LOHG: A British Political Roleplay (58th Parliament)

by **Agarntrop** » Tue Jan 19, 2021 3:20 am

The 58th Parliament of the United Kingdom
Land of Hope and Glory

"A Parliament is nothing less than a big meeting of more or less idle people."

Walter Bagehot

After the uncontrolled 57th Parliament, a new Government finds itself with a new, stable and allied Parliament with a majority of 80.

What role will you play in this body? Will you revitalise Westminster? Will you serve to help out a new government in moving forward with its agenda, or will you continue to obstruct and frustrate it at every turn? There’s certainly options.

LOHG will be tweaking the procedural rules of Parliament so that greater opportunities will be given towards bills introduced by opposition members and backbenchers. Government bills will continue to receive priority, but all bills will be debated. The legislative process will also be streamlined, reducing the multiple readings down to one vote in the Commons and one vote in the Lords, provided neither House amend the bills before them.

Bill Format

Code: Select all: [align=center][size=200][Short title of act][/size] [size=150]AN ACT TO... [Long title of act][/size][/align] [b]AUTHOR(S):[/b] [Names and parties of the author(s)] [b]SPONSOR(S):[/b] [Names and parties of the sponsor(s)] [b]1 [Section name][/b] [list=1][*] [*] [*][/list] [b]2 [Section name][/b] [list=1][*] [*] [*][/list] [b]3 [Section name][/b] [list=1][*] [*] [*][/list] [size=10]Do Not Remove: 1337[/size]

Amendment Format

Code: Select all: [align=center][size=200]Amendment to the [Short title of bill][/size][/align] [b]AUTHOR(S):[/b] [Names and parties of authors] [b]SPONSOR(S):[/b] [Names and parties of sponsor] [b]1 The following text shall be (added/removed) from the draft legislation:[/b] [Quotation of text to be added or removed] [b]2 The following text shall be (added/removed) from the draft legislation:[/b] [Quotation of text to be added or removed] [b]3 The following text shall be (added/removed) from the draft legislation:[/b] [Quotation of text to be added or removed] [size=10]Do Not Remove: 420[/size]

Rules of Debate

General
When posting, either to comment or post, including the name, chamber, party affiliation and constituency in your post; i.e. House of Commons and [Walter d’Isigny - CON - The Cotswolds]. Peers, obviously, do not have a constituency.

The Speaker of the House of Commons and Lord Speaker of the House of Lords will maintain order; i.e., declare which legislation is being considered.

Members of either House will be expected to be courteous and respectful to each other. Insults or accusations of lying are considered disorderly.

Wherein members are being persistently disorderly, the Speaker and Lord Speaker may be empowered to suspend someone from the Chamber.

In the House of Commons, all remarks are addressed to "Mister Speaker", whilst all remarks in the House of Lords are prefaced by "My Lords".

Legislation should contain a commencement clause that will establish when the provisions of the bill concerned will come into force.

When motions are raised, they will typically require a second for consideration. Some votes will be voted upon, whilst others may not. This is detailed below.

Motions
Motion to put the question
A motion during a voting debate to end discussion of the matter at hand and vote on it immediately. This motion is not debated, and is voted upon, and is passed by simple majority.
"Mister Speaker, I move that the question now be put."

Motion to postpone debate
A motion to close the debate on the matter at hand until a succeeding sitting of the House. Will not be entertained by the Speaker during the matter’s vote, where instead a motion to put the question would be appropriate. This motion is not debated, and is voted upon, and is passed by a simple majority.
"Mister Speaker, I move to postpone the debate until a succeeding sitting of this House."

Motion to end debate
A motion to end the debate on the matter at hand permanently. Can only be used on general debates, emergency debates, debates on specific issues, urgent questions and ministerial statements. This motion is not debated, and is voted upon, and is passed by a simple majority.
“Mister Speaker, I move to end the debate.”

Motion to suspend from the service of the House
A motion to suspend a named member from the House. Should a Member act in such a way that the Speaker of the House must “name” them, marking them out for this very motion, the motion may be introduced to suspend the member from the service of the House, expelling them from the remainder of the session. The motion is not debated, and is voted upon, and is passed by a simple majority.
"Mister Speaker, I move to suspend the named member from the service of this House."

Motion of no confidence
Prescribed by the Fixed Term Parliaments Act of 2011, a motion of no confidence in this manner is used to trigger an election. If passed, the Government (or any alternative Government) will have 14 days to pass a new motion of confidence to avoid the election. The motion is debated, and is voted upon, and is passed by a simple majority.
"Mister Speaker, I move that this House has no confidence in Her Majesty's Government."

Agenda for the House of Commons

Agenda for the House of Lords

Postponed Legislation

Awaiting Royal Assent

by **Agarntrop** » Tue Jan 19, 2021 4:24 am

The Speaker
House of Commons

"Questions to the Prime Minister! Mrs. Bennet..."

by **Emazia** » Tue Jan 19, 2021 4:51 am

Alexandra Bennett MP: "I understand that, at the moment, tensions are running high in Iran. However, such crises have often distracted the people of this country from the structural problems that still plague everyday life. The Phase 1 report for Grenfell has been released, however we have yet to see a report on the wider situation and anything done to prevent it from happening again. Will the Prime Minister pledge to remove all flammable cladding from public and private housing by the end of the year?"

by **Kargintinia** » Wed Jan 20, 2021 8:09 am

Emazia wrote:Alexandra Bennett MP: "I understand that, at the moment, tensions are running high in Iran. However, such crises have often distracted the people of this country from the structural problems that still plague everyday life. The Phase 1 report for Grenfell has been released, however we have yet to see a report on the wider situation and anything done to prevent it from happening again. Will the Prime Minister pledge to remove all flammable cladding from public and private housing by the end of the year?"

Brian Hansen MP: “I will. However it is quite noticeable when Madame Bennett comes all the way to ask me this when she has not yet removed them in her own constituency.”

by **Agarntrop** » Wed Jan 20, 2021 8:22 am

The Speaker
House of Commons

"Order! Order! The Prime Minister will refer to the Leader of the Opposition as the Honorable Member for Manchester Withington not as 'Madame Bennet' or anything of the sort. Under Parliamentary protocol, only the Speaker may refer to members by their names. Mrs Bennet..."

by **Emazia** » Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:47 am

Kargintinia wrote:
Emazia wrote:Alexandra Bennett MP: "I understand that, at the moment, tensions are running high in Iran. However, such crises have often distracted the people of this country from the structural problems that still plague everyday life. The Phase 1 report for Grenfell has been released, however we have yet to see a report on the wider situation and anything done to prevent it from happening again. Will the Prime Minister pledge to remove all flammable cladding from public and private housing by the end of the year?"

Brian Hansen MP: “I will. However it is quite noticeable when Madame Bennett comes all the way to ask me this when she has not yet removed them in her own constituency.”

Alexandra Bennett MP: "Mr. Speaker, I would like to inform the honourable gentleman that I am not, in fact, the head of my local council. However, there have been, over the past quarter of 2019, declines in the value of assets, private consumption and production in the country, suggesting signs of a triple-dip recession. What will the Prime Minister do to mitigate these economic declines and stop another recession which would lead to job losses and suffering across this country?"

by **Kargintinia** » Wed Jan 20, 2021 10:57 am

Emazia wrote:
Kargintinia wrote:Brian Hansen MP: “I will. However it is quite noticeable when Madame Bennett comes all the way to ask me this when she has not yet removed them in her own constituency.”

Alexandra Bennett MP: "Mr. Speaker, I would like to inform the honourable gentleman that I am not, in fact, the head of my local council. However, there have been, over the past quarter of 2019, declines in the value of assets, private consumption and production in the country, suggesting signs of a triple-dip recession. What will the Prime Minister do to mitigate these economic declines and stop another recession which would lead to job losses and suffering across this country?"

Brian Hansen MP: “I would like to remind the Honorable Member for Manchester Withington that Tory governments have seen overwhelmingly better economic success than Labour ones and we are most confident in our ability to avoid any recession. We plan to cut interest and tax rates to take the burden off of average Brits and build economic growth unlike Labour with their economic failure.”

by **Emazia** » Wed Jan 20, 2021 10:59 am

Kargintinia wrote:
Emazia wrote:Alexandra Bennett MP: "Mr. Speaker, I would like to inform the honourable gentleman that I am not, in fact, the head of my local council. However, there have been, over the past quarter of 2019, declines in the value of assets, private consumption and production in the country, suggesting signs of a triple-dip recession. What will the Prime Minister do to mitigate these economic declines and stop another recession which would lead to job losses and suffering across this country?"

Brian Hansen MP: “I would like to remind the Honorable Member for Manchester Withington that Tory governments have seen overwhelmingly better economic success than Labour ones and we are most confident in our ability to avoid any recession. We plan to cut interest and tax rates to take the burden off of average Brits and build economic growth unlike Labour with their economic failure.”

Alexandra Bennett: "Statistics show that every Labour government bar the ones that have had major recessions at the end of their term have actually decreased the national debt, whilst Tory governments - including the [not-Cameron] and Naismith ministries - have increased it, but regardless...Is the Prime Minister going to implement Japan-style negative interest rates if necessary?"

by **Kargintinia** » Wed Jan 20, 2021 11:14 am

Emazia wrote:
Kargintinia wrote:Brian Hansen MP: “I would like to remind the Honorable Member for Manchester Withington that Tory governments have seen overwhelmingly better economic success than Labour ones and we are most confident in our ability to avoid any recession. We plan to cut interest and tax rates to take the burden off of average Brits and build economic growth unlike Labour with their economic failure.”

Alexandra Bennett: "Statistics show that every Labour government bar the ones that have had major recessions at the end of their term have actually decreased the national debt, whilst Tory governments - including the [not-Cameron] and Naismith ministries - have increased it, but regardless...Is the Prime Minister going to implement Japan-style negative interest rates if necessary?"

Hansen: “Mr Speaker I tell the Honorable Member for Manchester Withington that we shall certainly take measures of cutting interests to avoid a crisis... of what level I cannot currently say but I can say with confidence that we are prepared to take certain measures to deal with any economic crisis.”

by **Emazia** » Wed Jan 20, 2021 11:27 am

Kargintinia wrote:
Emazia wrote:Alexandra Bennett: "Statistics show that every Labour government bar the ones that have had major recessions at the end of their term have actually decreased the national debt, whilst Tory governments - including the [not-Cameron] and Naismith ministries - have increased it, but regardless...Is the Prime Minister going to implement Japan-style negative interest rates if necessary?"

Hansen: “Mr Speaker I tell the Honorable Member for Manchester Withington that we shall certainly take measures of cutting interests to avoid a crisis... of what level I cannot currently say but I can say with confidence that we are prepared to take certain measures to deal with any economic crisis.”

Bennett: "Mr Speaker, what will be the Prime Minister's goals on Brexit, and will he pledge to put any deal he agrees to before Parliament?"

by **Kargintinia** » Wed Jan 20, 2021 11:33 am

Emazia wrote:
Kargintinia wrote:Hansen: “Mr Speaker I tell the Honorable Member for Manchester Withington that we shall certainly take measures of cutting interests to avoid a crisis... of what level I cannot currently say but I can say with confidence that we are prepared to take certain measures to deal with any economic crisis.”

Bennett: "Mr Speaker, what will be the Prime Minister's goals on Brexit, and will he pledge to put any deal he agrees to before Parliament?"

Hansen: “Mr Speaker I tell the Honorable Member for Manchester Withington that our goal for Brexit is to work out and build a comprehensive deal that benefits Brits first and not the goals of the Union... any deal will go before Parliament but if we are unable to work out a deal that benefits us before the deadline we will be exiting the EU anyways. The British people re-asserted their desire to leave in the 2019 General Election and the Conservative government will uphold that desire.”

by **New Papan** » Wed Jan 20, 2021 11:41 am

Kargintinia wrote:Hansen: “Mr Speaker I tell the Honorable Member for Manchester Withington that our goal for Brexit is to work out and build a comprehensive deal that benefits Brits first and not the goals of the Union... any deal will go before Parliament but if we are unable to work out a deal that benefits us before the deadline we will be exiting the EU anyways. The British people re-asserted their desire to leave in the 2019 General Election and the Conservative government will uphold that desire.”

The House of Commons
Jessica Holland [CON - Bromley and Chislehurst]

Sitting near the Prime Minister on the front bench, Holland shouted "Hear, hear!" and nodded approvingly.

by **Emazia** » Wed Jan 20, 2021 12:09 pm

Kargintinia wrote:
Emazia wrote:Bennett: "Mr Speaker, what will be the Prime Minister's goals on Brexit, and will he pledge to put any deal he agrees to before Parliament?"

Hansen: “Mr Speaker I tell the Honorable Member for Manchester Withington that our goal for Brexit is to work out and build a comprehensive deal that benefits Brits first and not the goals of the Union... any deal will go before Parliament but if we are unable to work out a deal that benefits us before the deadline we will be exiting the EU anyways. The British people re-asserted their desire to leave in the 2019 General Election and the Conservative government will uphold that desire.”

Bennett: "Will we be looking towards a Norwegian-style deal, a Canadian-style deal or a no deal scenario?"

by **Kargintinia** » Wed Jan 20, 2021 2:32 pm

Emazia wrote:
Kargintinia wrote:Hansen: “Mr Speaker I tell the Honorable Member for Manchester Withington that our goal for Brexit is to work out and build a comprehensive deal that benefits Brits first and not the goals of the Union... any deal will go before Parliament but if we are unable to work out a deal that benefits us before the deadline we will be exiting the EU anyways. The British people re-asserted their desire to leave in the 2019 General Election and the Conservative government will uphold that desire.”

Bennett: "Will we be looking towards a Norwegian-style deal, a Canadian-style deal or a no deal scenario?"

Hansen: “We will be trying to build a deal that benefits Brits above all and leaving sternly if the Union refuses to gives us that. That is our goal. There are many options on the table being considered.”

by **Emazia** » Thu Jan 21, 2021 12:37 pm

Kargintinia wrote:
Emazia wrote:Bennett: "Will we be looking towards a Norwegian-style deal, a Canadian-style deal or a no deal scenario?"

Hansen: “We will be trying to build a deal that benefits Brits above all and leaving sternly if the Union refuses to gives us that. That is our goal. There are many options on the table being considered.”

Bennett: "Moving on from Brexit, what is the Prime Minister willing to do in terms of Iran?"

by **Kargintinia** » Thu Jan 21, 2021 12:55 pm

Emazia wrote:
Kargintinia wrote:Hansen: “We will be trying to build a deal that benefits Brits above all and leaving sternly if the Union refuses to gives us that. That is our goal. There are many options on the table being considered.”

Bennett: "Moving on from Brexit, what is the Prime Minister willing to do in terms of Iran?"

Hansen: “We are alarmed by the situation involving Iran. The Conservative government is urging both sides to have full restraint and to avoid future conflict. We would willing to propose sanctions to prevent future aggressive attacks by the Quds Force across the region.”

by **Emazia** » Thu Jan 21, 2021 1:07 pm

Kargintinia wrote:
Emazia wrote:Bennett: "Moving on from Brexit, what is the Prime Minister willing to do in terms of Iran?"

Hansen: “We are alarmed by the situation involving Iran. The Conservative government is urging both sides to have full restraint and to avoid future conflict. We would willing to propose sanctions to prevent future aggressive attacks by the Quds Force across the region.”

Bennett: "Will the Prime Minister pledge towards not going to total war except if Iran attacks Britain specifically?"

by **Kargintinia** » Thu Jan 21, 2021 2:47 pm

Emazia wrote:
Kargintinia wrote:Hansen: “We are alarmed by the situation involving Iran. The Conservative government is urging both sides to have full restraint and to avoid future conflict. We would willing to propose sanctions to prevent future aggressive attacks by the Quds Force across the region.”

Bennett: "Will the Prime Minister pledge towards not going to total war except if Iran attacks Britain specifically?"

Hansen: “I can pledge that the United Kingdom will not enter conflict with Iran unless attacked or under Article V of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.”

by **Agarntrop** » Thu Jan 21, 2021 2:51 pm

The Speaker
House of Commons

"Order! The questioning period between Ms. Bennett and The Prime Minister is over. Now, to backbench questions."

by **Jovuistan** » Thu Jan 21, 2021 4:54 pm

Agarntrop wrote:The Speaker
House of Commons

"Order! The questioning period between Ms. Bennett and The Prime Minister is over. Now, to backbench questions."

Duncan Ingram MP (CON-Windsor): "Thank you Mr. Speaker, and I wish a happy new year and new decade to all of my colleagues. Over the past couple of months, several parts of the UK have experienced severe flooding, causing tens of millions of pounds sterling worth of damage as well as the tragic loss of life in some areas. Constituents in my County have expressed concern over the potential in particular of the River Thames flooding over and threatening their homes and businesses. Will the Prime Minister commit to an increased focus on constructing the River Thames Scheme and ensuring our flood defenses are capable of handling a possible increase in floods as some climate scientists have expressed concern about?"

by **Sarenium** » Thu Jan 21, 2021 9:52 pm

Labour MP Anna Rollings sat in the second row and had look of pure amusement at the Tories opposite. She scribbled her question and waited for Ingram's question to be answered before she'd stand.

by **Kargintinia** » Fri Jan 22, 2021 3:47 pm

Jovuistan wrote:
Agarntrop wrote:The Speaker
House of Commons

"Order! The questioning period between Ms. Bennett and The Prime Minister is over. Now, to backbench questions."

Duncan Ingram MP (CON-Windsor): "Thank you Mr. Speaker, and I wish a happy new year and new decade to all of my colleagues. Over the past couple of months, several parts of the UK have experienced severe flooding, causing tens of millions of pounds sterling worth of damage as well as the tragic loss of life in some areas. Constituents in my County have expressed concern over the potential in particular of the River Thames flooding over and threatening their homes and businesses. Will the Prime Minister commit to an increased focus on constructing the River Thames Scheme and ensuring our flood defenses are capable of handling a possible increase in floods as some climate scientists have expressed concern about?"

Hansen: “This Conservative government views climate change as an extreme existential threat. We will commit to increasing spending and to flood protection and to move the Kingdom in general towards a more climate friendly future.”

by **Zedeshia** » Sat Jan 23, 2021 5:32 pm

Mierand carefully reviewed a set of papers in hands as he listened to the Prime Minister speak, at certain points quickly making the occasional note or correction in a pen that laid by his side. That was until he heard Hansen's most recent response. After a moment of thought the Scotsman rose from his seat and cleared his throat. He had not planned to speak so soon, but now was an ideal time to do just that.

[Johnathan Mierand - SNP - Na h-Eileanan an Iar]: "If I may interject for a moment, Mister Speaker, as this is potentially a matter of significant importance. What exact measures does the Honorable Prime Minister plan to take to legitimately address such issues, both in the case of flooding and particularly wider climate change as a whole?"

by **Cybernetic Socialist Republics** » Tue Feb 09, 2021 11:41 am

Patrick Peter Ellis

As a Labour Backbench MP, there was precious little for Peter than do than watch the PMQs, due to the lack of any specific legislation to discuss at the moment. He'd take notes on the proceedings, that were a whole lot shorter and less charged than his complete unabridged thoughts:

Emazia wrote:Alexandra Bennett MP: "I understand that, at the moment, tensions are running high in Iran. However, such crises have often distracted the people of this country from the structural problems that still plague everyday life. The Phase 1 report for Grenfell has been released, however we have yet to see a report on the wider situation and anything done to prevent it from happening again. Will the Prime Minister pledge to remove all flammable cladding from public and private housing by the end of the year?"

Say what you will about our foreign policy being counterproductive for the interests of workers domestically and abroad, the issue sure as hell isn't that we're too distracted by what's going on outside our borders. In fact ol' little englanders could spend a bit more time caring about think out a bit further into the world. Not to mention you'd have hoped our leader would use the opportunity to take a jab at Hansen's friendliness with president in the face of this recklessness but I suppose she won't. At least the question about cladding is good one.

Kargintinia wrote:Brian Hansen MP: “I will. However it is quite noticeable when Madame Bennett comes all the way to ask me this when she has not yet removed them in her own constituency.”

Good, god what a fool, either he's too foolish to remember that powers and responsibility of MPs do not include executive decision making about building regulations in their constituency, or he's so foolish that he thinks even his voters are dense enough to think it is. What a tragedy that we'll be depending on the tories alone will have the power to save us from this arse for just under 5 more years. Hopefully Bennett smacks him good enough on this that it forces the papers to cover this.

Emazia wrote:Alexandra Bennett MP: "Mr. Speaker, I would like to inform the honourable gentleman that I am not, in fact, the head of my local council. However, there have been, over the past quarter of 2019, declines in the value of assets, private consumption and production in the country, suggesting signs of a triple-dip recession. What will the Prime Minister do to mitigate these economic declines and stop another recession which would lead to job losses and suffering across this country?"

Ugh, could be worse I suppose, but she barely parried that when she could have gone for a good counter thrust. I suppose there's a reason we're still sitting here in the opposition. The second question is fine and I know that Bennett's a bit out of it because she's due to be replaced, but our only tool as the opposition to such a massive majority is doing everything we can to make Hansen look like a fool in the press, so that the sharks in his cabinet start circling and hopefully precipitate some good old tory backstabbing. Wish the second question kept the need to do that in mind at least, but it's open ended enough to allow him to stick to a script.

Kargintinia wrote:Brian Hansen MP: “I would like to remind the Honorable Member for Manchester Withington that Tory governments have seen overwhelmingly better economic success than Labour ones and we are most confident in our ability to avoid any recession. We plan to cut interest and tax rates to take the burden off of average Brits and build economic growth unlike Labour with their economic failure.”

Of course, a script, not terribly convincing either. Saying that they plan to cut interests is rather curious, though and an open space to launch an attack. The Bank of England has been independent since [not Blair], precisely to take control of monetary policy out of the hands of the whims of parliament. Say what you will about the wisdom of that, it's how our system has worked for over 20 years now. I'd hope that Bennett would know to go on the attack over that, even at the expense of deemphasizing the defense of labour's record or his rubbish about tax cuts.

Emazia wrote:Alexandra Bennett: "Statistics show that every Labour government bar the ones that have had major recessions at the end of their term have actually decreased the national debt, whilst Tory governments - including the [not-Cameron] and Naismith ministries - have increased it, but regardless...Is the Prime Minister going to implement Japan-style negative interest rates if necessary?"

Of course Bennett is more comfortable forcing labour to go on the defense as if it we're being questioned like a government without actually being in government. Not only that she's gone on with Hansen's delusion that he controls monetary policy by asking if he is going to implement negative interest rates. Even ignoring that layer of incompetency in the question there's the fact that there is absolutely no bite to it at all. In the fantasy world where he does have control over interest rates, where do you even go to nail him on anything if he says yes or no to negative rates? Good god, she really needs to go.

Kargintinia wrote:Hansen: “Mr Speaker I tell the Honorable Member for Manchester Withington that we shall certainly take measures of cutting interests to avoid a crisis... of what level I cannot currently say but I can say with confidence that we are prepared to take certain measures to deal with any economic crisis.”

If we had competent leadership, we'd have already mocked his daftness over thinking he controls monetary policy and focused on what parliament actually controls, fiscal and regulatory policy. At once point he'd have mumbled something about tax cuts and deregulation and we could start deriding him about him providing kickbacks to friends, forcing us to consume chlorinated chicken in post Brexit trade deals and so on. Instead we're stuck in this largely harmless to Hansen wonderland where the prime minister can cut and raise interest rate as he pleases. I can't even properly mock this on socially media self because our own leadership has bought into the fantasy.

Emazia wrote:Bennett: "Mr Speaker, what will be the Prime Minister's goals on Brexit, and will he pledge to put any deal he agrees to before Parliament?"

What does it matter at this point, they've go such a huge majority they could pass almost anything even with major defections regardless of what we do. If we're to have ambitions to derail his agenda it'd at least be good to mention a wedge issue within the tory party in his current plans for brexit.

Kargintinia wrote:Hansen: “Mr Speaker I tell the Honorable Member for Manchester Withington that our goal for Brexit is to work out and build a comprehensive deal that benefits Brits first and not the goals of the Union... any deal will go before Parliament but if we are unable to work out a deal that benefits us before the deadline we will be exiting the EU anyways. The British people re-asserted their desire to leave in the 2019 General Election and the Conservative government will uphold that desire.”

Easy to reassert their desire to Leave when the choice was Leave vs a question mark. But what's past is past now, wouldn't even bother to fight to rejoin if it was popular, the worst feature of the EU was the Euro and rejoining would probably require us to adopt it. A part from that, it's just his old 'if the EU doesn't give us what we want, we'll shoot ourselves' threat again.

Emazia wrote:Bennett: "Will we be looking towards a Norwegian-style deal, a Canadian-style deal or a no deal scenario?"

I don't suppose if those who think it's as simple as signing a Norwegian-style or Canada-style deal recognize that we don't have the leverage of those nations. Around half of our imports and exports are with the EU, it's around 10% for Canada and they have the leverage of a massive trading partner in the form of the US that they share a huge land border with. Norway is a small country with outsized oil wealth and a massive sovereign wealth fund. Our best bet has always been a brexit so soft that the only thing that's changed would be the loss of our political representation in the EU, precisely because we should have never left in the first place. The issues that lead tipped the balance to leaving were all things completely within the power of our governments to control and this will remain true whatever deal we sign or don't sign. But, what's past is past.

Kargintinia wrote:Hansen: “We will be trying to build a deal that benefits Brits above all and leaving sternly if the Union refuses to gives us that. That is our goal. There are many options on the table being considered.”

Classic 'I support good things and oppose bad things' position, he really doesn't have much of anything to say. Would be nice if we had someone who could exploit that. Maybe we will, but we certainly don't now.

Emazia wrote:Bennett: "Moving on from Brexit, what is the Prime Minister willing to do in terms of Iran?"

At least we're discussing Iran at all, would be nice of Bennett loaded the question better to guide Hansen towards an embarrassing clip but, but oh well.

Kargintinia wrote:Hansen: “We are alarmed by the situation involving Iran. The Conservative government is urging both sides to have full restraint and to avoid future conflict. We would willing to propose sanctions to prevent future aggressive attacks by the Quds Force across the region.”

Could be a much worse response, I suppose, nothing much to attack him on here without risking it being turned around, thanks to how the original question was framed.

Emazia wrote:Bennett: "Will the Prime Minister pledge towards not going to total war except if Iran attacks Britain specifically?"

This gives such massive latitude to Hansen it's incredible, I can't imagine someone as anti-interventionist as Bennett would intentionally make this mistake, but not even the Iraq war was, strictly speaking, a 'total war' and I hope to god that Hansan doesn't lead us into such an intervention in iran at the behest of the Americans. I doubt they would, but even a bombing campaign under current conditions is unacceptable. Just bad word choice in the part of Bennett, unfortunately.

Kargintinia wrote:Hansen: “I can pledge that the United Kingdom will not enter conflict with Iran unless attacked or under Article V of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.”

Easy question, easy answer. This answer is even more restricted in it's conditions than Bennett's own, as it pledges no conflict unless attacked or under Article V and conflict is well short of 'total war'. Also makes Bennett look uninterested in our international obligations by bringing up NATO, a solid answer. I think it's clear that despite his blundering that he's pretty clearly won this PMQ thanks the Bennett's performance.

AGARNtrop wrote:The Speaker
House of Commons

"Order! The questioning period between Ms. Bennett and The Prime Minister is over. Now, to backbench questions."

I don't believing I'll be asking any questions today, any think I'd want to ask would likely end up making our leader look bad in asking them, I'll have to see a few more, though.

Nothing I've seen here has turned me off from going for the leadership of Labour. Despite the PM's majority, he's not unassailable and heaven knows that Labour needs new management to take on the tories properly. If nothing else, it'd help build a base within the party of the future, if not put me into a leading shadow cabinet role.

LOHG: A British Political Roleplay (58th Parliament)

LOHG: A British Political Roleplay (58th Parliament)

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