Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[crazy canuck]

Extraordinary stat I'd not noticed: the Tories have increased their vote share in every election since 1997 (the last three while in office)

But they walked off a cliff in 97, so not entirely surprising is it?

[Sheilbh]

Extraordinary stat I'd not noticed: the Tories have increased their vote share in every election since 1997 (the last three while in office)

But they walked off a cliff in 97, so not entirely surprising is it?

That bit isn't that surprising - but they've been in government since 2010 and won enough for a majority or minority government in the last three elections. But still kept increasing their vote share. That's the bit that's remarkable.

If they recovered from historic low (31%) in 1997, got back into office then had the usual stumbles that would be a normal cycle. It's the strengthening while in office that's very weird and didn't happen with, say, Thatcher or Blair despite their repeat wins.

[crazy canuck]

Labour rarely misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity. 

[HisMajestyBOB]

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jul/27/residents-to-get-new-decision-making-powers-in-cycling-revolution

Residents to get new decision-making powers in England cycling 'revolution'

Residents will get powers to banish through-traffic from local streets and councils will be prevented from building substandard cycle lanes under what Downing Street has billed as a revolution for cycling and walking in England.

The plans will see the creation of a watchdog to ensure new cycle and walking routes are up to standard, intended to act as a transport equivalent of the schools inspectorate, Ofsted.

Active Travel England, to be led by a yet-to-be-appointed commissioner for walking and cycling, will refuse to fund paint-only bike lanes – without physical barriers or protection from cars – or routes where cyclists and pedestrians have to share space. It could also cut budgets in other areas for highways departments which fail to deliver on active transport.

The plans, led by Boris Johnson, will be funded by a previously announced £2bn in new funding over five years, with a pledge of longer-term money. They include cycle training for every child or adult who seeks it, a pilot scheme for GPs to prescribe cycling to improve patients' health, and thousands of miles of protected bike lanes.

Local people will be given a chance to choose whether residential side streets should be closed to through motor traffic to make them safer for pedestrians and cyclists, under plans to be put out for consultation.

Another proposal could see some main roads, for example in cities, kept as through-routes for pedestrians, cyclists and buses, with other motor traffic allowed access only.

Also on the table are grants to help people with the cost of electric-assist bikes, which can encourage cycling, particularly on longer or more hilly commutes. However, these tend to be more expensive than traditional bikes, often costing well over £1,000. It has not yet been specified how much assistance might be offered.

Following Monday's announcement of a new strategy to combat obesity, the push for more active travel is a parallel strand of Downing Street efforts to improve public health, an issue highlighted by worse coronavirus outcomes faced by many people with chronic conditions connected to weight and inactive living, such as type 2 diabetes.

...

Mongers for King of England! 

[Tamas]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jul/29/uk-close-to-securing-post-brexit-continuity-trade-deal-with-japan

If all go this smoothly, in just a matter of years we will reach the state where we would have been if we never left! Great success, much wow.

[Zanza]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jul/29/uk-close-to-securing-post-brexit-continuity-trade-deal-with-japan

If all go this smoothly, in just a matter of years we will reach the state where we would have been if we never left! Great success, much wow.

From the article it sounds like the FTA does not cover agriculture, but it goes further on some data and digital services regulation. So basically, British farmers cannot easily sell in Japan, but it will be easier to sell your data to Japan. The reason why the EU FTAs are always limited on digital services is that the GDPR is the most stringent privacy regulation in the world. I guess that's a matter of preference though: more digital services or better data protection.

[Sheilbh]

Not really sure how it'll go further on data - the EU already has an adequacy decision on Japan that Japanese data protection is materially equivalent to EU data protection (it was the first mutual adequacy decision so Japan also recognised the EU as materially equivalent to Japan) and both sides made tinkers to their legal regimes to do that. So you can transfer very easily to Japan. My understanding is the Commission is relatively close to similar decisions on a few a LatAm states and South Korea. Other countries with adequacy are Israel, Canada (for commercial use), Uruguay, Argentina, the Channel Islands etc - it's a bit of a mixed bag.

The UK has enacted a "UK GDPR" into domestic law for post-Brexit purposes and the point would be the same in the EU or the UK - and I would point out that although they're not finalised so far the only regulators who have proposed very serious fines are the the UK and French regulators, at the minute I think there's a bit of a sense that GDPR's the dog that didn't bite. That might change once the Irish regulator finishes their investigations into Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon (because Ireland is the lead regulator for all of the big tech companies).

So the point would basically be the same - you could whether you're a European or UK company sell data to a Japanese company if you do it in a compliant way, in just the same way as, say, a German or a UK company selling data to a French company. In the future there are signs the UK will move to a more permissive regime on data transfers, but so far that only seems likely on data transfers.

From a practical perspective data selling isn't a big issue, it's relatively rare and mainly comes up with marketing lists. The bigger problem which the UK regulator was leading a very aggressive investigation into (until covid caused them to pause it) is whether there's a privacy-compliant way for the ad-tech industry to work. The findings of the UK regulator in their initial report are very strong and if followed through it seems difficult to see how ad-tech in the current form survives in the UK (and EU - other regulators were apparently very interested in the UK regulator's work on this).

I'm not sure about the link of GDPR to trade deals though. It may be why you can't include much digital services in trade deals but data typically isn't part of trade deals because the data protection/privacy stuff is about fundamental rights. So you make assessments or ways of transferring data based on that starting principle which means it's not really a process that fits into a trade negotiation because goods and services are not fundamental rights. I keep seeing it being mentioned by journalists who cover trade and how the UK and EU might not be able to do a deal on data and, as someone who mainly works in privacy it just seems weird, because I'm not aware of any trade deal with the EU where they talk about data. Data is - in the UK and EU legal frameworks - about fundamental rights. 

Edit: E.g. Looking up the EU FAQ on the Japanese adequacy decision and they explicitly say:

For the EU, privacy is not a commodity to be traded. Dialogues on data protection and trade negotiations with third countries have to follow separate tracks.

Not that it stops journos constantly writing about personal data in the context of trade deals (And the position doesn't change under the UK domestic data protection laws)

[mongers]

I would not be so sure.  cf. the mess around the new Alpes railway tunnel between Lyon and Turin.
Do you have anti-vaccine Greens as well?

We need Mongers' opinion on this one:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jul/27/residents-to-get-new-decision-making-powers-in-cycling-revolution

I'd don't really have anything to add, I mean I've done my share of city and urban cycling, but don't really understand the issues today.

[Gups]

Extraordinary stat I'd not noticed: the Tories have increased their vote share in every election since 1997 (the last three while in office)

But they walked off a cliff in 97, so not entirely surprising is it?

That bit isn't that surprising - but they've been in government since 2010 and won enough for a majority or minority government in the last three elections. But still kept increasing their vote share. That's the bit that's remarkable.

If they recovered from historic low (31%) in 1997, got back into office then had the usual stumbles that would be a normal cycle. It's the strengthening while in office that's very weird and didn't happen with, say, Thatcher or Blair despite their repeat wins.

Not really weird, attributable to the collapse of other parties's vote share.

Lib Dems imploded in 2015 (down 15%) but Tory vote share went up by less than 1%. Libs didn't recover much of this loss in subsequent elections

UKIP imploded in 2017 (down 12%) and the Tories benefitted by 5.5%.

Labour imploded in 2019 (down 8%), UKIP dead, Brexit party not standing against Tories. Tories up 1%

[Sheilbh]

God, this country:

Peerages for Evgeny Lebedev, Eddie Lister, Dame Louise Casey, ex-Brexit Party MEP Claire Fox, Boris's brother Jo, Ken Clarke, Philip Hammond, Nick Herbert, Mark Lancaster, Patrick McLoughlin, ex-Corbyn staffer Katy Clark, & many more

A knighthood for Theresa May's husband Philip

(Ken Clarke is fully deserved)

Edit: And yet another honours list without announcing Dame Grace Jones

[Tamas]

What a villain the Murdochs are to the British left.  Apparently Murdoch Jr. resigned from the board of their company. I haven't seen it even mentioned anywhere else, on the Guardian it is top news.

[Gups]

It's one of the leads in the Times and on the BBC. Haven't checked elsewhere.

[Sheilbh]

A Tory MP and former minister has been arrested and is under investigation for rape, sexual assault and coercive control. Currently they're not losing the whip (this will, presumably, change if charges are brought).

I imagine there's loads of reporting restrictions so there's not much information yet.

[Tamas]

A Tory MP and former minister has been arrested and is under investigation for rape, sexual assault and coercive control. Currently they're not losing the whip (this will, presumably, change if charges are brought).

I imagine there's loads of reporting restrictions so there's not much information yet.

So losing the whip is in fact actually revoking their party membership?

[Sheilbh]

So losing the whip is in fact actually revoking their party membership?

I think so. But I'm not sure if it's just that they are out of the parliamentary party or if they're kicked out of the party.

I get the argument that it's a bad message for the Tories to send out. On the other hand the police haven't named him and it feels like political parties should probably follow their lead. My understanding is that the police aren't meant to name people until they're charged. They don't always actually do this. But I think the experience (and compensation the police paid) during the various historic child sexual abuse arrests have probably made them particularly cautious now.