General Election - June 8th

I agree, for the life of me I cannot see what a so called soft Brexit would look like, we are ending free movement as reiterated this morning on the news by Amber Rudd so that alone automatically takes us out of the single market, its all about access to the single market.

We are quite simply in or out, no half in half out.

I don't think that's the case at all. She is simply seeking to have an increased majority so that the game-playing by the likes of Anna Soubry, Ken Clarke and Nicky Morgan (all of whom should really sit with the Lib Dems) doesn't badly affect the Brexit process.

It seems that some become selectively deaf. The terms "soft Brexit" and "hard Brexit" were coined by the Lib Dems where "soft Brexit" means remaining in the Single Market and customs union - in other words 75% of our full EU membership and which is what they demand. But all the leading figures of both the Remain and Leave campaigns made it quite clear that we would leave the Single Market because that was the only way to regain control of our borders.

What Mrs May is seeking is the same deal with the EU that Canada has - trading with the tariff-free Single Market. But Canada does not have to permit Freedom of Movement. That'll do us nicely, thanks.

The Labour Party say that she is going now because the economy will deteriorate.

She says she doesn't want an election at the same time as the final negotiations.

Why? You can currently enjoy the same privilege just as (at least) two of us do.

And that is a fair comment, personally I expect to see a downturn in the economy at one time or another, a downturn may I add that the UK will recover from.

Care to elucidate?

As I see it, an EU citizen in the UK can bring their partner here for free on a family permit with no need for English tests or financial requirements. A British citizen cannot do the same thing in the UK.

This is certainly my interpretation of things anyway.

This will be the same Labour Party that Theresa May's announcement caught with its pants not only down, but in the wash! According to our friend Guido, the Labour Party has no electoral slogan, no "key seats" list and most importantly, no budget"!

You can get a family permit for your wife to join you in any other EU country. My wife joined me in Malta on a Family Permit whilst Melody and Chris are also making use of their Freedom of Movement Rights in Spain.

Why is the lovely Mrs May missing a description? I can think of some

180 degree May
U-turn May
Indecisive May
Not very bright May
Victorian May

Or, how about Dictator May? She, the one who wants to bypass Parliament when re-writing the laws that effect our daily lives? She who said categorically, and I quote

"There should be no general election until 2020" - June 30th 2016

http://www.newstatesman.com/politic...resa-may-said-snap-election-was-terrible-idea

Let us also consider her U-turns in the early days of her reign

https://order-order.com/2016/10/10/theresa-mays-u-turns/

The link is from Guido Fawkes' site, one that many of you enjoy reading, so glad I can oblige. I think she's U-turned again on some of those.

Her vanity project is to re-install Grammar schools, she needs more support to do it. A large majority will result in kids being told at an early age that they are not good enough to be among the elite. This will, of course, separate the posh wheat from the under-privileged chaff. It is a Victorian policy set by someone who has lived a sheltered and privileged life with a stable family home who benefited from all of these things and was able to do well at school.

Whenever I think of Grammar schools, I think of the effect that it would have had on my own education. There is little doubt that, at the age of 11, I would not have been considered grammar school material - mainly because I spent 2 years avoiding school due to bullying.

The effects of that still live with me today, and I joined Comprehensive School full of apprehension, and labelled below-average in my first assessments. The new school environment, however, suited me and I quickly moved to being labelled one of the brightest in the school. In Theresa May's world, I would have been pigeon-holed during my troubled years.

Theresa May is the silliest PM we've had since the Second World War and, if there was an effective opposition, she would stand no chance. As it is, she will win comfortably and I believe that we will see a gentle erosion of our rights as she spreads her tentacles over every facet of our daily lives.

I know that.

We can't get one for them to join us in the UK. An EU citizen from another country can.

So we don't enjoy the same privilege at all.

If she resigns immediately after winning, then the new PM will face calls for an election because he/she won't have been "elected". Not my thought process, by the way, because we vote for MPs and not PMs.

May had to roll back an element of her budget because she was strung up by Cameron's manifesto. Most likely there will be a budget in Autumn that raises NI payments for the self-employed, there will be a mandate to push ahead with grammar schools, and EU laws can be re-written without Parliamentary approval. All the things Mother Theresa wants she will now get for the next 5 years.

Theresa keeps spouting that one doesn't she?

A hard brexit would be one where no agreement is reached. "No deal is better than a bad deal". That statement alone proves that there are varying degrees in hardness/softness goodness/badness blackness/whiteness. If Brexit is Brexit (Mother Theresa has yet to decide on what that means too - including an expanded open border policy for SEVEN years) then there need be no negotiations.

I think May has performed a very understandable U-turn in my view, she will soon have a bigger majority to push through the policies she believes in whether that is Grammar schools or raising NI for the self employed.

For me, I am just focused on exiting the EU and I trust May to deliver on that, not little Timmy or JC, Brexit is way out of their league to deal with.

UKIP took more Labour voters than Tory. The chances are, UKIP voters will turnout in lower numbers - some will even go back to voting Labour because that's their tradition.

Interesting theory about NI. They stopped plans to raise it because of their manifesto pledge, so this would eradicate that.

It will matter how long it takes. People are impatient, and I can imagine the reactions of some of the more bigoted when another Eastern European family settles 5 miles away (they're getting closer) and that this is still continuing in 2022 when the next election is called (assuming Theresa doesn't u-turn again of course).

I expect the current Tory manifesto will be updated to include one or two things we may not like, we will see in a couple of weeks.

Yes. Basically they have a free reign to stitch us up any way they want at the moment because of Corbyn's hopelessness.

I think that as long as people see progress being made on curbing immigration then everything will be fine.

The U-turn May has performed does not rank alongside the mammoth U-turn of your mate Clegg on tuition fees does it?

She's performed so many U-turns her election music is going to be the theme tune of the Magic Roundabout.