Jeremy Corbyn on course for Downing Street

The Week - UK News — Mon, 15 Apr 2019 13:28:53 +0000

Polls paint grim picture for Conservatives, who face electoral wipeout at local, national and European level.

Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images – Jeremy Corbyn voting in 2017

A flurry of polls suggest Jeremy Corbyn is on course to sweep into Downing Street following a general election, as voters turn their anger on the government for failing to deliver Brexit.

A poll of polls for The Sunday Telegraph predicts the Conservatives would lose 59 seats if a vote were held today, making Labour the largest party in the Commons. This would not be enough to secure Corbyn a working majority but would put him in prime position to agree a power-sharing deal with other progressive parties such as the SNP, Lib Dems or Change UK.

Meanwhile, high profile Tories at risk of losing their seat if a snap vote is called include former leader Iain Duncan Smith and Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd, who has been widely courted by prospective leadership contenders.

A separate poll by Opinium put Labour seven points ahead of the Tories, echoing the findings of YouGov polling last week which showed Tory support had slumped to its lowest level in six years.

The survey in The Independent put Theresa May’s party on 28% in the event of a general election, down four points since the start of April, with only a two thirds of voters who backed the Tories in the 2017 election saying they would back them again.

Earlier this month dozens of Tory association chairmen wrote to Conservative campaign headquarters warning that the Tories face an electoral “wipeout” at local elections in early May.

Since then, however, things have gone from bad to worse. Theresa May was forced to ask for yet another extension to Article 50 which delays Brexit until Halloween, meaning the UK will have to contest European Parliamentary elections, three years after Britain voted to leave the EU.

A survey from Hanbury Strategy, the first to poll British voter intention ahead of EP elections, shows Labour on 37% with the Conservatives way behind on 23%.

It appears Nigel Farage’s new Brexit Party has be the main beneficiary of public anger, scooping up disgruntled Conservative voters at a local, national and European level.

Angry at her failure to successfully navigate the UK out of the EU, it appears Theresa May’s dramatic U-turn in reaching out to Corbyn was the final straw for grassroots supporters in finally turning against the party. Associations claim one of the main attack lines on Labour – that the veteran socialist represents a risk to national security – has effectively been nullified after the prime minister chose to engage him in the Brexit process.

The Telegraph reports that “amid growing calls for May to resign, Conservative Party lawyers potentially opened the door for MPs to formally oust the prime minister within months, with officials advising the influential 1922 Committee that the panel could rewrite the rules currently preventing MPs from mounting more than one attempt to oust a leader per year”.

There was also a word of warning from Labour’s leader in the European parliament. Richard Corbett and other grandees have said that the party will be deserted by millions of anti-Brexit voters if it fails to clearly back a second referendum in its manifesto for next month’s EU elections.

It comes “amid growing fears at the top of the party that it could lose a generation of young, pro-EU voters if it does not guarantee another public vote”, The Guardian says.

MPs say that young people, as well as many other Remainers, could turn instead to unambiguously anti-Brexit parties, including the fledgling independent group Change UK, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens and the SNP.

The leader article in The Times says “Corbyn, a lifelong Brexiteer, has no desire for a second referendum but if his party’s membership twisted his arm at this autumn’s conference, he might see that as a price worth paying for getting closer to Downing Street”.

“The risk to Labour votes in leave-supporting seats, against a Brexit vote split between the Tories, UKIP and Nigel Farage’s new party, should not be exaggerated” he writes, adding that “a Labour commitment to a referendum would also shoot the fox of Change UK, the party formed by the independent group of MPs” it adds.

Source: https://www.theweek.co.uk/100752/jeremy-corbyn-on-course-for-downing-street

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The post Jeremy Corbyn on course for Downing Street first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

‘Stop Brexit’: Merkel advisers call for UK to remain in EU

RT — Thu, 09 Nov 2017 15:55:12 +0000

The UK should halt its withdrawal from the EU, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s economic advisers have said. The remarks sparked fury among Tory MPs, who claim Germany is more interested in safeguarding its own economic interests than those of the UK.

In their annual report, Germany’s Council of Economic Experts said Brexit should be reversed amid concerns about the “wide-ranging impact” it would have. “Due to the wide-ranging impact of a UK exit from the EU, the council continues to urge that it be prevented,” its report read, according to Bloomberg.

There is still a risk of an uncontrolled exit and sudden adjustment reactions by economic agents. Conversely, the possibility of the UK staying in the EU can’t be completely excluded,” it continued.

The council suggested that, if Brexit does go ahead, an agreement would be needed to minimize the impact for both sides, meaning a ‘no deal’ situation should be out of the question.

However, Tory backbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg responded by saying:“Their interest is that of the German economy, not ours.

Their faux concern merely shows how worried they are about the opportunities Brexit brings. They are only wise in their own conceits.”

The advisers added that a one-off extension should be given to negotiations in order for an appropriate deal to be reached, suggesting that Brexit should therefore only come into effect in 2020.

Ex-Tory leader Iain Duncan-Smith also suggested that Germany should finally get to grips with Britain’s decision to leave the EU, and said: “Surely their remit is to advise Mrs Merkel on German economic policy and their real reason for calling for Brexit to be stopped is not about the UK, but because they worry Brexit will hit Germany hard as we are the second-largest export market for goods.

“Instead they should be telling her to get on with setting free-trade arrangements with the UK to stop damage to the German economy,” Smith said, according to The Sun.

Germany, as well as France, has already expressed its openness to accepting the UK back in the EU if it decided to stay. EU Council President Donald Tusk said last month that the UK could reverse Brexit, but it is entirely down to Theresa May’s cabinet to make that decision.

The remarks come as the European Union gathers to draft a united stance on what they want to see out of Brexit, in a bid to break the current deadlock in negotiations. It is understood that both the UK and the EU want talks on transition and trade to start by December.

Source: https://www.rt.com/uk/409311-brexit-germany-merkel-eu/

[Disclaimer]

The post ‘Stop Brexit’: Merkel advisers call for UK to remain in EU first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Iain Duncan-Smith - Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association

Jeremy Corbyn on course for Downing Street

‘Stop Brexit’: Merkel advisers call for UK to remain in EU