UK government suffers fourth defeat on Brexit legislation in House of Lords

 

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves Downing Street in London, Britain January 15, 2020. REUTERS/Simon Dawson/File Photo

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government suffered a fourth defeat on its Brexit legislation when members of parliament's upper chamber voted on Tuesday to ensure protections for child refugees after Britain leaves the European Union.

 

Johnson's Conservatives won a large majority in the lower chamber, the House of Commons, in a Dec. 12 election and earlier this month lawmakers there quickly approved the legislation needed to ratify his exit deal with Brussels.

 

But the House of Lords, where Johnson's government does not have a majority, made three changes to the legislation on Monday, including over the rights of EU citizens after Brexit.

 

On Tuesday, the Lords voted 300 to 220 to ensure unaccompanied child refugees can continue to be reunited with family in Britain, a promise made by Johnson's predecessor Theresa May but stripped from his legislation.

 

"The signal the government is sending by this is a very negative one, it is not a humanitarian signal," said Alf Dubs, an opposition Labour lord who fled to Britain as a child to escape the Nazis, and who proposed the change to the bill.

 

Johnson's spokesman said the government would seek to overturn the changes made to the Brexit legislation when the bill returns to the House of Commons later this week.

 

(Reporting by Kylie MacLellan; editing by Stephen Addison)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-01-22

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Since 'Our Lord Boris' has a huge majority in the Commons, the Lords seems pretty irrelevant - thankfully

Boris will over-rule them, the useless pr1cks.

 

 

Now to see just how true this 'Nation of Equals' actually is:

 

All three devolved parliaments reject PM’s Brexit deal

 

23 minutes ago, RuamRudy said:

Now to see just how true this 'Nation of Equals' actually is:

 

All three devolved parliaments reject PM’s Brexit deal

 

Surely 'Unequals' until such time as the major shareholder is finally allowed to join in?

 

(55M ???????????????????????????? outnumber all the others combined yet are the only Country in ????????, ????????, ???? without their own Parliament thanks to a slight-of-hand con trick by Binnoccio in the 90s!)

4 minutes ago, evadgib said:

Surely 'Unequals' until such time as the major shareholder is finally allowed to join in?

 

(55M ???????????????????????????? outnumber all the others combined yet are the only Country in ????????, ????????, ???? without their own Parliament thanks to a slight-of-hand con trick by Binnoccio in the 90s!)

But we are union of countries, not a union of peoples. Rightly, you point out that one of those countries is significantly larger in population than the other 3, but if this means that the wishes of the largest country takes precedence over the wishes of the smaller countries merely by virtue of size then it means we are not a nation of equals. 

 

Personally, I hope Johnson continues to show contempt for the wishes of the democratically elected devolved parliaments, maybe even attempt to neuter them - I would love that to be mooted next.

I think that the people of Gibraltar should not get their hopes up that the UK government will work on their behalf if what they want doesn't replicate exactly the wishes of one of the home nations. Whole UK family? What utter tosh. 

(formatting below my own to highlight my incredulity at the nonsense that is said by Westminster).

 

Brexit: UK to decide on Gibraltar-EU travel deal

"After we leave, the UK will be negotiating the future relationship with the EU on behalf of the whole UK family, including Gibraltar. Working closely together, the UK and Gibraltar Governments have always supported arrangements at the border with Spain which promote fluidity and shared prosperity in the region," the UK spokesperson said.

Edited January 22, 20206 yr by RuamRudy

17 minutes ago, evadgib said:

Surely 'Unequals' until such time as the major shareholder is finally allowed to join in?

 

(55M ???????????????????????????? outnumber all the others combined yet are the only Country in ????????, ????????, ???? without their own Parliament thanks to a slight-of-hand con trick by Binnoccio in the 90s!)

Why does England need its own Parliament , when it has the Legislative grand committee to deal with English only matters

1 minute ago, RuamRudy said:

But we are union of countries, not a union of peoples. Rightly, you point out that one of those countries is significantly larger in population than the other 3, but if this means that the wishes of the largest country takes precedence over the wishes of the smaller countries merely by virtue of size then it means we are not a nation of equals. 

 

Personally, I hope Johnson continues to show contempt for the wishes of the democratically elected devolved parliaments, maybe even attempt to neuter them - I would love that to be mooted next.

Their* current thinking is to divide ???????????????????????????? into 9 mickey mouse regions, further diluting our identity and riding rough shod over the courts & constitution as we've all seen in the recent past.

(*Traitors + EU)

 

3 hours ago, JonnyF said:

Boris will over-rule them, the useless pr1cks.

 

 

Get it overturned Boris and then get rid of the Lords. The HOL is stacked full of has been leftist political plants who don’t perform their function. They are supposed to be scrutinising detail, not trying to change policy to suit their own whims.  

2 minutes ago, Loiner said:

Get it overturned Boris and then get rid of the Lords. The HOL is stacked full of has been leftist political plants who don’t perform their function. They are supposed to be scrutinising detail, not trying to change policy to suit their own whims.  

I guess you believe all the Tory appointed Lords and Ladies somehow morphed into left wing liberals.

 

I guess it could happen, but what’s more likely, the dissolving of these Tories into Leftwing Liberals or real flaws in the act of Parliament passed to the Lords?

5 hours ago, webfact said:

On Tuesday, the Lords voted 300 to 220 to ensure unaccompanied child refugees can continue to be reunited with family in Britain, a promise made by Johnson's predecessor Theresa May but stripped from his legislation.

Agreed, send the parents back home...!!!

The House of Dinosaurs is merely an advisory body with the power to review what the elected (key word) MPs decide on. Unfortunately, the HoL has got a fur up it's backside and believes they are the final word on stuff. All Boris has to do is bounce it a few times off them and then take it straight to Queenie and tell her it's happening and to sign it ... end of.

The House of Lords should be careful as they are not doing themselves any favours at the moment and there is a growing amount of resentment and discontent with their actions, arrogance and, well, existence full stop. The Lords should be stripped down to 99 of them (so can't get a stalemate) and the tenure of each lord should be 10 years before having to stand down and replaced with mandatory retirement of 70 so there's none of this unelected 85 year-old fossil out-of-touch BS from dinos that belong in the 60s or 70s. With the way they are carrying on then the writing could be on the wall for meaningful change soon as the calls are growing louder and no-one to blame other than themselves.  

Why does thaivisa only delight in stories that are derogatory about brexit, Trump etc? Perhaps the editors are stereotypical liberal meedja luvvies who could only manage meedja studies at uni (community college).

A little less bias, or a little more balance would be refreshing. The upticks are almost invariably for the sane right. Know your audience TV.

Don't worry there will come more defeats. 

23 minutes ago, sawadee1947 said:

Don't worry there will come more defeats. 

Even if there are more defeats, we'll still be leaving the EU on 31st Jan ????

Over 800 people in the house of lords. They are entitled to claim an attendance fee of 300 pounds per day. They contribute nothing to the wellbeing of the UK. Utterly ridiculous.

59 minutes ago, CG1 Blue said:

Even if there are more defeats, we'll still be leaving the EU on 31st Jan ????

Assuming that you'll spend the rest of your life in Thailand or at least outside UK, the decision to leave EU will have no impact on your daily life.....except maybe the value of your currency. 

The outcome of Brexit or the rejoining EU you might not witness probably. 

Obviously the dead end street of nationalism and racism seem to be fashion for misled people. 

 

 

Not sure why people are saying that a guy who escaped the Nazis is out of touch. Seems to be the only one with empathy surrounded by boorish Johnsons.

MPs just slavishly vote as they are told by their parties. They do not want to get de-selected. Very few of them pay any attention to what is actually IN the legislation. The House of Lords do not have any need to follow their parties instructions, and do a lot of good work identifying all the (often deliberate) loopholes and omissions in the legislation. Those who don't care about a bill just do not turn up that day (Yes, there are some freeloader lords who just turn up for the money, but you only get paid if you clock in)

 

I'm not disagreeing that the House of Lords is an anachronism. But having a house that do not have to follow the party line means they can critically analyse legislation. No point having 2 houses who are just rubber stamps. The last thing we need is a house of Lords elected on party lines.

1 hour ago, sawadee1947 said:

Assuming that you'll spend the rest of your life in Thailand or at least outside UK, the decision to leave EU will have no impact on your daily life.....except maybe the value of your currency. 

The outcome of Brexit or the rejoining EU you might not witness probably. 

Obviously the dead end street of nationalism and racism seem to be fashion for misled people. 

 

 

A lot of (incorrect) assumptions there. 

And "racism"...really? I wasn't aware the EU is now a race ????

 

Your country was bullied into voting again on the Lisbon Treaty, right?  

boris needs a hairdresser right now!

59 minutes ago, rickudon said:

MPs just slavishly vote as they are told by their parties. They do not want to get de-selected. Very few of them pay any attention to what is actually IN the legislation. The House of Lords do not have any need to follow their parties instructions, and do a lot of good work identifying all the (often deliberate) loopholes and omissions in the legislation. Those who don't care about a bill just do not turn up that day (Yes, there are some freeloader lords who just turn up for the money, but you only get paid if you clock in)

 

I'm not disagreeing that the House of Lords is an anachronism. But having a house that do not have to follow the party line means they can critically analyse legislation. No point having 2 houses who are just rubber stamps. The last thing we need is a house of Lords elected on party lines.

I agree, a HoL along party lines would be a complete waste of time for the reasons you point out. 

 

I'm all for scrutiny of bills before the bills head for legislation. The trouble here is that based on recent form in both houses, there is going to be suspicion that amendments are put forward simply to delay Brexit beyond 31st Jan, in the hope they can keep putting it off. 

 

The voting public were given the chance to cleanse the HoC of the die hard remainers, and they took it. The public can't do the same to the HoL, so the Lords can still filibuster to their hearts content. 

17 minutes ago, CG1 Blue said:

A lot of (incorrect) assumptions there. 

And "racism"...really? I wasn't aware the EU is now a race ????

 

Your country was bullied into voting again on the Lisbon Treaty, right?  

???? you are a real good buddy of the Clown's twins...... Borat...sorry Boris and Donald.. ????. 

The bill with 5 amendments recommended by the Lords returned to the HoC where MPs rejected them. Bill ping ponged back to HoL where the Lords reluctantly excepted the non amended bill, just waiting Royal assent now, we leave on the 31st of January.

14 hours ago, sawadee1947 said:

Obviously the dead end street of nationalism and racism seem to be fashion for misled people. 

Says the man who wants a united Ireland. Calling the kettle black. How ironic.

 

I see those posters who where claiming Boris wouldn't win the election and that brexit won't happen seem to have popped their heads from under the rocks.

5 minutes ago, Laughing Gravy said:

Says the man who wants a united Ireland. Calling the kettle black. How ironic.

 

I see those posters who where claiming Boris wouldn't win the election and that brexit won't happen seem to have popped their heads from under the rocks.

 

 

..... but many have stayed there.

 

 

I understand that "F&%# Brexit" wristbands can be obtained for a song in Jomtien night market.... 

13 hours ago, CG1 Blue said:

 

The voting public were given the chance to cleanse the HoC of the die hard remainers, and they took it. The public can't do the same to the HoL, so the Lords can still filibuster to their hearts content. 

The HoL know full well if they tried to filibuster and delay further it would enrage the people and with such a Tory majority and an infuriated public it could easily end up being abolished. The Lords might be out of touch but they arnt stupid and dont want to lose their nice little gravy train pensions and perks even over Brexit, which is why when it was sent back the HoL they folded with a wimper... smart move ????

 

Queens Royal assent and EU formally agreeing next week and we are out... then the real fun begins. 

 

 

On 1/22/2020 at 9:42 AM, RuamRudy said:

Now to see just how true this 'Nation of Equals' actually is:

 

All three devolved parliaments reject PM’s Brexit deal

 

 

So if the non SNP controlled local authorities rejected SNP voted for Scottish Parliament decisions you'd support the local authorities would you?