The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 16th November 2018
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 16th November 2018
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 16th November 2018
THE PRIME Minister told parliament that Britain is “significantly closer” to delivering on the result of the Brexit vote as she struggles to win back-bench support for the draft withdrawal agreement. Mrs May told the Commons it would give the UK control of borders, laws and money, and protect business and jobs.
But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: “Given the shambolic nature of the negotiations, this is unlikely to be a good deal for the country.” Corbyn said that the country would be stuck in an “indefinite half-way house without any real say” over the rules. Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, the Labour leader said Mrs May was putting a “false choice” before Parliament, between her “botched deal and no deal”.
Meanwhile a leaked diplomatic note from a meeting between European Commission officials and ambassadors from the European Union’s 27 countries reportedly indicated that the bloc will retain all controls under the May deal. According to the Daily Mail, the EU’s deputy chief negotiator Sabine Weyand told EU ambassadors that: “We should be in the best negotiation position for the future relationship. This requires the customs union as the basis of the future relationship. They must align their rules but the EU will retain all the controls. They apply the same rules. UK wants a lot more from future relationship, so EU retains its leverage.”
She also reportedly said that the UK “would have to swallow a link between access to products and fisheries in future agreements”. “backstop”
Tory back-bench opposition to the proposed deal claim that the “backstop” customs plan will tie Britain to the EU for many years to come whilst the sectarian bigots from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) that Mrs May relies on to keep her in office are already openly talking about a new general election.
Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP chief whip at Westminster, said his party could not back the deal as it stands. “This is not the right Brexit,” he said. “It doesn’t give the United Kingdom as a whole the opportunity to do free trade deals and to take control of its own future.
“The problem is that this fundamentally undermines the constitutional and economic integrity of the United Kingdom. “The UK will be faced with a choice in the future. If it wants to get out of this binding agreement then it will have to leave Northern Ireland behind. And if it leaves Northern Ireland behind, I think that will inevitably put pressure on Scotland.”
Donaldson said the DUP did not “fear a general election”, even one which Jeremy Corbyn could win. He said: “It’s not about who is prime minister. It’s not about who governs the country. It’s about the constitutional and economic integrity of the UK. That is fundamental for us.”
Meanwhile Theresa’s May’s attempts to uphold what she still calls the “special relationship” with US imperialism received another jolt when an angry Donald Trump berated her on the telephone last week. Trump was travelling to Paris aboard Air Force One, the Washington Post claims, when he took Mrs May’s call.
The Prime Minister called to congratulate the chief American warlord on his party’s senatorial successes in the US mid-term elections last week. But, according to the Washington Post, Trump said that Britain had not done enough to support his anti-Iranian agenda, questioned her handling of Brexit negotiations and recounted his grievances about what he sees as unfair trade relations between the USA and its European allies.