Wednesday 28 November 2018

Letter to my MP _ the "meaningful vote"


In January this year Mrs May told journalists "When the time comes for Parliament to vote on the final deal, we will ensure that Parliament has the appropriate analysis on which to be fully informed, on which to base their judgement."

Today the Prime Minister has published "EU Exit - Long-term economic analysis" in preparation for the coming debate and decision on the withdrawal agreement and political declaration she agreed at the EU Council on Sunday.

You will be asked to vote in less than two weeks, as required by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, to accept or reject the two documents agreed at the summit.

Today's analysis doesn't describe a "final deal" though. The political declaration on the future relationship is only a starting point for negotiations which might begin next April, and the analysis doesn't work from what was signed off last Sunday anyway. As we are told on page 4, one of the modelled scenarios is "the policy position set out by the Government in the July 2018 White Paper on 'The future relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union'" (commonly known as Chequers).

Do you feel sufficiently "fully informed" to register your vote on 11 December?


UK (mostly) Bluesky starter packs

The person who assembled the list - the internal Bluesky name of the starter pack - the link andywestwood.bsky.social - go.bsky.app/6jFi56t ...