Politics

Vote of no confidence in Theresa May

Politics

by Politicker on 12th December 2018 0 Comments

Conservative MPs have triggered a vote of no confidence in Theresa May as leader of the Conservative Party.

A contest is triggered when 15% of Conservative MPs (48 of the current 315) submit letters to Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the 1922 Committee, expressing no confidence in their leader.

A ballot of Conservative MPs has been scheduled for Wednesday (12 Dec 2018) evening between 6pm and 8pm with an announcement of the result soon after.

Theresa May made a statement outside 10 Downing Street

Sir Graham Brady has confirmed that he has received 48 letters from Conservative MPs so there will now be a vote of confidence in my leadership of the Conservative party.

I will contest that vote with everything I’ve got. I have been a member of the Conservative party for over 40 years. I have served it as an activist, councillor, MP, Shadow Minister, Home Secretary and now as Prime Minister.

I stood to be leader because I believe in the Conservative vision for a better future. A thriving economy, with nowhere and nobody left behind. A stronger society, where everyone can make the most of their talents, always serving the national interest.

And at this crucial moment in our history, that means securing a Brexit deal that delivers on the result of the EU referendum. Taking back control of our borders, laws and money, but protecting jobs, our security and our precious union as we do so.

Through good times and bad over the last two years, my passionate belief that such a deal is attainable, that a bright future lies ahead for our country, has not wavered. And it is now within our grasp.

I spent yesterday meeting Chancellor Merkel, Prime Minister Rutte, President Tusk and President Juncker to address the concerns that MPs have with the backstop and we are making progress. I was due to travel to Dublin this afternoon to continue that work but will now remain here in London to make the case for my leadership with my parliamentary colleagues.

A change of leadership in the Conservative party now will put our country’s future at risk and create uncertainty when we can least afford it. A new leader wouldn’t be in place by the 21st January legal deadline, so a leadership election risks handing control of the Brexit negotiations to opposition MPs in parliament.

The new leader wouldn’t have time to renegotiate a withdrawal agreement and get the legislation through parliament by 29 March, so one of their first acts would have to be extending or rescinding article 50, delaying, or even stopping, Brexit when people want us to get on with it.

And a leadership election would not change the fundamentals of the negotiation or the parliamentary arithmetic. Weeks spent tearing ourselves apart will only create more division, just as we should be standing together to serve our country. None of that would be in the national interest. The only people whose interests would be served are Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell.

The British people want us to get on with it. And they want us to focus on the other vital issues that matter to them too. Building a stronger economy, delivering first-class public services and the homes that families need. These are the public’s priorities and they must be the Conservative party’s priorities too. We must, and we shall, deliver on the referendum vote and seize the opportunities that lie ahead.

But the Conservatives must not be a single-issue party. We are a party of the whole nation. Moderate, pragmatic, mainstream: committed to re-uniting our country and building a country that works for everyone, the agenda I set out in my first speech outside this front door. Delivering the Brexit people voted for. Building a country that works for everyone. I have devoted myself unsparingly to these tasks ever since I became prime minister.

And I stand ready to finish the job.

Theresa May Press conference with Donald Trump

by Politicker on 13th July 2018 0 Comments

Prime Minister Theresa May held a press conference with US President Donald Trump on 13 July 2018, during his official visit to the UK.

I am pleased to welcome the President of the United States to Chequers today on his first official visit to the United Kingdom. No two countries do more together than ours to keep their peoples safe and prosperous. And we want to deepen that co-operation even further to meet the shared challenges we face, now and in the years ahead.

This morning President Trump and I visited Sandhurst, where we saw a demonstration of joint-working between British and American Special Forces – just one example of what is today the broadest, deepest and most advanced security co-operation of any two countries in the world. Whether it is our pilots deterring the use of chemical weapons in Syria or defeating Daesh, our soldiers at the forefront of NATO’s presence in Eastern Europe, our navies in the Pacific enforcing sanctions on North Korea, or our unparalleled intelligence-sharing partnership thwarting attacks – our security co-operation is saving lives here in Britain, in America and right across the world.

That partnership is set to grow, with our armies integrating to a level unmatched anywhere, and the UK set to spend £24 billion on US equipment and support over the next decade.

Today we have also discussed how we can deepen our work together to respond to malign state activity, terrorism and serious crime. In particular, on Russia, I thanked President Trump for his support in responding to the appalling use of a nerve agent in Salisbury, after which he expelled 60 Russian intelligence officers. And I welcomed his meeting with President Putin in Helsinki on Monday. We agreed that it is important to engage Russia from a position of strength and unity – and that we should continue to deter and counter all efforts to undermine our democracies.

Turning to our economic co-operation, with mutual investment between us already over $1 trillion, we want to go further. We agreed today, that as the UK leaves the European Union, we will pursue an ambitious US-UK Free Trade Agreement.

The Chequers agreement reached last week provides the platform for Donald and me to agree an ambitious deal that works for both countries right across our economies. A deal that builds on the UK’s independent trade policy; reducing tariffs, delivering a gold-standard in financial services co-operation, and – as two of the world’s most advanced economies – seizing the opportunity of new technology. All of this will further enhance our economic co-operation, creating new jobs and prosperity for our peoples for generations to come.

The UK-US relationship is also defined by the role we play on the world stage. Doing this means making tough calls and sometimes being prepared to say things that others might rather not hear. From the outset President Trump has been clear about how he sees the challenges we face. And on many, we agree.

For example, the need to deal with the long-standing nuclear threat of DPRK, where the agreement in Singapore has set in train the prospect of denuclearisation, to which the UK is proud to be contributing expertise. Or the need to address the destabilising influence of Iran in the Middle East, where today we have discussed what more we can do to push back on Iran in Yemen and reduce humanitarian suffering. Or the need for NATO allies to increase their defence spending and capability, on which we saw significant increases at yesterday’s summit. This includes Afghanistan, where this week I announced a further uplift of 440 UK troops – an ongoing commitment to a mission that began as NATO’s only use of Article 5, acting in support of the US.

Finally, let me say this about the wider transatlantic relationship.

It is all of our responsibility to ensure that transatlantic unity endures. For it has been fundamental to the protection and projection of our interests and values for generations. With US leadership at its foundation, its beating heart remains our democratic values and our commitment to justice. Those values are something that we in the UK will always cherish – as I know the US will too. It is the strength of these values, and the common interests they create, that we see across the breadth of our societies in North America and Europe. And that is why I am confident that this transatlantic alliance will continue to be the bedrock of our shared security and prosperity for years to come.

G20 summit July 2017

Politics

by Politicker on 11th July 2017

Germany took over the presidency of the G20 on 1 December 2016 and the G20 Summit in Hamburg took place on 7 and 8 July 2017. The group has met annually at Head of State and Government level since 2008.

The G20 comprises 19 countries plus the EU. These countries are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States of America (US).

International organisations also participate in the G20 summits including, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB), the Financial Stability Board (FSB), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the United Nations (UN).

The G20 heads of state and government traditionally focus on issues concerning global economic growth, international trade and financial market regulation.

A brochure was released about the G20 and includes forewards by Federal Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the Mayor of Hamburg, Olaf Scholz.

Following the meetings, the G20 leaders issued a joint declaration G20 Leaders´ Declaration:
Shaping an interconnected world, which can be found at

https://www.g20.org/Content/EN/_Anlagen/G20/G20-leaders-declaration.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=1

Fisheries and Brexit

by Politicker on 3rd July 2017

The UK Government has announced it is withdrawing the UK from the 1964 London Convention on Fisheries in order to take control of its fishing policy and brings into focus issues surrounding Brexit and the Common Fisheries Policy.

The 1964 London Convention was signed by 13 European countries in order to establish and define a fisheries regime for their coastal waters and it allows vessels from other countries to fish in British waters if they had habitually fished in that same region between 1 January 1953 and 31 December 1962.

The Convention on Fisheries requires Member States to provide two years’ notice if they wish to withdraw and is one of the reasons why it is happening now.

The EU currently governs fisheries policy in the UK with the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) which will continue to apply in the UK until the UK has legally ceased to be a member. After that, access to fishing grounds will be determined by international law rather than EU law and the UK will have sovereign control over the resources in its waters.

The future relationship regarding fisheries policy is subject to current and future negotiations between the UK and the EU, however, the EU has stated that

The agreement on a future relationship between the Union and the United Kingdom as such can only be concluded once the United Kingdom has become a third country

so it is unclear how negotiations over a future fisheries policy can be achieved prior to the UK leaving the EU.

The EU recently published an extensive document (164 pages) following a Workshop on “Common Fisheries Policy and BREXIT” of 21th June 2017, organised by the Committee on Fisheries (COMPECH) and the Policy Department B (PECH Research) of the European Parliament.
It examines the Common Fisheries Policy and the implications of Brexit in three parts

Legal framework for governance
Trade and economic related issues
Resources and fisheries

This document was produced on behalf of the European Parliament’s Committee on Fisheries. It provides an economic analysis of the expected consequences of Brexit and examines possible future EU-UK agreements on fisheries issues. The document covers a number of topics and shows figures detailing the amount of fishing performed by EU countries in UK waters, trade in products between the UK and EU and vice versa, possible tariffs on UK imports of fish and fish products from the EU and exports of UK fish and products to the EU etc.

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2017/601981/IPOL_STU(2017)601981_EN.pdf

The Commons Library issued a briefing paper Brexit: What next for UK fisheries?
http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/CBP-7669

A copy of the 1964 London Convention on Fisheries can be found on the Treaties website of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office at

http://treaties.fco.gov.uk/treaties/treatyrecord.htm?tid=2459

or the treaty document at
https://www.dfa.ie/media/dfa/alldfawebsitemedia/treatyseries/uploads/documents/treaties/docs/196601.pdf

Queen’s Speech

by Politicker on 21st June 2017 0 Comments

The Queen’s speech is part of the State Opening of Parliament and happens when Parliament reassembles after a general election and then at the start of each Parliamentary session. Only the monarch can call a Parliament together and no business can happen until the Queen reads her speech. Her Majesty The Queen delivered the 2017 Queen’s Speech on 21 June in the Houses of Parliament. It sets out the government’s agenda for the coming session, outlining proposed policies and legislation.

The actual speech can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/queens-speech-2017

Here is a summary with details of the 27 Bills and Draft Bills outlined in the speech.

Delivering Brexit
Building a stronger economy
Making our country fairer
Making our country safer and more united
Other measures

Brexit

Repeal Bill – repealing the European Communities Act 1972 and converting EU law into UK law
Customs Bill – to ensure that the UK has a standalone UK customs regime on exit
Trade Bill – to put in place the necessary legislative framework to allow the UK to operate its own independent trade policy upon exit from the EU
Immigration Bill – to establish new powers concerning the immigration status of EEA nationals
Fisheries Bill – to enable the UK to exercise responsibility for access to fisheries and management of its waters.
Agriculture Bill – to ensure that after we leave the EU we have an effective system in place to support UK farmers and protect our natural environment.
Nuclear Safeguards Bill – to establish a UK nuclear safeguards regime as we leave the EE and Euratom.
International Sanctions Bill – to establish a new sovereign UK framework to implement international sanctions on a multilateral or unilateral basis

Building a stronger economy

Automated and Electric Vehicles Bill – will ensure the UK continues to be at the forefront of developing new technology in electric and automated road vehicles
Space Industry Bill – powers to license a wide range of new commercial spaceflight, and to create a regulatory framework to ensure that commercial spaceflight in the UK remains safe
High Speed 2 Phase 2A Bill – will provide the powers to build and operate the next stage of the HS2 network between Birmingham and Crewe.
Smart Meter Bill – to help deliver more transparent energy bills
National Insurance Contributions Bill – will legislate for National Insurance contributions changes announced in the Budget 2016 and Autumn Statement 2016.

Making our country fairer

Travel Protection Bill – will improve protection for holidaymakers by updating the UK’s financial protection scheme for holidays
Draft Tenants’ Fees Bill – to tackle unfair fees on tenants in the private rental market
Draft Domestic Violence and Abuse Bill – to help tackle the evil of domestic abuse and violence
Civil Liability Bill – to crack down on fraudulent whiplash claims
Courts Bill – to reform the courts system in England and Wales to ensure it is more efficient and accessible
Financial Guidance and Claims Bill – will combine three financial advice bodies into one, ensuring that people across the UK are able to seek the help and advice they need to manage their finances
Goods Mortgage Bill – will implement recommendations from the Law Commission to update Victorian era law on logbook loans

Making our country safer and more united

Armed Forces Bill – will ensure our armed forces have all the resources and capability they need to be the best in the world and keep our country safe.
Data Protection Bill – to ensure the UK has a data protection regime that is fit for the 21st century
Draft Patient Safety Bill – to help improve patient safety in the NHS and instil greater public confidence in the provision of healthcare services in England

Other measures

The programme will include three Finance Bills to implement budget decisions.

The Summer Finance Bill 2017 will include a range of tax measures including those to tackle avoidance.

The programme will also include a technical Bill to ratify several minor EU agreements and further Bills, which will be announced in due course, to effect the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

The government will also be taking forward a range of other measures which may not require primary legislation.

Further information can be found at

Queen’s Speech 2017: what it means for you

There is also a document containing briefing notes on the announcements made in the 2017 Queen’s Speech which can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/queens-speech-2017-background-briefing-notes

and a copy is also available at

Queen’s Speech Background Notes

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