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BREXIT NEWS  
 “THE ONCE FREE PEOPLE
WILL BE FREE AGAIN”
EXCLUSIVE - JOHN REDWOOD'S SPEAKER’S HOUSE LECTURE FEBRUARY 2018
THE FULL, UNEXPURGATED, UNCENSORED
RT HON DR JOHN REDWOOD MP
A highly-recommended read,
when you have the time
 
Last week the highly-respected Conservative MP and former Cabinet Minister, the Rt Hon Dr John Redwood MP, was invited to give a Speaker's House Lecture in Parliament.
What follows is long, we know. It's much longer than our usual articles. Nevertheless we know that Brexit Facts4EU.Org readers like to be kept on their toes, never being able to guess what they'll find on our pages each day. We do so hate to be predictable...
SOME HIGHLIGHTS
  • “The once free people will be free again. The once and future sovereign will be the people themselves.”
  • “UK economy grew faster from 1945 to 1972 (when we joined the EEC) than in the long years since we joined.”
  • “Growth rate did not accelerate again in 1992 when the EU claimed it had completed its single market”
  • “The £12bn we send every year to the EU and do not get back is lost money to the UK.”
  • “There is no need for a Transition or Implementation period if there is no good deal to transit to.”
  • “The EEC was reluctant to open up the markets we were good at to let us compete fairly.”
  • “I know of no country that has a trade agreement with the EU that wants to impose new barriers against the UK once we have left.”
  • “We do not need to stay in some Faustian pact, trading freedom for more exports.”
  • “We should be talking more of freedom and self government”
  • “The main benefits of Brexit come from once again being a self governing country”
  • “Let us be a voice for freedom, a strong arm for peace, and a force for good around the globe.”
AUTHENTIC TRANSCRIPT OF THE SPEECH
On 23rd June 2016 17.4 million voters told Parliament we should leave the EU.
Leave voters voted to take back control. We voted to take back control of our money, our laws and our borders.
We voted to be a sovereign people again. The overarching aim is to restore our freedoms, to become self governing as we used to be. We wish our Parliament to frame our laws, to levy and spend our taxes, to make our borders safe, to award the precious gift of citizenship to those we choose to invite.
We did not vote in the belief that future Parliaments will always be wise, nor that they will always get it right. We voted to restore powers to Parliament because it is our Parliament. We can lobby and influence it. We can dismiss it and replace the MPs when they no longer please.
I find it surprising that some find it difficult to understand this overriding wish, for it is based on our long standing pursuit of freedom. It springs from our history.
The history of the UK is the story of the long march of every man and every woman to the vote, the story of asserting the rule of law against all, however mighty. We prize the gift of freedom under the law for all on an equal basis. We share an aversion to slavery, a dislike of military rule, a resistance to arbitrary government, a rejection of the patronising errors of elites, a distaste for overmighty bureaucracies cramping our freedoms, a belief that we should be free to do whatever we please unless the laws prevents it.
The signposts to democracy run through Magna Carta to the first Parliaments. From the 1660 settlement to the Glorious Revolution, from the Great Reform Act to the triumph of the suffragettes, we carelessly lost some of these freedoms, casting away much of the power of our vote and voice by passing powers to the European Union. We allowed the EU to impose laws we did not want, to levy taxes we disagreed with, and to spend our money as they saw fit. Brexit is designed to recall those lost powers.
The once free people will be free again. The once and future sovereign will be the people themselves.
THE EU HASN’T HELPED UK GROWTH RATES
Let me question the thoughtless assumption of some who think this should be an argument about trade and not about these wider truths. Let me challenge their view that our membership of the single market and customs union has boosted our economy. They wish us all to discuss in worried tones what we might lose from leaving. If you look out the economic growth figures for the UK you will discover that the UK economy grew faster from 1945 to 1972 when we joined the EEC than in the long years since we joined. You will discover that the growth rate did not accelerate again in 1992 when the EU claimed it had completed its single market.
The immediate sequel to joining the EEC and to completing the single market was the UK plunged into recession on both occasions. In 1974 it was the oil and banking crisis that affected much of the west. Not the EEC’s fault, but the EEC offered us no respite from it.
In 1993 it was a recession created by European policy. Our period shadowing the DM and then as a member of the Exchange Rate Mechanism gave us a nasty boom and bust. Our early experience of the completed single market was a 5% loss of national output and income.
We were told then that creating currency stability was a crucial part of a single market. The only problem was the policy to achieve it did the opposite. The EU itself has sought to study the impact of the single market. They concluded that the UK got the least benefit of all the states out of the process. They said we experienced a single gain of just 1% over the whole time we have been in the single market. It is difficult to find even as much as that in the figures. Instead the UK’s entry into the EEC’s so called common market of the 1970s speeded painful losses of industrial business in the UK.
THE DECLINE IN MANUFACTURING UNDER THE EU
The lop-sided freeing of trade, removing barriers where France and Germany were strong but not doing the same where we were strong, hastened large closures and output losses in steel, cars and other basic industry.
In 1972 the UK made 1.92 million cars. Ten years later in the EEC that had fallen to a low of just 888,000. We lost Austin and Morris, Wolseley and Riley, Vanden Plas and Hillman, Sunbeam and Triumph, Jensen and Rover. It is true there were home made problems with the way the industry was managed, but no-one can say we got a boost from EEC membership.
In 1972 the UK steel industry had 323,000 employees and the UK was the world’s fifth largest producer. Today we have 35,000 and are in twenty-first place. The large coal industry that produced 147 m tonnes in 1970 has seen all the deep mines closed, with just a small residual of surface mining left. The German steel and coal industries flourished and the German car industry exported large volumes to the UK replacing our output. EU regulations have played a part in the demise of parts of our energy industries. EU energy policy is turning the UK into a net importer despite being a country rich with energy resources.
In chemicals and textiles too the UK lost out to continental competition. Under Labour and Conservative governments there was a remorseless decline of important parts of our industry throughout the period of our membership.
ON EXPORTS AND TARIFFS
It is difficult to see why people think there will be any additional a loss of output when we leave the single market when there was no gain from joining it. The argument seems to be based on the dubious idea that our exports to the continent will suffer because we will find the EU impedes our access to their market. This assumption too needs examination. Given the way the rest of the EU exports to us much more than we export to them imposing barriers could be a more costly choice for them.
I assume the UK will retaliate should the rest of the EU impose tariff and non tariff barriers, and would match any such restrictions. Tariffs will be strictly limited under WTO rules which bind both us and the EU.
We should not exaggerate the impact moving to World Trade terms would have. Many countries have increased their exports to the EU at a faster rate from outside the customs union than we have from inside. Non tariff barriers too have to conform with the Facilitation of Trade Agreement which the WTO brought into effect last year. It is possible the rest of the EU will want to punish us and punish themselves more by imposing what barriers they can.
COMBATTING THE EU’S PUNISHMENTS, IF REQUIRED
The UK economy would have several ways of adjusting. It could import cheaper goods from the rest of the world, removing tariffs on imports in return for free trade agreements with other countries. The UK could reimburse consumers and companies that had to pay the additional tariff by giving them offsetting tax cuts out of the substantial tariff revenue the UK state would collect.
The UK Treasury would collect about £16bn in tariff revenue on EU exports to us, giving plenty of scope to compensate. Meanwhile the rest of the EU would collect just £6bn on our exports to them. All of that money of course would go to the EU, not to member states governments.
UK business could divert some production from export to the EU to the domestic market. Our farms could greatly expand production behind the substantial tariff wall that is allowed under WTO rules for food, so that we all enjoy more home produced food as we used before entry into the EEC.
The one non-farm tariff that does cause some to worry is the 10% tariff on cars. Here you would expect the combined impact of the stronger Euro and a 10% tariff to cause more UK car buyers to switch to domestic suppliers, helping offset any impact on export volumes to the continent.
The UK does run too high a balance of payments deficit. It has been persistent for many years of our membership of the EU. It is heavily influenced both by the substantial budget contributions we have to make and by the large deficit in goods we run with the EU. On exit we will be able to cut the deficit by no longer making payments. We will be able to rebuild our agricultural industry. Prosperity, not austerity, that must be our aim. Prosperity will be easier won once we are out of the European Union.
RESTORING FREEDOMS
Restoring the freedoms of a once sovereign people, that is the overriding task we face. On June 24th 2016 17.4 million voters gave a great mandate to Parliament. To take back control. During the referendum campaign I was asked one of the questions designed by Remain to damage the cause of freedom.
‘Would you,’ the media avidly asked, ‘accept being poorer in order to regain lost freedoms?’ I replied that fortune meant there was no so such choice before us. The very right to govern ourselves that we wished to reclaim will allow us to follow policies that made us richer, not poorer. As an optimist I anticipate we will do better out than in.
LIFE AFTER BREXIT
No-one can be sure what loss there might be in store if we remain in the EU, or how many gains we will seize out of the EU. What we do know is our fortune will rest more on our own decisions once we are free.
So let me begin my account of life after Brexit by explaining how we can be better off. I appreciate this will be at variance with several modelled forecasts put out by an establishment afraid of freedom and scared of change. It is an establishment that has a proven track record of error.
They told us the ERM would bring us a golden scenario or more growth and low inflation. Instead it brought a deep recession.
They told us if the UK stayed out of the Euro it would be deeply damaging to our business. Instead our business flourished with the pound and the Euro area had several years of crises and low or no growth. They said the big build up in debts prior to 2007 were fine because banks had found new ways of managing risks. That forecast didn’t work out too well either.
My forecast will be criticised, for it is not backed up with a model nor expressed in precise figures. It does however come from someone who did forecast the ERM crisis, the problems in the Eurozone and the banking crisis.
THE PERILS OF FORECASTING
I must warn that no-one can deliver a precise and accurate 15 year economic forecast. I have no intention of trying to deliver one. Too many things will change. I can, however, point to the opportunities and the favourable changes that we can expect in the few years that follow Brexit that will boost whatever our growth rate then is.
I do not expect a sudden fall in growth or income thanks to Brexit. The Treasury’s short term forecasts of such an outcome for the year after the vote have already proved wide of the mark. In future as in the past the main forces shaping our growth rate will be the pace of innovation, the monetary and fiscal policies being pursued, and the state of the world economy.
THE GAINS FROM BREXIT
The most obvious gain that the anti-Brexit forecasters rarely put in to their models is the chance to spend our tax money on our priorities. The £12bn we send every year to the EU and do not get back is lost money to the UK. Worse still it is a large drag on our balance of payments every year. To pay that bill we either have to borrow more money from abroad to pay it or we have to sell more of our assets to overseas buyers, cutting the investment income we earn on those assets. Stopping that drag will boost our economy.
Spending the £12bn at home each year will mean more jobs and more items bought from UK suppliers. That will boost our economy with extra growth of 0.6% of our total income. That’s a one third increase in the current growth rate in the year we start it, with the same extra output in every year that follows.
NO TRANSITION PERIOD NEEDED
In the referendum campaign I set out a draft budget to illustrate how we might spend the money. I recommend it to the government. I also recommend that we advise the EU that if they do not offer a wide ranging and sensible free trade agreement anytime soon we should discontinue payments to them on March 30 2019 and start the benefits for us.
There is no need for a Transition or Implementation period if there is no good deal to transit to. We know we can trade well under WTO rules and with WTO tariffs, as that is what we do today with most countries outside the EU.
THE BREXIT TAX DIVIDEND
Out of the EU we will be free to fix and levy our own taxes. We were told by past governments that tax was a red line issue, that we would always be able to decide our own taxes. That proved to be untrue.
Out of the EU we can take VAT off feminine hygiene products. We can remove VAT from green items ranging from boiler controls to draught excluders. Promoting fuel efficiency without the drag of extra VAT will help us keep warm and be better off. We could do more to combat fuel poverty by cancelling the VAT on it. We can also levy the amount of tax we wish from larger companies. EU tax judgements on UK corporation tax have made us repay tax we thought had been fairly and legally levied.
FISHERY AND AGRICULTURE
Once we leave the EU we can take back control of our fishery. There have been many EU policies damaging to jobs and incomes for the UK, but none more consistently unhelpful than the Common Fishing Policy. We have been changed from a country with a rich fishery and a strong net exporter of fish, into a country with a badly damaged fishery lamely importing our own fish from foreign interests that have taken it.
A UK designed policy can do better at conserving our stocks whilst at the same time delivering more fish through UK boats to meet our needs as consumers. The long period of forcing discards of many dead fish at sea has pillaged our fishery in a bad cause. If a UK fishing policy requires fishermen to land everything they catch we will catch less and eat more, a win-win for the industry, the country and the fish.
Out of the EU we can restore our farms. We have moved from 95% self sufficiency in temperate products to under 70%. Our local supermarkets now are full of Danish bacon, Dutch salad stuffs, flowers and vegetables, Spanish fruit and French dairy products. UK consumers have to pay higher prices than world prices for things we cannot grow for ourselves.
Common EU policies on beef and milk and much else have proved damaging to UK farmers. A UK based policy can help farmers cut the food miles and gain a larger share of our domestic market. Our membership of the EU confronted us in its early days with the abolition of tariff walls which had protected some of our industry, whilst leaving up barriers against services where we had a competitive edge. Predictably we slumped into large and permanent deficit in our trade with the rest of the EU.
TRADING GLOBALLY
In the first two decades of our membership the UK lost large amounts of our industrial capacity. German industry proved to be more competitive and we turned to huge imports as we saw unemployment in our manufacturing heartlands mount. The EEC was reluctant to open up the markets we were good at to let us compete fairly. Out of the EU we can manage our trade more effectively. Most people in the UK want us to promote more free trade, not introduce new barriers. If this can be done fairly, with reductions in barriers on both sides, it will help boost our prosperity.
Our trade with the rest of the world is in surplus, showing that we have an EU trade problem, not a global trade problem. There can be some early and easy wins for trade policy as soon as the UK takes back control over this important matter. The UK can offer tariff free access to our market to emerging market producers of tropical produce in return for better access to their markets.
Old friends and trading partners like Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and the USA will welcome Free Trade Agreements with us. The Free Trade Agreements the EU has with third countries can novate to us as well as to the rest of the EU. I know of no country that has a trade agreement with the EU that wants to impose new barriers against the UK once we have left.
THE MYTHS ABOUT TTRADE
Some say such arrangements may be possible but will not offset the loss of our current trading arrangements with the rest of the EU. I disagree. It would be strange indeed if the EU want to impose tariffs and other barriers on trade in goods, given their huge surplus in that trade today. If they did, the impact will be much larger on them, as they export so much more that can attract tariffs than we do to them. We will carry on exporting to them one way or another.
Today the bulk of our trade is carried out under WTO rules with tariffs imposed by the EU. This is why I do not think we have to choose between being free and being rich. We do not need to stay in some Faustian pact, trading freedom for more exports. The gloomy arguments that we will suffer from leaving are not merely misleading about the economy, they are also too narrowly concentrated on business profit and loss when we should be talking more of freedom and self government.
ON IMMIGRATION AND FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT
Leaving the EU will give us the freedom to decide who we should welcome into our country.
Many people who voted for Leave, and both government and Opposition are keen that the UK should be open to talent, welcoming to entrepreneurs and investors, keen on extending academic networks through shared scholarship and exchange, and generous to those fleeing danger and intolerance.
Many also feel we do need to impose some limits on unrestricted migration into low paid jobs or onto benefits. We want those who join us to enjoy good housing and decent living standards. That requires us to expand our numbers at a sustainable pace. We also want a migration system which is fair between the EU and the rest of the world.
THE UK AS A DECENT, INFLUENTIAL, GLOBAL-FACING COUNTRY
Out of the EU the UK will have more influence in the world. The UK has often been a force for good. We have faced down genocides and warmongering dictators, we have often with our US ally stood for freedom, self determination and democracy. We stood up for the values of freedom and self determination when we helped liberate Kuwait, freed the Falkland islanders, and defeated the Axis powers in 1945.
Some say if we leave the EU we will become isolated and less powerful. That is selling us short and misunderstanding the realities. Out of the EU the UK will regain her voice and vote in international bodies where the EU has displaced us.
Let us take the WTO as an example. We were an influential founding member. In recent years we have had neither voice nor vote, as the EU has spoken for us. Out of the EU we will once again be a strong voice for free trade worldwide. Far from being isolated we will have new allies. Under WTO rules the EU cannot impose on us any barriers they do not impose on all the other WTO members. So if some in the EU have in mind retreating behind some stockade of tariffs and regulations, they will be picking a fight with the USA, China and the rest at the same time.
Out of the EU we will be able to regain our voice and vote in various worldwide standards making bodies, whose work often requires the EU to implement the results. For the main benefits of Brexit come from once again being a self governing country.
BEING UPBEAT
I find it extraordinary that so many who make their living out of government and politics are so defeatist about this greatest of countries. Why do they doubt our abilities to shape good laws, frame a good economic policy, and trade with the five continents of the world based on what we are good at?
Why do they both say they love the EU, yet have such a low view of it that they think its main aim will be to do us down? Why do they tell us every clause and line of the Treaties has to be enforced against the UK, yet all those great clauses in the Treaties that require the EU to be a good neighbour and trading partner of nearby states will in their view go unenforced and unheeded?
If the EU is as logical and legal as they say our future friendly relationship is assured. And if it is not and the Treaty is made for breaking, it need not concern us what it says, especially once we are out.
WALKING TALL
Anyone who walks the corridors and great rooms at Westminster must see there the heroic story of our islands. There on the walls and in the sculptures are the establishment and the rebels, the winners and the losers, the great moments of our history. There is the signing of Magna Carta, the taming the King in the seventeenth century, the union of the crowns, the saving of Europe from Napoleon, the passage of the Great Reform Bill and the triumph of the suffragettes. So many made common cause to put the people in charge through their vote, and to put Parliament in charge of carrying out their wishes.
All the time we remained in the EU there were an increasing number of laws we could not change, more taxes we could not control, more money that someone else spent away from our shores. This system took away the very freedoms our ancestors fought for and established. Once back these powers will be used well and sometimes badly, but always as a result of strong argument and heated votes here at home.
We will doubtless have economic reversals out of the EU as we did in it. But the difference matters. Next time when mistakes are made they will be our mistakes. They will be mistakes the British people can punish and put right. More importantly, taking back control gives us immediate opportunities to legislate wisely and to grow our prosperity.
WHY I VOTED BREXIT
That is why I voted for Brexit. That is why many of the 17.4 million voted for Brexit. That is why many who voted Remain will be winners too from this course once we are at last out of the EU.
This great people, this once and future sovereign, will have many contributions to make to the world. As we have in the past, let us be a voice for freedom, a strong arm for peace, and a force for good around the globe.
The Rt Hon Dr John Redwood MP, Speaker’s House Lecture, 20 February 2018 © All rights reserved.
Note: All headings are by Brexit Facts4EU.Org and not the author, for visual purposes.
OBSERVATIONS
We would like to thank Dr Redwood for his exclusive permission to reproduce his Speaker’s House Lecture for you to read here.
Rendering into written form a speech which was given to a roomful of people - and making it visually digestible - is not a simple task. We hope you enjoyed it. This is now an official written record of this speech, which we feel is always a good thing. It has the secondary function of making it available to our readers from Brussels and the EU27 countries, as well as to readers from the US, Australia and other nations across the globe.
John Redwood is always worth listening to on Brexit. Apart from anything else, he actually knows what he’s talking about, which makes a rare change from most of the anti-Brexit MPs we have to listen to.
These anti-Brexit MPs talk glibly of the Single Market and how the UK cannot possibly do without it. On what basis do they make claims like this? Where are the facts to support their allegations? The answer is that they don’t have any. They are simply trotting out platitudes they’ve heard elsewhere and they repeat them in the hope these fictitious claims will become gospel.
On Tuesday Jeremy Corbyn made a speech where he went on at length about the Single Market and the Customs Union.
Just once we’d love to hear a mainstream TV journalist who actually knows something about this, (and there are very few), question Mr Corbyn or any Remoaning MP about their understanding of these things.
Remoaner MPs are almost never asked remotely technical questions which show up their total ignorance, because the journalists themselves are less than masters of their subject. We don’t expect all journalists to be experts on everything. But we do expect the major TV news channels such as the BBC, Sky News, and ITN to have journalists who are now experts on Brexit.
John Redwood is what we call a ‘Brexpert’, although he would deny this. When you talk to him his knowledge is evident in everything he says. You can disagree with him on policy, but not on fundamental facts. We have differed with him in the past over the likelihood of the EU doing any kind of reasonable deal with the UK - we have always maintained they would never do this - but we always understood it was his job to speak optimistically as he’s a respected member of the governing party in the UK.
Once again, we must ask why this man of considerable talent and knowledge isn’t in Mrs May’s government. He is one of several senior pro-Brexit backbenchers who must be brought into government as soon as possible, given that we now expect talks to break down within months. The first signs of this will surface this week.
[ Sources: Rt Hon Dr John Redwood MP ]
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
       06.25am, 28 Feb 2018
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READERS' COMMENTS
Please send us your comments and we will publish them here. You can of course use a pseudonym if you prefer, and it's always nice to know roughly where you're writing from. Please always state the headline of the article you're commenting on.
Name: Lyn O, mid south coast      Date/Time: 28 Feb 2018, 8.40pm
Message: With the German government silencing their critics on the internet and media. We have a lesser version with the media mostly only giving the left wing bias on BBC and Sky News. Its so good when we have a decent and knowledgable person like John Redwood giving us the facts. Why can't the mainstream media be honest and show the whole truth over Brexit?
Name: Jon, Wales      Date/Time: 28 Feb 2018, 6.14pm
Message: I was fortunate to watch this truly excellent speech given by the Rt Hon Dr John Redwood MP when first broadcast. Speeches from Mr Redwood (and others) are 'valuable' to all us proud Brexiteers. We believe in our country and all who 'sail' in her. We are the optimistic types and should NEVER apologise for talking up our country. Time and again we find ourselves having to present facts to remainers whom we remember 'screamed' loudly for facts, yet when presented with unequivocal well researched facts from official sources, they can't handle it because they lose their 'argument'. It is unfortunate the likes of the BBC, Sky, etc, give a platform to anti-democratic voices, as is their right. Though perhaps broadcasters should pay a little more attention to Brexit Facts4EU and develop their stories accordingly. I always say, when a person is not in possession of facts, they have no basis upon which to 'argue' their baseless 'argument'! Like EVERY election there are ALWAYS differences of opinion and I have no problem with that. But we had that election over nineteen months ago, and it's time remoaners got behind our country so we can all come together as we always do. Thank you Mr Redwood for all your informative Brexit speeches and blogs which are much appreciated.
Name: Patrick H, London      Date/Time: 28 Feb 2018, 2.30pm
Message: Excellent speech from John Redwood. Incisive, truthful and to the point. Additionally, well presented by FACTS4EU. Thank you.
Name: Emmy, Doncaster      Date/Time: 28 Feb 2018, 10.41am
Message: What a great speech! There's so much that's depressing on the tv and then you give us this. Please send my thank you to Mr Redwood!
Name: Liz Ford      Date/Time: 28 Feb 2018, 10.05am
Message: I decided to have a look at the New European website this morning (as my husband has been blocked from using it for challenging Remainer views - he may contact you about this himself). Here's a link to one of their stories. It made me wonder if it isn't time for 'Leavers' to make their voices heard in a more proactive way. I have no idea how these things are organised but if Facts4EU have any suggestions I'll be there!
Reply: Thanks for your comment Liz. If people would like us to start a register of pro-Brexit marches, we will happily try to put this together? :)
Name: Old Albion, Maidstone (under snow)      Date/Time: 28 Feb 2018, 08.17am
Message: I've been following JR through his own blog, for some years. The man should indeed be in the Cabinet. I'd go further and say he could lead the Conservatives.
 OH, JEREMY CORBYN
                                                   © Labour
CORBYN’S U-TURN IS COMPLETE SELL-OUT, SAYS LIAM FOX
Yesterday the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn gave a speech which further tore up the basis on which Labour fought the general election only 8 months ago.
Today Dr Liam Fox, Secretary of State for International Trade, will make a major speech in which he will describe staying in the Customs Union as a “complete sellout of Britain’s national interests.”
Dr Fox's speech has been long planned and is part of the government's six speech campaign on Brexit. It is only a coincidence that it comes the day after the Labour leader made a major speech on his Brexit policy and specifically on the Customs Union, which directly affects the UK's future trade policy.
Speaking in Coventry yesterday, Mr Corbyn started by making some general comments about Brexit:
“It makes no sense for the UK to abandon EU agencies and tariff-free trading rules that have served us well, supporting our industrial sectors, protecting workers and consumers and safeguarding the environment.”
On the transition period Labour remains as wrong as the Conservative government is: “Labour spelled out the need for a stable transition period last summer. Both the TUC and CBI agree,” said Mr Corbyn.
CUSTOMS UNION U-TURN
The main area of news from Mr Corbyn’s speech was on the EU Customs Union.
CORBYN ON CUSTOMS UNIONS
“Labour would seek a final deal that gives full access to European markets and maintains the benefits of the single market and the customs union as the Brexit Secretary, David Davis promised in the House of Commons, with no new impediments to trade and no reduction in rights, standards and protections.
“We have long argued that a customs union is a viable option for the final deal. So Labour would seek to negotiate a new comprehensive UK-EU customs union to ensure that there are no tariffs with Europe and to help avoid any need for a hard border in Northern Ireland.
“But we are also clear that the option of a new UK customs union with the EU would need to ensure the UK has a say in future trade deals.
“A new customs arrangement would depend on Britain being able to negotiate agreement of new trade deals in our national interest.
“Labour would not countenance a deal that left Britain as a passive recipient of rules decided elsewhere by others. That would mean ending up as mere rule takers.”
FACTS ABOUT CUSTOMS UNIONS
Some countries are members of a customs union. Some countries have customs ‘arrangements’ or ‘agreements’ with other countries. There is a big difference between membership of a union and having customs arrangements agreed. Unfortunately Mr Corbyn and members of his front bench are either blissfully unaware of this or are deliberately deceiving the public.
When a country is in a customs union, such as the EU Customs Union, they can’t negotiate their own trade deals and set their own tariffs or quotas should they wish to. They cannot alter the tariffs the Customs Union puts on goods coming in from abroad.
In effect, they lose one of the big economic benefits of leaving the EU if they stay in the Customs Union.
SINGLE MARKET
Mr Corbyn also spoke about the Single Market, which the Cameron government, the Stronger In campaign, and the Vote Leave campaigns all said (many times) the UK would leave as part of Brexit.
“And Labour would negotiate a new and strong relationship with the single market that includes full tariff-free access and a floor under existing rights, standards and protections.
“That new relationship would need to ensure we can deliver our ambitious economic programme, take the essential steps to intervene, upgrade and transform our economy and build an economy for the 21st century that works for the many, not the few.”
Mr Corbyn appears to be saying that the UK should have a replica Single Market membership, not called membership but nevertheless with the benefits, whilst at the same time being able to act freely as though it weren’t a member.
Below is how Labour MP Caroline Flint reacted yesterday.
                                                   © Twitter
Mr Corbyn's speech was wide-ranging and covered topics other than Brexit. You can read the full text here.
OBSERVATIONS
Leaving the EU means a clean break. Any attempt to stay ‘aligned’ or be ‘convergent’ or to ‘continue to participate in EU agencies’, or any of the other jargon on offer are simply fudges. Unfortunately Mr Corbyn has allowed himself to be taken into these traps by his ardent EU-loving colleagues.
It is a fundamental part of leaving the EU that the UK leaves all the organisations, structures, laws and objectives which are intrinsic to membership. To suggest anything else is simply playing with words. No amount of sophistry will alter the fundamentals of being in, or being out of, the European Union.
You can’t play an eternal verbal hokey-kokey. By 29th March 2019 you have to sit down and sign something.
CUSTOMS UNION MEANS STAYING IN
Now, Mr Corbyn seems to be talking of “a” customs union, as if such a thing is normal. It isn’t and the EU have already said they won’t consider it. This is playing with words again, when what the country needs is pragmatism and clarity. It simply isn’t possible to have “a” customs union with the EU that allows the UK to have its own independent trade policy like any normal, independent country. You’re either in a union or you’re not. And if you’re still in one then you can’t get any of the massive benefits of pursuing a trade policy in the interests of the UK.
SINGLE MARKET MEANS STAYING IN
If you look above at the two paragraphs we quoted from Mr Corbyn, the first paragraph suggests continued membership of the Single Market as is. (“includes full tariff-free access and a floor under existing rights, standards and protections”) The second paragraph then says Labour wants the same access a member gets, whilst at the same time being completely free to pursue independent economic and social policies.
These two things are incompatible. They just are. As with the Customs Union and as with the EU as a whole, you are either in or out.
WAKE UP – THESE PEOPLE WANT TO PUNISH US
The EU elites have absolutely no desire to forge logical and mutually-beneficial relationships with the UK. They want the UK to suffer, and to be seen to suffer. We have previously provided countless quotes of EU leaders making statements which make this clear.
We cannot stress this strongly enough. We are not dealing with rational people, but people who are on a mission - a mission to deliver their ‘Project’ of an EU superstate.
They have been caught out by the British people and whilst this is highly inconvenient to them it will not be allowed to disrupt their slow, steady march to totalitarianism and globalism. They are hell-bent on destroying any prospect of the UK succeeding post-Brexit.
They would like to do this by keeping the UK tied in as closely as possible going forward – paying in as usual, obeying all the EU’s laws as usual, etc. This is the only reason they haven’t been completely hostile and unpleasant following every meeting. We’ve seen glimpses of the hostility from time to time but that’s all. We really hope that something happens which makes one of the elites lose their cool completely.
If the UK government had been remotely efficient in the Brexit process, and had stood firm to what the British people voted for in 2016, then the EU would have taken the gloves off and the whole world would by now have seen them in their true colours.
It’s important to remember that the peoples of the EU27 countries are not hostile to the British – well, except the French, pehaps! – and that these people are as unaware of the true nature of the EU beast as are the British. Most people have busy lives to lead and do not tune into ‘the Daily Politics’ or read the political sections of the newspapers.
Fortunately for the EU, the TV media doesn’t make any attempt to show what the EU does, and as TV is still how most people get their news the EU is safe for now.
LIAM FOX TO SPEAK UP FOR BREXIT TODAY
Today Dr Liam Fox, Secretary of State for International Trade, will make a major speech at Bloomberg’s London offices.
Speaking about any idea of staying in the Customs Union he will say: “As rule takers, without any say in how the rules were made, we would be in a worse position than we are today. It would be a complete sell-out of Britain’s national interests.” We agree, Liam.
 
AND FINALLY
Finally, Mr Corbyn wasn’t all bad yesterday. “This Conservative government has dithered and delayed,” said Jezza. We agree with that too.
[ Sources: Labour Party ]
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       06.40am, 27 Feb 2018
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Name: Jon, Wales      Date/Time: 28 Feb 2018, 3.20pm
Message: I saw the speech given by the [taxpayer funded] Rt Hon Jeremy Corbyn MP and fully expected to hear betrayal in some guise or other. This was a democratic vote and instruction to MPs, now over 19 months ago, yet Mr Corbyn and others are treating the electorate like idiots. Mr Corbyn has been against the EEC/EU for most, if not all, his political life! For International readers, Mr Corbyn is leader of Her Majesty's Official Opposition in the UK. Interestingly, when Mr Corbyn was made leader of his [Labour] party, he all of a sudden became pro-EU (deduce from that what you will)? He then appeared to change back to his anti-EEC manner (the Corbyn many remember). He now appears to be on his merry-go-round again? Brexit continues to be 'alien' to some MPs and peers. They simply do not accept we're leaving the political European Union, and it's clear they'll do or say anything to attempt to subvert Brexit. Imagine for just a moment if there was a majority of MPs in favour of Brexit who would deliver on the 'instruction' given to them without problem? If that were the case, I do not believe we would now still be 'fighting' to exit. The problem is, we're now 'fighting' our own MPs and peers (other than those on our side of the 'argument'), and this is what the EU see. I am certain all this is quite depressing and frustrating for our young people, so I recommend you revisit a previous Brexit Facts4EU article titled: "Owen in America". Read the article and watch the video of The Rt Hon Owen Paterson MP giving a speech in Washington from The Heritage Foundation in October 2017. Mr Paterson not only looks at some historical aspects, but gives detailed reasons for Brexit. He makes a REALLY GOOD forward looking speech which in my view should be compulsory viewing in our schools. "Owen in America" can be found at: http://facts4eu.org/news_oct_2017.shtml#op
Name: Steve, London      Date/Time: 28 Feb 2018, 10.05am
Message: To John Finn - People like myself who live in university towns foresaw the large student vote getting out of bed to vote for relief from their huge debts and knew that 95% of teachers and lecturers have been brainwashing them for years. Also that UKIP supporters in Labour areas would believe that the snakes like Starmer would not persuade Corbyn to rat on his promises. Few would have predicted that May could have been stupid enough to produce a manifesto to annoy supporters. Or perhaps she is following the plot to reverse or negate Brexit. Everything she does points that way. Stupid or treacherous. Hard to tell.
Name: John Finn, Coventry      Date/Time: 27 Feb 2018, 12.48pm
Message: Sibelius-Fan: I'm not sure how you conclude from recent party announcements that there isn't a choice between Labour & Conservative. The Tories have consistently maintained that the UK will leave the single market and the customs union. Despite the headlines in some newspapers (they know precisely nothing by the way) May has never actually wavered from this position. Steve London: May secured 42.4% (up 5.5% on 2015) of the vote in the 2017 election. The conservatives got 2.4 million more votes than Cameron got in 2015. May actually got a similar vote share to Margaret Thatcher in Thatcher's 1983 landslide victory. One no-one foresaw was the huge swell of support for Corbyn.
Name: Patrick H, London      Date/Time: 27 Feb 2018, 11.40am
Message: "It's important to remember that the peoples of the EU27 countries are not hostile to the British - well, except the French, perhaps! :)".... please try not to write such a generalisation about the French people. In 40 years of friendship, business dealings and holidaying there I, my extended family members, friends and colleagues have always found the real French people to be friendly, kind, courteous (perhaps not wholly Paris) and in many cases, helpful in times of need. There is always a portrayal of the French as meanspirited, unfriendly and sometimes hostile, this is simply not true!...this is a typical MSM's drivel spin! Try not to fall into the same delusive MSM trap; you are so much better than them. Regarding your recent articles; excellent details as usual and always on the number! Thank you
Name: Steve, London      Date/Time: 27 Feb 2018, 11.26am
Message: The reason that May lost her safe majority is her own inability to act decisively and her choice to surround herself with Remainers and civil servants loyal to the EU. She produced a manifesto designed to kick natural conservatives in the teeth, while Corbyn lied to Labour Leave voters outside London and bribed the universities, who organised a large student vote. May cannot be trusted to get us out and deliver anything other than BRINO. Conservatives who support her and Remain will be wiped out at the next election. Voters are not going to be fooled again.
Name: SibeliusFan, West Midlands      Date/Time: 27 Feb 2018, 11.10am
Message: What is becoming depressingly clear is that we're moving back to a situation where there'll be no choice on offer, should there be a General Election: neither Labour or Conservative appears to be willing to deliver the withdrawal from the EU we voted for in the referendum.
Name: Brexiteer, Braintree, Essex      Date/Time: 27 Feb 2018, 11.01am
Message: Jeremy Corbyn has sold out his principles in the hope of defeating the Government and forcing a general election. His position on the EEC now EU have changed. He was always a Eurosceptic - he previously aligned himself with Tony Benn, a ferocious opponent of the EU. Examine his House of Commons voting record: he has opposed every single EU treaty vote. He is trying to straddle two horses at once, to keep the Remainer voters in London constituencies backing him and Leaver voters in mainly Northern heartlands on board as well. It won't happen. I am sure he is gambling and hoping that the majority of leavers do not understand that staying in a customs union is not leaving the EU. It is obvious that the majority of MPs do not understand about the single market and custom union. It is appalling to hear the ignorance of some of their utterances on radio and tv. I am glad to say in the few vox pops on the EU I have heard, the general public seem better informed than our elected representatives. After all the majority of us mere mortals, unlike the elites, have had to live with the realities of EU pronouncements .Perhaps Corbyn should have remembered that adage "you can fool some of the people some of the time, you can't fool all the people all of the time".
Name: John Finn, Coventry      Date/Time: 27 Feb 2018, 09.58am
Message: Exactly what I predicted would happen following the 2017 General Election is now happening. There was no point in everyone slinging mud at Theresa May for not just "walking away". The numbers in parliament never allowed her this option. I believe May wanted as clean a break as possible but the electorate didn't support her. Is or was May a remainer? I don't know but if she voted Remain she was never that committed to the Remain cause. Even if there is still a majority in favour of Leave, the problem we now have is the commitment of Labour Leave voters. i.e. Do Labour Leave voters want Brexit more than they want a Labour government. The outcome of the last GE suggests not.

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 'HARD BREXIT'
LABOUR MANIFESTO
                                                   © Labour Party
MANIFESTO REJECTED MEMBERSHIP OF
SINGLE MARKET & CUSTOMS UNION
For many months, Labour MPs and even Shadow Ministers have been engaged in a concerted campaign to alter Labour’s position on Brexit. However the official position of the Labour Party on which voters chose to vote Labour just eight months ago was clear.
Labour’s policies - as set out in their manifesto - preclude membership of the Single Market and the Customs Union. This is a simple fact.
LABOUR MANIFESTO BREXIT FACTS
1.  Labour accepts Referendum result
“Labour accepts the referendum result and a Labour government will put the national interest first.”
2.  Labour rejects Freedom of Movement
“Freedom of movement will end when we leave the European Union.”
3.  Labour will negotiate new international trade deals
“Labour will work with global trading partners to develop 'best-in-class’ free trade and investment agreements that remove trade barriers and promote skilled jobs and high standards.”
[ Source: Labour Party Manifesto, General Election June 2017 ]
Membership of the Single Market and Customs Union automatically requires Freedom of Movement and automatically bans the negotiation of international trade deals.
By rejecting Freedom of Movement and committing to new international trade deals, Labour therefore made it clear that its policy was to leave the EU and not to have membership of the Single Market or Customs Union.
EVEN AFTER THE GENERAL ELECTION, LABOUR CONFIRMED ITS POSITION
Sunday 11th June, Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn on the BBC:
“The Single Market is a requirement of EU membership and since we won’t be EU members there will have to be an arrangement made.”
Sunday 11th June, Shadow Chancellor McDonnell on ITV (asked about membership of the Single Market):
“I can’t see it even being on the table in the negotiations, I don’t think it’s feasible.”
OBSERVATIONS
Insofar as any politicians ever make anything clear, we felt that the Labour Party manifesto on which they fought the last election was reasonably clear that they would - albeit reluctantly - follow the instructions of the British people in the EU Referendum.
In May and June 2017, our readers who are members of Labour Leave could and did campaign with relative confidence for a Labour vote in the general election, based on the Labour manifesto.
Regrettably it is beginning to look as if the parliamentary party has now given up the pretence. It has become increasingly difficult to reconcile Labour's manifesto commitments on Brexit to its current policies.
As we’ve pointed out many times:-
Membership of the Single Market and Customs Union IS membership of the EU.
There is nothing ‘extreme’ or ‘hard’ about being outside of either.
It’s simply what Brexit means.
As ever, Facts4EU.Org remains open to any organiser of Labour Leave - or pro-Brexit MPs such as Kate Hoey, Frank Field, Graham Stringer - to give us their views in the form of either a short article or the offer of an interview. You can contact us using our contact form here.
Your comments are welcome and they will appear below.
[ Sources: Labour Party Manifesto | BBC | ITV ]
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       06.40am, 27 Feb 2018
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Name: Jon, Wales      Date/Time: 28 Feb 2018, 12.35pm
Message: For those trying to get through higher education, a VERY attractive proposition was put forward in the 2017 Labour Manifesto. Access the link provided in the above article to the Labour Manifesto 2017 and find the "Higher Education" box where you will read an unequivocal pre-election Manifesto STATEMENT: "Labour will reintroduce maintenance grants for university students, and we will abolish university tuition fees.". This unequivocal Manifesto pledge was akin to a 'honey-trap' and widely publicised by Labour at the time. It would not be unreasonable to suggest Labour LIED at the expense of younger impressionable students, as they were facing high tuition fees. The Labour leadership promptly reneged on their statement post election. In other words, they had lied to our students? And [some] politicians wonder why there remains a massive disconnect between them and the electorate. Whatever your politics, a lie is still a lie.
PLEASE HELP US TO
WIPE THE SMILE OFF HIS FACE
We are a small but committed and determined team.
You haven't given up fighting for the clean Brexit you voted for.
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 WHY ARE YOU PAYING
                                                   © EU Commission
FOR FRANCE’S FORMER COLONIES?
On Friday in Brussels, the EU played host to the ‘International High Level Conference on the Sahel’, which was co-chaired by the European Union, the United Nations, the African Union and the G5 Sahel group.
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG SUMMARY - EU'S LATEST ADVENTURES IN AFRICA
  • EU doubled its new funding for combined African army
  • The 5 countries involved are all former French colonies
  • EU continues with 3 ‘common security & defence’ missions in the region
WHO ARE THE G5 SAHEL COUNTRIES?
The ‘G5 Sahel’ countries are the countries of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger which are located in West Africa. These are all very poor former colonies of France which have had a difficult history over the last century. Since they gained independence from France they have all struggled with corrupt regimes, civil wars, and immense poverty. According to EU Commission President Juncker: “three-quarters of the population in this region is under 35 years of age.”
The G5 Sahel countries, plus neighbours                                      © EU Commission
In 2014, the heads of state of the five countries met in Nouakchott to create the G5 Sahel, a regional body designed to co-ordinate strategies and policies on defence, security, governance and infrastructure in the Sahel.
Since 2015, the European Commission and the United Kingdom have been implementing a joint programme - "Providing Humanitarian Assistance to Sahel Emergencies" (PHASE). In 2017, the contribution of Department for International Development (DFID) UK Aid totalled €49.4 million. In 2017, the European Commission allocated €234 million in humanitarian assistance to the Sahel.
In July last year, the Sahel countries launched a common military force, which the EU agreed to part-fund. The EU is also a member of the Alliance for the Sahel, launched and signed by the EU, France and Germany in the same month.
On Friday the EU doubled its funding to the G5 Sahel Joint Force to €100 million.
MONEY
Our usual caveat applies when talking about the EU’s statements of monies it has spent or allocated – these sums are sometimes talked about in different ways, using differing terminology and including different things, and are sometimes announced more than once. That said, here is a SAHEL summary from the EU last week:
                                                   © EU Commission
So that’s almost €9 billion euros, although this includes monies contributed directly by individual member states such as the UK.
On the EU’s latest financial contribution, President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Friday:
“Instability has many factors so our response must be linked and ambitious. Security and development must go hand in hand. To do so, we must continue to mobilise all the instruments we have at our disposal. The EU has doubled its support to €100 million to reinforce the operationalisation of the G5 Sahel Joint Force and I am proud that all our friends and partners of the Sahel joined us in these efforts.”
EU MILITARY INVOLVEMENT
In addition to the new money for the Sahel countries combined army, the EU also reconfirmed its commitment to the three Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions it is funding in the region: EUCAP Sahel Niger, EUCAP Sahel Mali, and EUTM in Mali.
OBSERVATIONS
Photo call Friday 23 Feb 2018                                © EU Commission
This is yet another story that we are bringing you because the BBC won’t. We couldn’t even find it in their online African service.
For a moment forget the detail contained in the article above. Let’s just pause and consider the overall subject matter.
This is a story about a major international conference involving the EU, the UN, and 5 African countries. It involves spending millions building up a combined African army. It includes foreign policy objectives.
Where is the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office in all of this? Where is the Ministry of Defence? And where is the Prime Minister?
The answer is that they are nowhere. This is EU foreign policy. It’s the EU spending taxpayer money, with no formal and specific approval by any elected leader.
WHY ARE WE PAYING FOR FRANCE’S MISTAKES?
Watch French TV news for any period of time and you will notice that countries you’d never heard of appear on it very regularly. These countries have one thing in common. There are still some people in those countries who speak a form of French.
The most developed example is of course the province of Quebec in Canada, even though France has long since abandoned hope that the Quebecois could declare independence from the rest of (British-speaking) Canada. The reason is simple: the people voted against it.
For the other francophone countries, most British people would need a map to find them. (You’ll notice that we helpfully provided one above.)
In France, these countries are on the agenda. They are even well up the agenda. For the rest of Europe this is not the case. Nevertheless, France has somehow managed to get the EU to base a significant part of its foreign policy around French national interests.
You only have to spend an afternoon watching EU military videos, as two of our team recently did, to see how the EU’s pretensions at being a military power almost exclusively seem to involve countries in French-speaking Africa. Almost all the videos have to have sub-titles as a result.
Then look at the press releases and ‘communiqués’ released on Friday. Is there a reason why some of these are only available in French? This is not us being ‘little Englanders’ – the majority of EU member states now prefer English. Whenever statements are released only in French we immediately get suspicious and read them carefully. History has proved that our suspicions were generally well-founded.
IS THIS THE ‘REMAIN’ THAT REMAINERS VOTED FOR IN THE REFERENDUM?
So, here we have the EU acting as though it’s a country – a superpower even – and pursuing foreign policy objectives which we’ve never seen debated by British MPs. We also have British taxpayers’ money being spent by unelected Eurocrats in order to build up a combined African military force.
This isn’t anything to do with the Single Market, the Customs Union, trade tariffs, ‘convergence’ or ‘divergence’, or anything like that.
This is the day-to-day reality of the EU, red in tooth and claw. We urge our politicians to start responding to every ludicrous question from the BBC with “Well did Remainers vote for [...xyz...]?”
The Remoaner MPs such as Umunna, Soubry, Clarke, Grieve, and Starmer scurry around desperately trying to score silly points about absurd guesses of where we'll all be in 15 years, when in the real world the EU is busy acting like a superstate already, making foreign policy decisions and spending British taxpayers' money.
These Remoaner MPs need to be asked repeatedly about this, about whether anyone ever voted for it, and about the total lack of sovereignty the UK currently has over so much of its life.
[ Sources: EU Commission | EEAS | ECHO | OECD | DFID | UN ]
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       06.20am, 26 Feb 2018
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 BREXI-CHAT IS BACK
THIS MORNING!
The first and best free chat-room for people who are pro-Brexit will be open this morning.
TIME:   10 – 12am                  DATE:   Sunday 25th Feb 2018                  PLACE:   Email us for the link.
First period 10.00-11.15am is for 3-star supporters or above.   11.15-12.00am any pro-Brexit person can join us.
We look forward to having a chat about your thoughts on where we are with Brexit, and to answering any questions you might have. We ask Remain campaigners to respect the fact that this chat-room is for Brexiteers only, as time is limited and the purpose is not to debate with those who still wish to stay in the EU.
The public session starts at 11.15am. If you would like to join the Editor and supporters of Brexit Facts4EU.Org earlier - at 10am - you need to be a 3-star supporter or above.
 AUF WIEDERSEHEN PET?
                                                   © BMW
GERMANS SOLD US
£75bn OF GOODS IN 2017
One of the many EU27 bodies we monitor has released its trade figures for 2017. Destatis is the German version of the UK’s ‘Office for National Statistics’ and last week they released their import and export figures for last year.
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG SUMMARY - GERMAN EXPORTS 2017
  • Germany’s exports rose by 6% in 2017
  • UK’s exports rose by 16% in the year to Sept 2017
  • UK’s growth rate in exports is 2.5 times faster than Germany’s
However:
  • Germany sold the UK £74.7 billion of goods in 2017
  • This is £41.8 billion MORE than we sold them
We analysed the latest results from the traditionally powerful German economy. They have always been effective as exporters and for many years this has been made much easier for them because of selling in Euros. (See ‘Observations’ below.)
HAS ANGELA TOLD THE GERMAN PEOPLE ABOUT THE BRITISH ‘KER-CHINGS’?
Last year Germany’s businesses sold almost £75 billion of goods to the UK.
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
GERMAN SURPLUSES
When it comes to the German export sales machine, the UK has something in common with the USA. Both countries are on the wrong end of a big German trade surplus.
This simply refers to ‘the trade balance’ – Germany has a surplus because it sells to the UK and the USA far more than each of those countries buys from Germany.
Germany’s trade surplus with the USA is marginally bigger than its surplus with the UK, at €50.5 billion euros for 2017. The UK came in with a deficit of €47.2 billion euros. That puts the USA and the UK at Nos. 1 and 2 respectively, in the list of countries which Germany does well out of.
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
GERMAN EXPORTS GROWTH
Once again Germany’s exports rose overall in 2017, by 6.2%. HMRC and the ONS don’t yet have full figures for 2017 but in the 12 months to Sept 2017 the growth rate in UK exports worldwide was 16%.
This means that ‘despite Brexit’, the UK’s exporters are growing their business overseas two-and-a-half times faster than German manufacturers and distributors.
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
OBSERVATIONS
Since 1999 Germany’s currency has been the Euro. As the strongest economy in the Eurozone, Germany has benefited enormously from the effect of selling in a currency made weaker by all the Mediterranean and other, smaller countries who are members.
If Germany were still selling in Deutschmarks, the DM/USD exchange rate would be much worse for Germany and its products would be considerably more expensive to foreign buyers, with a consequent lowering of its export performance. As it is, selling in Euros the German businesses are laughing.
Perhaps the key message from the above is that the UK remains a key export market for German business and that it’s No.2 in the world, just after the USA, in terms of trade balance - which defines those countries that Germany does best out of.
None of this has any relevance of course if the UK government fails to get this information across to the German public. If German people aren’t told which side their bread is buttered on, they won’t be inclined to pressure their politicians to do a sensible deal with the UK.
Instead it will be left to the German and EU political elites, whose aims are unconnected with those of Germany’s working people, to punish Britain for daring to depart from its globalist superstate project.
[ Sources: Destatis | ONS | HMRC ]
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       06.45am, 25 Feb 2018
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Name: Jon, Wales      Date/Time: 28 Feb 2018, 10.46am
Message: To compliment the above, may I suggest visitors also read a Facts4EU article published 20 Oct 2017, titled: "Germany's little £100 Billion UK Secret", which indicates German exports to the UK since the referendum. This can be found at: http://facts4eu.org/news_oct2_2017.shtml#am . Taken together, German export businesses need to seriously ask themselves are they REALLY going to allow an unelected commission to jeopardise their exports to the US and UK? We're talking serious money here [in 10's of £billions] for the German economy, not loose change!

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 “PURE ILLUSION”
                                                   © EU Council
PRESIDENT TUSK IS TYPICALLY
RUDE TO THE BRITISH
Yesterday the EU27 leaders held an informal meeting in Brussels, ostensibly to discuss the 2020 budget, and EU Council President Tusk couldn't resist the opportunity to attack the British again.
President Tusk was asked about reports on what the British Cabinet discussed at Chequers last week, regarding 'divergence'.
DONALD TUSK'S COMMENTS ABOUT BREXIT, 24 FEB 2018
“Today I have also informed the leaders that I will present the draft guidelines on the future EU-UK relationship at the March summit. Our intention is to adopt these guidelines, whether the UK is ready with its vision of our future relations, or not.
“Naturally it would be much better if it were. But we cannot stand by and wait. I hope to have some more clarity about the UK's plans next week, when I meet Prime Minister May in London.”
*          *          *
“I'm glad that the UK government seems to be moving towards a more detailed position. However, if the media reports are correct, I am afraid that the UK's position today is based on pure illusion.”
“It looks like the 'cake philosophy' is still alive. From the very start there has been a key principle of the EU27 that there can be no 'cheery picking' and no single market 'à la carte'. This is and will continue to be a key principle without any doubt.”
“Next week I will meet PM May in London to discuss the UK's position and in March the EU27 will adopt new guidelines as regard the future relationship. I'm absolutely sure that we'll be extremely realistic, as 27, in our assessment of possible new proposals.”
OBSERVATIONS
Putting aside the typical arrogance and rudeness shown by this unelected EU President yesterday, we must make two comments about the British government's position this past week.
Firstly, how is it possible that 20 months after the British people voted in a Referendum to leave the EU, the British government is still meeting to discuss what it wants to achieve and how to do that?
Secondly, there are leaks from the Chequers meeting, suggesting "divergence has won", referring to the argument that the UK should be free to make its own laws in its own interests rather than following the thrust of EU lawmaking and standards.
What we would like to know is: "how is this in any way a victory?" As far was we're concerned 'divergence' is a natural consequence of Brexit and is to be welcomed as a given. It means we start working in the interests of the UK, after 45 years of having to work in the interests of continental industry, commerce, agriculture and fishing, and social standards.
Next week the Prime Minister will be giving another of her major Brexit speeches, as part of the series started with her Lancaster House and Florence speeches.
We will wait for this before commenting further, but readers know our overall position is that we can no longer support the direction of travel of this government on Brexit unless they do an abrupt about face on the many major and unacceptable concessions they have made.
We'll see just have to see how bad their current thinking is when Mrs May speaks.
[ Sources: EU Council ]
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       03.35am, 25 Feb 2018
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Name: Brexiteer, Braintree, Essex      Date/Time: 25 Feb 2018, 12.03pm
Message: No Mr Tusk,we are leaving get use to it. If you want your £40 billion exit money, if Germany wants to sell £75 billions worth of cars and white goods to the UK, do a deal. If not watch the Japanese car production in the UK skyrocket, to fill the gap in the market left by overpriced Germany cars with the 10% WTO tariff added. The UK is an outward looking trading nation, your model of a restrictive rigged cartel economy is outdated and obsolete. Get used to it or watch your EU economy implode, high taxes, high unemployment, low growth. When the peoples of the EU see there is a life outside, they will all want to join us in the free world.

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 EU’S MIGRANT CRISIS
COMES BACK TO BITE EU
IN THE ITALIAN PENINSULA
                                                   © Marina Militare
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG REPORT
ON THE EU’S MIGRANT CRISIS
PART TWO - HOW ITALY HAS BEEN TREATED
Italians go to the polls next weekend in what may to prove be the biggest electoral setback to the EU elites thus far.
Here, in Part 2 of our EU Migrant Special, we examine how the EU’s policies have affected Italy, in light of the general election taking place there a week tomorrow.
We look at the latest official figures produced for 2017. Some of these might really surprise you. And in this article and the ones that follow, we hope to be giving you information relevant to Brexit, and relevant to what Remain voters might like to know about the EU.
WHICH COUNTRIES DID MOST MIGRANTS ENTER LAST YEAR?
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
As you can see above, recently it has been Italy that has been bearing the brunt of the continuing EU migrant crisis. More than half (58%) of ‘irregular migrants’ entering the EU last year entered through Italy, and a great many are still there.
If you read some EU documents you could be forgiven for thinking the migrant crisis is over. We have seen many where it is referred to in the past tense. The crisis continues, as any Italian will tell you.
ITALY? DON’T YOU MEAN GREECE?
For the majority of readers, it is not Italy that springs to mind when thinking of an EU country affected by a mass influx of migrants - it’s Greece.
Greece was the country which appeared on our TV screens week after week in 2015 and 2016, with impressionable reporters enthusiastically nodding along as ‘refugees’ told of their desire to have a new life in England or Germany.
When some routes north became more difficult than others, some of those reporters from the BBC, Sky News or ITN were even able to help the migrants, by using online map facilities on the migrants’ I-Phones to show them the best route.
The numbers entering Greece were so huge that it’s not surprising Mrs Merkel’s focus was on stopping the flow arriving there, en route to Germany. The numbers entering Italy were less by comparison, and in any case Italy is a richer country than Greece so perhaps Mrs Merkel thought that the Italians would cope without help.
WHERE DID THE MIGRANTS GO NEXT?
The more cynical might observe that migrants entering Italy were far less likely to make it to Germany because of simple geography. A significant proportion of Italy’s migrants were likely to cross into France and indeed last year saw many reports in the French press about this.
Frontex reports “The number of irregular migrants detected by France, who… had been detected for illegal border crossing to Italy, substantially increased between 2016 and 2017.” They went to say that “many irregular migrants transited France with the intention to reach the United Kingdom.”
WE’RE ALL RIGHT, GIACOMO
Whatever the reasons, it is a simple fact that Mrs Merkel did not spend €6 billion of EU taxpayers’ money stopping the flow of migrants into Italy.
Instead she did a deal with Turkey’s President Erdogan and since April 2016 the EU has been giving that money to Turkey to prevent the flow of migrants into Greece and thereby stemming the flow into Germany.
 
This has led to the strong feeling in Italy that it has been hung out to dry by the EU, or at the very least that it has been sidelined and ignored. By September 2016 things were so bad that the then Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, refused even to share a stage with the German Chancellor and the French President at the end of the EU Summit.
Alarmed at this turn of events, the EU Commission started to look at measures it could take to settle the Italians down. More money was found, although it seems improbable that this was anywhere near enough. Still, it allowed the EU to say it was doing something.
EU MIGRANT FUNDING TO ITALY
The table below shows some of the funding given from the EU budget to Italy as the migrant crisis developed. It amounts to more than €0.75 billon euros but this is for a 7 year period. It’s worth bearing in mind, however, that the EU pays for its migrant crisis out of many different funds which do not have ‘migrant’ in the title, so this figure is far less than reality.
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
When the first countries started to refuse to take their allocation of migrants, the EU Commission came up with a punishment – which of course they stated was most definitely not a punishment. It was stated that each migrant cost an average of €¼ million. If a country did not take its allocation, it would have to ‘contribute’ €0.25 million for every migrant it didn’t take.
This would put the cost to Italy at many tens of billions of euros, for the last few years.
MIGRANT NUMBERS INTO ITALY, 2014-2017
Unlike Greece which saw a dramatic drop in numbers following Mrs Merkel’s €6bn bribe of EU taxpayers’ money being given to Turkey, the number of migrants entering Italy remained at a fairly consistent level since 2014 when the flows first became really significant.
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
Then in the second half of 2017 Italy experienced a drop as a result of migrants being unable to leave Libya. This gave a total of 119,400 for Italy, for last year as a whole.
Despite the fact that numbers fell in the second half of 2017, the EU’s Frontex border agency nevertheless noted that “the Central Mediterranean route (to Italy) still recorded by far the largest number of irregular migrants.” In other words, numbers dropped, but Italy still got more than anyone else.
WHO ARE THESE MIGRANTS?
The majority of the illegal migrants entering Italy are from Africa, with Nigerians being the most numerous.
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
Single men are the largest grouping, with the exact proportion varying according to nationality. The highest percentages of men in 2017 were amongst the Sudanese (90%), Tunisian (89%) and Senegalese (86%) migrants. For all nationalities single adult men outnumbered women and children and they constituted an average of 74.5% of the total.
We believe this to be an underestimate. Children are not sub-divided into girls and boys in the figures from Frontex or the IOM. We are asked to believe that just 1.3% of total migrants entering Italy are accompanied children whereas 13.2% are unaccompanied children. It does not seem plausible that there are 10 times as many unaccompanied children as there are accompanied ones.
It has certainly been the case in other countries which have started the process of testing ages that the majority of those claiming to be minors under 18 are in fact adult men. We therefore believe the number of single men is in fact over 80%.
THE EU MIGRANT RELOCATION SCHEME
In Part 3 we will be describing the EU ‘irregular migrant’ relocation scheme, but for the moment it suffices to know that 160,000 migrants were supposed to have been relocated from Italy and Greece to other member states by September last year.
In fact this EU programme’s results have been little short of pitiful.
According to the UN’s ‘International Organisation for Migration’ (IOM) agency, only 11,444 migrants had been relocated in total from Italy since September 2015.
Overall, the main countries of destination for relocated migrants were Germany (43%), Sweden (10%), Switzerland (8%), The Netherlands (8%), Norway (7%), Finland (7%). Out of the total relocated migrants from Italy, 27% were female and 73% were male, and 95% of them were Eritrean.
[Please note: In case you see a much lower figure than 160,000 quoted, the EU Commission has been rewriting history in the last couple of years but we still have the details of what they promised, to hold them to account.]
CURRENT NUMBER OF MIGRANTS IN ITALY
The first thing to say is that no-one knows how many illegal migrants are in Italy. Based on our experience of researching immigration over several years, and seeing initial estimates be increased substantially, we would say that the numbers that are officially recorded will prove to have been ridiculously low.
As things stand, Médecins Sans Frontières say that overall numbers stand at just over 180,000, with 150 thousand migrants being housed in Emergency Reception Centres, compared to only 31,270 accommodated in the Protection System for Asylum Seekers and Refugees (SPRAR) network.
The reality is that numbers are likely to be in the millions. As you will see in the next article, mainstream politicians are now calling for repatriations of over 500,000 illegal migrants. That alone should give some indication.
OBSERVATIONS
On Thursday we presented Part 1 of our EU Migrant Special. We gave you an overview of the EU’s migrant crisis in the last three years, and showed in particular how ‘EU-approved’ governments in Germany, France, the Netherlands, etc have had to shift significantly to the right on the issue of immigration.
We gave examples of the statements now being made - and policies followed - by mainstream politicians such as Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron, and Mark Rutte. We pointed out that they would be labelled racist xenophobes in the UK and how there would be street protests, if any of them were British Prime Minister.
To compile this report we used the latest available data from the EU’s border agency Frontex, from the UN’s migration agency the IOM, and additional information from EASO, UNHCR, and other organisations.
It is important to note that we have never had much faith in this data since we first started reviewing it years ago. We believe that almost all the figures are significantly understated. It is also the case that the EU’s data and the data from the UN’s IOM does not match, despite them working together.
Nevertheless we have done what we could to present what we believe to be the most accurate picture, albeit that in our view the numbers are under-counted.
We hope you found at least some of this report interesting.
[ Sources: Frontex | EASO | International Organisation for Migration (UN) | EU Commission | Italian Ministry of the Interior | Marina Militare ]
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       05.50am, 24 Feb 2018
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Name: Brexiteer, Braintree, Essex      Date/Time: 24 Feb 2018, 10.34am
Message: The Government of Kenya is with the help of the UNHCR deporting 400,000 Somalian refugees and undocumented migrants back to Somalia. The Kenyan authorities last year deported 60,000 Somalians. One of the reason given by Kenya for these expulsions, is the infiltration of hard line Islamist extremist group al-Shabab amongst these migrants. Kenya is scared that these extremists are fostering insurrection in Kenya.

So countries in Africa can deport and maintain their borders but not European countries. The migrants entering Italy are being transported into the country by NGO's, with the complicity of the EU. It has been documented and proved that there has been and is contact between so-called people smugglers in Libya, and these NGO "rescue" ships located just outside the 12 mile limit. The NGO rescue ships pick up these migrants and take them the 100 miles plus to Italy. As the NGO's are partly funded by overseas aid budgets from EU countries the EU must have been complicit and approved these actions. This policy of the EU of mass immigration from the third world, has only become a political problem because of the crime, murders and mayhem these immigrants have brought to civilised developed European countries. The EU's individual governments claim that we need more migrants to fund our ageing populations and because of declining birth rates amongst the indigenous peoples. How importing unskilled, uneducated migrants into high-tech sophisticated Western economies is a good thing has yet to be explained. Reversing this policy is going to be a lot harder to achieve than it was to initially start.

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 WILL PAMELA CHANGE
THE FACE OF EUROPE?
                                                   © Pamela Mastropietro Facebook
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG REPORT
ON THE EU’S MIGRANT CRISIS
PART THREE - AN ITALIAN TRAGEDY
The town of Macerata lies about 3 hours drive from Rome and is home to around 40,000 people. Just over three weeks ago an horrific event took place which has rocked Italy and may well have repercussions beyond Italy’s borders.
The dismembered and partially-skinned body of an 18-year old Italian girl, Pamela Mastropietro, was found in two suitcases outside Macerata. A second post-mortem has now been carried out. We rather wish we hadn’t read it and certainly will not be reporting the details. Suffice it to say that this was no ordinary murder.
A 29 year-old illegal migrant from Nigeria called Innocent Oseghale was arrested for the murder. Oseghale is an alleged drug dealer who had applied for asylum but was turned down. Unfortunately it seems that he was not deported by the Italian authorities.
This only got the BBC’s attention when a man who was a member of a right-wing party drove to Macerata and randomly shot and injured six people in revenge, because they looked like migrants.
It is difficult to explain just how important the topic of immigration is in the Italian elections. Regrettably the BBC has failed to communicate this properly due its bias. Try searching for the poor murdered girl’s name on the BBC’s news website. A story about an Italian anti-racist march comes up, as does the story about the right-winger who subsequently injured 6 people in a revenge shooting.
Unfortunately the original and horrific story of Pamela’s murder is not listed.
Fortunately Pamela has not been forgotten in Italy. Her tragic death may yet prove to resonate far beyond Italy's borders as it provides - rightly or wrongly - a focus for voters' thoughts about the migrant crisis and the EU's role in that, ahead of next Sunday's elections.
[ Sources: Various Italian media ]
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       06.55am, 24 Feb 2018
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Name: Jon, Wales      Date/Time: 27 Feb 2018, 0.49am
Message: When my own glamorous daughter [almost 18] goes out, it scares me until she arrives home. I am so sad at not hearing of this awful tragedy about Pamela. Such a lovely young lady whose loss must not be in vain. All of continental Europe need to wake up and realise the potential hazards to uncontrolled and/or illegal immigration, and lack of security checks. Leaders should, in my view, be held accountable when they fail to follow through deportation after asylum refusal. I absolutely condemn the BBC among others for not properly reporting such tragedy. May I pass my sincere condolences to the family of Pamela. She will NEVER be forgotten.
 “SOCIAL BOMB
READY TO EXPLODE”
Matteo Salvini, with colleagues from ENF group                                                   © Lega Nord
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG REPORT
ON THE EU’S MIGRANT CRISIS
PART FOUR - POLITICS
In November last year, an IPSOS-MORI poll found that
almost half (49%) of Italians agreed with the statement:
“These days I feel like a stranger in my country.”
There have been mass evictions of migrants squatting in buildings across Italy and water cannon has been used. Médecins Sans Frontières reported 800 Eritreans and Ethiopians being evicted from one such building in Rome last summer, and they complained about police violence.
Two weeks ago Mr Matteo Salvini of the Lega Nord said: “The only antidote to racism is to control, regulate and limit immigration. There are millions of Italians in economic difficulty. Italians are not racist, but out-of-control immigration brings with it far from positive reactions. We want to prevent that.” He pledged to deport 500,000 illegal immigrants.
At around the same time Silvio Berlusconi did a TV interview in which he pledged to deport 600,000 illegal immigrants from Italy should the coalition of which his party is a member enter government after the general election on 04 March.
                                                   © TG5
The 3-times former prime minister described immigration as a “social bomb ready to explode in Italy. Immigration has become an urgent question, because after years with a left-wing government, there are 600,000 migrants who don’t have the right to stay.”
“We consider it to be an absolute priority to regain control over the situation.” Berlusconi also criticised the EU for its failures to help Italy: “Today, Italy counts for nothing in Brussels and the world. We will make it count again.”
OBSERVATIONS
On Thursday in Part 1 of this series we tried to give an idea of how mainstream politicians across the EU are now having to adopt rhetoric that in the UK would be wholly unacceptable if a right-wing politician said it. Or any politician come to that, but left-wing politicians rarely seem to be criticised for the same things.
EU Parliament President Tajani                                   © unknown
We would now like to give you another, definitive example of this. Antonio Tajani is the President of the EU Parliament. As such he's important for Brexit. He is also by definition a 'mainstream' politician in the EU.
Now pause for a moment and ask yourself if you can imagine a mainstream politician in the UK saying the following:
“Europe should repatriate all illegal immigrants and block new arrivals.”
“We must prevent people from arriving at our borders by securing international deals with the nations the migrants come from.... we must return illegal immigrants to their countries.”
We're pretty sure that if someone like Sir Nigel Farage or Jacob Rees-Mogg - or even a Labour Brexiteer like Kate Hoey - said something like this there would be uproar.
Well, some aspects of life are now so bad in the EU that politicians who would never have dreamt of saying anything other than 'luvvie stuff' a few years ago are now beginning to sound like the BNP. And of course they're making this transition while pretending that they haven't changed their positions.
[ Sources: Various Italian media ]
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       06.55am, 24 Feb 2018
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Name: Jon, Wales      Date/Time: 26 Feb 2018, 10.58pm
Message: There needs to be a reset of immigration as the systems in many countries appear totally out of control. No country can plan its services when they do not know how many people will arrive, and this goes some way to explaining why the EU construct itself is a failure (in addition to EU imposed rule). Tight controls should be left to the country itself as the first duty of any government is to protect its own citizens, first and foremost. Leaving aside the emotional aspect, immigration is all about numbers. Too many, and a country's own culture can be wrecked by those whom do not respect it. People traffickers may think they've tapped into a fortune, and will continue sending overloaded boats unless they see such boats are being turned around. There must be a rethink because migrants who throw their papers into the sea before landing, clearly have an ulterior motive. It occurred to me long ago that as we live in an age of digital technology and satellites, WHY haven't they detected launch sites of these people traffickers. Perhaps they have and are simply keeping quiet? The EU commission redefined illegal migrants, referring to them as "irregular migrants", unfortunate though their circumstances may be. In my book, there are 'illegal migrants' or 'legal migrants'. There are also those in need of temporary safety, but that does not mean being allowed to run amok across Europe. Violent illegal migrants have not done the image of Calais any favours. They have only one destination in mind but should not be there in the first place, yet fail to claim asylum in France, a safe country. Do they not like France I wonder? They illegally travelled through many countries to get there, so they're clearly fit and able (mainly younger men). WHY Mr Macron allowed this continue is anyone's guess?
 MARION MARECHAL-LE-PEN
"80% OF OUR LAW
IS IMPOSED BY THE EU"
                                                   © cpac
The Front National's Marion Maréchal-Le-Pen speaks at the conservative CPAC convention last night.
"I want America first for the American people."
"I want Britain first for the British people."
"And I want France first for the French people."
[ Sources: CPAC ]
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       07.10am, 23 Feb 2018
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Name: Jon, Wales      Date/Time: 26 Feb 2018, 9.31pm
Message: A truly rousing and inspirational speech presented by Marion Marechal-Le-Pen at CPAC 2018. Younger generations would be wise to listen to her thoughtful words, but so too should UK elected MPs and unelected peers.
 WHO WAS THE MASTER
AND WHO WAS THE SERVANT?
                                                   © Parliament
Yesterday we broadcast the live proceedings from one of the House of Commons Committee rooms (see below), where the EU Scrutiny Committee under the chairmanship of veteran Brexiteer Sir William Cash was meeting. They were there to question the Undersecretary of State for the Department for Exiting the European Union, Rt Hon Robin Walker MP, and a civil servant who is the UK's Permanent Representative to the EU, Sir Tim Barrow.
We had a feeling in advance that these proceedings would provide an insight into the progress or otherwise of the Brexit process that you wouldn't get elsewhere, and we weren't disappointed. As usual we were the only Brexit news site to broadcast the event.
One of our 3-star supporters, Mr Simon Jones of Wiltshire, sent us his analysis of yesterday's proceedings which we are sharing with you below.
READER'S ARTICLE - MR SIMON JONES, WILTSHIRE
The Minister has been well trained by the civil service; I was listening while doing something else and I couldn't tell whom the Minister of the Crown was and whom was the Servant; I defy you to listen to the exchanges and then have confidence that the DExEU actually believes in its own stated intent.
With regard to the content, this was the clearest indication that there is no real transition nor implementation period after the end of the Article 50 process (in the sense of moving from one state to another); there is absolutely zero ambition from the Government to actually change anything until after 2021, if ever.
There was nothing in the statements made by the representatives of the Government that explicitly ruled out extending the transition period. They understood that now is not the time to stir up trouble and repeated the oft quoted 'about 2 years line' but there was no commitments that could not be brushed aside later.
The Minister could give no evidence of preparing for the failure of the negotiations and reversion to WTO trading rules; repeated pressed on this he would only say that they want and expect a deal as it is mutually beneficial but under these circumstances it will only be a very bad deal for us. The only vague notion he had about preparing for no deal was that HMRC were doing some preparatory work! We are leaving in just over a year!
The last exchange was I think the most revealing even if technical. Forgive me for the following as it is only my understanding and I am not a lawyer.
The Withdrawal Bill going through Parliament repeals the original EEC Act that amongst other things established the ECJ. That removes the foreign court but then, the yet to be drafted new Act for the transitional and political agreement will have to re-establish the primacy of the ECJ over UK law again, at least for the transition period.
I think this is completely unacceptable and I will never vote nor support any MP who votes to grant primacy to a foreign court in this bill after the result of the referendum.
OBSERVATIONS
We had the same initial observation as Simon Jones; if they hadn't had name plaques it would have been impossible to tell who was the master and who was the servant.
Overall, what was on show was the Remain version of Brexit. In our view it is wholly unacceptable to have a Remainer as Minister in the DExEU Dept. Walker is the archetypal rent-a-minister of the type churned out by Central Office Casting. In times gone by governments could get away with this nonsense. Now we sense a different mood in the country.
Just imagine the difference if the Minister had been John Redwood or Owen Paterson. Walker is not in their league and there is simply no excuse for Theresa May to have chosen him.
Whether people voted Leave or Remain, there has been a growing feeling that the government must listen to the people more than they have been accustomed to doing. If Mrs May and her government don't start to do this, they will suffer the consequences. We agree with the final statement made by Simon Jones above.
[ Sources: Parliament Live ]
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       04.50am, 23 Feb 2018
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Name: Norman, Taunton      Date/Time: 23 Feb 2018, 2.52pm
Message: I am now 70 years old and I apologise for getting it wrong first time around. Regretfully I voted to stay at the Referendum on the European Community (Common Market), on 5 June 1975, I regret that vote. I was young then and believed what our elite rulers told us. I voted to leave on 23 June 2016. I did not in all honesty expect to wake up the following morning to find that we had won.

I voted for Brexit. I now firmly believe that the EU is a dictatorship run by unelected Eurocrats. It is also run for elite for the elite. The UK is no longer in control of its own destiny and we should just leave. I also believe that our elected dictatorship, no matter what they pretend to say, want us to leave. How many of them voted for Brexit? We certainly have some of the people who are supposed to be negotiating our exit of the EU who do not believe in what they are doing and, more probably trying their best to stop it. Take our Prime Minister who wants a transition period that could go on infinitely, she does not really want us to leave, no matter what she says. Why would any leader of the UK do what she is doing if this were not the case? We have a media that are all generally against leaving and many like the BBC do not report on the whole story. We also have our mandarins who appear to be doing all they can to misinform both ministers, MPs and the public. We are also fed a lot of lies and half lies.

I believe we only have one option and that is to just leave at the due time that is Friday 29th March 2019. We do not pay any money to EU other than that is due up to that date to be paid. We stop negotiating with the EU and start negotiating trade deals with any individual country that wishes to. We take back our fishing grounds, our borders which may well include the Irish/Northern Ireland border. We have our own customs controls, not in France but this side of the English Channel. There is no doubt that these border controls may well need to be stricter to stop all these illegal immigrants coming in.

My father, who has just died at the age of 96 fought, like many in the last war so we and others could have our freedom. That is now about to be thrown away. I am now retired and on a small pension so money is very tight. Please keep up the good work. Regards, Norman
Name: Brexiteer, Braintree, Essex      Date/Time: 23 Feb 2018, 10.57am
Message: There was a brilliant quote from Steve Hilton, David Cameron's Chief of Staff, on what to expect in Government. He wrote on Fox News: "Blair was candid and thoughtful, and gave us a brilliant primer on what he'd learned about making the machinery of government work. But there was one thing above all that stood out from our conversation: his blunt warning about the administrative state and the attitude any incoming government would face from the permanent bureaucracy."

"You cannot underestimate how much they believe it's their job to actually run the country and to resist the changes put forward by people they dismiss as 'here today, gone tomorrow' politicians," Blair said. "They genuinely see themselves as the true guardians of the national interest, and think that their job is simply to wear you down and wait you out."

That about sums up the relationship between the civil service and politicians in a nutshell.

If you remember Steve Hilton got so fed up with trying to implement policy for Cameron,and fighting the civil service,he quit the job and went back to America.
Name: Sydney Ashurst, Surrey      Date/Time: 23 Feb 2018, 09.33am
Message: I missed the MP on the name plaque and I thought from their approach and relationship they were both Whitehall Mandarins. Was it Kate Hoey that brought up our being held to ransom over the Irish Border? No answer was given to Barnier's interpretation of 'regulatory alignment' and his demand for it to be in law. The answer to how long is a piece of string (transition period) was fudged.

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 JUNCKER DELIBERATELY SPREADS
ALARM OVER ITALIAN ELECTIONS
                                                   © La Stampa
EU elites clearly in state of panic
over Italian general election next weekend
  • Juncker interferes in Italian elections
  • “Brace ourselves for the worst scenario”
  • Italian bond markets react badly in response
  • Italy's Prime Minister forced to issue calming statement
Yesterday EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker put his foot in it again, in making some remarks during a visit to the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), a typical pro-EU ‘think tank’ based in Brussels.
“I do not have any illusions about Europe,” said Juncker, “it is better not to be too optimistic. We have to brace ourselves for the worst scenario and the worst scenario could be an inoperative government. The week after next will be “a very important week for the EU. We have the result of the so-called SPD referendum in Germany, we have elections in Italy.”
“If we combine all this uncertainty, the SPD, the elections in Italy, minority governments here and there, we could have a strong reaction of the financial markets in the second half of March.”
The EU Commission President was trying to find a way of saying why the anticipated results of the Italian elections will be bad, without this being connected with the EU itself. He chose to do this by signalling market worries – which then cause precisely these jitters to spread through the markets yesterday.
OBSERVATIONS
In his clumsy attempt to deflect attention away from the EU itself, the EU Commission President tried to plant the idea that the financial markets won’t like it if Italians vote the wrong way. In doing this it is alleged that he caused massive costs, as the international markets reacted to his words.
The current Italian Prime Minister had to act immediately to reassure the markets that government in Italy would continue as normal. After all, in a country that has had 63 governments since 1946, transition is something Italians are used to. Mr Juncker’s remarks were therefore bizarre in the extreme.
It is also the case that Juncker was previously Luxembourg’s Finance Minister, as well as being its Prime Minister, so he should know not to spook markets with intemperate words.
EU UNDER THE ITALIAN SPOTLIGHT
The reality is that the EU is front and centre in this election campaign, with much discussion about the role the Eurozone has played in keeping Italy back and preventing it from recovering from the 2008 crash, as other economies have done.
One of the hottest topics is the migrant crisis, which never went away in Italy despite the EU Commission constantly telling everyone that the new policies were working.
Whilst migrant numbers in Greece fell considerably after Frau Merkel agreed to throw billions at the Turkish government to stop the flow, numbers entering Italy have fallen by much less, and in Spain numbers have actually doubled in the last year.
Nothing about this on the BBC, though.
CLEAR, UNAMBIGUOUS FACTS
We would like to finish our research on the EU’s migrant crisis and publish our findings. Yesterday we published Part 1 – an overview of how ‘EU-approved’ EU leaders such as Merkel and Macron are now promoting ideas which would provoke street marches and protests in the UK if either of them led the British government.
We’ve started one piece on the migrant crisis in Italy because it’s so relevant to their imminent general election, and another piece on the overall figures for the EU. These aren’t just academic articles. They’re going to be punchy and packed with information from official sources, as usual.
And they will directly affect people's views of the EU, which is essential given the amount of Remoaner propaganda which has huge funders behind it.
For example, you might like to know that more than 1 million ‘refugees’ now receive regular monthly cash payments from the EU’s budget? This is one of the many nuggets in our reports.
If you haven’t donated before, we wondered if you able to donate a little something to sponsor these articles? After all, you know that the BBC will never research these things. You can be anonymous or let us acknowledge your help with pride.
[ Sources: La Stampa | ARD | EU Commission | Bloomberg ]
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       04.45am, 23 Feb 2018
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Name: Brexiteer, Braintree, Essex      Date/Time: 23 Feb 2018, 1.56pm
Message: Merkel's invite to millions of uneducated, unskilled migrants into the EU, could be the turning point to the elite rulers of the EU's vision, of Europe. The peoples of Europe are rejecting at the ballot box the invasion of their countries by these migrants, especially as the people will have to pay for the migrants' welfare with their taxes. Germany the powerhouse that runs the EU is now without a Government since September 2017, and the coalition Merkel hopes to form with the SPD is looking decidedly shaky. The polls are against her, opinion is hardening against her policies, and rising crime rates from her new imported Europeans are concentrating the electorate's mind. The Italian elections are also not going the way the EU elites would want. Crime, murders, economic stagnation and immigration are key issues, and like Germany the Italian electorate want change. Combine all that with Brexit and the European Commission are certainly seeing their project of federal European State stalling if not disintegrating. Now is definitely the time to leave this chaotic situation, our electorate has delivered our verdict to our political rulers. Let's just hope they carry out the mandate.
PLEASE HELP US TO
WIPE THE SMILE OFF HIS FACE
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 EU SCRUTINY COMMITTEE - LIVE FROM 10.30am
                                                   © Parliament Live TV
This is the cross-party committee headed up by Sir Bill Cash. This morning they will be interrogating the UK's Permanent Representative to the EU, Sir Tim Barrow, plus the Undersecretary of State for the Department for Exiting the European Union, Robin Walker.
This is a public service from Brexit Facts4EU.Org.
OBSERVATIONS
The Minister, Robin Walker, voted Remain. Naturally we don't know how the senior civil servant Sir Tim Barrow voted, but he's a senior civil servant and so we really don't need to say more.
Without analysing in detail the responses given by these two individuals to the Committee, we will simply say that they were profoundly depressing. They personify all that is wrong with the government's approach to the Brexit process.
You only need to ask yourself one question. How on earth is it possible to have a Remainer as the Minister in the Dept for Exiting the EU?
[ Sources: Parliament Live ]
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       09.30am, 22 Feb 2018
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Name: Jon, Wales      Date/Time: 26 Feb 2018, 6.47pm
Message: Having watched the Scrutiny Committee take evidence from Robin Walker and Sir Tim Barrow, I am left in no doubts whatsoever we are being 'stitched up'? There were no real commitments put forward by these gentlemen despite probing questions from the committee. We kept hearing, as we've heard so many times, an implementation period "of around two years". In my life experience, 'around two years' is political double-speak for saying they intend this to be a whole lot longer (for reasons I'm certain they are yet to find)? There is nothing to implement! We voted to Leave the European Union construct and have conducted ourselves accordingly thus far. Even if there was something to implement, that does NOT mean we need to remain shackled to the European Union ideology. We MUST have every ability to act for ourselves on day one, whether in legal matters; security; trading; fisheries and farming, etc. To be independent means exactly that, though we may wish to cooperate [but not ruled by the EU] with some matters. So far as we're led to understand, Brexit day WILL be 29th March, 2019 (Personally I would leave tomorrow). However, on that day we will not be free of the EU construct, as our beloved [remain] Prime Minister is making certain the great British people will remain under EU governance and the rule of ECJ? So Prime Minister, please tell me I'm wrong? People had many different reasons for voting to leave the European Union, as is their choice, but the overriding reason was to again be an independent self-governing nation state in every respect, though I understand younger generations [but not all] have no real concept of this.
Name: David Joyce, UK      Date/Time: 22 Feb 2018, 9.21pm
Message: How is it possible to have a remainer PM in charge of the country at this crucial time, exiting the EU? May needs to go ASAP if Brino is to be avoided.
 MIGRANT CRISIS?
NOTHING TO SEE HERE
                                                   © Frontex
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG REPORT
ON THE EU’S MIGRANT CRISIS
PART ONE - A FACTS4EU.ORG PERSPECTIVE ON THE LAST 3 YEARS
Over the last three years the migrant crisis has become toxic for the EU elites. They couldn’t have got it more wrong and unfortunately for them the problem is so big that it’s been impossible for them to hide it.
For much of the time before 2015 the EU and its member states were able to shut down any discussion, by labelling anyone who raised the topic of immigration as a racist, fascist, xenophobe, or all three.
CRISIS? WHAT CRISIS?
This broadly worked up until mid-2015. It is not generally recognised that the EU’s migrant crisis started well before 2015, but that is for another article.
It was August 2015 when Chancellor Merkel - unilaterally on behalf of Germany - tore up the EU’s Dublin protocol which said that immigrants must seek asylum in the first safe country in which they landed. In other words she completely broke accepted EU laws, procedures, and obligations. She didn’t ask anyone. She did this without any permission from the EU Council, or the EU Commission, or the EU Parliament.
She was the Chancellor of the biggest and most powerful country in the EU so she just did it.
BREXIT NOTE: This is the same EU which insists to the British government that the EU’s laws, treaties, rules and directives can never be broken. And naturally the BBC laps this up and regurgitates it to the British people, without any questioning journalism whatsoever.
‘DER SOMMER DER LIEBE’ (‘The summer of love’)
So it was that in the late summer of 2015 Chancellor ‘Mutti’ Merkel welcomed in migrants to her German homeland.
She could be seen on TV almost daily, rejoicing in these illegal migrants taking selfies with her, using their I-phones. This was the heady time when many ordinary Germans got caught up in a form of mass hysteria which saw them throwing flowers to bewildered young male illegal migrants at German railway stations.
                                                   © Unknown
To be fair, it wasn’t only the Germans. Many other nationalities including the Dutch, Belgians, Swedish and others particpated in acts of collective suspension of normal judgement.
THE LOSS OF INNOCENCE
“If you’re going to Koln Cathedral
Be sure to throw some flowers in the air”
                                                   © Unknown
(Brexit Facts4EU.Org rewording of 1967 classic by Scott McKenzie)
Now we will look at what has happened since the migrant crisis became so bad that ordinary people across the EU dared to start talking about it. We’ll show that some politicians risked career melt-down by drawing attention to the need for what they called ‘controlled immigration’.
In late 2015 and early 2016, it became clear that:-
  • Most of the ‘Syrian refugees’ were neither Syrian nor refugees
  • They were in fact economic migrants from many countries – mostly young, single males
By 2017 this was so obvious that the EU Commission started admitting openly what we had been reporting for years.
THE SILENT MAJORITY WOKE UP
It became clear that the general public in the EU were becoming uneasy with the sheer volume of migrants entering their countries.
Have you even been told how many migrants the EU now admits arrived in 2015? It wasn't the 1 million that the mainstream media continues to refer to.
In fact it was 1.82 million. In one year.
And in reality, although we can't prove it, we believe the figure was much higher. We could give our reasons in a future article, if we ever get sufficient funding to cover that level of detail.
Whilst many EU countries – including Sweden, Germany, and others – tried to suppress it, rates of crime were spiralling in areas with large influxes of migrants. Specifically, it was alleged that crimes against children and girls were increasing significantly.
It remains the case today that we are unable to bring you full and unexpurgated crime statistics from many EU countries in relation to those crimes carried out by non-EU nationals. It is policy in some EU countries for the police forces to hide the identity of crime suspects and actual perpetrators. In particular they will not reveal generic information about the criminals and where they come from.
Where individual police officers have spoken out, they have been subject to disciplinary procedures or have had to leave their jobs. These stories are covered very well by alternative media on the Internet and we leave readers to do their own research to understand what we are saying.
POLITICIANS PLAYING CATCH-UP
Regrettably for at least two years there seems to have been a mainstream media wall of silence in the EU about the problems associated with dealing with the sudden influx of huge numbers of mostly single young men from very different cultures. Despite this, information was seeping out on the Internet to such a degree that some EU27 politicians had to respond.
In response to the growing outrage, politicians suddenly had to change their tune, as election after election across the EU started showing the increasing levels of dissatisfaction with the political elites.
HOW THE EU ESTABLISHMENT LUVVIES LURCHED TO THE RIGHT
Many EU leaders have now called for everything up to and including repatriation of illegal migrants, bans on building more mosques, and bans on the wearing of Islamic clothing in public.
Interestingly, some of these policies above are now the official policy of various EU governments which are deemed ‘acceptable’ by the EU elites, such as President Macron’s government in France and even Chancellor Merkel’s in Germany. The EU Council, Commission, and Parliament all dismiss anything said by the Visegrad countries (Hungary, Poland etc) but when it comes to 'mainstream' EU member states they have to sit up and take notice.
Yes, Frau Merkel herself actually declared in December 2016 that niqabs and burkas “must be banned wherever legally possible.” And this received very, very prolonged applause from thousands of delegates at the CDU conference when she said this.
CDU conference 2016                                                   © CDU
HERE IS HOW ‘ESTABLISHMENT’ RUTTE HAD TO CHANGE HIS TUNE
Frau Merkel wasn't the only one. By 2017 other ‘Establishment’ politicians (approved by the EU) such as Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands had started to spout immigration policies which would be condemned as being racist if he were running for office in the UK.
QUOTATIONS FROM THE DUTCH PRIME MINISTER
“We feel a growing discomfort when people abuse our freedom to spoil things here, when they came to our country exactly for that freedom. People who refuse to adapt, accept our customs, and who reject our values. Who harass gay men, jeer at women in short skirts, or call ordinary Dutch people racists.
“If you so fundamentally reject our country, I prefer that you leave. That’s how I feel.”
“Act normal or leave.”
(From full page newspaper advert)
“Municipalities that provide care to failed asylum seekers and illegal immigrants should be fined.”
“We will strip the nationality of Dutch people who join terrorist organizations.”
“The integration of newcomers ensures that they find their way as well and quickly as possible our society. We will therefore set strict requirements for newcomers. And if they do not comply with those requirements, we want there to be consequences such as the removal of the residence permit and benefits.”
“We see integration (including compulsory language courses) as the responsibility of newcomers.
They must pay for this themselves, not from the Dutch taxpayer.”
Official campaign poster from ruling VVD party of PM Mark Rutte
© VVD
Translation: “Holland must stay Holland”
“We want there to be aid given in the region (of conflict) and no more asylum applications in Europe. People can only come to our country via resettlement programs.”
“There is no place here for migrants from safe countries. Therefore, we must ensure that countries actually take back their own nationals. We can make this a condition for giving these countries development assistance and trade relations.”
“Integration means that you adapt to society, its norms and values. Therefore, we want a total ban on face-covering clothing.”
[Above quotes extracted from party manifesto and statements - we have condensed some of these.]
Finally, the Dutch Prime Minister on national TV said that a group of Dutch people of Turkish ethnicity who protested in Rotterdam in 2016 should
“F*** off”.
(TV interview with Dutch Prime Minister, broadcast 04 Sept 2016)
The problem for the EU is that all of the above comes from the party they supported: the ruling VVD of Prime Minister Mark Rutte. Faced with the mounting threat from Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party, Mr Rutte moved his party sharply to the right and adopted many of Mr Wilders’ policies. As did some of the smaller parties. The quotes above are from the VVD manifesto, speeches, TV interviews, and a full-page newspaper advertisement.
Even then he failed to prevent Geert Wilders - a man given almost no platform in the EU, and who was prosecuted for inciting racial hatred by the Dutch authorities shortly before the Dutch went to the polls - from coming second in the Dutch General Election last year.
“A vote for Europe, a vote against extremists. The people of the Netherlands voted overwhelmingly for the values Europe stands for: free and tolerant societies in a prosperous Europe. The result of this election is an inspiration for many.”
– Jean-Claude Juncker, President of EU Commission
The Commission tried in vain to present this as a victory but they knew it was the opposite. A 67% jump in the number of seats for Wilders, and an Establishment PM who had been forced to adopt anti-migrant policies – this was a very hollow victory indeed.
We also have instances of some fairly ‘extreme’ government action on Islamic terrorism. For example, when did you ever hear the BBC mention that our nearest neighbour France kept prolonging its draconian ‘State of Emergency’? This was extended five times over two years and only just ended late last year.
The denial of civil liberties that this entailed in France would horrify every ‘yuman rights’ lawyer in the UK.
Please stop and think for a moment. We are saying that mainstream national government policies in the EU – and we’re talking about Germany, Holland, France etc – are now sufficiently ‘extreme’ that if they were replicated in the UK they would cause mass protest marches on the streets. We’re sure there would be howls of outrage from the liberal-luvvie contingent dominating much of the media and in particular the BBC.
We report it here, but you simply never hear about this on TV news. Fortunately we still influence the debate and bit by bit the TV news (where most British people still get their news) is having to change.
FACTS AND FIGURES? DID SOMEONE ASK ABOUT FACTS?
We hope the above gives you an interesting perspective on the migrant crisis in the EU. If we were one of the big well-funded organisations we would leave it there, or we might copy and paste a few figures from an EU press release. Or persuade a politician to write an article for us.
However as you know we’re not like that. We like to investigate and research facts in some detail before we write anything. We then like to distil these facts for you into easy-to-read charts and bullet-pointed summaries of real information, extracted from numerous official sources.
Yes, above we provided some interesting factual quotes for you, but that’s not enough. In the next article we want to provide you with some up-to-date facts and figures about the EU’s migrant crisis - a 2017 report. We thought we’d start with something topical – the migrant crisis in Italy.
The Italians go to the polls a week on Sunday, and the EU migrant crisis is playing big in the parties’ election campaigns there. What happens on 4th March will impact Brexit, whichever way the results go. In any event the EU is going to hate the outcome of this election, which makes it fun for everyone!
NEXT : Will the EU migrant crisis bite the EU right in the Italian peninsula?
OBSERVATIONS
We're already half-way through our detailed research on the EU's 2017 migrant crisis data. We've started drafting a great article, which we think will be reported nationally. We could finish this today.
We just wondered if someone out there, who hasn't donated before, might consider a donation to us to be a sponsor of this EU Migrant Crisis article, provisionally entitled "EU’s migrant crisis comes back to bite EU in the Italian peninsula"?
Well it was just a thought! :)
[ Sources: CDU | VVD Manifesto & statements | VRPO interview | EU Commission ]
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       05.50am, 22 Feb 2018
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 TORY MPs LIST
BREXIT DEMANDS
Last week some 60 Tory MPs from the pro-Brexit European Research Group signed a letter to Prime Minister Theresa May, outlining their "suggestions". In practice these are a list of demands, ahead of the PM's next Cabinet brainstorm on Brexit this week.
Below is a copy of what was sent, as obtained by the Huffington Post.
[ Sources: Paul Waugh ]
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       07.50am, 21 Feb 2018
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Name: Jon, Wales      Date/Time: 25 Feb 2018, 10.47pm
Message: UK MPs and peers need a reminder the Referendum Act 2015 was passed through both Houses of UK Parliament and granted Royal Assent in December 2015. Relevant 'arguments' were made at the time and the rest is history. The referendum was legal and democratic in every respect, which resulted in the largest democratic expression in British history. 'Leave the European Union' won with 17,410,742 votes on a turnout of 72.2%. There was no impending 'disaster' following the vote as the remain camp attempted to have us believe (and they're still at it). I do not intend to rerun these arguments, save to say, everyone knew there would be bumps along the way when voting to Leave the European political Union. This does not mean we're leaving the continent of Europe, but the threatening manner in which the EU commission is behaving, makes it difficult for us ordinary mortals to remain friendly, so to speak. I have said many times here and elsewhere, the British government and EU27 leaders should completely ignore the commission and get on doing what we all do best - to trade and be friendly with one another. To serve the interests of all, whilst acknowledging the UK is leaving. The EU commission come across as having a different agenda which is holding back the UK. The European Union still don't get we're leaving their club. It is my view the commission is the sole cause of all such delay. For example, towards the end of 2016 (months after our vote), Mrs May attempted to resolve the status of EU citizens in the UK, and UK citizens in EU member countries. *The EU commission refused to discuss this important issue*. EU negotiators often say the clock is ticking. I AGREE, and the same clock is ticking for the EU27. So I throw this challenge out to EU27 leaders - You either want to trade or you do not, but are you REALLY going to allow the commission to affect your own national economies should we switch to WTO terms of reference? EU27 leaders can work every single day should they wish to do so. If they want to get things done quickly between themselves and the UK, they can do so if the political will was evident?
Name: Patrick H, London      Date/Time: 21 Feb 2018, 12.18pm
Message: This letter is simply a shot across the bow of Theresa May! If she does not start delivering what the 17.4 Million citizens voted for, the next letter will be a vote of no confidence. And about time too! Brexit means Brexit; out means out; no ifs, no buts!
Name: Carole, Merseyside, UK      Date/Time: 21 Feb 2018, 11.20am
Message: Just been listening to the PM's Lancaster House speech again, and I don't recognise that women any more. Where has she gone?

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 REMAIN ROLLS OUT
‘MILITARY OFFENSIVE’
                                                   © New European
New British political party inspired by President Macron seeks to overturn Brexit
'RENEW' PARTY'S MISSION STATEMENT
“We aim to reverse Brexit and restore our influential position in Europe, allowing us to focus on what really matters in the UK.”
On Tuesday a new British political party was launched at a press conference in London. This press launch was accompanied by a website and slick video.
The new party is said by its founders to have been inspired by French President Emmanuel Macron’s movement ‘En Marche’.
The Renew Party's mission is to thwart Brexit by:-
  • Persuading MPs to block the ultimate EU withdrawal deal
  • Fielding candidates to stand in May local elections and in all 650 constituencies in next General Election
  • Campaigning for deselection of pro-Brexit MPs
“WE ARE THE MORE MILITARY ARM” OF THE REMAIN CAMPAIGN, SAYS CO-LEADER
“Some of the anti-Brexit pressure groups and movements are very, very much focused on asking people to pressure their local MP to have a second thought on Brexit.”
“What we are is almost the more military arm of that movement, whereas we are actually standing candidates in seats to threaten those MPs that are not changing their minds, or are not standing up for the views of their constituents.”
- James Clarke, one of three founders
“We intend to be tough on Brexit and tough on the causes of Brexit.”
“We’ll pressure MPs to consider the national interest and put Remain back on the table in a vote on the final EU deal.”
- James Torrance, the party’s head of strategy
UNITED KINGDOM – WORLD’S MOST SECRET WAR ZONE
The party has been founded by an accountant, a former journalist and a consultant. Co-leader Sandra Khadhouri describes herself as a ‘Strategic Communications & Conflict Adviser’. She is self-employed and in the past has done work for the UN and for NATO. She believes that the EU referendum has left Britain a conflict zone.
“As I finished working in Georgia for Nato last year I looked at which conflict zone to go to next and I decided it had to be Britain.
PLATITUDES?
Renew hopes to emulate President Macron’s ‘En Marche’ party in France and its four key messages according to its website are “Renew Our Economy”, “Reduce Inequality”, Rethink Brexit”, and “Listen to Britain”.
The reality is that almost all the messages when they actually speak are about stopping Brexit. Here is the video of their ‘candidates’, none of whom appear to have regional accents and all of whom sound like Westminster bubblers.
                                                   © YouTube / Renew
OBSERVATIONS
According to her Linked-In profile, co-founder Ms Khadhouri is “available to be deployed abroad, for short or long-term assignments as a communications, conflict or gender adviser, as well as in aspects of electoral management.”
Well that’s a load off. This fledgling party is clearly run by real people with a normal experience of life and with whom ordinary voters can identify.
MORE SERIOUSLY
On a serious note, this new party is an attempt once again to subvert the legitimate democratic vote of the British people to leave the European Union. Regrettably the vacumn left by Mrs May’s astonishing delays in progressing with Brexit in the last year and eight months have enabled a constant barrage of nonsense from people like this.
Had the Prime Minister got on with things instead of dithering, we would either be out by now, or would be only a few months away. Instead we have yet another Remoaner organisation to deal with. And yet again it will have huge funds with which to campaign and trot out its false agenda – far, far more than we or most Brexit organisations have.
REMOANERS’ ABSENCE OF FACTS
Ah well. Having read and watched everything we can find on Renew, at least we can be content with one thing. We failed to come across any facts presented by Renew to back up their policy that the UK should stay in the European Union.
Just take any month at random on our website, and look at the thousands of facts we researched about the EU, the UK, and Brexit. Because of lack of resources we aren’t even able to cover half of what we’d like to publish.
On the other hand here we have Renew: a well-funded new political party, whose mission is to overturn Brexit, launching to a great fanfare in London with most of the Westminster media there, and yet their website contains not one single fact to support Remain.
Think about that for a moment. This party was founded last year. The formal press launch took place on Tuesday but they’ve all been at this for a while, and they’re all clearly hardened Remoaners.
You’d think they might be able to give their potential supporters at least one fact to persuade them why staying in the dysfunctional, sclerotic EU is a good idea....?
Apparently not.
[ Sources: Renew | New European | Various UK media ]
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       07.15am, 21 Feb 2018
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Name: Simon Jones, Wiltshire      Date/Time: 21 Feb 2018, 7.51pm
Message: The Guardian newspaper recently had an article by an ardent 'anywhere' who'd set up a Remain biased fact-based web site (I'm not going to name-check it); there wasn't much in the opinion piece that was new but I visited the site to see if they really had created an alternative fact-based site to your outstanding effort. Of course, it was the usual smug rubbish, completely bereft of any actual facts about the EU or even vision for the future.
Reply: Thanks Simon, we do our best. Thank you also for the extra donation which was much appreciated.
Name: Chris, Devizes, UK      Date/Time: 21 Feb 2018, 3.39pm
Message: Surely, what they are doing amounts to treason? Believing that Brexit is wrong is one thing, but actively attempting to overturn the democratic will of the people is quite another.
Name: Patrick H, London      Date/Time: 21 Feb 2018, 12.46pm
Message: These particular Remoaners are simply chancers, exploiting the opportunity to further their own ends. Their followers will be the usual misguided, ill-informed and EU loving Zealots! But they should not be dismissed lightly... They need to be carefully watched and any delusive sophistic nonsense should be met with cast iron facts and figures which are irrefutable! Remoaners don't like real facts and shy away quickly when confronted with them. Of more interest: who are the nefarious backers of this latest Brexit smearing outfit and when will Blair et al, start blabbering out their insidious drivel?

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 GERMAN ‘FAR RIGHT’
OVERTAKE LABOUR
                                                   © BILD
AfD COME 2nd IN POLL FOR FIRST TIME
BEATING GERMANY’S ‘LABOUR PARTY’, THE SPD
Regular readers will recall how many times Brexit Facts4EU.Org has debunked the EU’s claims that euroscepticism and populism have been defeated and are declining across Europe.
We thought we would draw your attention to the fact that a reputable German opinion poll for BILD – a leading German paper – came out last night with the right-wing Alternativ für Deutschland ahead of Eurofanatic Martin Schulz’s SPD.
It is also worth mentioning that because the SPD are intending to form a national coalition with Angela Merkel’s CDU/CSU coalition, it will be the AfD that will be the official opposition in Germany.
OBSERVATIONS
Imagine, a ‘far right’ party as the second most popular German party and as the official opposition in the Bundestag. That should make a few Eurocrats choke on their croissants in Brussels this morning.
[ Sources: BILD ]
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       07.30am, 20 Feb 2018
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Name: Jon, Wales      Date/Time: 25 Feb 2018, 4.18pm
Message: I find it encouraging to see the AfD have done well in Germany as it provides an alternative position now having a 'voice' in the Bundestag for those fed up with the 'status quo'. It also gives German politicians a 'wake-up' call from their once cosy system. Euroscepticism is 'alive and kicking' across continental Europe. Polls can at times be an indicator, yet they can also be stuffed with propaganda to manipulate thinking. What matters are the votes cast on the day by voters thinking for themselves and, under the German electoral system will decide the make up of the Bundestag. Brexit Facts4EU bring us the facts and point out in this article what a "reputable German opinion poll for BILD “a leading German paper" has shown. Just like the rubbish fed to us in the UK prior to referendum, we made up our own minds for many different reasons, and so have the German people. Politicians at last understand the people will always have their say.
Name: John Finn, UK      Date/Time: 20 Feb 2018, 11.34am
Message: I'd be a bit careful about reading too much into the polling figures of the AfD. It is, of course, possible that the Afd has risen in popularity but it's also possible that the poll has simply reflected apathy among the main party voters (i.e. more "don't knows") . To a certain extent, we saw with this during the UK election. At one point Labour were polling as low as 25%. I remember the Express making a big deal of the lack of support for Labour. At the time, I made the comment that this wasn't necessarily support they'd lost - it was support that needed convincing. I won a lot of money on the UK election.

To assess the true scale of the increase in AfD popularity, I'd like to see the raw numbers. If the "Other" category includes "don't Knows" then it's possible that the AfD support is real but progress is painfully slow - an we all know what can happen with strongly EU-sceptic parties.
 TODAY, ITALY
WOULD NOT BE ALLOWED
TO JOIN THE EURO
Matteo Salvini, Candidate for PM, Lega                                                   © Lega
SNAPSHOT OF EU27’S NO.3 ECONOMY
12 DAYS BEFORE THEIR GENERAL ELECTION
In 1957 Italy was one of the 6 founding members of what was once called the European Economic Community. It was also one of the 11 founding members of the common currency, the Euro, when that was launched to much fanfare in 1999.
In the last century, Italy was a glorious place to visit and spend time in, and in most respects this is still true today. Many British people – Brexiteers and Remainers alike - would name Italy as their favourite country in Europe.
However for many years there have been dark shadows hanging over la bella Italia. With 12 days to go before Italians go to the polls to elect a new government, we start looking at what might be in people’s minds when they vote, a week on Sunday.
ITALY FAILS ‘CONVERGENCE TEST’ TO JOIN EURO
In order to adopt the Euro as its currency, EU countries have to meet specific economic conditions designed to ensure economic convergence with the countries of the Euro area.
Agreed in Maastricht by the EU Member States in 1991 as part of the preparations for introduction of the euro, the convergence criteria are formally defined as a set of five main macroeconomic indicators.
One of the indicators that has been worrying many people for many years is the stubborn refusal of government debt to reduce. One of the ways the EU measures the soundness and sustainability of public finances of a member state is by the level of government borrowing.
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
In order to join the Euro, the limit on government debt as a percentage of GDP is technically 60%. Today, according to the Banca d’Italia, the Italian government’s debt stands at 133% - more than double the limit.
In effect, the Eurozone’s 3rd largest economy would not even pass
the eligibility test to join the Euro, if it applied today.
For the sake of completeness, many of the Eurozone economies would fail the 60% test. In fact, the current average amongst all EZ countries is 88.1%, according to the European Central Bank.
That said, the level of Italy’s government debt is far higher than most countries and this is worrying for such a big economy in the EU.
ITALY’S CREDIT RATING
Last year the credit ratings agency Fitch downgraded Italy's sovereign debt from BBB+ to BBB, which is just one level above junk status. Here is what they had to say at the time:-
“Italy's persistent track record of fiscal slippage, back-loading of consolidation, weak economic growth, and resulting failure to bring down the very high level of general government debt has left it more exposed to potential adverse shocks. This is compounded by an increase in political risk, and ongoing weakness in the banking sector which has required planned public intervention in three banks since December.”
Whilst credit ratings agencies generally have been criticised in recent years for many reasons surrounding accuracy, their verdict on Italy is very poor indeed.
ECONOMIC STAGNATION
As you can see from our graph below, Italy’s economy is still trying to catch up from the hit it took in the crisis of 2008. GDP remains below the level it achieved 10 years ago.
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
In the same 10-year period, the UK’s economy grew substantially and continues to do so.
One of Italy’s problems is the straitjacket it finds itself in as a result of being in the Eurozone. There are strict rules regarding what the Italian government is allowed to do. Last year we reported on the crash of some Italian banks, and how in that instance the EU Commission quietly allowed Italy to bend some rules in order to prevent their complete collapse.
The Commission does this for some countries, provided these countries toe the line on other matters. Any requests for leniency from Hungary and Poland, for example, would definitely not be viewed favourably.
UNEMPLOYMENT
It is sadly the case that unemployment has persisted in Italy since the start of this century. Currently the overall unemployment rate in Italy stands at 11.2% (UK: 4.2%) , with youth unemployment at a very unhealthy 35.2% (UK: 12.0%).
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
Catastrophically high youth unemployment rates have plagued the EU for years. It is easy to become blasé about it. It is, however, an obscene stain on the face of the EU. In southern Europe there is a generation which has been affected irrevocably.
HOUSING
Italy is one of the countries in the EU which favours home ownership, like the UK. ISTAT (the Italian version of the UK’s Office for National Statistics) reports that over 80% of the country's total households are now owner-occupiers.
Unfortunately for a great many Italians, their housing market has been decimated over many years. In real terms house prices have fallen by almost 25% since 2008, according to the ECB and reports produced for the Ministero dell'Economia e delle Finanze.
OBSERVATIONS
Above are just a few facts to give an idea of the way in which the economy and the EU's Eurozone rules will be a factor in the Italian elections. We could have chosen other metrics. For example the level of non-performing loans in the Italian banks is worryingly high. The last time we checked it was well over €200bn and we don't anticipate that this will have improved.
Any economic snapshot of any country can only give a partial impression. Nevertheless we hope you found the above to be informative.
Very soon you will see pieces on the TV news about the run-up to the Italian elections. The BBC generally only gives approving impressions of EU member states, as anything else might give the viewer the idea that the EU wasn’t perfect. Now at least you have an up-to-date view from an economic perspective
Italy has many challenges to face in the future and it must be said that some are either of its own making or are historical in origin. However to us there seems to be little doubt that being bound by all the various Eurozone rules has made it difficult for the country’s economy to recover.
It remains a simple fact that virtually every person and organisation urging the British people to vote Remain in the EU Referendum was also 100% behind the UK joining the Eurozone. This would have been a catastrophic error and the fate of Italy demonstrates what can happen.
THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM
The elephant in the room when it comes to Italy is of course the migrant crisis. We have reported many times since 2015 on how this has affected Italy, when the rest of the media were concentrating on Greece.
Soon we hope to update you on some facts and figures concerning the migrant crisis and how this is affecting Italy. We will do the same on the articles we’ve been running on the rise in popularity of the Eurosceptic parties.
THE RISE OF THE POPULISTS
In the UK, the younger element of society is well-known to be pro-EU, having been brainwashed throughout school and university. Fortunately for them, the UK stayed out of the “Let 'Em All In” Schengen Zone and out of the Euro. The young escaped some of the worst effects of EU-ism and now it seems they have no idea about any of this.
In Italy it is precisely the young Italians who are the most eurosceptic and who are mobilising themselves ahead of the general elections a week on Sunday. For them, the catastrophically-high youth unemployment rates are real and are part of their daily lives. Many of them are deeply troubled about the enormous numbers of illegal migrants now in the country. And no, this isn't a racist or xenophobic analysis - it's how the government itself characterises the situation.
The EU elites will be looking at the coming Italian elections with a great deal of foreboding. So far they have got away with pretending that ‘populism’ and ‘euroscepticism’ are on the wane and have mostly been defeated, despite the results in Holland, France, Austria, Germany, and other places in the last 12 months.
We doubt that this will be possible when it comes to the Italian General Election. And one thing’s for sure, if the results are as bad for the EU elites as we expect, Brexit Facts4EU.Org is going to be letting the EU have it with both barrels.
[ Sources: ISTAT | Banca d'Italia | Agenzia Entrate | EU Commission | European Central Bank | Fitch Ratings | Ministero dell'Economia e delle Finanze ]
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       06.40am, 20 Feb 2018
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 EU GIVES MORE FUNDS
TWICE IN 3 WEEKS
TO PALESTINIANS
© EU Commission
EU PARLIAMENT ATTACKS USA & ISRAEL
The pro-Palestinian EU Parliament produces another selective rant,
whilst ignoring human rights abuses in Catalonia, South Africa, Iran etc.
YOUR FOREIGN POLICY, COURTESY OF THE EU
A Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary
  • Extra payment to be fast-tracked to Palestinians this month
  • This is on top of new payment last month
  • Total of €124 million spent in just 3 weeks
  • EU Parliament attacks USA and Israel
  • EU again misleads world, saying it is top donor to Palestinians
- EU Parliament, Feb 2018
THIS IS ABOUT YOUR EU, NOT PALESTINIAN POLITICS
Unseen by the British public, the EU continues with its foreign policy towards various parts of the world. Here we focus on one example – the EU’s Middle East Policy – which is led by Italian former Communist and de facto EU Foreign Secretary Federica Mogherini.
© EU Parliament
MEPs in the EU Parliament are calling on the US to reverse its recent decision to withhold $65 million in funding to Unrwa, the UN agency for Palestine refugees. In a resolution adopted this month, they also encourage the EU and its member states to mobilise additional funding for the agency and urge Arab states to contribute more.
Johannes Hahn: “EU would fast track a payment of €82 million to UNRWA by the end of this month. This is in addition to a new €42.5 million assistance package for Palestinians announced on 31 January.”
Commenting on the US decision to withhold some of its funding, Neoklis Sylikiotis, chair of Parliament’s Palestine delegation, said: “The provocative decision of the US is yet another blow to the Middle East peace process,” adding “the Trump administration has already led the peace process into a dead end by recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel”.
The MEP from Guy Verhofstadt’s ALDE liberal group said that President Trump’s recent move to withhold funding would be a “huge obstacle to further progress”.
The key note guest speaker was Federica Mogherini, the EU's foreign affairs chief and former member of the Italian Communist Party for many years. Ms Mogherini noted the “key political contribution that UNRWA brings to the prospect of relaunching a credible peace process”. She also stressed that “reducing the agency’s activities would cause instability and even security threats all around the region”.
EU PARLIAMENT CONTINUES ITS ANTI-AMERICAN STANCE
Before Christmas, US President Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. In response the EU Parliament has reiterated that the EU’s objective is to bring about a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on the 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as the capital of both states.
The EU Parliament described President Trump’s actions as “a move that was widely condemned as a violation of international law”.
In December 2014, MEPs voted overwhelmingly in support of the "in principle recognition of Palestinian statehood". In a resolution on the EU's 2018 budget, MEPs called for more support for the Middle East peace process, the Palestinian Authority and UNRWA.
EU CLAIMS UK TAXPAYERS’ MONEY FOR ITSELF – AGAIN
Speaking in the same debate as Ms Mogherini, European Commissioner Johannes Hahn stressed: “The EU and its member states are by far the largest provider of assistance to Palestine refugees.”
This is wholly mis-representative as usual. The USA is no.1, the EU is no.2, and the UK is no.5.
We investigated the funding of this UN agency and the latest full figures available relate to 2016, although the narrative on the UN’s site is a year behind this and talks about 2015.
The vast majority of UN member countries do NOT fund the UNRWA. Just 56 countries fund it, plus the EU itself with monies which come from the net contributors to the EU such as the UK.
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
To demonstrate the collusion that now exists between the global organisations of the world and the EU, the EU is now able to get other organisations to pursue its agenda to have the EU treated as if it were a country.
Here is what the United Nations site says about 2015:
“In 2015, 37 per cent of the Agency’s total pledges of $1.25 billion came from EU member states, who contributed $466 million, including through the European Commission.”
In fact in 2015 the EU itself (as an institution) gave only $136.75 million that year, which is just 12.2% of the total. The USA gave almost 3 times as much as the EU - 33.9% of the total. The UK on its own gave almost 9% - not far behind the EU as an institution.
OBSERVATIONS
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) was founded in 1949.
Despite this, the EU’s de facto Foreign Secretary said in the EU Parliamentary debate that she sees the “key political contribution that UNRWA brings to the prospect of relaunching a credible peace process”.
We know the EU is always very keen to cuddle up to other globalists with a similar agenda to theirs, but for the EU’s Foreign Secretary to suggest that UNRWA would be key to any political solution is frankly absurd.
If UNRWA had been able to make a key political contribution to the peace process, it has had 69 years to do so.
THE EU DOES NOT FUND THE WORLD’S AID – COUNTRIES DO
Over and over we see the same story. The EU is desperate to make itself into a country and so it claims the activities and generous donations of the taxpayers of individual countries as its own.
In this case, the EU has made the UN complicit in this subterfuge. Since we first started pointing this out a couple of years ago, it seems that the EU is becoming more careful, and now adds “(and its member states)” where previously it just claimed everything.
Nevertheless, the world reader is left with the impression that the EU is a country and that the EU is the most generous donor of aid in the world.
As we have pointed out on many occasions, it’s the USA which is the most generous donor nation, followed by the UK. (In the particular case of this UN fund for Palestinians the UK is no.5 but overall it’s at no.2.)
THE EU WANTS PALESTINE TO JOIN
Did you know that Palestine - a state not yet recognised by most of the world - is on the EU's target list for enlargement of the EU?
The legal basis for the EU’s relations with the Palestinian Authority is the Interim Association Agreement on Trade and Cooperation signed with the PLO on behalf of the Palestinian Authority. The EU Commission (not the Council, where the political leaders sit) agreed in December "The Annual Action Programme 2017 in favour of Palestine". The approval includes the two annexes of actions as follows:
Annex 1: “Towards a democratic and accountable Palestinian State
Annex 2: “Support to East Jerusalem”.
Maybe this stuff doesn't bother you, but don't you think you should at least have the right to know what the unelected EU Commission pushed through before Christmas?
TELLING THE TRUTH
The reason we take the trouble to research and publish information like that above is because we have been appalled at the propaganda the EU has been successful in directing at so many British people. Time and again this is visible on social media or in polls, where it’s clear that people believe what the EU is telling them.
In the absence of an unbiased broadcast media, and with such a weak government which will not speak out on these issues, we are doing what we can each day. Please support us if you can.
[ Sources: EU Parliament | UNRWA | EU Commission ]
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       06.55am, 19 Feb 2018
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Name: Jon, Wales      Date/Time: 25 Feb 2018, 2.17pm
Message: Leaving the political aspect of Israel/Palestine to one side, I comment on Unrwa funding. I find it unacceptable for the European commission to presume to tell the US administration to reconsider its decision to withhold Unrwa funding. That is a decision for the US to make as they keep in mind it is not their money, but US taxpayers money. In the same way, the EU commission have no right to tell the UK how to spend our money, and even less right to promote their propaganda by calling it 'EU funding'. The EU commission appear to give UK money away like water? I do not hear bitter remoaners complain that UK money should be spent in the UK. That we should address UK needs first and foremost. Yet these are the very same people whom are the first to whine when we have a lack of funding for our own domestic requirements. Foreign aid from the US and UK should be used only for disaster and other emergency relief, like widespread flooding, or ebola, for example. We can be more generous when in surplus, though conditions should be attached for parties in receipt of such aid. I would challenge the EU commission to be 100% transparent with all their statements, accompanied by charts showing where the money actually comes from, and who pays what? Either way, the likes of Ms Mogherini and Mr Verhofstadt need to look on their own doorstep before 'attacking' the generosity of other countries.
 “FUNDING AND INCENTIVISING TERRORISM
USING BRITISH TAXPAYERS’ MONEY”
THE ATKINSON TAPES PART 3 - ON MOGHERINI, THE EU, PALESTINE, ISRAEL & PRESIDENT TRUMP
Vice-President,
Europe of Nations and Freedom Group
JANICE ATKINSON
MEP
 
Over the course of two hour-long sessions last week, the Vice-President of the EU Parliament’s most controversial political group chatted exclusively with the Editor of Brexit Facts4EU.Org. many topics were covered - what follows relates to the article above about the EU, Palestine, Israel, and President Trump.
SOME HIGHLIGHTS
  • “I call her the gender-quota, recycled communist”
  • “She can’t read without notes so just delivers a speech”
  • “She was a communist so she’s been placed there”
  • “The Jews and Israel are the big bogeymen in the room”
  • Jerusalem embassy? “I wish our own Prime Minister had the balls to do it”
  • “An awful lot of that money goes into promoting the destruction of the Jewish state”
  • “basically funding and incentivising terrorism by using British taxpayers’ money”
As usual, Ms Atkinson was typically blunt:-
“The High Representative, or as I call her, the gender-quota, recycled communist, yes. She quakes when she sees me in the corridor, she goes bright red. When she’s in the chamber she doesn’t take questions, she just reads scripts. She can’t read without notes so just delivers a speech.
“So when it’s my turn to speak her assistant will turn around and look at me….. Mogherini herself won’t look at me so I say ‘Look at me when I’m speaking to you Mrs Mogherini. Put down your phone and pay attention to what I’m saying.’ And she does and she’s almost in tears.
“She was a communist so she’s been placed there. But the EU does this an awful lot. They don’t really have a full foreign policy mandate as a part of the treaties. They are there to promote the rule of law and democracy. This is one of the reasons why they’ve moved towards PESCO and getting themselves a full-blown army, so they can act.
“Now the Left in the EU Parliament is made up with the Alt-Left, the Socialists, etc. They all support Palestine. The Jews and Israel are the big bogeymen in the room. The Left were in absolute meltdown when President Trump announced he was moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem. I was in Washington at the time and went on Fox News and Infowars and just said that I wished our own Prime Minister had the balls to do it as well.
“I pointed out in the chamber that all President Trump was doing was enabling a piece of legislation that had been promised by successive presidents including Obama and Clinton. So he was just carrying out what they said they would do.
“The EU is throwing more money at the Palestinians. But where does that money go? Mogherini says it goes to investing in businesses, youth, schooling, helping to fund access to clean water in Gaza. But an awful lot of that money goes into promoting the destruction of the Jewish state through schools, books, tv shows, articles, speeches, radio… basically funding and incentivising terrorism by using British taxpayers’ money.
“Being communists they recycle everything. They repackage things and then recycle them as new facts. For example they claim to have been the arbiters of peace since WWII, that it’s got nothing to do with NATO, that it’s all got to do with the EU. You say it long and hard enough and the next generation will actually believe it and that’s what we’re seeing with the Millenials.
“The UNRWA have had 65 years to help to sort out the Palestinian question. For Palestine and Israel, if it is going to be a 2-state solution that doesn’t necessarily mean peace. And it’s not an outcome that anyone wants to achieve if it doesn’t bring peace. Peace is the goal, where it comes from is up to the parties to negotiate.”
OBSERVATIONS
Interviews with key figures always take some time to set up. They also take a lot of time to transcribe and to ensure our editing doesn't in any way distort what the interviewee was trying to say.
We hope you find occasional interviews like this interesting.
[ Sources: Janice Atkinson MEP ]
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       08.00am, 19 Feb 2018
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Name: Jon, Wales      Date/Time: 24 Feb 2018, 11.27pm
Message: Thank you for bringing us these candid interviews with Ms Janice Atkinson MEP, and to Ms Atkinson herself for being so forthright. It is refreshing to know we still have those who 'tell it as it is', and if the commission is embarrassed, it means the point is getting through. MEPs like Ms Atkinson do not dance to the tune of the commission who have only one goal in mind - ever closer integration and the destruction of nation states and cultures, in my opinion? I was raised with good manners, and I find it the height of bad manners when [taxpayer funded] appointed commissioners fail to pay attention.
PLEASE HELP US TO
WIPE THE SMILE OFF HIS FACE
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 THE JUNCKER PLAN
FOR WORLD DOMINATION
© MSC
“we must strive for world political capability... especially in defence”
Yesterday in Bavaria the EU Commission President spoke at the Munich Security Conference, an important annual gathering of defence contractors, researchers and policymakers from around the world.
EU PLANS TO REMOVE VETO FROM MEMBER STATES
FOR FOREIGN POLICY & MILITARY ACTION
A Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary
  • “we must strive for world political capability… this is especially true in the defence sector”
  • “By 2020, we will raise €590 million and, after 2020, €1.5 billion per year”
  • “But if we want to become world politicians…”
  • “this unanimity compulsion prevents us from achieving world political capability”
  • “gentle power is not powerful enough”
  • “We must muster more strength when it comes to common defence and foreign policy”
- Jean-Claude Juncker, Munich Security Conference, 17 Feb 2018
That President Juncker spoke at all at this global security and defence conference is a sign of how far the EU’s security and defence ambitions have advanced. Readers will of course remember how voters were told over and over by Remainers before the Referendum that the idea of any form of EU army was laughable.
We have published numerous studies since then of the EU’s rush to combine its defence forces and its foreign policy. Yesterday President Juncker went further than he often does, and confirmed that the EU intends to decide defence and foreign policies in the future by majority voting.
IMPORTANT SELECTED EXTRACTS FROM JUNCKER’S SPEECH
“I wanted to talk about Europe, European foreign policy, European defence policy, initiatives that we have undertaken and want to undertake.”
“For a long time we were not capable of world politics. And circumstances bring with it that we must strive for world political capability. And this is especially true in the defence sector. We have made more progress in European defence policy over the last year than in the last 20 years.”
“So far, we have put up €90 million for research in 2018 and 2019 in research. We will significantly increase this amount. By 2020, we will raise €590 million and, after 2020, €1.5 billion per year, so that we can increase efficiency.”
“But if we want to become world politicians, then we also have to simplify and unify our decision-making processes. It can not remain that way … that we must always unanimously decide on foreign and defence policy. This unanimity, this unanimity compulsion prevents us from achieving world political capability.”
“And the Commission intends to make proposals in this direction soon. This does not presuppose, as many think, Treaty amendments, … And we want to move in that direction, especially when it comes to civil security and defence missions, and more.”
“In matters of soft foreign policy, we must be able to resolve things by qualified majority. Although the saying goes that gentle power is not powerful enough. We must muster more strength when it comes to common defence and foreign and security policy.”
OBSERVATIONS
VETO OVER MILITARY ACTION TO BE REMOVED
Let’s be clear what the EU’s plans would have meant for the UK if it had voted to remain in the EU.
In the future, with absolutely no new Treaty being required, the EU will be able to decide on some conflict it wants to get involved in. It will be able to decide its foreign policy and can then send troops to back it up – even if the UK were 100% against such a move.
[Note: In order for majority voting on defence to be allowed in the future, all members including the UK would have to agree, but once agreed that would be that for ever. Given the way Mrs May has agreed with alacrity to give the EU billions, to allow the ECJ to rule over the UK in the transition period, and to allow free movement and all other EU laws and principles to prevail, no-one could have any confidence that Mrs May (or David Cameron if he were still PM) would protect us from this EU power grab.]
This is the nightmare incarnate which we warned about before the Referendum. The EU would have the power to drag the UK and its armed forces into its conflicts against its will, if a qualified majority of the 28 member states wished it.
Remember, even tiny little states like Malta and Luxembourg – the size of significant British towns and with virtually no defence forces of their own – would be able to vote for an armed conflict into which the UK would then be drawn.
MILITARY MUSCLE
The UK has over 20% of the total military power in the EU, depending on how you measure it. It has by far the biggest defence R&D expenditure – around 40% of the EU total. It is one of the very few EU countries which has consistently met its NATO obligation to spend at least 2% of GDP on defence.
For decades the UK has carried the burden of defence spending for the EU, whilst other member states have spent on their infrastructure of hospitals, schools, etc. These states have of course also benefited from over four decades of subsidies from the UK, in the form of annual net contributions to the EU budget.
WHAT KIND OF REMAIN DID REMAINERS VOTE FOR?
Those who voted to leave the EU are rather tired of Remoaners telling them that ‘no-one said what type of Brexit they wanted’. Oh yes they did, but this article isn’t about that.
For over a year and a half we’ve been waiting for the big Brexit organisations to say loudly and consistently ‘no-one said what kind of EU they wanted to remain in’. We’ve made this point many times but it would be good if some of the rich Brexit organisations with the access to money and resources could shout it as loudly as they shouted the awful £350m per week bus slogan.
Since the Referendum the EU has been much less cautious about what it plans to do. All the plans which we and others warned about – including a common EU defence force and foreign policy – are now coming to pass.
The simple fact is that every week we are hearing about or seeing another aspect of the development of the EU, with which very few of those who voted Remain would agree. Juncker’s bold admission that they want a common foreign and defence policy based on majority voting is bad enough. But for him to go on to say that the Eurocrats want “to become world politicians” and exercise military power… well, what would the British public say about that?
Naturally, you won’t hear about that on the awful Andrew Marr programme on the BBC this morning.
In a straight fight, without the poisonous influence of the BBC, Sky News, ITN and the UK and global Establishment, we believe that Leave would now win by a much bigger margin. If you then add in the fact that the economic Armageddon we were threatened with hasn’t materialised, we are certain many original Remain voters would change their vote.
Naturally there will not be another Referendum, as the decision has been taken by the British people and must be implemented in full by the government, with the utmost speed.
[ Sources: Munich Security Conference 2018 | EU Commission ]
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       06.55am, 18 Feb 2018
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Name: Jon, Wales      Date/Time: 23 Feb 2018, 2.44pm
Message: I have wondered for a long time whether of not to label Jean-Claude Juncker as perhaps one of the most dangerous people in the Western world? He appears to be manipulating more powers than ever before. The manner in which Mr Juncker receives 'red carpet' treatment is beyond all reason. When will remoaners wake up and realise the danger they put our country in while Mrs May continuously appeases their every whim. I am angry we don't have a government who tell it like it is. We had to 'fight' to get our referendum, 'fight' for democracy, 'fight' many debates prior to the vote, and are still 'fighting' post referendum. MPs and peers trying to subvert our democratic vote should always be called-out for being anti-democratic. This saga has continued for long enough, so much so that my faith in our elected MPs is dwindling, and I have absolute contempt for peers openly stating they intend to stop Brexit any way they can. I applaud all MPs and peers supporting Brexit for having the vision of the independent self governing nation we all have.
 MAY GETS IT
ALL WRONG AGAIN
© MSC
PM offers EU the family jewels
Yesterday in the southern German city of Munich, the Prime Minister addressed an invited audience from around the world, gathered for the MSC – a global security and defence conference.
The mainstream media has focused on Mrs May’s answer to the comment from the former German ambassador, and a similar question from a member of the audience, suggesting that Britain should change its mind about Brexit.
We focus instead on her comments about defence and security.
PRIME MINISTER MAY – EXCERPTS FROM SPEECH
A Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary
  • “when participating in EU agencies the UK will respect the remit of the European Court of Justice”
  • “where we can both be most effective by the UK deploying its significant capabilities and resources with and indeed through EU mechanisms – we should both be open to that”
  • “On defence, if the UK and EU’s interests can best be furthered by the UK continuing to contributing to an EU operation or mission as we do now, then we should both be open to that”
  • “And similarly, while the UK will decide how we spend the entirety of our foreign aid in the future, if a UK contribution to EU development programmes and instruments can best deliver our mutual interests, we should both be open to that”
If you would like to read the full text of the Prime Minister’s speech, you can do so here.
POSITIVES FROM THE PM’S SPEECH
Mrs May mentioned some statistics in her speech, although unfortunately not in a strong enough way for them to be picked up by any of the EU27’s print or TV media organisations which we have looked at since she spoke. Nevertheless the statistics are useful.
EU arrest warrant: UK arrests 8 times more suspects than EU countries:-
“for every person arrested on a European Arrest Warrant issued by the UK, the UK arrests eight on European Arrest Warrants issued by other Member States”
20% of criminal & terrorist alerts provided by UK
“through the Schengen Information System II, the UK is contributing to the sharing of real-time data on wanted criminals, missing persons and suspected terrorists. About a fifth of all alerts are circulated by the UK, with over 13,000 hits on people and objects of interest to law enforcement across Europe in the last year alone”
© MSC
OBSERVATIONS
Mrs May simply doesn’t get it. She doesn’t understand the EU mentality, despite being made to look foolish by them so many times since she became Prime Minister.
We invite you to study the quotes in the red box above. In essence the PM is agreeing to remain hooked into the structures, obligations, and payment schedules of the EU's appalling defence and security apparatus.
You do not get what you want with these people by rolling over. Security and Defence are jewels in the UK’s crown when it comes to negotiations with the EU. These cannot simply be given away as the PM seems intent on doing.
The EU elites are not completely stupid. They know they need the UK in order to preserve some semblance of safety on the streets and in order to defend Europe. Without the UK’s full cooperation on both these matters, the EU is in serious trouble.
For decades the vast majority of the EU's member states failed to invest in their defence and security. For decades individual member states couldn’t even amalgamate their own security forces, resulting in literally dozens of security agencies operating in one country and none of them talking to each other.
Then when it came to cooperating across borders in the EU, the situation was even more laughable.
We know this partly through our research and because of what former security chiefs are prepared to say privately. It may not be politically correct to say so, but we’ve heard some countries' security set-ups being described by those who should know as “a joke”.
Mrs May does not have the gravitas nor the innate authority required to negotiate with the EU. When it comes to defence she is clueless. When it comes to security she draws on her experience as Home Secretary, when it is alleged that a decision was never knowingly made in months when it could be agonised over for years.
Let’s not forget, this was the woman who presided over the UK’s borders and immigration policy when it was the government’s openly declared target to reduce numbers to ‘tens of thousands’. She didn’t even come close in six years. In fact when you look at the lack of any initiatives taken by the Home Office under her reign, it looks like she barely even tried.
Word of advice, Prime Minister. Tell the EU that in line with their policy of trying to make the UK pay for absolutely everything they can think of, whether it's owing or not, you will be presenting them with a bill for the UK's continued assistance in keeping them safe.
Given the enormous cost of defence and security when it's done properly, that should make them sit up.
[ Sources: Munich Security Conference 2018 ]
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
       06.55am, 18 Feb 2018
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Name: J Slater, UK      Date/Time: 18 Feb 2018, 11.46am
Message: 'When the going gets tough, the tough get going.' May is the equivalent of Chamberlain the appeaser who was all for negotiating terms with the German murderer, Hitler. May is clearly one of those people who yearn to be liked. She desperately wants to please the wrong people : the dictators of the EU. As such, she has shown herself to be nauseatingly weak denigrating Britain and the British. She makes us appear an easy touch, whereas we actually hold all the cards. Where, oh where, is our equivalent of Winston Churchill? He protected us during our 'Darkest Hour'. He magnificently out-manoeuvred a ruthless German onslaught, against all the odds. He took on the task of defending Britain and Europe. Fat thanks he got for that after the War and fat thanks Britain gets now, only two generations on, from Europe. We cannot now allow Theresa May, a PM by default mind you so not the best candidate, to drag us down for ever under the domination of a ruthless EU. And now it appears that the EU is now after 'World' domination. Sound familiar?

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© Janice Atkinson
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH
Vice-President, Europe of Nations
and Freedom Group
JANICE
ATKINSON
MEP
 
Part 1 - Introduction to Janice and to eurosceptic Europe
Over the course of two hour-long sessions in the last two days, the Vice-President of the EU Parliament’s most controversial political group chatted exclusively with the Editor of Brexit Facts4EU.Org.
Janice Atkinson is a British MEP who sits at the heart of a grouping of a highly-opinionated group of MEPs from 9 countries, who are highly eurosceptic and who are all from the political right.
With a new form of Europe now openly being discussed in some of the capitals of EU member states, and the incessant rise of a right-wing, eurosceptic and populist movement across all member states, there was never a better time to interview one of the most controversial and outspoken British politicians in Europe.
YOU’D HAVE THOUGHT THIS WOULD MAKE THE MAINSTREAM SIT UP
Below are some photos of Janice with other members of her political group. You might recognise Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch PVV freedom party, and Marine Le Pen, leader of the French Front National, amongst others.
Meneer Wilders and Madame Le Pen each came second in their respective national elections in the last year and are therefore not to be underestimated.
     
© Janice Atkinson
On the right above is US House Speaker Paul Ryan. Janice is a regular visitor to the US and most recently went there in November last year as the only eurosceptic in the EU Parliament's delegation.
As a Vice-President of the Europe of Nations and Freedom Group, Janice Atkinson is moving with many of the biggest names in the eurosceptic movement that has been gathering pace across the continent.
ITALY
Matteo Salvini is a close colleague of Janice’s.
Leader of Lega, Matteo Salvini © RAI
Two weeks tomorrow the Italians go to the polls in what could be one of the biggest election shocks to the EU in many years. A likely candidate to become Italy’s new Prime Minister is Matteo Salvini of the Lega.
We will be updating readers on the latest news in the Italian election campaign in the coming days.
AUSTRIA
Hans-Christian is a close colleague of Janice’s.
Austrian Foreign Minister Hans-Christian Strache and wife Philippa
Regular readers will know all about the right-wing eurosceptic surge in Austria, which last year swept youthful Sebastian Kurz to the Chancellorship and Hans-Christian Strache of the FPO to become Foreign Secretary.
To put this into context for you, Hans-Christian’s appointment is like a more right-wing version of Sir Nigel Farage taking over from Boris Johnson at the Foreign Office.
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
FRANCE - MARINE LE PEN - MAY 2017
Marine is a close colleague of Janice’s.
When Marine Le Pen ‘only’ came second in the French presidential election with an amazing 34% of the vote – but failed to defeat Monsieur Macron, this was another ‘defeat for populism, according to the EU elites.
Marine Le Pen had seen the Front National’s share of the popular vote double in 15 years, and yet the EU elites proclaimed a victory, and the death of ‘populist’ parties.
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
The result meant that one-third of French voters favoured the candidate who rejects the EU. Nevertheless the British media continues to present Mme Le Pen as someone on the wide extremes of French politics and almost never interviews her.
THE NETHERLANDS – GEERT WILDERS - MAR 2017
Geert Wilders is a colleague of Janice’s.
When the Dutch Freedom Party of the Netherlands ‘only’ increased its number of seats by 67% and became the second biggest party in Holland – but failed to win – the EU elites proclaimed this a ‘defeat for populism’. In fact it showed a huge increase in the populist vote.
The two mainstream pro-EU ruling parties suffered big losses
  • The VVD party of PM Mark Rutte lost 17.5% of its seats
  • The PvdA (Labour) party in coalition lost 74.3% of its seats
  • Meanwhile, Geert Wilders’ anti-EU party increased its tally of seats by 66.7%
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
OBSERVATIONS
YOU DON’T GET JANICE ON THE BBC
Some readers might well be asking themselves: “How come I haven’t heard more about Janice Atkinson?” The answer is the same sad answer we have to give for so much of what we publish. The BBC, Sky News and ITN place little news value on positive news stories about Brexit. They also consider Janice's colleagues to be beyond the pale politically, despite many of them coming second in their own countries' general elections in the last year.
Here at Brexit Facts4EU.Org we are party-neutral and we interview anyone who interests us and who we think would interest you. Ms Atkinson most certainly falls into this category.
We thought you might want to hear the views of a British politician who is part of a European political grouping which includes leaders of parties who came second in their respective national elections, and who is Vice-President of this group in the EU Parliament.
Some of you will know of Janice already because of her previous role as a press officer in the Conservative Party, or as a Conservative candidate, or because she was originally elected as a UKIP MEP in 2014.
However some of you may never have heard of her because the mainstream media does not cover her speeches or activities very much, if at all.
The point is that Janice speaks her mind and says what she thinks, unlike so many career politicians. She is heavily involved in a European movement which has been on the rise for years and which has surged since she joined it. She rubs shoulders with the big names in EU euroscepticism.
Yes, they needed her in order to have the requisite number of MEPs from different countries in order to form an official group in the EU Parliament. But make no mistake, Janice is a woman to be reckoned with.
You don't want to miss the next article, where she talks openly and frankly to our Editor about many of the issues which appeal to Brexiteers right now.
MAINSTREAM JOURNALISTS: Please contact us if you would like exclusive national rights to the full interview with Janice which follows below.
[ Sources: Janice Atkinson MEP | Netherlands, French, Austrian, and Italian Interior Ministries/Electoral depts | EU Commission | EU Parliament | EU Council ]
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
       06.55am, 17 Feb 2018
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READERS' COMMENTS
Please send us your comments and we will publish them here. You can of course use a pseudonym if you prefer, and it's always nice to know roughly where you're writing from. Please always state the headline of the article you're commenting on.
 EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH
Vice-President,
Europe of Nations and Freedom Group
JANICE ATKINSON
MEP
 
Part 2 - On Brexit, David Davis, Theresa May, Boris,
the EU, and 'extremism'
Over the course of two hour-long sessions in the last two days, the Vice-President of the EU Parliament’s most controversial political group chatted exclusively with the Editor of Brexit Facts4EU.Org.
SOME HIGHLIGHTS
  • “I’m an old fashioned, Thatcherite Conservative whose heroes are Churchill, Reagan and Thatcher”
  • David Davis? “Should be sacked”. “He’s just a squirming embarrassment actually.”
  • Boris Johnson? “Even Boris, bless him, didn’t have a vision.”
  • Theresa May? “Mrs May is like the rabbit that’s caught in headlights.”
  • Liam Fox? “Liam Fox has been brilliant about this throughout.”
  • Extremists? “He’s likely to be the next prime minister of Italy. So is he extremist?”
  • “We don’t owe the EU any money. I would actually not have a transition period. I would walk away now”
We have taken the unusual editorial decision to publish a large part of the interview with very little editing. The reasons are threefold:-
  1. With Ms Atkinson she says what she thinks, and that's generally informative and entertaining, and
  2. She doesn't 'um and ah', and
  3. Very few media outlets will publish what she thinks without editing it or commenting it out of existence.
Below you get the unexpurgated Janice
We hope you enjoy the experience!
BACKGROUND
“I started getting involved in politics when I was about 14-15 years old. A woman came across my horizon called Margaret Thatcher.
“She inspired me. I watched the rubbish piling up on the streets, the bodies going unburied. She had a vision for this country.
“My father was a trade union member, my mother was a sort of soft Tory and political discussions were generally on the table in our household. Then the strikes started happening. I was at college and I decided that I would help Margaret Thatcher so that’s what I did.
“I started delivering leaflets, I got involved.”
 
“I was variously involved in the Tory party over the years, sort of moved away, came back again and then in 2005 Michael Howard said to me: “We need good women to stand, are you interested?” I said: “You need good people not good women.” So I went through the process.
“I have to say that because I was pro controlling our borders, I wanted to talk about immigration and because I was anti-EU I was called into the Conservative Party Central Office a couple of times and told off. I was told “You won’t be allowed to go for target seats let alone safe seats unless you keep quiet.”
“So I played the game and finally I got selected. I did start getting interviews but I got selected for Batley & Spen and apparently according to Central Office it was one of the best campaigns that have ever been run. However there was a nasty BNP element in the constituency. We weren’t allowed to have that conversation on immigration because Cameron refused to discuss immigration and because of Clegg, but there was a big BNP vote, which I think was about 4000. So that’s why I lost it. We had fantastic support across the divide up there.”
BEING AN MEP
Q: You’re currently an MEP, and are now part of the Europe of Nations and Freedom Group at the EU Parliament. Why did you join the ENF?
“Okay, well as you know if you Google me you’ll find that there was an expenses scandal with my assistant. I was cleared by the police of having any involvement with that. UKIP jumped the gun and decided that they couldn’t have any possible scandal during a general election, rather than waiting for the police to conduct their investigation.
“I had to plead with the police actually to interview me. They didn’t seem to be interested at all. They thought I was rather keen to have an interview which was rather odd. That’s the only way I could clear my name. Funnily enough that’s what I’ve told Charlie Elphicke [MP for Dover] to do as well.
“So the police interviewed me and decided there was no evidence so I was cleared.
“At that time when UKIP and I parted ways they actually wanted me to stay within the Direct Democracy group that Farage heads up, but I refused to do that. I thought: you want the numbers in there and want the cash that I come with.”
EUROPE OF NATIONS AND FREEDOM
“Then I was approached by Geert Wilders, Marine Le Pen, the Austrians (FPO) who are now in power and others including the Italians.
“That’s the future of Europe. So I decided that I would enable that group to be formed and they were grateful. And it’s a very happy home that I inhabit with them.”
 
EXTREMISM AND POPULISM
Q: In that group you have politicians like Marine Le Pen, Geert Wilders. These people don’t get much press coverage in the UK, but when they do it’s almost universally negative. They are referred to as being ‘far right’ or ‘extremists’ or both. So Janice, are you a far right extremist?
“No, I’m just a Conservative. I’m an old fashioned, Thatcherite Conservative whose heroes are Churchill, Reagan and Thatcher basically. I’ve never changed my views since a teenager. In fact I’ve got rather more entrenched in my views that Thatcherism was right for all the reasons that she was elected a number of times.
© Janice Atkinson
“These people.... Are they extremists? If Marine Le Pen got 34% of the vote during the presidential elections, are we suggesting that 34% of the French people are extremists?
“Now Geert Wilders is the official opposition in the Netherlands - are all the people who voted for him extremists? He came second in their General Election. The same goes for the Austrians. One of my partners is H C Strache, who is now foreign minister for the FPO in government. He gained 51 seats in their General Election last year.
“Next month we’ve got Matteo Salvini, again labelled as a far-right extremist, setting up the Lega as they’re now called. He is probably going to go into coalition with Berlusconi. They’ve already won the elections in Sicily. He’s likely to be the next prime minister of Italy. So is he extremist? Are the Italians extremists?”
WHERE DO YOU THINK THE EU IS GOING?
“I’ve done a lot of European media funnily enough. I tell you why the British press don’t push it, and it’s something that we’re trying desperately to do. I think there has to be this narrative: what happens post-Brexit? What is the European Union going to be like? Is the European Union going to be there?
“You’ve got groups forming in Greece. There is a new party called Nea Dexia who were associated with a good friend of mine and it’s just broken away from the New Democracy (the Conservative Party equivalent), because they don’t see them as conservative any more.
“The same happened in Spain with a new party called Vox. Again, broken away from the conservative party there.
Photo right: Janice Atkinson with EU Parliament colleagues in Greece
 
“So all across Europe and the EU this is happening. Look at Viktor Orban in Hungary. And there are the Swedish Democrats. You know the history of all of this, because you study it, but trying to get the British press to cover it isn’t always easy...
“Coming back to one of your earlier questions, should the mainstream media be labelling all these people and all their voters ‘extreme right’? No, total rubbish.
“People are just fed up with the so-called liberal elites who are running our countries and they’re not representing the people’s interests. Oxfam, foreign aid, latest scandal to hit. You’ve got people like [pulled for legal reasons] all friends together. Miliband presided over the international rescue service. There are so many sex abuse scandals arising now. It’s only the Daily Mail who’s running this, it’s not on the BBC, not on Sky etc.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL BEING INDEPENDENT?
“I’m very happy being a so-called independent. There are four of us who have left UKIP after various ‘issues’ etc and I’m happier than I’ve ever been. I don’t have a party structure to report back to and when I do go to the mainstream media now I’m perfectly pleasant and I’ll have a laugh and a joke with them and I think I have a sense of humour and I’m self-deprecating as well. If I’m attacked I attack back. Remember Norman Tebbit? You attack back and that’s what I do. And I’m very comfortable with myself now. It’s taken a while.”
SHALL WE TALK BREXIT?
Q: Next subject is the big one; Brexit – transition, payment, laws, free movement. Can you give us a summary? What are your views on the state of play of the negotiations at the moment? And anything else you want to say?
“Who knows where we are with the Brexit negotiations? Mrs May is like the rabbit that’s caught in headlights. I’m glad that Gove and Boris are stepping up to the plate to hold her to account, and it seems that our side is winning.
© EU Commission
“What do I think? Actually you can’t blame the EU for just laying down what they want, and it seems like they are dictating the terms and our exit program. There is an awful lot at stake here and they hope that we will stay in some form of Customs Union. I think they accept that we’re not going to stay in the Single Market so all they’re using at the moment is Ireland as the battleground.
“So… what we need to do – I would actually not have a transition period. I would walk away now, I would say at the end of this month “Right, we’re going, we’re reverting to WTO rules,” and we just walk away. And they owe us about £9 billion and we can put an invoice down on the table for that. So at least it’s a vision. So businesses know exactly where they stand, and we just walk away. Let’s face it, businesses had 2 years to actually decide how they’re going to organize this.
“We don’t owe the EU any money, the bill is creeping up to about £100 billion, in fact they owe us around about £9 billion for our assets that are sitting in the European Central Bank and others so I would slap down an invoice and say: “Right, we’re going, we’re giving you one month’s notice and we walk.” And they quickly will listen to what we’ve got to say.”
BORIS JOHNSON, MICHAEL GOVE, DAVID DAVIS, THERESA MAY
“Mrs May has got to have a vision and she has got to lay it out exactly. Even Boris bless him, yesterday didn’t have a vision. That was sort of appeasing, emollient appeal to Remainers. [Referring to the speech made by Boris Johnson on Wed 14 Feb 2018.]”
     
© Various
Q: But you still sent Boris a Valentine’s Day card, why?
“I did, because I wanted to turn our people to him. This is a vision of how we need to mend and heal our country. There wasn’t anything he said that was wrong there, apart from he wasn’t too clear on immigration. They need to make a succession of speeches.
“I thought he was wrong about immigration but at least he’s actually saying something. It was building this vision of being big and bold on the world’s stage.
“Now we need Gove to do this, we need some of the others to do this. I think Liam Fox has been brilliant about this throughout, on the world vision, travelling the world, laying out his vision. He gets some media attention but not as much as if Boris were making the speech. So Boris now has to make speeches like Liam Fox. Liam hasn’t been given the recognition he deserves.”
MAY AND DAVIS ARE AN EMBARRASSMENT
“I think David Davis should be sacked. A couple of weeks ago I made a decision about David Davis. When I saw him smirking when he gave evidence to the Select Committee, he was laughing. I know David, he’s a tough cookie, but then he was pathetic, he was – actually I don’t have words to describe – he was incapable and he just looked.... incompetent.
© Parliament
“He’s just a squirming embarrassment actually. You look at Barnier in comparison to him, and you can see why some of the Remainers’ resolve is fortified.
“Their hopes for a second Referendum rise, with Theresa May as Prime Minister and David Davis as the Brexit Secretary.
“Quite frankly they’re embarrassing us on the world stage.”
OBSERVATIONS
You may not agree with all (or any) of Janice Atkinson's opinions, but she expressed them clearly and without waffling.
Whatever your judgement, at least we hope you found them interesting.
The interviews covered more than is shown above, but we will return to the other topics in a further article.
[ Sources: Janice Atkinson MEP ]
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
       3.20pm, 17 Feb 2018
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 THE BREXIT FRONTS
© EU Commission
UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE
OF THE BEAST
If Brexit is a war, then there are three main fronts on which the battle will be fought. These are political, popular, and economic.
The front which has dominated so far is the political front. To understand this, it is important to understand the nature of the beast that is the EU.
Facts4EU.Org exposes the backgrounds of the EU’s major players in Brexit talks
The UK’s Brexit negotiations involve Eurocrats in Brussels who have virtually no experience outside politics – be they in the EU Commission, the EU Parliament, or the EU Council’s Brexit Task Forces.
The EU Commission consists of 28 members: President, First Vice-President, High Representative (Foreign Sec), 4 more Vice-Presidents, and 21 Commissioners. 20 of the 28 members of the EU Commission have never worked outside the world of politics, state bodies, or academia.
MEET 'THE BREXIT BUNCH'
No EU Commissioners in Brexit-related positions have experience in ‘the real world’ of business:
  • President Juncker - no experience
  • First Vice-President Frans Timmermans – no experience
  • Foreign Secretary Federica Mogherini – Former Communist, no experience
  • Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström - almost no experience
  • Single Market Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska - no experience
  • Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager - no experience
  • Economics Commissioner Moscovici – Former Revolutionary Communist, no experience
EU Commission’s Brexit Task Force, and EU Council’s ‘Special Task Force on the UK’
  • Michel Barnier, Chief Negotiator (EU Commission) - no experience
  • Sabine Weyand, Deputy Chief Negotiator (EU Commission) - no experience
  • Didier Seeuws, Head of Council Secretariat’s Special Task Force on UK - no experience
                     
The EU Parliament’s Chief Brexit Negotiator
  • Guy Verhofstadt - no experience
The vast majority of the total experience of the individuals listed above is in politics. Many have worked in nothing else. If they did spend time on something else then it was in public service in some way or in research.
When unelected EU Commissioners are chosen - by the unelected EU Commission President - there is a charade where the EU Parliament pretends to have 'hearings'.
As part of this review, prospective EU Commissioners have to complete a questionnaire from the EU Parliament and the first question is:
“What aspects of your personal qualifications and experience are particularly relevant for becoming Commissioner and promoting the European general interest, particularly in the area you would be responsible for?”
OBSERVATIONS
The 'review' of prospective EU Commissioners is yet another poor copy of what happens in the United States, just as President Juncker has started copying the American President's 'State of the Union' address each year.
Given that these Commissioners have never had any relevant experience you might think that the first question on their questionnaire was difficult to answer for them, when they underwent the process in 2014. Not at all.
In each case the Commissioners managed several paragraphs of pure waffle. No signs of apparent embarrassment that they have no relevant experience. For example, the Trade Commissioner with no experience of trade. Or the Single Market Commissioner who has no experience of markets. None of this is a problem if you know your appointment is going to be waved right on through.
Out of all those EU individuals listed above, only one was elected, and that’s the EU-loving, arch-federalist Guy Verhofstadt MEP - former PM of a country in a state of almost permanent and divisive democratic turmoil. He is the EU Parliament's Chief Brexit Spokesperson. He has no role in the negotiations themselves, but this doesn't stop him pronouncing on Brexit whenever he can.
All of the others are unelected. Their worlds are completely wrapped in EU-ism. We listen to them day after day, talking a foreign language to the rest of the human race.
Make no mistake, Brexit is an affront to all they believe in.
THE BREXIT FRONTS
We started this article talking about the three main Brexit Fronts: political, popular and economic. The last of these should of course be first - the economic front encompassing the everyday realities of trade and economic matters about which so much is written and said. Unfortunately this is not yet a front at all. The UK’s exports and how they will work outside the Single Market and Customs Union are not being discussed in any detail in Brussels.
The reason for this is the EU’s total insistence that the UK should agree three main points before they would talk about anything else. This meant that six months were spent talking about the divorce bill, the Irish border, and citizens’ rights.
The only front that matters to the people we have listed above is the political front. The EU 'project' is everything to these people. You don't even have to take our word for it. All you have to do is spend a week listening to, watching, and reading what happens in Brussels. Just spend one week watching press conferences, and watching the sessions of the EU Parliament and its various committees, and reading about new policies or progress on old ones.
PUBLIC / PRIVATE BLEND
Naturally no-one is arguing that experience in public service is not very important within any government. The problem with the EU Commission is that it acts like a government, it's not elected, and it has so little experience of the outside world contained within it that its thoughts and actions are wholly inappropriate for the modern age.
KNOW THINE ENEMY
We have said it before and we'll say it again. If the British people only knew what was said, written and done in their name in Brussels and Strasbourg, the majority for Leave would have been far, far higher.
Unfortunately the BBC and other broadcast media have always been careful not to show what goes on over there. Think back over the last few years. When have you ever seen a clip of the proceedings of the EU Parliament, for example, when it wasn't of Sir Nigel Farage 'getting into trouble' over something? The absurdities that take place in that hemicycle each day are virtually never shown.
WALKING
In the first couple of months the UK had no choice but to go through the motions with the Eurocrats we've listed above, but as soon as it became obvious to the world what the EU was going to be like, the British government should have issued an ultimatum and then walked. We said this at the time and we continue to say it. Had the UK done that, the political leaders of the EU27 countries would have taken over the talks. When that would have reached a stalemate (approx 2 further months) then the UK should have walked completely.
SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO!
Tomorrow the Prime Minister will once again state in a major speech that she will give away the full capability of our defence forces in a treaty committing the UK but asking nothing in return.
Fortunately we will start your Saturday with an interview between our Editor and a major Eurosceptic figure in the EU Parliament. This MEP pulls no punches and the interview will be fun to read! Don't miss it!!
[ Sources: EU Commission | EU Council Secretariat | Other sources ]
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
       06.55am, 16 Feb 2018
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MYSTERY BREXITEER - EXCLUSIVE!
Our Editor has been interviewing a major figure in the EU Parliament. This MEP is outspoken and pro-Brexit.
Don't miss this article tomorrow!
Start your weekend off with a bang!
Best wishes, the Brexit Facts4EU.Org Team, 06.50am Friday 16 Feb 2018
 “TOTAL NONSENSE”
© Policy Exchange
EU PRESIDENT ACCUSES
BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY
Yesterday at the Policy Exchange think-tank in London, the Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson gave his much-anticipated speech on the EU, entitled: “Uniting for a Great Brexit”.
There is a great deal in the speech on which we might comment. To keep things focused we will instead highlight just two areas. The first is the Foreign Secretary’s comments about the overall direction of the EU towards a single ‘superstate’, and the second is the official reaction to these comments by the EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
1. WHAT BORIS SAID ABOUT THE EU SUPERSTATE
Below is the Foreign Secretary's speech in full together with the Q&A session which followed, in case you missed it yesterday. If you prefer to read the speech instead, you can do so here. Alternatively we have transcribed a key passage below the video.
“To understand why EU regulation is not always suited to the economic needs of the UK, it is vital to understand that EU law is a special type of law, unlike anything else on earth. It is not just about business convenience. It is expressly teleological. It is there to achieve a political goal.”
“The aim is to create an overarching European state as the basis for a new sense of European political identity. British politicians, Labour and Tory, have always found that ambition very difficult. It is hard to make it cohere with our particular traditions of independent parliamentary and legal systems that go back centuries.”
“And in spite of many sheep-like coughs of protest from the UK, the process of integration has deepened, and the corpus of EU law has grown ever vaster and more intricate, and ever more powers and competences were handed to EU institutions, culminating in the Treaty of Lisbon.”
2. WHAT JEAN-CLAUDE SAID ABOUT BORIS
© EU Commission
Asked at a Brussels press conference what he thought of Boris Johnson’s comments about a ‘European superstate’ the EU Commission President replied:
“I gave an answer to this for years now.”
“Some in the British political society are against the truth, pretending that I am a stupid, stubborn federalist, that I am in favour of a European superstate.”
“I am strictly against a European superstate. We are not the United States of America, we are the European Union, which is a rich body because we have these 27, or 28, nations.”
“The European Union cannot be built against the European nations, so this is total nonsense.”
Reactions from Brexiteers to President Juncker’s comments were not favourable.
© Twitter
OBSERVATIONS
The idea that Jean-Claude Juncker is ‘strictly against a European superstate’ is so laughable it’s hard to know where to start.
We should of course make some serious points about this, because we know that UK politicians who don’t accept the Referendum result will use the ridiculous claim by the EU Commission President as being gospel, instead of looking at the facts.
Let’s be clear. Juncker is a stark, staring federalist of the first degree. When it comes to deluded continentals dreaming of some idyllic country of over 400m people all living in perfect harmony, they don’t come much more deluded than the Luxembourgher.
He is against internal borders and wants social policies to be the same across the EU. He wants candidates for EU Parliament elections to be ‘transnational’, meaning that British voters could end up voting for a Belgian MEP representative. He wants an elected President of the EU Commission - not for democracy's sake but because he knows this would give more power to the role.
He wants a common rate of corporation tax across the EU, we wants us all to have an EU National Insurance number, he wants all member states to have the Euro common currency. He even wants an EU army, for heaven’s sake.
We could go on and on, and if we had more resource we could dig out quote after quote to prove that Juncker was lying spectacularly yesterday.
RESPECT
There is a more important point we would like to make, however.
Yesterday the British Foreign Secretary was making a significant speech. He made the speech as Foreign Secretary and it was included in the official announcements made by the Government – we checked.
For the President of the EU Commission to dismiss the British Foreign Secretary’s remarks as “total nonsense” is both fundamental and shocking. It demonstrates once again what we have been saying since before the Referendum: the EU’s attitude to the UK is hostile and aggressive.
Boris Johnson referred to the EU’s lawmaking as being teleological – designed to lead to a particular end objective rather than as an end itself. Perhaps to appeal to the widest possible audience Boris could simply have said that the EU is driven by political agendas, and that the basic requirements of ordinary people across the EU are not foremost in anyone’s mind in Brussels.
‘They’re not working for you, they’re working for their political ideology,’ as we once wrote. That about sums up Juncker and his entire team.
[ Sources: HM Government | Policy Exchange | EU Commission ]
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
       06.10am, 15 Feb 2018
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