Stephen Barclay opens main debate by calling on Letwin to withdraw his amendment. (With a side of snide at the SNP.)
Carefully taking interventions from yes-people so they can all have a jolly good "hear hear" round together.
Kate Hoey says the people of NI are being let down by the lack of consent mechanism in the deal.
SB: There is one. [Not clear there is.]
SB: There is one. [Not clear there is.]
SB has all the energy and intellectual firepower of a bonsai tree. Hard to pull anything out of his answers that's report-worthy. Presumably that's why he's Brexit Secretary.
Nigel Dodds attacks SB for getting things wrong. "This is just not correct." Looks genuinely angry, not politically angry.
SB: Blah blah blah. (doesn't answer the point fully)
SB: Blah blah blah. (doesn't answer the point fully)
Didn't get a chance to type up this dreadful opener by SB. Went down like a bucket of cold sick, and rightly so...
SB now boasting that the Government has been able to remove the backstop. But just like BJ earlier, he hasn't acknowledged that's because the UK blinked and moved its red lines. It's easy to get change if you concede things!
(Only snag about this very important debate is that the news channels seem to be focused on it and aren't covering the #PeoplesVoteMarch )
Jonathan Edwards points out that BJ made commitments earlier in the morning both to maintain close regulatory alignment with the EU, and to set our own regulations. Can't both be true.
SB: word salad.
SB: word salad.
This debate is going nowhere, just like the previous ones. It seems SB is taking his cue from the Charlatan-in-Chief and making up whatever MPs want to hear regardless if it has any grounding in truth.
"Surely the point of this deal is that it creates a fairly hard Brexit that allows for trade deals with countries with lower regulatory standards than the EU." (missed which MP said it, but good point)
Dominic Grieve: "We have a duty to look at the detail." Defends Letwin amendment because it gives time to do so.
SB attacking DG for various past hasty amendments he backed, basically calling him a hypocrite. But of course DG did so precisely because the Government has constantly sought to zoom Parliament into decisions without allowing scrutiny or a proper say.
Bernard Jenkin: "This deal has hardly lacked debate, given the number of times it's been scrutinised in this house." [proof he's a time traveller? this is the first opportunity Parliament has had to debate *this* deal]
Caroline Flint claims that Letwin's amendment is a panic measure. She's gone full in on the deal.
SB claiming the hasty schedule is being imposed on the Government by the Benn Act.
No acknowledgement of how late Boris Johnson reached a deal, and released the details.
No acknowledgement of how late Boris Johnson reached a deal, and released the details.
SB now claiming the economic assessment couldn't be modelled with so many unknowns in such a short time.
If anything he's making a strong case *for* such an assessment, if only he'd see it.
If anything he's making a strong case *for* such an assessment, if only he'd see it.
Sorry, life intrudes. No more updates for a bit. Ping me if anything dramatic happens pls.
