UK White Paper scrapes through parliament but founders against EU wall

Engineering Train at Ely

The government continue to have a battle on it's hand, both with itself and in Parliament as the soft Brexit supporters attempted to introduce their amendments.

It is perhaps a sign of the bitterness and close balance between different approached to Brexit, that the conservativ e chief whip felt he could press Tory MPs to renege on their pairing deals. Pairing deals have been a respected route for MPs who cannot attend a particular parliamentary sitting, to pair with one of the opposition, effectively cancelling their vote.

LibDem MP Jo Swinson, who was on maternity leave, must have felt particularly aggrieved on the betrayal of that trust by her agreed partner on the Tory side, party chairman, Brandon Lewis. He did claim afterwards that he had handled in error in the heat of the moment and apologised. However, when the government wins by the skin of its teeth with a couple of votes, the pressure to break rules, written or unspoken, is obviously very great.

Mind you, it is all political pissing in the wind, a senseless struggle for dominance in internal politics with scant regard for the reality outside. When the governments white paper was presented to the EU negotiators, their was a polite interest as a starting point, but a gentle reminder that it did not meet EU requirements on mobility within the EU market and the need for no hard border on Ireland. The EU had also released their white paper asking member states to consider preparing for a hard brexit or crah out by the UK. Whatever concessions have to be made to the EU by UK negotiators led by Dominic Raab will re-ignite the internal UK battles and likely shoot the amended document down on its return to parliament.

The pound-euro rate is a realistic barometer of how things are progressing and they do not look favourable - the value of the pound has dropped to €1.12.

We have had the second of two new book titles arrive back from the printer this week, 'Sons of Scotland' is now completed, a week after 'Alzheimers - My Turn Next'. I travelled to Ely twice on the train this week. The second time, I took my bike on the train so I could cycle to an appointment at the other end. A great way to travel, at least during off-peak times.