Hail, Britannia
- Thread starter LeinadB93
- Start date
Breton independence referendum (1 December 2017)
LeinadB93
Monthly Donor
For anyone interested in that sort of thing. I've amended the 2015 election box and map.
Corrections include the replacement of the Maori MIP with a Liberal MIP, redrawing the Irish constituencies, and the addition of a few inserts for Chicago, Atlanta, and Miami, as well as amendments to Montreal and Boston.
I've also got this week's news bulletin:
60% of Breton Voters Support Independence
BREST - Bretons took to the streets of the capital on Friday night in celebration, as the preliminary results from the independence vote showed a victory for the nationalists. The poll was held on Friday despite being declared unconstitutional by both the French Court of Cassation and the Breton regional court. Results published by the Government of Brittany indicate their was a turnout of just over 42%, with nearly 60% of voters supporting independence from France.
Despite fears by many in Brittany about a government crackdown, the vote proceeded without incident in many parts of the region, although gendarmes did shut down many polling stations in the west of the country, confiscating voting slips. The peaceful vote was broken only by clashes between Breton nationalists and French unionists in the southern city of Nantes, that was broken up by the local police. The regional president, Paul Molac (BDU), appeared at a rally in Rennes on Saturday morning declaring that "Brittany has earned the right to be an independent state". However the lack of a two-thirds majority, and the poor turnout, has led many to believe that the Breton government are hesitant to declare independence.
French Prime Minister Ségolène Royal (Socialist), in a televised address yesterday evening, stated that "no referendum had been held in Brittany" as the constitution forbade regions from unilaterally declaring independence. She called for calm and for all sides to "respect the constitution and work within the law". Although the government has suggested that they may use dormant powers to dissolve the Breton Parliament and call early elections, as well as initiate legal proceedings against nationalist leaders, sources close to the prime minister have reported that she is keen to open a dialogue with Molac in the hopes of resolving the situation.
- Nancy Pelosi (Social Democrat - Pavonia—Staten Island) has called on fellow MIP, and SDP member, Jacques Conyers (Social Democrat - Ville de Détroit) to resign after a second former aide has come forward to accuse him of sexual harassment. Conyers, a native of the Ohioan state of Détroit and the current Father of the House, has denied the allegations, while Pelosi, chair of the Imperial House Committee on Ethics and Standards has called the claims "serious, disappointing and very credible". Conyers is the latest in a number of parliamentarians to become embroiled in the sexual harassment scandal that is emerging across the Empire, which has included high profile politicians such as Al Franken and Sir Michael Fallon among others. The House Ethics Committee has begun an investigation.
- Campaigning has begun in the West African nation of Accra ahead of the sovereignty referendum scheduled to be held on 18 January 2018. The poll will first ask voters whether they support Accra's continued independence as a sovereign member of the Commonwealth of Nations. If voters reject independence they will then be asked whether they wish to seek accession to either the West African Community or the United Empire. The West African Community, an economic union of ten Commonwealth countries along the West African coast, has been very supportive of Accra's accession, with President Faure Gnassingbé describing it as "the next logical step for both the WAC and Accra". By contrast the British government have been quiet on the issue, with a spokesperson for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office saying "it is a matter for the Accran people". The governing Liberal Party is neutral on the issue, whilst the opposition Labour Party supports WAC accession and the right-wing Accran People's Party seeks integration with Britain. Current opinion polls indicate that there are still many undecideds about continued independence, whereas generally most Accrans support integration with Britain over West Africa.
Corrections include the replacement of the Maori MIP with a Liberal MIP, redrawing the Irish constituencies, and the addition of a few inserts for Chicago, Atlanta, and Miami, as well as amendments to Montreal and Boston.
I've also got this week's news bulletin:
60% of Breton Voters Support Independence
BREST - Bretons took to the streets of the capital on Friday night in celebration, as the preliminary results from the independence vote showed a victory for the nationalists. The poll was held on Friday despite being declared unconstitutional by both the French Court of Cassation and the Breton regional court. Results published by the Government of Brittany indicate their was a turnout of just over 42%, with nearly 60% of voters supporting independence from France.
Despite fears by many in Brittany about a government crackdown, the vote proceeded without incident in many parts of the region, although gendarmes did shut down many polling stations in the west of the country, confiscating voting slips. The peaceful vote was broken only by clashes between Breton nationalists and French unionists in the southern city of Nantes, that was broken up by the local police. The regional president, Paul Molac (BDU), appeared at a rally in Rennes on Saturday morning declaring that "Brittany has earned the right to be an independent state". However the lack of a two-thirds majority, and the poor turnout, has led many to believe that the Breton government are hesitant to declare independence.
French Prime Minister Ségolène Royal (Socialist), in a televised address yesterday evening, stated that "no referendum had been held in Brittany" as the constitution forbade regions from unilaterally declaring independence. She called for calm and for all sides to "respect the constitution and work within the law". Although the government has suggested that they may use dormant powers to dissolve the Breton Parliament and call early elections, as well as initiate legal proceedings against nationalist leaders, sources close to the prime minister have reported that she is keen to open a dialogue with Molac in the hopes of resolving the situation.
In Other News
- Nancy Pelosi (Social Democrat - Pavonia—Staten Island) has called on fellow MIP, and SDP member, Jacques Conyers (Social Democrat - Ville de Détroit) to resign after a second former aide has come forward to accuse him of sexual harassment. Conyers, a native of the Ohioan state of Détroit and the current Father of the House, has denied the allegations, while Pelosi, chair of the Imperial House Committee on Ethics and Standards has called the claims "serious, disappointing and very credible". Conyers is the latest in a number of parliamentarians to become embroiled in the sexual harassment scandal that is emerging across the Empire, which has included high profile politicians such as Al Franken and Sir Michael Fallon among others. The House Ethics Committee has begun an investigation.
- Campaigning has begun in the West African nation of Accra ahead of the sovereignty referendum scheduled to be held on 18 January 2018. The poll will first ask voters whether they support Accra's continued independence as a sovereign member of the Commonwealth of Nations. If voters reject independence they will then be asked whether they wish to seek accession to either the West African Community or the United Empire. The West African Community, an economic union of ten Commonwealth countries along the West African coast, has been very supportive of Accra's accession, with President Faure Gnassingbé describing it as "the next logical step for both the WAC and Accra". By contrast the British government have been quiet on the issue, with a spokesperson for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office saying "it is a matter for the Accran people". The governing Liberal Party is neutral on the issue, whilst the opposition Labour Party supports WAC accession and the right-wing Accran People's Party seeks integration with Britain. Current opinion polls indicate that there are still many undecideds about continued independence, whereas generally most Accrans support integration with Britain over West Africa.
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Seems like Brittany's independence woes are heating up; wonder how long it'll take for the French to decide to crack down. It does seem like Royal is trying to be reasonable (unlike, arguably, her OTL analogue) so there is that. BTW, what's the status of the Breton language in TTL?
Looks like being British doesn't mean any less controversy in politics (then again, the reputation of British pop media exists for a reason in either TL!).
Assuming Accra does manage to make a salient argument for joining the Empire, what kind of demographic and economic boon would that be for the U.K.E.G.B?
Looks like being British doesn't mean any less controversy in politics (then again, the reputation of British pop media exists for a reason in either TL!).
Assuming Accra does manage to make a salient argument for joining the Empire, what kind of demographic and economic boon would that be for the U.K.E.G.B?
LeinadB93
Monthly Donor
It all really depends on how far Molac and the Breton government are willing to push things. In an ideal world
Brittany would get "devolution max" within the French state... Royal is definitely being more reasonable compared to Rajoy in OTL, a deliberate stylistic choice on my part.The Breton language ITTL never experiences the decline over the late 20th century, and as such the number of fluent speakers remains pretty consistent, and the Celtic Revival has a strong impact here, with most schools in Brittany being bilingual Breton-French, and about half of Bretons speak it as the first language or fluently.
Indeed. Although at least there is no Trump (or at least not as prominent)...
Demographically, Accra has a population of about 4 million, mostly Whites and Americo-Accrans (similar to OTL Americo-Liberians). So there'd be a slight boost, and the Imperial Parliament would likely expand by about 8 seats; 4 constituencies in Accra and 4 list seats to keep things balanced. That's assuming somewhere like Samoa or Tierra del Fuego doesn't join at the same time...
Economically the country is suffering at the moment, with the economy in a similar position to OTL Puerto Rico, so for a few years after accession Accra would likely be a net beneficiary of British aid money. However I'd assume that there would be a period of negotiation prior to Accra's accession to the Union, probably at least one year.
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Brilliant as everything else in this thread and -verse has been.
Just a query, what is Philippe de Villers up to ITTL?
Say, do any of the countries in this world have a space program (especially British Empire) and what are the milestones they've achieved?
LeinadB93
Monthly Donor
Not much different to OTL if I'm honest, but obviously the southern three counties make up the independent Kingdom of Scania ITTL. Oh and it's a member of the Nordic Federation
Technically yes, but also no... Greenland is in a comparable situation to OTL, being part of the Danish Realm but with a great deal of autonomy. So although they are de jure a Danish possession, and recognise Queen Margrethe II as head of state. They are de facto an autonomous territory of the Nordic Federation, for which Denmark retains nominal responsibility.
It's worth pointing out that the Nordic Federation is a single country in international relations, with a unified armed forces, currency, economic and foreign policy.
I'm working on an update focusing on the Nordics, potentially looking at the monarchs of the various countries, but definitely showing more of the federal Nordic government system
Hopefully this weekend.In fact not hopefully, definitely!!
Thanks
He's a high ranking member of the Gaullist Democratic Union of Europe, previously serving in the European Common Assembly (lower house of the European Parliament) and now a member of the European Council of States (upper house) from France.
Britain (maybe working closely with the Commonwealth, especially the Nordics, California and Texas) and the Soviets definitely have space programs, and are the top tier of space explorers. Next you've probably got China, Japan and Brazil, maybe including India and the EU.
I'm a massive fan of space exploration and the potential, so ideally I'd hope that space exploration/habitation has generally progressed further than OTL. Potentially an inhabited moon base, and planned Mars missions. However I'll defer to anyone with a greater knowledge on the history of spaceflight...
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LeinadB93
Monthly Donor
I hope so to
Generally a very muted response, much as OTL, they don't want to rock the boat in the British-European relationship, and they also don't want to strengthen any of the homegrown independence movements across the Empire.
"We have room for one more"?
Haha don't tempt me
LeinadB93
Monthly Donor
Nothing about 2018 World Cup final draw?
If you need help, I made a little draft about.
Fraid not, my football knowledge is limited.
Go for it