Sunday Show Round Up: Labour’s Brexit Plan Under The Spotlight
Despite Theresa May’s on-again, off-again, on-again relationship with getting a Brexit deal this past week, it was Labour’s Europe policy placed under the spotlight on this Sunday’s political shows.
Just as the Cabinet will soon have to actually decide what Brexit means, Jeremy Corbyn’s somewhat ambiguous approach is getting harder to maintain.
On the BBC’s Anderw Marr programme this morning, Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott was pressed on whether the party was moving towards backing a second referendum – as she herself had recently told her constituents she did. “The Labour Party does not support a second referendum and we’ve never supported it and we don’t support it now,” she said.
Shadow Home Secretary @HackneyAbbott tells @MarrShow that she does not want second #Brexit referendum for electorate #Marrhttps://t.co/oAObivTdil pic.twitter.com/1XiuGoOEHC — BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) December 17, 2017
However shortly afterwards, Deputy Leader Tom Watson said Labour could not rule it out even it was not “likely”. He told BBC Radio 5′s Pienaar’s Politics: “When you are in complex negotiations on behalf the nation you shouldn’t rule anything out”.
Meanwhile, over on Sky News’ Sunday with Paterson, Shadow International Trade Secretary Barry Gardiner, refused to give a yes or no answer to whether the party could eventually end up supporting another vote. “The Labour Party has not said we will have second referendum. We will honor the referendum result,” he said.
And in a further sign of the softening of Labour’s Brexit position, Richard Burgon, the shadow justice secretary, told the BBC’s Sunday Politics that the party could see a role for the European Court of Justice after the Brexit transition period. “We’re open minded about that, because any trade deal, any deal needs a court or some other institution to oversee and protect that deal. That just seems to be common sense,” he said.
.@RichardBurgon says Labour are “open minded” about an ongoing role for the ECJ to oversee a trade deal, after the transition period #bbcsp pic.twitter.com/KStuO5YcUX — BBC Daily Politics and Sunday Politics (@daily_politics) December 17, 2017
Of course just because Labour’s position is being scrutnised, does not mean all is well on the Tory benches. Speaking to the Sunday Politics, ultra-Remainer Ken Clarke branded suggestions that Tory MP rebels who had backed a “meaningful vote” on the final Brexit deal should be deselected as “idiotic”.
He was speaking minutes after his fellow Tory backbencher, Nadine Dorries, had suggested that very thing. She told the programme the rebels had broken their manifesto pledge to support Brexit. “To go back on those promises that they were elected to honour is something for their associations to discuss and something for them to consider,” she said.
“It is totally absurd to say that this is helping Jeremy Corbyn and weakening Theresa May” – Ken Clarke on Wednesday’s Brexit vote #bbcsp pic.twitter.com/Qa9iSoOx6W
December 17, 2017
Clarke dismissed out of hand Dorries suggestion his vote had helped Labour. “It is totally absurd to say this is helping Jeremy Corbyn, it’s weakening Theresa May and all the rest of it. Here we are, three days after the vote took place, Theresa May is no weaker than she was after that. Jeremy Corbyn is not marching towards Downing Street,” he said.
“We want to halve it by 2022 and eliminate it by 2027” – @AndrewMarr9 questions @DavidGauke on the increase of rough sleeping in England #marr pic.twitter.com/IuPQ2tVm6M — The Andrew Marr Show (@MarrShow) December 17, 2017
It was not all about Brexit this morning however. Work and Pensions Secretary David Gauke joined Marr and conceded there were “cases where we got it wrong” on benefit payments.
He was challenged about the impact of benefit sanctions, which have been blamed for forcing some of the poorest in society into debt and leaving them at risk of homelessness. “We have a welfare system that is based on conditionality, and rightly so. We pay money to people but there are certain conditions that are in place,” he said. “That’s not to say that there aren’t hard cases, cases where we get it wrong, we want to work very hard to eliminate that.”
Back on Pienaar’s Politics, Labour MP Mike Amesbury was asked whether he could be friends with a Tory. “No. Not as a friend. Not as a drinking buddy or anything like that,” he said. “But of course pragmatically you work with people across parties.”
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/sunday-show-round-up-labours-brexit-plan-under-the-spotlight_uk_5a366fbbe4b040881beb575d
Omarosa Disrupts a White House Tree-Trimming Party in SNL’s Cold Open: WATCH
The Trumps trimmed the White House Christmas tree in SNL’s cold open, looking back at the year by inviting all the people who work for Trump to deliver an ornament.
But because I can’t help myself, we’re going to also remember all the haters and losers I destroyed this year, and we’re going to hang ornaments with their faces on them on what we’re calling ‘the tree of shame,’ according to Alec Baldwin’s Trump.
The parade of Trump’s administration begins with Kellyanne Conway delivering a James Comey ornament, Sarah Huckabee Sanders carrying Sean Spicer and Anthony Scaramucci ornaments, and Mike Pence.
Asked Trump: “Are you here to deck the halls, Mike?”
Replied Pence: “Oh I don’t like that song because it mentions gay apparel. Which I’m pretty sure is a mesh tank top.”
Pence brought a Mike Flynn ornament, “because he lied to us, Mr. President. And he acted alone.”
The festivities are interrupted when Leslie Jones’ Omarosa tries to enter the White House through a window, and soon after she is taken away by Secret Service, the president’s next ornament arrives: Scarlett Johansson’s Ivanka Trump.
Finally, after Eric and Donald Jr. arrive, the tree is finished with Roy Moore, Reince Priebus, Tom Price, Sebastian Gorka, Carter Page, Preet Bharara, Sally Yates, Paul Manafort, and George Papadopoulos.
Kate McKinnon returns for double duty as “Elf on the Shelf” Jeff Sessions, bearing a star for the top of the tree with the face of Robert Mueller, “because he’s next. We gotta cut off the head to kill the snake and I should know because I’m a mischievous little mongoose.”
Watch:
The post Omarosa Disrupts a White House Tree-Trimming Party in SNL’s Cold Open: WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.
Omarosa Disrupts a White House Tree-Trimming Party in SNL’s Cold Open: WATCH
Tief Andreas sorgt zum Wochenstart vielerorts für Verkehrchaos
- Der Deutsche Wetterdienst warnt vor einem möglichen Verkehrschaos
- Es soll bis zu 10 Zentimeter Neuschnee geben
- Im Video oben seht ihr die ganze Wettervorhersage
Über Nacht breitet sich ein Niederschlagsgebiet über Deutschland aus. Tief Andreas wird in der Nacht zu Montag viel Regen mitbringen – im Rhein-Main-Gebiet sogar Schnee.
In einigen Regionen werden sogar noch bis zu 10 Zentimeter Neuschnee erwartet. Das kann vor allem für Pendler Folgen haben, die am Montagmorgen in die Arbeit fahren müssen.
Der Deutsche Wetterdienst warnt bereist vor einem Verkehrschaos. Besonders betroffen sind die Straßen in Ballungsräumen.
Folgende Städte sind laut DWD besonders gefährdet: Schwerin, Magdeburg, Gera, Nürnberg und Ulm.
Auch in Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz und im Norden Baden-Württembergs könnte es Verkehrschaos geben. Von der Nordsee bis zum Niederrhein geht der Niederschlag in Regen über.
Gibt es dieses Jahr Weiße Weihnachten?
Der kommende Schneefall bedeutet nicht, dass es zwingend Weiße Weihnachten geben wird. Aus Richtung Westen wird nämlich ebenfalls Tauwetter erwartet. Laut dem “Weather Channel” zeichnet es sich zwar ab, dass die Feiertage kalt werden – aber Winterfans kommen deshalb nicht automatisch auf ihre Kosten.
Wahrscheinlicher ist, dass Weihnachten dieses Jahr grau und trüb wird.
➨ Mehr zum Thema: Mit diesem simplen Trick enteist ihr eure Windschutzscheibe innerhalb weniger Sekunden
www.huffingtonpost.de/entry/wetter-schnee-winter_de_5a366043e4b0ff955ad3a7d1
Ken Clarke Blasts ‘Idiotic’ Calls For Tory Brexit Rebels To Be Deselected
.@NadineDorries says the “real heroes” are the Conservative MPs, who campaigned for Remain but stood on a manifesto to deliver Brexit. “Some of the rebels could perhaps learn a lesson from their Remain colleagues, who know the right thing to do is to deliver Brexit.” #bbcsppic.twitter.com/Y7ibPNmiF9
— BBC Daily Politics and Sunday Politics (@daily_politics) December 17, 2017
The furious Conservative infighting over Brexit continued on Sunday as one backbencher repeated her calls for Tory MPs who voted against the government last week to be deselected.
Nadine Dorries said her colleagues who voted to give parliament a “meaningful vote” on the eventual Brexit deal had “put a spring in the step of Labour MPs” and had broken their promise to voters.
“They stood on a manifesto in 2015 to deliver that referendum then they stood again on manifesto in 2017 to implement Brexit,” she told the BBC’s Sunday Politics programme.
“To go back on those promises that they were elected to honour is something for their associations to discuss and something for them to consider.”
Appearing on the same programme, veteran pro-EU Conservative MP Ken Clarke said it was “totally absurd” to say his vote had helped Jeremy Corbyn.
“What has been voted for is parliamentary accountability of the government. It’s nothing to do with blocking Brexit. It’s utterly idiotic if a few of our association members in various parts of the country start of some sort of purge of backbench members,” he said.
“Eurosceptics have been voting against the government for the last 30 years and no one on my side of the argument has ever gone around saying they should be expelled from the party and sent to outer darkness.”
The spat came after Theresa May condemned threats of violence against politicians after a series of incidents in which MPs received death threats and abuse.
The prime minister said there was “no place in our politics” for intimidation and called for “tolerance, decency and respect”.
Her comments came after Tory Brexit rebels were subjected to vicious abuse, with backbencher Anna Soubry revealing she had received messages suggesting she should be “hung in public”.
They follow the publication of a report by the Committee on Standards in Public Life which said social media was “the most significant factor” driving harassment, abuse and intimidation of 2017 General Election candidates.
May looks set to avoid a humiliating second Commons defeat next week after a compromise deal was reached within Tory ranks over plans to write the Brexit date in law.
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/ken-clarke-blasts-idiotic-calls-for-tory-brexit-rebels-to-be-deselected_uk_5a3662f0e4b01d429cc988dc
Presbitero Wanderson
Arrasa Bi posted a photo:
campanha de combate a homofobia e a transfobia EU=VOCÊ
“Dachau ist nicht weit von hier” – was ich als deutsch-jüdischer Künstler seit meiner Kindheit erlebe
Eine leise Bedrohung war immer da. Nicht ohne Grund wurde die jüdische Grundschule, die ich besucht habe, von Polizisten mit Maschinengewehren bewacht.
Groß hinterfragt habe ich das nie. Ich kannte es nicht anders. Auch nicht, dass an großen Feiertagen ganze Straßen gesperrt wurden, damit die Leute ohne Angst zu haben in die Synagoge gehen können.
Die Shoah war in meiner Kindheit immer ein Thema. Meine Großeltern, wie auch die einiger meiner Schulfreunde, wurden im Zweiten Weltkrieg verfolgt.
Einmal war ich bei einem Freund zum Schabbatfest eingeladen, bei dem auch seine Großeltern anwesend waren. Beim Anblick der eintätowierten Nummern auf ihren Unterarmen, ist es mir jedes Mal kalt den Rücken runtergelaufen.
➨ Mehr zum Thema: Wie sich der Antisemitismus immer tiefer in die deutsche Gesellschaft frisst
Nicht nur deshalb bekomme ich Bauchschmerzen, wenn ich mir die Schlagzeilen der letzten Tage anschaue.
Es darf einfach nicht wahr sein, dass auf deutschen Straßen wieder offen gegen Juden gehetzt wird und israelische Flaggen brennen.
Nicht, dass der Antisemitismus jemals aus Deutschland verschwunden wäre, aber es war auf jeden Fall lange Zeit ruhiger, als es das zurzeit ist.
Weil es in München kein jüdisches Gymnasium gibt, bin ich auf ein öffentliches Gymnasium gegangen. Ich muss so in der fünften oder sechsten Klasse gewesen sein, als ein Mitschüler im Streit zu mir sagte: “Ey, Dachau ist nicht weit von hier.” Ich glaube, er wusste nicht, was er da sagt. Ich habe bei soetwas immer versucht wegzuhören.
Er riet mir, meinen Davidstern abzulegen
Aber es gab Situationen, in denen das nicht möglich war.
Als Jugendlicher habe ich einige Zeit in Asien gelebt. Mein Vater, der meine Musikkarriere auch als Manager begleitet hat, war immer an meiner Seite. Unter anderem verbrachten wir eine tolle Zeit in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.
Bei der Abreise aus Malaysia bat mich der Sicherheitsmann am Flughafen ein Autogramm für seine Tochter zu unterschreiben. Wir unterhielten uns entspannt und machten ein paar Scherze. Als der Mann den Pass meines Vaters kontrollierte, schlug die Stimmung schlagartig um.
Er hielt ihn, als sei es ein Stück Dreck und warf ihn meinem Vater ins Gesicht. Mein Vater besaß damals nur einen israelischen Pass.
Daraufhin hat mein Vater seinen Pass geändert. “Es hat keinen Sinn, wir werden noch öfter verreisen”, sagte er.
Seinen Pass kann man ablegen, aber seine Identität nicht. Das würde ich auch gar nicht wollen.
Vor ein paar Jahren habe ich ein Konzert in Sydney gegeben. Der Veranstalter, ein sehr netter Mann, mit dem ich gut auskam, sagte zu mir: “Vielleicht ist es besser, wenn du deinen Davidstern ablegst, bevor du auf die Bühne gehst.” Er meinte, dass ein paar Männer im Publikum sich dadurch provoziert fühlen könnten.
Ich tat es nicht. Und es ist zum Glück nichts passiert.
Einschüchtern lassen habe ich mich nie. Ich habe nie ein Geheimnis daraus gemacht, dass ich Jude bin. In den Neunzigern war ich als Popsänger öfter in der Jugendzeitschrift “Bravo” zu sehen. Unter anderem habe ich mich selbst in einer Foto-Lovestory gespielt, in der ich meinen Schwarm zum Hannukah-Fest bei meiner Familie eingeladen habe.
So sollte Zusammenleben in Deutschland funktionieren.
Und ich glaube fest daran, dass das, was wir gerade erleben, auch wieder vorbei geht. Wir leben schließlich in 2017 und nicht 1923. Aber damit sich etwas ändert, müssen wir etwas tun. Es reicht nicht, darüber zu reden, aber es ist ein Anfang.
➨ Mehr zum Thema: “Let’s Dance”-Finale 2017: Deshalb hat Gil Ofarim verdient gewonnen
Ich wünsche mir Frieden im Nahen Osten
Die Bilder, die man zurzeit aus dem Nahen Osten sieht, machen mich traurig. Israel ist für mich genauso Heimat wie Deutschland. Ich liebe beide Länder und ihre Leute. Deshalb würde ich mir so sehr wünschen, dass es da unten irgendwann Frieden gibt.
Ich kann es kaum erwarten, bis ich meine Tochter das erste Mal dorthin mitnehmen kann. Mit meinem kleinen Sohn war ich schon einmal da. Wir waren am Toten Meer, in Tel Aviv, Haifa und in Jerusalem. Unter anderem habe ich ihm die Klagemauer gezeigt. Das war für mich ein bedeutender Moment.
www.huffingtonpost.de/entry/gil-ofarim-antisemitismus_de_5a353dafe4b0ff955ad3579d
Theresa May Set To Avoid Second Commons Defeat after Brexit Debate Compromise
Theresa May looks set to avoid a humiliating second Commons defeat after a compromise deal was reached within Tory ranks over plans to write the Brexit date in law.
Behind-the-scenes efforts to prevent a revolt appear to have resulted in a situation which will see March 29, 2019 written into the Government’s Brexit legislation as the Prime Minister promised, but with flexibility allowing the date to be changed if negotiations with Brussels look set to stretch beyond that date.
Rebels who helped inflict May’s first Commons defeat on Wednesday lined up behind the compromise, which has been put forward by prominent backbenchers on both sides of the EU referendum divide.
The Government is understood to be “looking closely” at the amendment tabled by MPs including Remain supporter Sir Oliver Letwin and Brexiteer Bernard Jenkin – which would give ministers flexibility to change the departure day if Parliament agrees.
The Government has not formally supported the move but it would appear certain to back the measure if it presented a way for May to avoid another Commons reverse.
New amendment to EU Withdrawal Bill demonstrates how all @Conservatives MPs can work together to deliver best EU exit for the UK & our constituents & I will support it. Amendment reflects Art 50 notice provisions & emphasises that Parliament will be fully involved in Brexit.
— Nicky Morgan MP (@NickyMorgan01) December 15, 2017
But a senior Leave-supporting Tory said the rebels had now accepted that Government ministers are in control of setting the Brexit date.
“It is very reasonable for the Bill to mirror Article 50 more closely, but they have had to give up scrapping the date altogether and to accept that the Government remains in control of the date,” the MP said.
In an apparent indication of the efforts to find a compromise, Tory Chief Whip Julian Smith sent a cryptic tweet of an image of a telephone with a reference to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding and the message “great news and great example – agreeing the date shouldn’t be hard”.
The progress in the domestic Brexit battle came hours after May received a boost in Brussels, with the 27 other EU countries formally agreeing to allow negotiations to proceed to their second phase.
The Prime Minister made clear she wanted talks on post-Brexit trade relations with the EU to begin “straight away”, as the UK continues with its goal of negotiating a deal which can be signed immediately after the official date of departure..
Her target was described as “realistic” but “dramatically difficult” to achieve by the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk.
May was boosted by the terms of a statement agreed by the EU27 at the European Council summit in Brussels, which left the door open for “exploratory contacts” early in the New Year to allow Brussels to gain greater “clarity” on the UK’s ambitions.
But the formal process is likely to run to a slower timetable, with official EU guidelines for trade talks not due to be approved until March 2018, when European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said the “real negotiations” would begin.
The EU27 confirmed Brussels’ position that a final trade deal cannot be signed until the UK has formally left.
The four-page document also sets out the process for agreeing the terms of a transition period expected to last two years after the date of Brexit.
It makes clear that the EU expects the UK to observe all of its rules – including on freedom of movement – and accept the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice during this time.
It also set up a potential clash with London over May’s hopes of negotiating early trade agreements with countries outside the EU, stating firmly that the UK will stay in the single market and customs union during transition and will “continue to comply with EU trade policy”, which bars deals by individual states.
Speaking in her Maidenhead constituency, May told the Press Association that the move to the second phase of talks represented “an important step on the road to delivering the smooth and orderly Brexit that people voted for in June of last year”.
She said Britain would be “beginning the talks about our future relationship straight away”, adding: “There is still more to do but we are well on the road to delivering a Brexit that will make Britain strong, prosperous and secure.”
With Cabinet ministers due to discuss their preferred “end state” relationship with Europe for the first time on Tuesday, pressure from Brussels is mounting on May to deliver a detailed statement on her aims which the EU will regard as an adequate basis to enter swiftly into substantive talks.
In a sign the EU’s position on the transition period is unacceptable to Tory Eurosceptics, prominent Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg said the UK would be left as a “vassal state” of Brussels under the terms.
“We cannot be a colony of the European Union for two years from 2019 to 2021, accepting new laws that are made without any say-so of the British people, Parliament or Government,” he told BBC’s Newsnight.
“That is not leaving the European Union, that is being a vassal state of the European Union and I would be very surprised if that were government policy.”
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/theresa-may-brexit-compromise_uk_5a364603e4b040881beb3b13
