Anti EU Discrimination and The EU Repeal Bill Passes First Hurdle

Henry VIII on Trinity College

Hurricane Irma finally departs Florida after 'weakening' to a tropical storm. Mopping up operations begin the long long road to recovery.

The Repeal bill, or the EU (Withdrawal Bill), which intends to take over existing EU laws into UK law wholesale is entering the final stages of debate. The main concern is not so much the incorporation these laws. That makes practical sense with 40 years of accumulated law from the EU. The worry is that, in its present form, the bill would allow ministers to make changes such as amendments, without discussion in parliament. It does look like a power grab, and has been referred to as asking for Henry VIII powers. Henry was a king who ruled by proclamation, ignoring parliament. It is a hot debate that continues this evening, with a vote at midnight.

Meanwhile, Labour and the EU citizens’ rights campaign group the3million sent Nick Gibb, the equalities minister, a dossier of two dozen plus examples of job, housing and other adverts, that discriminated against EU citizens. There are examples of EU citizens not being able to get jobs, of being refused housing rental, of not being able to buy holidays or rent cars because of being EU nationals, even if they have lived and made their lives here in the UK. With Briton's apparently wanting to go back to a pre-recession past, they have rushed past it, and have almost reached the despicable days of discriminatory signs outside lets. Apparently there will be a government investigation.

Whether this will reassure EU citizens is another matter, especially as there is also news today that the number of deportations of EU citizens has increased five fold since 2010 and particularly since the Brexit referendum. Also, the laws permitting deportation are being interpreted more loosely. For example, people living on the street are now being deported. This is against a trend of decreased deportations for non-EU nationals.

A letter writing day. Last night I edited three Quekett vidoes and converted them to mp4 files. Today, I burnt the videos to discs, as well as a draft of the museum catalogue we are working on, and posted them. I then left the computer running for the rest of the day uploading two of the videos to YouTube.

MPs voted on three questions tonight:

1. Whether to adopt an amendment put forward by Labour - not passed
2. Whether to give the government bill a second reading (take it forward for further detailed discussions and amendments) - 326 for and 290 against
3. Government timetable for bill 318 for 301 against.