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Our Members of Parliament are now locking horns in the Commons over the amendments to the EU Withdrawal Bill – with just two days to sort it out and vote.
As the Commons started its series of crunch debates and votes on the amendments to the EU Withdrawal Bill earlier today, David Davis opened the debate by saying that the purpose of the bill was to ensure a 'functioning statute book' as the UK leaves the EU and that the House of Lords should not be allowed to undermine Brexit.
But the government has been hit by the resignation of a junior justice minister, Phillip Lee, the MP for Bracknell, who said that he could not agree with the government position of opposition to parliament having the so-called meaningful vote on the agreement that the government reaches with the EU. He also said that Article 50 should be paused, extended or rescinded, with Remainers hailing this resignation as a significant development.
The problem for Mr Lee, is that he is not speaking for his constituents, who voted to Leave the EU by 53.9% to 46.1%. And they also voted him in as a Conservative MP on the back of a clear party manifesto of leaving the EU.
And Remain backing MPs (you know the ones that pretend they are respecting the will of the people while plotting, voting and acting against our withdrawal at every chance) have taken a swipe at what they call 'bullying' and 'threatening' headlines from Leave supporting newspapers, such as the Sun and the Express.
The Sun has run with telling MPs they have a choice:
"Great Britain or Great Betrayal."
And saying that rebel Tory MPs could destroy the PM, the government and the Brexit that 17.4 million people voted for.
While the Express ran with a warning to MPs that they ignore the will of the people at their peril. Saying:
"Their constituents will be watching the votes closely and any betrayal of Brexit will not be forgotten the next time the general election ballot boxes open."
Labour MP Luciana Berger said she won't be cowed, fellow Labour MP Anna Turley said "Rupert Murdoch can get stuffed."
And Chuka Umunna Tweeted:
"These people think they can intimidate and threaten Members of Parliament. These threats, as parliament considers the biggest issue facing us since the Second World War, are a real and present danger to our democracy. This is 2018 not the 1930s."
I've got to say that's pretty tame compared to what the Remain Campaign poured over the poor old voters every day in the run up to the referendum. All of which, by the way, has been proved comprehensively wrong!
But it also shows how sensitive these Remain MPs are.
Writing in the Guardian Kier Starmer, the Shadow Brexit Secretary, argues that MPs should vote for parliament to have the meaningful vote on the final Brexit deal reached with the EU. This he says would effectively remove the chance of a no deal Brexit, which is of course one of the main things that Remainers crave for, as it would hamstring the UK government in its negotiations.
At the end of the day, the best negotiating position you can ever have is when you can decide whether you want to stay and talk to make a deal or just walk away – choice is power.
Kier Starmer of course wants to rip that power away from the government for both Remain and opportunistic opposition purposes.
Let's hope that the latest news that Tory rebels are aiming to abstain on these votes would ensure that Theresa May gets through unscathed.
And now to the polls.
A recent poll for Change Britain by BMG showed that 73% of those polled think that the UK should be free to negotiate its own trade deals after the UK withdrawal from the EU.
On independent trade deals, 88% of Leave voters said they thought the UK would be more prosperous in the longer term if it had full control over its own trade policy and freely able to make trade deals around the world – and 47% or Remainers agree with that position.
And on a party basis, 89% of Tory voters and 61% of Labour voters believe that it is very or fairly important to respect the result of the EU referendum.
I hope that those MPs , especially the Brexit rebels on the Tory benches, debating and voting today and tomorrow on the EU Withdrawal Bill are aware of these figures, as they seem to show public disapproval of most, if not all, those Lords, Remainer and opposition amendments.
And now to the Brexit, Brexageddon doom and gloom section.
The latest employment data from the Office for National Statistics shows that in the three months to April 2018, there were 146,000 more people in work than in the three moths to January 2018.
The number of people with jobs is now 32.39 million, which is 440,000 more than the same time last year.
The number of jobless also fell by 38,000 on a three month basis and 115,000 on an annual basis to 1.42 million.
The number of economically inactive people fell by 72,000 on a three month basis and 200,000 on an annual basis to 8.65 million.
Wages also increased on last year, rising by 2.8% excluding bonuses and by 2.5% including bonuses, which exceeds inflation with inflation adjusted wages rising 0.4% excluding bonuses and by 0.1% including bonuses.
