They did not surrender, they stood aside.
There was a judgment to be made by the House of Lords, @Bricksilk included, as to how they best fulfil their role vis-a-vis the elected HofC, perhaps not just in this case, perhaps not just with this govt.
IMHO the right call.🫡

IMO the very last thing our country needs is greater political influence over the choice of judges. The situation in the US should serve as a warning, not an example to follow

Agree wholeheartedly with David Gauke on this. Short thread to explain:

I am not an ideological 'big state' person, but I am keen on the UK defending itself. We need to spend more on defence, and to beef up other public services, such as the NHS. We need to raise some taxes to do that, and those taxes would affect most of us and not just top earners.

Sunak pledges UK military spending will rise to 2.5% of national income by 2030, in a move that hardens a previous spending pledge, which was to hit the target when economic condition allowed.
So Putin not getting up to anything nasty before 2030, then?
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politi…

The Granada summit of the #EuropeanPoliticalCommunity was a flop, with one blog describing the way ahead for the EPC as being “ambition or oblivion”. Being a 'diplomatic Davos' is probably not enough. The EPC needs to be seen to be doing something.
Mathieu Droin
Richard G Whitman

Timely 'Taking stock of the #EuropeanPoliticalCommunity ahead of the UK’s Blenheim Summit' from Cleo Davies
Will future hosts step up?
Has the EPC got a future?
maybe...
'successful diplomacy is impossible if people do not know each other personally..'
dcubrexitinstitute.eu/2024/04/europe…

🚨🚨 Absolutely this by Steve. This is a very common misunderstanding. Another thing is that there are no third countries that have a permanent observer status in the Council nor a right to vote in the Council. This distinction is arguably important.👇👇

Rwanda Bill
'This is a post-truth bill'
David Anderson
(Lord Anderson of Ipwich)
Well worth watching)
x.com/implausibleblo…

Crucial $60.8bn Ukraine aid package approved by US House of Representatives after months of deadlock
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted to say he was 'grateful' for the decision, which he said 'keeps history on the right track'.
👍🇺🇦👍
news.sky.com/story/crucial-…

Pentagon prepares to send artillery and air defences to Ukraine as US House of Representatives approaches vote
“We certainly understand and appreciate the urgency and are poised to move quickly,” a Pentagon spokesperson said.
Fingers crossed in Kiev too.
politico.com/news/2024/04/1…

👍👍
The UK's interaction with the EU should focus on foreign policy and defence.
In each case most of the interaction will be with Member States or rather with some Member States. Ditto for the cooperation in the framework of international bodies referred to in the UK/EU TCA.

Telegraph writer Sherelle Jacobs rubbishes the soft Brexit she says Labour seeks, rules out the UK having the political guts to make the most of Brexit, and says we might as well rejoin.
Not the first piece of hers in this vein.
This is BREGRET. You are not alone.
John Townsend

I probably wouldn’t agree with Lord Sumption on every other issue; but I think that he nails the political importance of the EU against the background of European history very elegantly. And small nations acting together within the EU can end up with a surprisingly strong voice.

Sunak rejected the EU’s surprise proposal to negotiate a youth mobility scheme for the 18s to 30 on Friday, after Labour did so on Thursday.
Engaging on this would have made economic sense and send a positive signal to the EU.
👎
theguardian.com/politics/2024/…

'If you care about the human rights of only Israelis or only Palestinians, then you don’t actually care about human rights.' -- Nicholas Kristof nytimes.com/2024/04/19/opi…

👍 from Mathieu Droin Dalibor Roháč
If Trump pushes 🇺🇦 to cede to Putin can Europe supply the hardware for 🇺🇦 to fight on?
Will 🇫🇷 take a stand? Which way will 🇬🇧 and 🇮🇹 jump?
what of 🇩🇪?
🐘in the room - would Europe without 🇺🇸 cave to Putin's nukes?
thedispatch.com/article/trumps…