Isn't the central government a right wing government atm, I forget? I can understand them trying to break with and reconcile with the past regardless of political leaning though.
In Brexit news, Parliament has rejected (I think) Johnson's deal and voted on an extension, meanwhile, he has until 11PM London time to send a letter requesting an extension while at the same time being defiant and saying he won't. So, expect more drama to come.
The Parliament didn't reject BoJo's bill.
They passed an amendment to withhold approval of it until the relevant legislation is passed. This leads to BoJo looking for a ditch to die in, because he'd rather do that than request a brexit extension, which he is now legally obliged to do. BoJo and his party were in such a hurry to find a suitable ditch, that they left the room before the deal was voted on.
About a month ago, the Parliament passed the
Benn act, which requires the government to request a brexit extension if a brexit deal (or leaving without a deal) isn't approved by Parliament tonight. Just approving a deal (or no deal) today would mean that BoJo wouldn't have to ask for an extension.
The problem with the Benn act is that before an act becomes a law, it has to be accepted three times in the Parliament: 1. the lower house aka the commons, 2. the upper house aka the lords, and 3. the lower house again. So, passing the deal tonight would have led to BoJo not having to request an extension, and then the deal could be voted down in the next step, which would most likely lead to Britain crashing out of the EU with no deal. As the hard line conservative brexiters backed BoJo's deal today, they were probably counting on torpedoing the deal the next time it came around, giving them what they want - a hard brexit.
Edit: I wonder how Theresa May is going to vote when BoJo's deal is actually brought before the Parliament. When she was the PM, she said that no British PM could accept a deal that included a customs border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. BoJo's deal has just that.