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Alex Wickham
@alexwickham
, 6 tweets, 3 min read Read on Twitter
NEW: Theresa May believes she is close to striking a Brexit deal with Jeremy Corbyn based on a 'comprehensive customs arrangement' that meets the WTO definition of a customs union

Ministers presented Labour with the customs arrangement plan this week

buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/ma…
May to make Corbyn a "generous" offer of dynamic alignment on workers' rights, meaning the UK follows Brussels rules at a minimum after Brexit.

The package is tantamount to accepting Labour's demands in full, says source familiar with the talks buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/ma…
But No10 is concerned about timing. They want a meaningful vote passed by May 22 so UK MEPs never have to take their seats. But they fear Corbyn is worried agreeing a deal before the Euros will see Labour "punished" and give Remainers ammunition afterwards buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/ma…
Obviously an element of No10 trying to bounce Corbyn into a deal here. It still faces massive opposition from MPs and would split both parties. But May appears to have a strategy of forcing your opponent to do a deal by capitulating to all their demands... buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/ma…
No10 fears Labour favours a deal that can be either ratified in full before the Euros so the elections do not have to be held (good luck), or agreed after the Euros so Labour don't suffer losses in those elections as a result buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/ma…
Government also clear that an agreement with Labour means May's three times rejected deal is officially dead. No indicative votes, no pitting the Labour deal against the original deal buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/ma…
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Alex Wickham
@alexwickham
EXCLUSIVE: Footage from a private meeting at the Ritz shows Nigel Farage soliciting Brexit Party donations from a millionaire Putin cheerleader and an influencer who has made a string of anti-Muslim comments

buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/fa…
At the Ritz last month Nigel Farage sought Brexit Party donations from a millionaire Scientologist Kremlin apologist who says he 'loves' Putin buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/fa…
The Farage Ritz event was hosted by right-wing influencer Amanda Eliasch, who has endorsed Enoch Powell's Rivers of Blood speech, said Muslims should integrate or "get out" of the UK, and claimed "ethnic diversity is a huge problem"
buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/fa…
Read 7 tweets
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Alex Wickham
@alexwickham
EXCLUSIVE: Theresa May is to reject the British Muslims APPG definition of Islamophobia on free speech grounds

buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/th…
In the Commons tomorrow ministers will oppose the definition which states “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness" buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/th…
The definition has been formally adopted by Labour, the LibDems and the Scottish Conservatives.

But the government will reject it on free speech grounds and because Islam is a religion not a race
buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/th…
Read 4 tweets
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Alex Wickham
@alexwickham
EXC: Who is behind the controversial facial recognition software used by the government to register EU citizens post-Brexit, which has been condemned by Remainers and privacy campaigners?

Two five-figure donors to Change UK. You couldn’t make it up...

buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/ch…
Privacy International says the Home Office app equates to “border guards knocking on every door in the U.K. and forcing EU nationals to show documentation“ and that "such use of biometrics across our lives is incredibly dangerous”
buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/ch…
Remain campaigner David Lammy warned it put the government “on track for another Home Office scandal on the scale of Windrush” buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/ch…
Read 6 tweets

Related threads

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Sam Coates Times
@SamCoatesTimes
NEW: Theresa May letter to Jeremy Corbyn

- Luke warm defence leaving customs union cd discomfort brexiteers 🧨
- TM admits frictionless trade will be “negotiating challenge” 😱
- Leaves door open to working with Corbyn: but how will more brexit inclined Tories feel about this?🤬
🛂🛃🛂

Here’s Theresa May’s key paragraph in response to Jeremy Corbyn’s demand for a customs union
- notice how she emphasises the similarity rather than difference in positions
- note the tortured language about recognising “the development of U.K. independent trade policy”
⚔️🔫💣

This is the paragraph in Theresa May’s letter to Corbyn about security
- note how explicit she is on what she’s NOT achieved on security yet because U.K. will be a “third country”
Read 4 tweets
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Lord Snoutintrough #FBPE
@Rowland72James
So what are the latest symptoms of the brexophrenia that afflicts our country #Brexit
Maybots deal is dead there is no prospect of another deal but maybot is terrified of both no deal and no #Brexit so she goes to EU and is perplexed to discover they say what they mean and mean what they say
She cops the biggest defeat in the history of parliament but the Ln survives a confidence vote and the funniest bit is that having survived an internal tory confidence motion the tories can't remove her
Read 25 tweets
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Pete North
@PeteNorth303
1. For me it's really not worth getting worked up about the customs union in May's deal. My main objection to it is that it's overkill for the very little it actually solves. That, though, is no reason to reject the deal. #Brexit thread
2. Supposing we are part of a customs union, yes the EU can negotiate preferential access to UK markets in terms of tariffs. Technically the other country doesn't have to reciprocate, but in most cases they will - because there is more to trade than tariffs.
3. In international relations, reciprocality is the norm, and where we don't find it, they can, to coin a phrase, go to the "back of the queue". Being free of the single market means we can grant certain regulatory preferences if we so wish.
Read 22 tweets
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Lord Snoutintrough #FBPE
@Rowland72James
After 2.5 years of wanting to stop #brexit I have in theast half hour converted to the leftwing case for #Brexit as the best way to achieve a socialist future and set out my reasons in this thread #leavernow #lexiternow
It is clear to me that the EU is a corporate playground and neoliberal cabal one only needs 2 compare US and EU standards of animal welfare & food safety 2 see how true this is chlorinated chicken is the food of the Lexitariat #leavernow #lexiternow #Brexit #JC4PM2019
I believe that the evil EU has stopped the fraternalist tory party from implementing the Scandinavian social model as practised in Sweden Finland and Denmark and believe that they will pursue the doctrine of socialism in one percentile #Brexit #lexit #JC4PM2019
Read 22 tweets
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Peter Foster
@pmdfoster
SO. #Brexit boils down to how - or if - the UK can ever leave the dreaded Irish backstop.

There is talk of a "review mechanism". So what might that be? How might it work?

Some thoughts after chats with both sides + experts 1/Thread

telegraph.co.uk/politics/2018/…
Let's start from the point of agreement.

Both sides say backstop is
a) necessary
b) temporary
c) should be superseded by future relationship

So there does need to be what one EU source calls an "unwinding" mechanism. /2
The problem (before we get to the detail of that mechanism) is that no-one can see what version of the Future Relationship can deliver on UK commitment to no return to a hard border in Ireland.

May's dual tariff or 'MaxFac' unicorns are dead. /3
Read 17 tweets
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Pete North
@PeteNorth303
1. I notice the abysmal @BrexitCentral has done another attack piece on the EEA calling it worse than Chequers. One also notices that the backers of BrexitCentral have yet to produce a deliverable plan of their own. #Brexit thread...
2. They have now pivoted away from calling for a WTO option deal because they get their backsides handed to them on plate by anyone with even a cursory understanding of the issues. They now call for Canada+++
3. That implies a base FTA but we are not permitted to know what they mean by +++ which will no doubt means unicorns and cake to the IEA set while it means measures on security and defence cooperation to the Commission.
Read 14 tweets

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