Brexit

Government responded:

As Parliament agreed, we will not publish anything that would undermine our ability to negotiate the best deal for Britain.

The Department for Exiting the European Union, working with officials across Government, is undertaking a wide range of analysis covering the entirety of the UK economy in order to support negotiations. We are looking at over 50 sectors as well as areas of cross-cutting regulations.

Stakeholder engagement is a central element of our plan to build a national consensus around our negotiating position. DExEU Ministers are working closely with colleagues across Government to ensure that we are speaking to a wide range of sectors.

The Government is committed to negotiating a deep and special partnership with the European Union and is conducting a wide-ranging programme of analysis. It would not be appropriate, however, to publish details that could undermine the UK's negotiating position with the EU, and Parliament has voted not to publish such details.

Parliament will have a say on the final deal we achieve with the European Union as we will put that deal to a vote in both Houses before it comes into force. We will, of course, continue to support Parliament in its scrutiny role throughout the negotiating stage. It is not standard practice to provide an ongoing commentary on internal analytical work that is being carried out within government. On 7 December 2016 the House of Commons voted in favour of an amended Opposition motion which stated that there should be no disclosure of material that could reasonably be judged to damage the UK in any negotiations to withdraw from the European Union after Article 50 has been triggered.

Department for Exiting the European Union

Hexx wrote:In totally unsurprising news

there should be no disclosure of material that could reasonably be judged to damage the UK in any negotiations to withdraw from the European Union after Article 50 has been triggered.

Return_of_the_STAR wrote:https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/oct/23/brexit-transition-period-final-eu-trade-deal-theresa-may

Theresa May has signalled there will be no transitional period to prevent a “cliff-edge” Brexit unless the UK manages to agree a deal with the EU on their future relationship.

The prime minister has been under pressure to help businesses plan for the future by agreeing a time-limited transitional period by Christmas, but she told MPs that this “implementation phase” could only be agreed when a trade deal had been struck.

“The point of the implementation period is to put in place the practical changes necessary to move to the future partnership, and in order to have that you need to know what that future partnership is going to be,” she said.

No chance of a trade deal being agreed in this time.

Camp Freddie wrote:EDIT: apologies for the quote fuckup. I assume it's a new/resitricted/junior member issue.

Garth wrote:

Camp Freddie wrote:EDIT: apologies for the quote fuckup. I assume it's a new/resitricted/junior member issue.

Fixed the post for ya

Moggy wrote:

Hexx wrote:In totally unsurprising news

there should be no disclosure of material that could reasonably be judged to damage the UK in any negotiations to withdraw from the European Union after Article 50 has been triggered.

There’s no need to release anything as that pretty much confirms just how bad things are going to be.

A Eurosceptic Tory MP has been accused of compiling a "hit list" of university professors who teach Brexit courses.

Chris Heaton-Harris has written to universities asking for names of such professors and the content of their lectures.

A lecturers' union said the letter had the "acrid whiff of McCarthyism" - and Tory peer Lord Patten called it "idiotic and offensive".

Mr Heaton-Harris said he believed in "open" debate on Brexit.

The MP for Daventry tweeted: "To be absolutely clear, I believe in free speech in our universities and in having an open and vigorous debate on Brexit."

The Guardian revealed he wrote to university vice-chancellors at the start of this month asking for the names of professors "involved in the teaching of European affairs, with particular reference to Brexit".

The MP's letter also asks for a "copy of the syllabus" and online links to lectures on Brexit.

Mr Heaton-Harris is a government whip and a member of the pro-Brexit European Research Group of Conservative MPs.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41735839

Moggy wrote:

A Eurosceptic Tory MP has been accused of compiling a "hit list" of university professors who teach Brexit courses.

Chris Heaton-Harris has written to universities asking for names of such professors and the content of their lectures.

A lecturers' union said the letter had the "acrid whiff of McCarthyism" - and Tory peer Lord Patten called it "idiotic and offensive".

Mr Heaton-Harris said he believed in "open" debate on Brexit.

The MP for Daventry tweeted: "To be absolutely clear, I believe in free speech in our universities and in having an open and vigorous debate on Brexit."

The Guardian revealed he wrote to university vice-chancellors at the start of this month asking for the names of professors "involved in the teaching of European affairs, with particular reference to Brexit".

The MP's letter also asks for a "copy of the syllabus" and online links to lectures on Brexit.

Mr Heaton-Harris is a government whip and a member of the pro-Brexit European Research Group of Conservative MPs.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41735839

twitter.com/SamCoatesTimes/status/922832680756174848

twitter.com/scullyp/status/922824988104839168

Hexx wrote:

twitter.com/SamCoatesTimes/status/922832680756174848

twitter.com/scullyp/status/922824988104839168

ABC News wrote:Europe should preserve its cultural heritage, EU's Tusk says

The European Union must do more to defend its external borders against migrants, EU chief Donald Tusk said Tuesday, describing Europe as a "cultural community" whose heritage must be preserved.

While the president of the European Council insisted that Europeans are not superior to other peoples, his rhetoric of cultural preservation echoed in some ways the language of populist politicians winning support across Europe with calls to keep migrants from settling on the continent.

"We are a cultural community, which doesn't mean that we are better or worse — we are simply different from the outside world," Tusk said in an address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.

"Our openness and tolerance cannot mean walking away from protecting our heritage," Tusk added. "We have the right and obligation to care for what distinguishes us from other cultures — not in order to be against someone, but to be ourselves. Without a feeling of superiority, but with a feeling of justified pride."

Europe is deeply divided over the issue of migration, with leaders like German Chancellor Angela Merkel who initially called for relatively welcoming policies now retreating from those positions, and right-wing populists warning that large Muslim communities threaten to erode Europe's Christian profile.

The leading proponent of that view has been Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who erected razor wire fences in 2015 at a time when the largest numbers of people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa poured into Europe. He has often described Muslim migrants as invaders who threaten Europe's cultural identity.

That view has resonated in many places including Tusk's homeland, Poland, where he was previously prime minister.

Tusk said the EU must now do much more to protect the bloc's external borders.

"Our duty is to protect them," Tusk said. "The migration crisis has made us aware, with full force, of the need to rebuild effective control of our external borders while the aggressive behavior of certain third countries, and the destabilization around Europe, has made us aware of the need to defend our territory."

Daily Mail, pro Brexit supporting newspaper wrote:Michael Bloomberg added: 'I did say that I thought it was the single stupidest thing any country has ever done but then we Trumped it.'

However, he told AFP in London at the opening of his new building that the city rill remain as the 'financial centre of Europe' despite Brexit.

Guardian, anti-Brexit supporting newspaper wrote:Bloomberg said London was the centre of Europe but warned that was “not going to be as true any more” due to Brexit.