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Jo Maugham QC
@JolyonMaugham
, 4 tweets, 1 min read Read on Twitter
The reason Theresa May will lose this evening is because Brexit has no mandate. Leave only 'won' by making contradictory promises to different groups. So there is no vision of Brexit that has more than minority support. And any crystallization of Brexit explodes its tensions.
Theresa May asserts - as authoritarians do - a monopoly entitlement to interpret what "the people" voted for. But hers is a grubby fiction that shames a mature democracy like ours. And it can't, and shouldn't, overcome the tensions that were baked into Brexit from the start.
There are many reasons why an MP might reasonably choose to vote for Theresa May's deal this evening but of this I am sure: his or her obligation as a democrat is not one of them.
Dominic Cummings grappled with these tensions in a blog written long before the referendum and seemed to conclude that the legitimate way to resolve them was with a second referendum on the eventual deal. I agree. dominiccummings.com/2015/06/23/on-…
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More from @JolyonMaugham see all

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Jo Maugham QC
@JolyonMaugham
Back in 2017, I issued a claim against Uber to establish that it had avoided, I believe, around £1 billion of VAT (you can read about it here ft.com/content/7ca2f8…). THREAD
There are many alarming things about the claim. One is that hundreds of millions of pounds of tax are becoming 'time barred' - impossible to collect from Uber - because HMRC won't raise assessments to protect the public purse (I wrote about that here waitingfortax.com/2017/10/27/som…). /1
Shortly after I made this point HMRC was asked in Public Accounts Committee why it wasn't taking steps to protect the public purse in case I was right (see from question 88 here data.parliament.uk/writtenevidenc…). /2
Read 7 tweets
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Jo Maugham QC
@JolyonMaugham
Theresa May is using the Welsh devolution referendum (the outcome of which was delivered despite the fact the result was very close) to illustrate why Parliament should vote for her deal. But is that a good analogy? THREAD
In 1997 Labour introduced the Referendums (Scotland & Wales) Bill for the advisory referendums which eventually led to the creation of the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly (publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199798/cm…). /1
The Tories hated the Bill. Here's then leader William Hague. He said: “referendums should be held, but that they should be held when the electorate are in the best possible position to judge. They should be held when people can view all the pros and cons.” /2
Read 9 tweets
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Jo Maugham QC
@JolyonMaugham
Could we, as John Major is once again urging, revoke and reconsider? THREAD.
The legal purist's answer is 'no'. The revocation of your Article 50 notice must be an expression of your concluded decision to remain in the EU. /1
But, of course, lawyers draw these bright lines and real life walks all over them. So let's test the point. /2
Read 14 tweets

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Anthony Painter
@anthonypainter
The most powerful person in the UK is now Jeremy Corbyn. If #brexit happens it will be on his terms; if we remain it will be because he has backed a referendum and, if remain is to win it is likely to have been led by him. Remarkable.
And the penny may soon drop- his pathway to power is not through competing with the Tories to own #leave but instead by turning #Remain into a socialist cause. #brexit
What's more, #remain will have to accommodate the fact that Corbyn is their best path to victory. And Corbyn is not going to dance to a centrist tune. (And thanks for all the gifs and emoticons- appreciated).
Read 3 tweets
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tony nog #FBPE
@tony_nog
1) So what is the Labour #Brexit GE platform?

As far as we can make out we'd be voting for more negotiations (which the EU will not agree to) to get a better deal (which likely doesn't exist)

The entire Labour platform is based on promising a Brexit they cannot deliver
2) "Vote Labour even though our #Brexit platform depends on 27 other governments all doing what they've all said they absolutely won't do"

That's not a manifesto, it's just wishful thinking
3) but even if Labour's GE promises on Brexit were real, why should any Remainer support a GE?

The Tories have led Brexit but at least they are starting to say it may not happen. Corbyn's leadership team won't even consider the idea that Brexit could be stopped
Read 8 tweets
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Femi
@Femi_Sorry
Brexit Irony No.521:
Brexit would make Metropolitan Elitism worse-

The Brexit vote was against our London-centric system. So if there's an economic hit because of a Brexit London voted against, Westminster would make sure the London Banking sector survived but everywhere else...
Many of the problems that pushed people to vote Brexit had nothing to do with the EU. One of those problems was the government choosing to protect the banks who caused the crash with bailouts while ordinary people just got austerity.
The rich took irresponsible risks with the country's future, but they were protected either by moving their money away or by the government and it was those with least who suffered the most.
Sound familiar? #Brexit
Read 5 tweets
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Lord Snoutintrough #FBPE
@Rowland72James
#brexit seems to be all about feeling over fact and this is especially true of the ReesMogg ERG faction of the Tory right.
I never bought the line that #brexit is about Democracy because most of the Tory right had zero enthusiasm for improving democracy in the UK few of them care about unelected house of lords the unfair FPTP electoral system or transparency on the contrary
Most of the Tory right are interested only in constitutional changes that suit them and if anything strive to be as little democratically accountable as possible.
Read 23 tweets
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Learn German, Interestingly
@LGcommaI
#brexit, #language, #mathematics, #pseudoscience, #rhetoric, #style

Brand-new and remarkable: #today, in a speech before #industry-representatives, chancellor Angela #Merkel used an old-fashioned, and,I think, INAPPROPRIATE,mathematical term to describe the #Brexit discussions..
.. in the #UK.

On 20180925, 9:50 CET, (cf. bdi.eu/der-bdi/termin…), chancellor Merkel said the following: "Wesentlich hängt es natürlich auch davon ab, was Großbritannien denn wirklich möchte. Auch da ist ja die Diskussion nicht so ganz eineindeutig [sic],
und, das muss ich..
.. allerdings sagen: Man kann nicht zum Binnenmarkt gehören, wenn man in EINEM Teil nur zum Binnenmarkt gehören will, aber in drei ANDEREN Teilen nicht zum Binnenmarkt gehört, und da müssen wir verschiedene, äh, vernünftige Wege [ rest drowned out by applause ]."
..
Read 17 tweets
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Sean Wali
@SeanWali
One of the most forgotten histories that the average Muslim today should know is the splitting of the Ummah during WWI and the carving of the Ottoman Empire. This history alone answers so many facts about the problems in the Middle East we see today
Let's refresh on WWI: Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary was assassinated by the Black Hand of Serbia. Austria-Hungary waged war on Serbia and from there, Germany joined in an effort to aid Austria-Hungary, which lead to Russia, France, Great Britain, etc to join the war
Let's refresh on what the Ottoman Empire was: Created around the 1300s, founded by Turks and primarily Muslim population, religiously tolerant for the most part, and in terms of empires in the day, successful. However, internal tensions did rise from within
Read 30 tweets

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