Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[celedhring]

The DUP currently has no fewer than...........drum roll................1100 members 

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/politics/inside-the-dup-domination-by-free-presbyterian-church-and-orange-order-laid-bare-30330698.html

And they manage to keep the UK government hostage with such a narrow power base?

Don't feign surprise, we wrote the book on that down here 

[celedhring]

FWIW our foreign minister has said we're close to a deal on Gibraltar, although that's not the biggest rock on the way to an overall deal.

[Richard Hakluyt]

The DUP exert influence because the Labour and Tory parties permit them to do so. One of the more dispiriting features of brexit is the way that loyalty to party is greater than loyalty to country. With three-quarters of MPs being remainers it should have been easy enough to negotiate a brexit-lite.

To return to the original question, I think that most English people avoid thinking about NI if at all possible and wish that Ireland would have it back.

[The Larch]

The DUP currently has no fewer than...........drum roll................1100 members 

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/politics/inside-the-dup-domination-by-free-presbyterian-church-and-orange-order-laid-bare-30330698.html

And they manage to keep the UK government hostage with such a narrow power base?

Don't feign surprise, we wrote the book on that down here 

I don't think CiU or PNV ever had such low membership. 

[The Larch]

The DUP exert influence because the Labour and Tory parties permit them to do so. One of the more dispiriting features of brexit is the way that loyalty to party is greater than loyalty to country. With three-quarters of MPs being remainers it should have been easy enough to negotiate a brexit-lite.

To return to the original question, I think that most English people avoid thinking about NI if at all possible and wish that Ireland would have it back.

Why is it exactly that no British parties run in NI elections? Maybe that helps to further the disconnection.

[Richard Hakluyt]

The dominant unionist party in NI used to be the Ulster unionist party; which took the conservative whip and was essentially the NI branch of the tory party. But they took an electoral beating after the GFA iirc.

With Labour my understanding is that the SDLP is their sister party in NI and used to take the Labour whip. The SDLP has been eclipsed by Sein Fein.

[The Brain]

Parliament is likely to block no deal.

What does this mean?

[frunk]

Parliament is likely to block no deal.

What does this mean?

The same thing they've been doing for the past 2 1/2 years, put their fingers in their ears and go "lalalalalalala".

[The Larch]

The dominant unionist party in NI used to be the Ulster unionist party; which took the conservative whip and was essentially the NI branch of the tory party. But they took an electoral beating after the GFA iirc.

With Labour my understanding is that the SDLP is their sister party in NI and used to take the Labour whip. The SDLP has been eclipsed by Sein Fein.

Ah, I see, I was not aware of those being twinned parties, I thought they were wholly separate. So, this is a peculiar post-GFA political landscape then.

[The Brain]

Parliament is likely to block no deal.

What does this mean?

The same thing they've been doing for the past 2 1/2 years, put their fingers in their ears and go "lalalalalalala".

The BBC? Or Parliament?

[celedhring]

How do you block something when there's nothing to block? Wouldn't put it past politics to rewrite the laws of logic, though.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Presumably they would attempt to form a new government, ask the EU for an extension or revoke article 50, and return to the negotiating table.

[Valmy]

Presumably they would attempt to form a new government, ask the EU for an extension or revoke article 50, and return to the negotiating table.

Yeah. I was about to say. Parliament is sovereign.

[The Larch]

Presumably they would attempt to form a new government, ask the EU for an extension or revoke article 50, and return to the negotiating table.

If that comes to happen I don't know if the prevailing feeling both in the UK and in the rest of the EU would be relief or despair. 

[Richard Hakluyt]

Yeah 

I think I said, a few hundred pages back, that is was all destined to get very boring as well as economically damaging.