A short thread on why the comments about MEPs being yes-men (as they overwhelmingly voted for the TCA) are miles off the mark. Or kilometres (thread)
Approval of the TCA puts MPs and MEPs in a tough spot. Brexit means there’ll be barriers to trade. A no-deal Brexit implies more barriers. More jobs lost. More economic harm. What are the choices for the Parliamentarians?
Realistically on the large vote: kill the TCA or let it live. Be responsible for more economic harm or just the one we have now. That’s not really ... optimal? So why the delay in the first place?
The best the MPs and MEPs could hope for is negotiating more power in how the system will operate in the future. MPs did not do this because it’s not how the UK system is set up. MEPs did - it’s the Commission statement in my last thread. Suboptimal, but something.
So yes. No hard bite. But the hard bite by the MEPs would have mean biting your own leg as well. And for what?
(Note that those calling the MEPs useless by implications do the same for MPs. My defence goes for both - a realistic view of choosing between the devil and the deep blue sea. They chose the deep blue sea. Hoping for tropical islands, no doubt)
Oh man, don’t type threads on an old IPad keyboard. My high typo average is now record-breaking.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
