Ten years ago SNP delegates met in Aviemore for our annual conference. In May of that year we had won the right to form Scotland’s first SNP Scottish Government and quickly got to work in “Leading Scotland Forward”. Go … read more
Passengers queue to take a subway after arriving at Beijing Railway Station in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 7, 2017. As the National Day holiday draws to its end, Beijing greets a large number of passengers back to work and college. (Xinhua/Tao Y… read more
More than 70,000 officials at or above the county-head level have been investigated for suspected corruption since the 18th Communist Party of China (CPC) National Congress in 2012, the top anti-graft body of the CPC said Saturday. The anti-graft camp… read more
7 October 2017
This weekend Greens will gather for the party’s autumn conference [1] to ask big questions about the issues facing Britain and the world.
At the conference, which runs from Saturday 7 to Tuesday 10 October, members will explore how climate action can be at the heart of all policy, how Greens can fight the worst effects of Brexit, and how the party can pioneer a new vision for the economy.
Jonathan Bartley, Green Party co-leader, said:
“At Autumn Conference this year Greens will say the things others won’t. So when we have a failing economy with stagnating wages and people working all hours to make ends meet, we’ll say it’s not enough to tinker with things. When there is an establishment consensus on leaving the single market, we’ll say that’s incompatible with ending austerity. We’re at a turning point – and we need to be asking big questions about our future.”
Caroline Lucas, Green Party co-leader, said:
“Only the Green Party recognises the scale of the challenge we face and the need for bold and fundamental reform so we can build a better future for all. We get to the heart of the issues – and ask who our economy is meant to serve. We stand up to the Government’s callous policies towards migrants and refugees. And we are unafraid to politicise climate breakdown and set out the urgent policies we need to address it. We will always speak truth to power.”
Notes:
1. Green Party Autumn Conference runs from Saturday 7 October to Tuesday 10 October, 2017 at the Harrogate International Centre, Entrance 3, King’s Rd, Harrogate HG1 5LA.
read moreAll the time the UK accepts that the talks are about the so called divorce settlement without including a future agreement and trade issues they are a waste of time from the UK point of view. It would be better just to leave.
On Thursday morning I was invited to the LSE to lead a discussion with a legal expert on EU Treaty law and the Vienna Convention on Treaties on the issue of the so called divirce bill. Many at the seminar were on the EU’s side, favouring us paying a large sum and seeking legal, political and moral reasons why we should.
The good news was no-one was able to sustain a legal case for us to pay. Article 50 clearly makes no such demand. There was also general agreement that any attempt by the EU to pursue us for money after we have left through any international legal procedure would fail. Article 50 gives us the absolute right to leave after 2 years, and expressly states that ends our rights and obligations.
The moral case for paying is based on the proposition that we were round the table when the 7 year budget plan was agreed. This falls down because we were not let off payments for budgets agreed before we joined once we became a member. When you join you have to accept the liabilities already incurred, so when you leave the liabilities must stop.
The political case for paying is based on the simple fact that the EU wants us to pay, so many pro EU Brits think we should do so. They sometimes think this will unlock advantages for us which apparently take the form of staying in bits of the EU that we voted to leave!
When I go into a shop I do not give them a large sum of money because they would like me to, and then ask them if they will give me any goods back in return. If the EU wants us to stay in the EIB or Erasmus then they need to tell us and spell out the price and what we would get in return. We should not pay to trade, or pay for talks, as they are in their interest too.
If as many expect the EU says at the October Council they still do not intend to talk about a future Agreement we should just get on with preparing for exit with No Deal. We should certainly not offer them money, which would be taken as signs of weakness by the UK, encouraging them to dig in harder to get more.
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