MPs are now debating the European Union (Future Relationship) Bill.
You can see what's happening as if you were in the House of Commons using the new annunciator website: now.parliament.uk
(We appreciate this is possibly for political geeks only)
SNP amendment defeated ayes 60 noes 362
The House of Commons has approved the programme motion for the EU (Future Relationship) bill - the debate will conclude at 2:30pm
EU (Future Relationship) Bill debate: So far the main topics of conversation have been rejected points of order on Scottish Independence, and now quite a lot of high-emotion debate on...fishing...again.
Just a reminder that if you would like clearer analysis than what is currently happening in the House of Commons, our report on this deal can be found here: bestforbritain.org/2020tradereport
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1: 2020, a thread. Like everyone, B4B faced countless curve-balls in 2020. Here are some things we learned, that helped us increase our influence in the toughest year we have lived through /
2: Act quickly: As Covid fears grew, we had a contingency plan ready by March 2, long before lockdown was a threat. By March 12, work from home was a thing, and on March 15 we closed the office completely /
3: Put the team first: In a crisis, you need the team more than ever. We got our staff from overseas back home early, trialled work-from-home early, put health (inc mental health) and working policies in place early, so everyone was clear what was happening /
Our major new analysis of the EU-UK trade deal highlights ten areas that must be addressed urgently to deal with non-tariff trade barriers looming come January 1st. bestforbritain.org/2020tradereport
Although the Johnson deal is better than a WTO arrangement, it will still result in ‘considerably higher barriers’ to trade.
@DavidHenigUK identifies areas of concern ranging from regulatory challenges and data issues to membership of the Erasmus scheme and climate change.
An extension to the current transition arrangements can be achieved by agreement w/ EU or as part of a phased deal implementation. Whatever the mechanism (& whether it's called extension, an implementation period or a deferment) we need extra time. Here's how that could work👇1/8
Firstly, the govt gave up our automatic right to an extension in June - & offering this is beyond Barnier’s remit - so it’d need to be signed off by the EU27 & wld need a legal opinion from European Court of Justice. 2/8
Secondly, the EU uses a legal basis for every treaty it strikes. For the current withdrawal agreement & transition period (which started when we left on 31 Jan 2020), the EU used Article 50. 3/8
Polling from Best for Britain shows extension has more than 2-to-1 backing. With Covid and Brexit double whammy getting worse, voters 'know UK is out of time'.
Only 18 per cent of voters back a no-deal outcome. Among Labour and Lib Dem supporters, that figure is a mere 4 per cent. Even among Leave voters, more want an agreement than favour no deal.
In May we produced a comprehensive report analysing the joint impact of a no-deal Brexit and covid-19. This is what we found 👇
The industries at particular risk of this double whammy are the manufacturing, banking, finance and insurance sectors
That’s 6.9million jobs in sectors such as manufacturing, banking & finance, distribution, hotels & restaurants and other services that could be affected