Rob Merrick
@Rob_Merrick
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Political journalist, UK corr for @devex Also @LobbyXI football team veteran skipper and parly pool champ. Welshman.
London
Joined February 2009
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Last Seen Profiles
Liz Truss has spoken today to Ukraine's president about the ongoing crisis
Zelensky promised to provide all the assistance he could
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Astonishing fact the UK has suffered more Covid deaths in 24 hours (1,041) than Australia has since the START OF THE PANDEMIC (909)
What a monumental failure
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NOON - Sunak: "This government will have integrity...at every level"
4.15pm.....brings back Suella Braverman, sacked as home sec for breaching the ministerial code....SIX DAYS AGO
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So Boris Johnson has….
+ Axed a £5,000 bonus scheme to send teachers to struggling areas
+ And now announced a £3,000 bonus scheme to send teachers to struggling areas
…..and hailed it as ‘levelling up'
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Wow!! Covid ‘catch-up’ funding per pupil…..
US - £1,600
Netherlands - £2,500
UK……£50
(says Institute for Fiscal Studies)
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Liz Truss says she was “wrong” to warn that Brexit would drive away investment and make Brits poorer
…..even though that is exactly what has happened
#r4today
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Very revealing.....Dominic Raab hails a “cracking deal” for Northern Ireland because it will keep “frictionless access to the single market”
That’s EXACTLY why the rest of the UK will be left poorer, of course
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Sarah Vine says the PM is “working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week”
....a year ago, he failed to turn up to 5 Cobr meetings about the pandemic
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Boris Johnson hails Brexit for creating “our ability to cut VAT” on fuel bills
…..while refusing to cut VAT on fuel bills ?
#PMQs
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Wow!! Tory MP Tracy Crouch warns there are no available appointments at the UK’s refugee application centre in Rzeszow, Poland until….."the end of next month"
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Michael Gove tells MPs the “great thing about leaving the EU” is that the UK decides how to spend economic development funding
which turns out to be….to cut it by about £2bn !
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“We have got all the big calls right” - the PM’s new claim on his Covid response
A reminder that an inquiry by 2 Tory-led committees called it….."one of UK’s worst ever public health failures”
After at least 150,000 people died
#PMQs
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Is Brexit to blame for the Channel ports holidays meltdown?
Truss & Sunak in unison: “No!”
The most dishonest moment of the evening …..
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Wow!! David Frost says govt had not realised it would be more difficult to negotiate with EU as “a third party”
After all those warnings that UK would throw away its best card by getting out without sorting out future terms….ending in current debacle
What a mea culpa
#Brexit
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Ooof!! Tory foreign affairs committee chair Tom Tugendhat on the invisible Dominic Raab….
"I don't know what is in the works because we haven't heard from the Foreign Secretary in about a week - despite this being the biggest single policy disaster since Suez"
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Sunak describes the wave of strikes as "Labour's nightmare before Christmas"
Mate, you're the PM - I think the public expects you to take charge!
And the Royal College of Nursing isn't even affiliated to Labour
#PMQs
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Trying to imagine the result if I’d given this answer in my economics A-level exam…..
BBC’s
@bbclaurak
"So you're not worried about inflation?”
PM: "I believe that supply will match demand”
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Robert Jenrick - who unlawfully handed development favours to a Tory donor - has “been to the House and answered questions on this extensively” claims biz sec Alok Sharma
Jenrick refused to show up - and sent his junior !!
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Tory chairman James Cleverly not denying that “out of date” document outlining meltdown after no-deal Brexit was written on....August 1
It’s less than 3 weeks “out of date”
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Not sure Conservative minister Claire Perry shouting “shut up!” at Corbyn as he warns patients are dying waiting for NHS treatment is a great look?
#pmqs
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Suella Braverman's otherwise incomprehensible reappointment is surely the most important message of the day.....we have yet another PM who is a slave to the Tory hard Right ?
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PM fibs at
#PMQs
(list may not be exhaustive)
+ Labour wanted another lockdown - didn’t even argue for tougher restrictions
+ Denies saying inflation fears “unfounded” - he did (in Oct)
+ Labour wants to rejoin EU - errr !
+ “Poverty is down” - relative poverty is up (a lot)
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Poor interview by Andrew Marr, allowing the PM to rabbit on-and-on-and-on without tough questioning.....perhaps
@hannahITV
can pass on tips on how to shut him up?
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Boris Johnson calls the current very long A&E waiting times “unacceptable”
When he finds out which party has been in power for a decade he will be livid
#PMQs
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UK-Norway trade deal “not as comprehensive” as terms UK enjoyed as EU member, Oslo says
So the hunt for that Brexit dividend goes on….
and on
and on…..
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Tory chair Nadhim Zahawi says nurses must "send a message to Putin".....by accepting real-terms pay cuts
#Ridge
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Wow!! Liz Truss says anyone criticising Boris Johnson’s blunders over Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s imprisonment in Iran is....”an apologist for the regime”
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Tory conference giggles as Kwasi Kwarteng says his bungled budget has "caused a little turbulence"
I don't think the homebuyers who have lost their mortgages - and their dreams - are laughing
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Today’s lesson: If you’re going to have herd immunity as your policy (before denying it)……don’t tell the Italian president
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Weird aspect of this Channel 4 debate….
Cathy Newman constantly stating what Conservative policy is…...WHEN THE PARTY CAN’T BE ARSED TO TURN UP !
Why?
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Wow!! Ex-minister Nick Gibb suggests that, as in the US, “you worry whether democracy is safe”.....as he calls the Cabinet to bring down the PM
“We have to make sure that doesn’t happen in this country. We have to get rid of the rot in our political system” - tells R4
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Truss speech: "I grew up in the 80s and 90s.
"I have seen the boarded-up shops
"I have seen families struggling to put food on the table"
....errr, there was a Conservative goverment
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Dominic Raab announces a 10% increase in aid funding to Afghanistan
A few months ago, he slashed it by…..78%
(also unclear how this money is spent under Taliban control?)
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The Australian prime minister literally confirmed it….
Liz Truss tells me the claims Australia has dropped climate targets in its trade deal with the UK is "fake news."
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What a total shitshow.....on Saturday, the Home Office explicitly told me it would
NEW: Govt confirms that the new “health and care visa” will not include social care workers.
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Liz Truss wants everybody to have the chance “to go to a school like Winchester”
Where fees are £46,000 a year
Meanwhile, neither candidate has a policy for state schools….
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Universities minister Michelle Donelan claims fees will be ‘waived’ in ‘new Erasmus’ scheme - then admits no such arrangement exists
Even by the standards of recent government lying.....it’s breathtaking
Utter deceit
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A rather desperate Boris Johnson claims the UK could not have been "out in front” backing Ukraine if still in the EU
I must have imagined the actions in Sierra Leone, Kosovo and - tragically - Iraq?
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Oooof!! Devastating from Andy Burnham….
Says ministers told him “there’s no money left”…..to help Manchester
Meanwhile, private consultants get £7k an hour
(to screw up test-and-trace)
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Will someone point out that Truss’s 2016 warnings of Brexit damage…HAVE COME TRUE !?!
Please!
#projectfact
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PM now blaming Sadie Khan’s “incompetence” for Hammersmith Bridge closure….
…..as I understand it, the govt has refused to fund repairs
#pmqs
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Second Lib Dem candidate effectively endorses Labour in key marginal seat….is tactical voting on a roll?
You have a decision to make in
#CardiffNorth
tomorrow.
I'm standing to give voters dismayed by the big two a chance to vote Liberal Democrat 🔶
But if you want to deny Johnson and the Conservatives a majority
#VoteTacticalNotTribal
@BestForBritain
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Extraordinary moment as Simon Clarke says he has no idea about offer by 5,000 local govt environmental health officials to lead infection contact tracing
Clarke is the LOCAL GOVERNMENT MINISTER !
Another shambles it appears
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“We will not hesitate to take action” says PM
as he literally hesitates to take action
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“We have to be cautious”
- Boris Johnson as he +checks notes+ …..lifts ALL Covid ‘Plan B’ restrictions in England
Some people think pandemic policy is being driven by the campaign to save the PM’s job….
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This is a truly dreadful
#PMQs
performance by Johnson…..refusing to answer reasonable questions about the exams fiasco
Coming across as shifty, evasive and refusing to accept any responsibility
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Huge win for Labour - PM backs down, agrees government will pay to take down cladding from tower blocks….after MONTHS of saying no
To avoid Commons defeat this afternoon
#PMQs
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Errrr, PM slams dangerous cladding still being on buildings “disgraceful”
It’s his govt charged with failing to remove it!!
#PMQs
#GrenfellTower
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Latest on that “200,000 Ukrainians are eligible to come to the UK” nonsense
I asked the Home Office how the figure is calculated
It said it is…."based on internal estimates”
That’s it! No attempt to explain it, or provide evidence for it
In other words….it’s made up
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PM: “We’ve done about 60 trade deals already”
No, he’s done one - with the EU, which ended free trade of course
The rest were ‘rollovers' of existing EU deals
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I was no fan of Tony Blair, but the contrast between his ideas, energy and plan for beating the pandemic (on
@BBCr4today
) and the bumblings of the current PM....are humiliating for Johnson
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“An investigation by The Mail on Sunday has found Brexit has caused an avalanche of red tape” 😂 😆 😹
Next week - the Pope’s religion.….REVEALED !!
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‘Levelling up’ latest….
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Wow!! European Council president is basically calling the PM a liar…..
The backstop is an insurance to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland unless and until an alternative is found. Those against the backstop and not proposing realistic alternatives in fact support reestablishing a border. Even if they do not admit it.
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Scene in Kremlin: "Bad news Mr President - we're getting slaughtered in Ukraine....but it's ok, the RCN is striking!"
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Why not, he's lied in front of a bus already...
Boris Johnson says he's prepared to 'lie in front of bulldozers' to stop construction work
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Michael Gove heaping praise on Boris Johnson as akin to "a Premiership goalscorer”
It is only 3 years since he terminated Johnson's leadership bid - and said he was unfit to be PM
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But we all knew this!! It was widely reported that the PM was not attending Cobr meetings.....and he publicly dismissed the idea of looming crisis
not far off 500k deaths”. Ministers knew by 2nd week of February the gravity of what confronted us. So I am literally gobsmacked by the
@thesundaytimes
disclosure that the PM was not prioritising the looming Coronavirus catastrophe till March.
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So why did you vote for - and tell the public to support - an agreement that....puts a border down the Irish Sea?
The integrity of the United Kingdom is vital. We want a free trade deal with the EU that is in all our interests. But we cannot accept them either keeping us under their rules, or putting a border down the Irish Sea.
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Corbyn now has South London grime and North London garage rock scenes sewn up....how can he lose?!
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RHA boss says only 5,000 of Gove’s promised 50,000 customs agents are in place….
….with under 4 months to go
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No 10 says it cannot confirm if there “was a cake” at the PM’s lockdown birthday party - ahead of Sue Gray’s report
And so the UK’s slide into absurdity escalates
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It’s fine for the government to threaten another election, but when Labour pushes for it, that’s.....”playing politics”
Yet again this would be Labour playing politics when we all need to focus on the national interest & deliver Brexit in an orderly fashion.
#shame
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I also enjoyed Nadhim looking at a chart showing Labour 25 points ahead and saying...."I would be worried if I was Keir Starmer"
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This is unbelievable....Madeley should resign, as he’s clearly too ignorant to do his job
Oh my god this was frustrating!
You're either a member of the European Union OR YOU'RE NOT!
#GMB
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PM says it’s better to use “domestic” coal than imported coal
Some might say it’s better not to use any coal at all
#pmqs
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Brexit ‘dividend’ latest….
Food & drink exports Jan-Sept (compared with 2019)
Germany - down 44.5%
Italy - down 43.3%
Spain - down 50.6%
Without improved Brexit deal…."this downturn will be here to stay” warns
@Foodanddrinkfed
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Boris Johnson today: “We’ve known for a long time that this was the way things were going”
Did he forget he said this?!
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Another senior Conservative highlights the economic “advantage” of being in the EU single market…..having campaigned to leave it
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PM now claiming he is carrying out 500,000 tests a day….
…..that's blatantly untrue, because that is the (alleged) capacity……a figure utterly meaningless and dishonest
In fact, 207,817 tests were carried out on Tuesday….and the figure is FALLING
#PMQs
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Classic….
‘Was there a party?’ …..’No’
‘Did 50 people get together in a room and get pissed?’ …..’Errrrrr'
How Boris Johnson’s spokespeople answered questions today about whether the Prime Minister broke Covid rules by having parties in Downing Street during lockdown.
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Dominic Raab says asylum seekers arriving in the UK are treated “decently and humanely”
They are either tagged or locked up - and will now be deported to Rwanda
#PMQs
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Boris Johnson appears to be apologising for not realising that a party - with food & booze laid out and a BYOB instruction - was…..a party
Extraordinary….
#PMQs
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“Universal Credit is helping 200,000 people into work”
Boris Johnson repeats the claim….despite the Statistics Authority ruling it is bollocks
#PMQs
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Sarah Champion becomes 2nd Lab MP (I think) to say publicly she would “take no deal over no Brexit”
"I want us to leave, the country wants us to leave and, for our democracy, I think we have to leave
"So therefore, if it came to it, I would take no deal”
#PoliticsLive
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"There is definitely science behind it” - Oliver Dowden on the 10pm pubs shutdown
Yesterday, it was revealed that SAGE “never discussed” it
#Marr
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Zinger from Corbyn (yes really) - “What technological advances is she expecting to be made in the next 58 days?”
Dire non-response from PM:
“There are a number of options being put forward…..”
#pmqs
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Errrrr, hello?! You campaigned for this, you voted for this….this is what you wanted
#brexit
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Tory MP Edward Leigh: “It would be the end of the Conservative party if we delay Brexit, if we have a second referendum”
#wato
Leigh is now voting for the deal, after being made a privy councillor (this is ‘a coincidence’)
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Am reliably told that when - after the trade deal was signed - it was pointed out that Frost had broken the promise to save visa-free touring for musicians, he went blank
He seemed to have no idea that he had totally shafted them
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Iain Duncan Smith claims the impact of the N Ireland protocol on UK state aid freedoms was….”unseen”
Ah!! That would be the agreement he helped ram through in a few days - with all warnings rubbished
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Mate, you're the prime minister ?
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Here you have it.....any infected parent of a young child who - unlike Cummings - stuck to the rules now accused of “taking a chance” with that child’s life
Says a government minister.....just incredible
@Keir_Starmer
.It didn’t take u long to politicise this. Shame on you. U don’t even acknowledge that Dominic Cummings & his wife were infected by Covid19 with a young child & not knowing whether it will end up in ICU or recover, yet if left to u, they should just take a chance with their son.
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Northern Ireland Protocol must be ripped up because it has “an economic cost”, PM says
Lucky there is no “economic cost” to Brexit itself, I guess
#PMQs
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One senior Tory MP on next week’s North Shropshire by-election….
“We wrote that off a week ago"
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The state of this….is the BBC so terrified of the govt’s war against it?
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PM repeats false claim that EU has more generous refugee policy because they are “Schengen countries”
Not true - they have gone much further than Schengen rules….asylum for 3 years
#PMQs
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“No-one should be homeless” - Boris Johnson
#PMQs
Jeez….these figures came out less than 2 months ago !
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Tom Watson on further Brexit referendum: ‘We’re not ruling it out’ -
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PM claims Brexit has enabled
+ Freeports
+ the vaccination programme
+ 'jobs’ investment
…..none of these things are true
#PMQs
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'stay alert, control the virus, save lives' can be rearranged as….
'easily survives travel north to castle’
So
@patrick_kidd
informs me! Many thanks!
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Am hearing it suggested the Tory party fine - £17,800 - is “minor”
Remember the govt has blocked a recommendation for the Electoral Commission to impose fines of up to £500k (limit is £20k)….as part of its efforts to neuter the watchdog
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Johnson: "The Scottish parliament has no role in approving this deal”
That will down well north of the border - given devolution requires a consent motion
#PMQs
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Nice line from Lib Dems….”The Marxism we're seeing in the Labour party right now has more in common with Groucho than Karl"
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Michael Gove’s
#Ridge
interview in full
+ Won’t say when coronavirus peak will be
+ Won’t say how long lockdown is likely to last
+ Won’t say what tougher measures govt is prepared to impose
Hope you tuned in !
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