Reply to: Does Britain have a Government at the moment or not ?

[Bluenose]

Hilarious robot here. Reminds me of those old Scotch adverts. Re-record don't fade away.

https://www.facebook.com/BBCPolitics...type=2&theater

the weakest argument is one that resorts to name calling and petty labels.

proof that Corbyn offers a new type of politics but it's not shared by some of his supporters.

black rod has enacted the start of parliament, the speaker has been re-elected and the MPs are in their seats.

game on as far as the uk government machine goes.

[PurpleGorilla]

Introducing the new cabinet...

[shaunbhoy]

Morning All,

I'm getting a bit confused in my old age,
Milan.

That is not a phenomenon that is restricted to your dotage

HTH

[BrilloPad]

Of course their is a government!

A very crap one. But a government nevertheless.

[Mordac]

omg

imagine that, they've been fighting since William of Orange, and now they run a referendum on unification, I wouldn't like to see what would happen next

according to google Eire population is 4 million something and NI population is just under 2 million - hmm, this aint gonna be pretty

Milan.

Don't assume everyone in the RoI wants a united Ireland. They don't. Particularly the Irish govt. The last thing they want is a re-run of the Troubles in their back-yard.

[Mordac]

When is the next election?

Anytime between now and June 2022. The most likely seems to be Autumn this year or Spring next year.

[scooterscot]

We have a working government, it restarted today.

Hilarious robot here. Reminds me of those old Scotch adverts. Re-record don't fade away.

https://www.facebook.com/BBCPolitics...type=2&theater

[Bluenose]

Morning All,

I'm getting a bit confused in my old age, does Britain currently have a government or not ?

Normally, the little I know of GE's, straight after the GE the winner goes and sees the Queen and then they have a Government and off they go

Correct me if I am wrong, we seem to be in some kind of twilight zone with no definitive timeline

Milan.

Don't believe everything you read.

We have a working government, it restarted today.

[SueEllen]

When is the next election?

[d000hg]

Going to be interesting if Sinn Fein decide to take up their seats at Westminster.

Link

SF said categorically that since they campaigned on the basis of absenteeism, they would not be taking up their seats.

[oscarose]

No and it's not happening anytime soon...

Those bible bashers drive a hard bargain, I'd check again a few weeks...

[PurpleGorilla]

Sinn Fein always take up their Parliamentary offices (to ensure they can claim the expenses required to pay for their constituency staff). They also do the work a constituency MP normally does in solving issues their constituents have.

The only thing they won't do is to enter the chamber of the house of commons itself....

Yet.

[eek]

Sinn Fein always take up their Parliamentary offices (to ensure they can claim the expenses required to pay for their constituency staff). They also do the work a constituency MP normally does in solving issues their constituents have.

The only thing they won't do is to enter the chamber of the house of commons itself....

[VectraMan]

I think it is safe to assume that if there is a problem with the DUP that Sinn Fein will be doing whatever they can to stop them. I doubt that they'll simply just sit tight in Northern Ireland grinding their teeth.

It went largely unnoticed, but in the GE the SDLP and UUP both lost all their seats to Sinn Fein/DUP. So NI like the rest of the UK has become more polarised. Which is never good.

Surely Sinn Fein wouldn't waste the opportunity of a referendum unless they knew they had the numbers, and they're still a long way off as I understand it.

[TheFaQQer]

I think it is safe to assume that if there is a problem with the DUP that Sinn Fein will be doing whatever they can to stop them. I doubt that they'll simply just sit tight in Northern Ireland grinding their teeth.

I doubt that Sinn Fein will ever take an oath of allegiance to the Queen, which they need to do to take up their seats as MPs. There was lots of confusion when Adams resigned his seat in the past because you can only resign your seat by taking a crown office (eg becoming Crown Steward and Bailiff of the three Chiltern Hundreds of Stoke, Desborough and Burnham) and he refused to take a crown office. So technically he was still the MP because you can't resign to trigger a by election.