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Barnhill, Jura. June 2015. (Thanks to the kindness of the Fletcher family).

The height of ideological differences

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Edited by John Gynn, Wednesday, 16 Jan 2019, 14:07

In the debate on the Labour leader's Motion that the House has no confidence in Her Majesty's Government, Mark Francois, deputy chair of the pro-Brexit European Research Group (the 'ERG') appeared to be standing up especially to note that he and the Prime Minister had "not always seen eye-to-eye" on the matter of Brexit.

A heckle arising from his own benches rang across the Chamber:

"That's because she's taller than you".

More widely and much more importantly, there does seem to be a fairly evident cross-bench current pointing to the benefits of a customs union. Whether or not this will be accommodated by any revision of the Prime Minister's 'red lines' - which presently exclude the possibility of remaining in the customs union - remains to be seen.

One determining factor is likely to be the position adopted by the DUP on that particular matter.

An underlying current is concern over the Orders of the House and their application and observance with particular concern focused on the pairing system that allows an MP to be excluded from the need to vote in extenuating circumstances by arranging for an MP who will vote in opposition to the indisposed member to withhold their vote in recognition of the benefit to any parliamentary representative who might, on very reasonable grounds, be unable to attend the vote without impact on their health.

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