the attack on democracy and free speech. Many members are saying it doesn’t feel like the Labour Party anymore.”
Starmer faces criticism from the left over plans, reported in the Sunday Times, to woo businesses ahead of May’s local elections.
The Guardian also last week revealed a strategy document which said Labour was considering refocusing on patriotism, the Union flag and veterans’ causes to win back “Red Wall” seats captured by the Conservatives in 2019.
Reporter Rachel Wearmouth couldn’t resist claiming that Labour had seen a “massive improvement” at the polls – but this is not borne out by any evidence.
And she also claimed that Labour feared a “vaccine bounce” in the polls for the Tories, in the belief that the UK’s rollout of injections is one of the best in the world.
The problem is, the Tories are leaving the job half-done for most people, with only one of the two jabs they must have actually being administered and the second being delayed until up to 12 weeks after the first.
Pfizer, creator of one of the vaccines, has stated categorically that the second injection should happen no later than six weeks after the first. Otherwise there is no point having either.
It all adds up to another attack on the Labour Left – that could be accurately described as victim-blaming.
Left-wingers have been ruthlessly targeted by Starmer and his cronies – the most prominent being his immediate forerunner as party leader, Jeremy Corbyn.
And of course no mention is made in the media to the years of backstabbing from centrists when Corbyn was in charge.
Will the call for a recall conference succeed? I doubt it.
The Parliamentary Labour Party is stuffed with “centrists” (read: right-wingers). It was a policy of the Blair/Brown years and Corbyn was unable to reverse it, despite a long-running debate over whether constituency parties should have the power to choose their own candidates rather than having people parachuted in by head office.
With so many “centrists” at the top of the party, it seems extremely unlikely that a poll of the entire membership that may lead to the removal of a “centrist” leader will be allowed.
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It is as This Writer said: the number of MPs calling for Boris Johnson to recall Parliament was not enough to convince him to do it.
His spokeswoman specifically referred to the number of MPs who supported the motion to return on September 3.
The implication is clear: 110 MPs demanding recall cannot beat more than 500 who supported the recess until that date.
It’s a lesson the Liberal Democrats would do well to learn.
At a briefing on Monday, the prime minister’s spokeswoman said there were no plans to do so.
“The House of Commons agreed the date it would rise for summer recess, as well as its return on 3 September, and this was passed by a majority of close to 200 MPs,” she said.
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Put ’em up: Boris Johnson is heading for a confrontation with other MPs over his deliberately aggressive and unreasonable approach to Brexit.
MPs from all parties except the DUP have written to demand that Boris Johnson recalls Parliament from recess to debate Brexit.
A total of 110 MPs, including the leaders of the SNP, Liberal Democrats, Green Party, Plaid Cymru and Change UK have signed the letter, and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is understood to be backing the recall.
But are they enough? 110 MPs – 111 with Mr Corbyn – is still only slightly more than one-sixth of Parliament.
After the way Jo Swinson was treated for trying to influence Labour’s “no confidence” proposal (with only 14 MPs when Labour has 247), BoJob could quite legitimately argue that this is an attempt by the tail to wag the dog, as it were; that a majority of Parliament is not calling for the summer recess to be terminated so there’s no reason for him to agree.
The aim of the recall would be “to allow MPs to hear statements from you and your ministers on progress towards a Brexit deal and to scrutinise your preparations for a ‘no deal’ on 31 October.”
The letter states: “Our country is on the brink of an economic crisis, as we career towards a ‘no deal Brexit’ which will have an immediate effect on food and medical supplies, damage our economy, jobs, the public finances, public services, universities and long-term economic security. A ‘no deal Brexit’ also threatens our crucial security cooperation to keep our country safe from criminals and terrorists.”
It points out: “At times of grave economic emergency and threats to our national security Parliament has been recalled to allow MPs to make representations on behalf of their constituents and to hold Ministers to account.”
And it concludes: “This UK Parliament was elected by the people of the UK in 2017. Your fragile majority is a reflection of the democratic choices of the people of this country then, and since, and the representatives of the people must be able to do their job in holding you and your government to account in these unprecedented times.”
The demand is particularly timely after the leak of information on ‘Operation Yellowhammer’, a report on which states the “most likely” effects of leaving the EU without a deal would be a three-month “meltdown” at the UK’s ports, and food and medicine shortages.
The leaked documents suggest that the UK will face shortages of fuel, food and medicine if it leaves the European Union without a transition deal, jamming ports and requiring a hard border in Ireland.
Mr Johnson himself is currently said to be preparing to tell EU leaders that he needs a new deal to replace Theresa May’s thrice-failed withdrawal agreement – or the UK will crash out of the bloc without a deal on October 31 and there is nothing Parliament can do to prevent it.
It is just about the stupidest thing he could do.
In effect, he’s saying: “You must do a deal that is better for the UK or I will make sure the UK seriously harms itself. The EU won’t suffer any consequences at all.”
European leaders should be expected to shrug and say, “So what?”
He would be well-advised to accept the demand to recall Parliament and join other MPs in working throughout the summer and autumn to rescue the UK from this disaster he, personally, did so much to create. Their holibobs aren’t anything like as important as the economic future of every single UK citizen for the next generation or more.
And if he doesn’t accept the logic of it?
Maybe this will push more MPs over to supporting Jeremy Corbyn’s plan for a “no confidence” vote that will stop Mr Johnson in his tracks.
POSTSCRIPT: Meanwhile our mainstream media are quiet. Have you seen anything about this letter on the national news?
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A by-election will take place in This Writer’s constituency of Brecon and Radnorshire after Tory MP Chris Davies was convicted of falsifying expenses claims.
Under Parliamentary rules, the conviction meant a “recall” petition would be opened automatically and Mr Davies would lose his seat if more than 10 per cent of the electorate here voted to oust him.
That petition has now closed and it has been revealed that the target number of 5,303 signatures has not only been reached but nearly doubled. 10,005 people signed.
A by-election will take place in the near future.
Mr Davies will be eligible to stand again – but the seat is considered a target for the Liberal Democrats and Labour may use it as a testing-ground for its Brexit policy. Will the party’s local members be able to get their message across on the doorstep?
On a personal note, I’m delighted. Mr Davies was among the first to condemn me – with absolutely no evidence – when I was falsely accused of anti-Semitism in 2016 and it is significant that while I was – and remain – innocent, he is now a criminal.
As an MP, I do not believe he represented the majority of people of Brecon and Radnorshire – but he is not alone in that. During the Coalition government of 2010-15, the Liberal Democrat MP he replaced also carried out the demands of the Conservative-led government and did not hear the pleas of his constituents. I recall the controversy over the anti-lobbying Act in particular.
The Liberal Democrats lost credibility as a result of their alliance with the Conservatives against the people of the UK and I think that is why Roger Williams lost Brecon and Radnorshire to Mr Davies.
But people have short memories – and some may even wish to allow a Lib Dem back in, simply to stop a Conservative, whether Mr Davies or someone else, from regaining the seat.
This will be interesting!
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Chris Davies: Brecon and Radnorshire’s criminal cartoon MP.
This has come through from Powys County Council and should be of great interest to all voters in Brecon and Radnorshire (which is This Writer’s home constituency):
Public notice of petition to remove the MP for Brecon and Radnorshire Chris Davies
Recall of MPs Act 2015 (Recall Petition)
Notice of Petition
There will be a petition to decide whether Chris Davies, the MP for Brecon and Radnorshire should lose his seat as an MP and a by-election held to decide who would be the MP for that constituency.
The petition has been started because Chris Davies, MP has been convicted of an offence under section 10 of the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009 (an offence of providing false/misleading information for a parliamentary allowances claim and also of a second offence of attempting to provide such information), and ordered to pay a fine of £1,500 and has been given a community order requiring the completion of 50 hours of unpaid work within the next 12 months.
Petition signing period: 9am on Thursday, 9 May to 5pm Thursday, 20 June 2019.
Constituency: Brecon and Radnorshire
The designated petition signing places are located at:
Council Chamber, Broad Street, Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5BX
Clarence Hall House, Beaufort Street, Crickhowell, NP8 1BN
These locations will be open for signing:
Monday, 9am to 5pm (except spring bank holiday Monday)
Tuesday, 8am to 5pm
Wednesday, 9am to 8pm
Thursday, 9am to 5pm
Friday, 9am to 5pm
A person is eligible to sign the petition if they are a registered parliamentary elector for the constituency and aged 18 or over (or the date of their 18th birthday is before the end of the signing period).
All registered parliamentary electors will be written to individually advising them of the signing procedure and which signing place they have been allocated to. Parliamentary electors who are currently registered to vote by post will receive their signing sheet by post.
New applications to sign the petition by POST must be received by no later than 5pm on Wednesday, 5 June 2019.
New applications to sign the petition by PROXY must be received by no later than 5pm on Wednesday, 12 June 2019.
Publication of 10% threshold
After receiving the Speaker’s notice under section 5 of the Recall of MP’s Act 2015 the Petition Officer herewith gives public notice of:
(a) the number of persons who are entitled to sign the petition as 53,032
(b) the number of persons who would need to sign the petition for the petition to be successful in accordance with section 14 of the Recall of MP’s Act 2015(a) (determination of whether recall petition successful) as 5,303
Dr Caroline Turner, Petition Officer
So there you have it.
Obviously, I would advise every voter in Brecon and Radnorshire to sign the petition so we can get rid of this criminal and vote in somebody who might actually take the job seriously.
If you are not a voter in Brecon and Radnorshire – but know somebody who is – please advise them in the same manner.
I’ll try to keep you all updated on this latest erosion of the Conservative Party’s Parliamentary membership.
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Chris Davies: Behind bars – altbough he won’t be jailed over his fraudulent expenses claim.
It’s happening: Voters in Brecon and Radnorshire will be asked to sign a petition demanding a by-election after their MP was convicted of expenses fraud.
Chris Davies – who also happens to be This Writer’s MP – was fined £1,500 and ordered to do 50 hours’ community service after he was found guilty of submitting fake expenses invoices for £700 of landscape photographs to decorate his office.
The “recall petition” will trigger a by-election if it is signed by 10 per cent of the constituency’s electorate or more.
The comments of Mr Justice Edis, when sentencing the MP, were damning: “It seems shocking that when confronted with a simple accounting problem, you thought to forge documents. That is an extraordinary thing for a man with your position and your background to do.
“There was no error here. What you did was done quite deliberately and it must have taken some time to create your fake documents. MPs ask the public to place their trust in them and in an election that’s what happens.
“They become the guardians of the nation’s democracy and depend on the public holding them in high esteem. Any significant betrayal of that standard is serious and crosses the custody threshold.
“The recall process may end your political career – that’s part of the machinery.”
Chris Davies has turned out to be utterly useless as a representative of the people. His actions have shown that he was interested only in serving himself.
This Writer will be signing the petition. I hope many other voters in Brecon and Radnorshire will also want a proper MP – for a change.
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Chris Davies, Conservative MP for Brecon and Radnorshire, has admitted two offences of expenses fraud. Now the people of Brecon and Radnorshire can have their fun.
We (the Brecon and Radnorshire electorate) may now petition for the MP to be recalled and for a by-election in the constituency.
If at least 10 per cent of registered electors sign a recall petition, we can have an election and get rid of him.
The petition should be triggered automatically, and it will be for Brecon and Radnorshire’s Returning Officer – and also Powys County Council’s chief executive – Dr Caroline Turner to make it available to the public.
If it isn’t, Brecon and Radnorshire electors can register their concern by contacting Dr Turner via the council on 01597 826000.
There should be an announcement by the House of Commons Speaker’s Office, too. You can email [email protected] to ask about it, too.
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Working for us: Jeremy Corbyn is trying to get Theresa May to sort out her Brexit shambles, but she persists in dragging her feet. Ask yourself why she wants to do that.
Criticise him all you like, but it is clear that Jeremy Corbyn is the only British political leader who is interested in sorting out Brexit – in the national interest.
The other opposition leaders are only interested in undermining him, and as for Theresa May… Mr Corbyn is right to claim that she wants to run down the clock so we have no choice but to accept her deal or “no deal”. Neither is acceptable to the British people.
It is notable that nobody has asked Mrs May the obvious question: Why is she so keen to delay matters? What does anybody have to gain? Is it correct that she wants to tie us to the March 29 deadline in order to ensure that tax avoiders don’t fall foul of new EU legislation coming into force in April? If so, how is that good for the UK as a whole? (Answer: It isn’t.)
We’re told that she has ordered her ministers to come back and help plan for a “no deal” Brexit – why can’t she get to work on a better Brexit deal instead?
It seems clear that Mrs May is the problem here. Mr Corbyn is working to find a solution.
So why are we all being told that he is the liability? Think about it.
Jeremy Corbyn has challenged Theresa May to cut short the Christmas recess and recall parliament early in the new year in order to bring forward a critical vote on the Brexit deal.
In an interview with The Independent, the Labour leader said he believed the prime minister and her allies were engaged in a “cynical manoeuvre” to run down the clock and offer MPs the “choice of the devil or the deep blue sea”.
His remarks come as the Commons prepares to vote on the UK-EU deal in the week beginning 14 January – in what is being billed as the most significant moment in parliament for a generation.
With just 91 days remaining until Britain formally leaves the European Union, Mr Corbyn also reiterated it is a matter of “when, not if” Labour attempts to force a general election by tabling a motion of no confidence in the government, which he signalled will come in the aftermath of Ms May’s deal failing to receive MPs’ backing.
But he refused to be drawn on whether a Labour government would seek to extend Article 50, given that just weeks would remain for any renegotiation of Britain’s exit from the bloc, and claimed: “Lots of things are possible, the EU has longform on reopening and extending negotiations, but let’s not jump too many hoops when we haven’t arrived at them.”
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has demanded that Parliament be given a vote. Both houses are still in Easter recess but there’s no reason they cannot be recalled – so Mrs May is talking tommyrot as usual.
Public opinion is wildly against it:
Is Theresa May really considering taking UK to war without a vote in Parliament? Is that legal? Is that in accordance with Britain's unwritten constitution? Will the MSM and BBC hold May to account on this gravest of all matters?
If as is expected, the US re-enters the Syrian conflict…and Theresa May disgracefully and arrogantly follows them without democratic process… it will cost her. Rational population see through irresponsible recklessness and faux steeliness #NotInMyNameTheresaMay
There is no justification for chemical weapon attacks or the bombing of civilians as seen in Douma. But raining down thousands of American, British or French missiles is not the answer. We cannot risk total war and endless death in the Middle East. We need serious diplomacy, now.
The horror of what's happening in #Syria is sickening beyond words.
But there is absolutely no way that the Prime Minister should take any military action without having a full debate and vote in Parliament, even if that means MPs being recalled from recess this week.
Paul Mason, writing in New Statesman, has said that bombing Syria is futile:
“To defeat Assad, and prevent the further collapse of the global order, long-range missiles are no good. Knowing this, Donald Trump and his national security adviser John Bolton will probably fire a lot of them. No. To defeat Assad you would have to engage in the kind of warfare America did in Iraq, going from house to house in the dark, killing suspected supporters of al-Qaeda, dragging their children and elderly into the dark by flashlight.
“You would have to bomb what’s left of Syria until it looked like what’s left of Gaza. And you would have to do it knowing that into the chaos you create, would move exactly the kind of jihadi groups we are trying to rid the world of.
“That’s why I am against Britain joining a military strike on Assad’s Syria.”
We are in very dangerous times. At no point in my life have I been as genuinely worried for the future of our world. Any military intervention could escalate rapidly. Those beating the drums of war need to step back and let the OPCW do their job. https://t.co/fOoYveFbp3
This is valuable advice from Peter Hitchens – who is increasingly proving to be a voice of reason:
Now is the time for all level-headed men and women of all persuasions to write, politely and concisely, to their MPs and Congressmen and women, urging caution and verification rather than an unreasoning rush to war. Please do it today.
This is a storm shadow missile, which may be used by Britain if it starts bombing Syria. It costs £800,000, which is enough to house all London’s rough sleepers in temporary accommodation for a week. pic.twitter.com/UL0tZbw0gT
Theresa May would rather spend your money ensuring that innocent people in a foreign country die, than ensuring that innocent people in the UK can live.
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