[kreuzberger]

Legally, it was most certainly advisory, and there was no legal compulsion to invoke Article 50.

Any backstage chit-chat, before or after, was just that.

[Abernathy]

Well, that still doesn’t make it legally binding, as Kreuz alludes to. Its legal status was non-binding and advisory only. It’s a technicality, I know, but it’s quite an important one.

In effect, it means that the decision to end the UK’s EU membership was entirely a political choice by the Tories.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I don't buy that. There was no way anyone was getting out of it on a technicality, to put it euphemistically. "You know when we said we'd abide by the result? We were lying".

The die was cast once the Tories got a majority in 2015.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Part of my continued hostility to the Greens (apart from my MP) goes back to their failure to understand the importance of the referendum as a step in a downward spiral. They were too busy taking chunks out of Ed Miliband.

[The Weeping Angel]

It's rubbish, if you look at the Labour manifesto or King's Speech.

The US Bluesky position is likely based on immigration and trans rights, which are very strong issues for the Bluesky US Left, in their opposition to Trumpism as a whole. Not that the UK Government is running anything like an ICE operation. We'll see what the new guidance says on trans rights. The fact the first draft was rejected may be a semi-positive sign that there could be flexibility. But I can more see the Bluesky US Left point on that, because the UK is anomalous with other European countries.

On immigration, one thing they often overlook is that Biden, in fact, moved to the right on immigration. At the beginning of 2024, a deal was ready to pass the Senate, which would have included several harsh measures. Also, I remember some of themwhen they were on Twitter saying Democrsts will have to move rightwards on immigration.