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BREXIT NEWS - FEB 01-14, 2018  
THOSE EVIL BRITISCHERS 
© Twitter / Devon & Cornwall Police
“MIGRANTS ENSLAVED IN UK”
German journalists indulge in
fake news against UK
On Thursday last week a story broke from the Devon and Cornwall Police which was promptly covered by the BBC and then by various British newspapers.
Just the initial tweet from the police should have raised eyebrows, when they claimed that “Three men in police custody and around 200 migrant workers are currently having their welfare safeguarded by Cornwall Council.” Quite how 200 migrant workers were being kept slaves by three men was perplexing when we first read it.
© Twitter / Devon & Cornwall Police
The local council got involved as well as all the usual agencies: the housing dept, the British Red Cross, the Salvation Army, the NHS, and HMRC.
The workers, mostly from Romania, Bulgaria and Lithuania, were all offered counselling, interpretation services, legal and immigration advice, medical and financial assistance and safe house accommodation.
PROBLEM WITH THE STORY
The Devon and Cornwall Police tweeted 7 times about this event in the first 24 hours, and there were many more tweets from the BBC and from the Council and other organisations, so it was not surprising that the story gained national prominence very quickly. The next day, however, a different picture started to emerge.
“Our boss has been arrested and we think he has done nothing wrong. We have very good conditions,” said one of the workers.
“I've been working here for four years. If it was bad I wouldn't work here, we wouldn't bring our friends and families here.”
On the Friday, there was a massed demonstration outside the police station by the ‘slaves’. It seems the slaves rather like their jobs and think their bosses are great. The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail covered this.
© Daily Mail
As you can see from the example above, the articles which appeared the next morning, correcting the story of the previous day from the Devon and Cornwall Police, were given full prominence. These weren’t small retractions which could have been missed by anyone.
THOSE NASTY BRITS - AS SEEN FROM ABROAD
Naturally the original story which was first broken by the BBC on Thursday was too good to pass up for members of the EU27 press. Here is how one of them covered it:-
© Deutsche Welle
Deutsche Welle (DW) is Germany’s international broadcaster, employing around 1,500 people and nearly as many freelancers from 60 countries worldwide. It is controlled under the Deutsche Welle Act of the German Bundestag. Although different in many respects, British readers might think of aspects of the BBC when thinking of DW.
Now, the British press was initially misled on this story, thanks to the information from the police and from the local BBC. That’s understandable. But when the new facts emerged the next morning the British papers were quick to correct things.
Unfortunately, DW have not been so quick. In fact the link to the article still appears this morning on their homepage under the ‘Europe’ section.
STILL ON GERMAN MEDIA THIS MORNING
© Deutsche Welle
Th piece on the right above continues to link to the article with the incorrect information. It is now a week since the police carried out their 6am raid. It is six days since the British press covered the story again, showing how the migrants were very happy working at the farm and had returned year after year, bringing friends and relatives.
DW remains silent, and worse still it still carries the offending story.
OBSERVATIONS
Some may think that “Migrants enslaved in the UK” is a very strong headline to put on a story, when no-one has been charged with any offence.
To reinforce this with the sentences which followed really is a bit rich. “Many believe the days of slavery in Europe are long gone. But modern-day slavery is a growing problem. Especially in Britain where forced servitude is on the rise.”
We have to say that when we read this last week, it reminded us of the worst, desperate days of Project Fear before the Referendum, when David Cameron almost appeared to be saying that only the EU was standing between us and World War III.
Even if Deutsche Welle doesn’t want to believe the migrant workers themselves – or ‘slaves’, as DW would call them – it should at the very least tone down its rhetoric and state that the facts are very much in dispute.
It has now had nearly a week to do this. We delayed running this story because we have no wish to incite any anti-German feeling and we had hoped that DW would correct its story.
Unfortunately the anti-British propaganda remains there for all to see.
THE WIDER ISSUE
This article isn’t about DW 1, who produce a lot of interesting output. It isn’t even about this particular 'migrant slavery' story, which was demonstrably wrong and which is highly damaging to British interests by still being published prominently so many days after it was proved false.
No, this article serves to demonstrate what we have been writing since before the Referendum campaign.
Any eventual relationship which is negotiated between the UK and the EU and its member states will need the approval – or acquiescence at least – of the peoples of the EU27 countries.
Just as in the UK, voters in EU27 countries form opinions based on what they see on TV and read in the newspapers and increasingly online.
1 Deutsche Welle (DW) is Germany’s international broadcaster, employing around 1,500 people and nearly as many freelancers from 60 countries worldwide. It is controlled under the Deutsche Welle Act of the German Bundestag. Although different in many respects, British readers might think of aspects of the BBC when thinking of DW.
GOVERNMENT, WAKE UP PLEASE
Part of the battle in the coming year or so will involve the peoples of the EU27 member states. So far, the British government has been completely ineffective in getting a pro-Brexit, positive message out there. Let’s be honest, it hasn’t even done this within the UK, so what chance is there abroad?
Nonetheless, there are many people paid very highly in the Civil Service to run communications. We must repeat our injunction to Mrs May to fire the Head of Communications and to put a bomb under the department.
Does no-one in government read the foreign press?
We do, and we can tell you that you would be horrified at the constant stream of lies about the UK and about Brexit which is pushed at citizens of the EU27. Naturally these stem from what politicians in those countries – and in the EU – are saying, but many stories are picked up from the British press too.
With rags like Osborne’s Evening Standard, the FT, and the Guardian, and with a state broadcaster like the BBC, the EU27 media has ample anti-Brexit fodder to regurgitate to its readers and viewers.
We very strongly believe in freedom of speech and in freedom of the press. We are not suggesting for one moment that the government interfere in any way with editorial decisions of newspapers. (We do think the BBC needs a complete overhaul but that’s another story.)
What needs to happen is that the government’s central Communications dept, and all those working in communications in the main departments of state, must start promulgating positive messages about pre- and post-Brexit Britain. If they are not capable of doing this, they should be replaced by those who can.
If this isn't done, the cost will be astronomical when it comes to the final Brexit deal.
[ Sources: DW.com | Devon and Cornwall Police | BBC South West | Daily Mail | Daily Telegraph | Cornwall County Council ]
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
       07.15am, 14 Feb 2018
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READERS' COMMENTS
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Name: Jon, Wales      Date/Time: 20 Feb 2018, 1.48pm
Message: I am often appalled when we see incorrect news coming out from official sources, and appalled when the foreign press pick up stories, which, after proving to be false, fail to correct themselves at the same speed. I wondered how we in the UK can send a positive view to the peoples on the continent, as not everyone gets to read sites like Brexit Facts4EU.org? I do my best to promote this site and ask users to visit here. Everyone wants the facts, and here is where we get 100% facts. I also wonder if foreign press can be held to account when they fail to correct stories? Keep up the good work team.
Name: Liz Ford, UK      Date/Time: 14 Feb 2018, 5.01pm
Message: Following your recent article on 'Migrants enslaved in UK' I had a look at the Brexit section on the Deutsche Welle website and found a couple of interesting videos - links below. I'm not going to pretend that there aren't unpleasant British individuals out there who make life difficult for their EU neighbours, but these videos certainly aren't balanced with any positive news from EU citizens living in the UK. Surprise surprise. It just makes me mad to think that the whole 17.4 million 'Leavers' are branded xenophobic on the basis of a couple of 'tailor-made' videos.
http://www.dw.com/en/britain-out-of-the-eu-out-with-europeans/av-42064226
http://www.dw.com/en/poles-in-england-returning-home-post-brexit/av-37451567
Name: Dimitri      Date/Time: 14 Feb 2018, 5.01pm
Message: Helo, I am writing to please give me the adres for the Slave company. I want aply the job £250 per day. I like flowers and can work (sometimes). Questions: is internet fast? Broadband? Is darts and biliard in gamesroom? Pool? Young girl workers? Thanks, Dimitri
Name: Patrick H - London      Date/Time: 14 Feb 2018, 12.53pm
Message: You may wish to give some credit to your readers and Brexiteers in general. We are long past believing anything that comes from the nefarious BBC et at! The more they spin their lying yarns the more we disbelieve them! But it is important to be reminded time to time, just how much the MSM twist their sophistic journalistic stories to suit their delusive narratives?

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POPPING THE EU'S CORK? 
© Comité Champagne
SENDING A MESSAGE
TO BULLYING BARNIER
Brexit Facts4EU.Org readers are a romantic lot. We have no doubt that a fair number of you will be heading out to the shops at some point to buy something special for Valentine's Day tomorrow.
Some of you may be thinking that some champagne might put some sparkle into your loved one's eyes. Or perhaps you will buy some flowers? Or maybe a nice box of luxury chocolates?
HOLD ON A SECOND, LOVERS
Before you splash out today or tomorrow, we thought you might like to know who will benefit.
  • Flowers : The Netherlands
  • Chocolates: Germany, Netherlands, Belgium
  • Champagne : France
Below we present some information, and in our 'Observations' we make a slightly tongue-in-cheek suggestion. Supposing there were a boycott, just for one day?
SAYING IT WITH FLOWERS
According to the Flowers and Plants Association, we each spend £28 per person per year on flowers. A large proportion of this expenditure takes place tomorrow, on Valentines Day.
The largest exporters in the world of flowers – by far – are the Dutch. This is a huge industry for them. In 2015, the last year for which we can get figures, the Dutch exported 43% of all global cut flower exports. Whilst their global share has been dropping – in common with the EU’s share of world exports generally – they nevertheless dominate cut flowers.
© Rabobank
The majority of flowers for sale in British shops on Valentine’s Day will have been imported, and the most likely country they will have come from is the Netherlands.
Imagine if every British person decided tomorrow to insist on buying flowers which came from the Isles of Scilly, the Channel islands, or the West Country?
SAVOURING THE MOMENT WITH CHOCOLATE
In 2016 according to Mintel, the United Kingdom was the largest per capita consumer of chocolate in the EU, at 8.6 kg. A Euromonitor survey in 2015 showed British consumers spend around £115 per person per year on chocolate. The Irish also rank neck and neck with the British in most surveys.
According to an Ibis World survey, the chocolate confectionery industry in the United Kingdom reached a value of nearly £4 billion in 2015.
Last year the EU reported that the top chocolate and chocolate bar exporters were Germany (540 000 tonnes), the Netherlands (270 000 tonnes) and Belgium (250 000 tonnes).
© Eurostat / EU Commission
TOASTING IT WITH CHAMPAGNE
Brexit Facts4EU.Org's Guide to Champagne in facts & figures:
  • Champagne market worth €4.7 bn in 2016
  • World’s leading ‘Appellation’ by value: 32% of world's sparkling wines
  • 10% of volume of world’s sparkling wines
  • 319 ‘crus’ in just 34,300 hectares
  • Over 1 BILLION bottles currently maturing
For the French wine industry, champagne is king in so many ways. Constituting just 4% of France’s total vineyard area, the areas comprising the champagne appellation account for 20% of France's turnover of wines. And when it comes to sparkling wines, champagne represents a very frothy 91% of the value.
“The Champagne AOC, symbol of quality, success and celebration, represents an unfathomable Legacy of priceless value. Champagne is the emblematic figure of France worldwide : the Champenois have been protecting their common treasure for more than 150 years.”
Critically with exports, the French wine and spirits sector overall accounts for a massive €12 billion in France's export turnover. Champagne is the second-most important contributor to the French surplus in trade.
BREXIT BRITAIN CONSUMES THE MOST BOTTLES
Unluckily for France, the UK consumes more bottles of champagne than any other country in the world.
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
As you can see, the UK is head and shoulders above the next nearest buyer of bottles of champagne, the USA, despite having only one-fifth of the population.
The volume of champagne sales to the UK is absolutely key to the French, without which prices would plummet and the whole French agri-food business would be severely impacted.
After Brexit, the UK on its own will represent a staggering 44.1% of the non-EU export market for champagne.
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
Currently the UK imposes no tariffs on French champagne because of EU membership. However if the EU refuses to agree a normal trade deal with the UK this could change. If this happens, tariffs could be imposed on the French champagne houses, and suddenly the prospects for British producers of sparkling wine will be enormous, as French champagne becomes relatively more expensive.
We found 60 English vineyards producing sparkling wine during a quick search of the English Wine Producers website. No doubt more exist in other parts of the Kingdom. As one producer said last year: “Leaving the EU is a great opportunity for the English wine industry to reduce duty and encourage more home-grown sales.”
OBSERVATIONS
Monsieur Barnier has been particularly unpleasant in recent days, with his threats towards the UK.
Some of the British newspapers are now saying that he may have stepped too far beyond his brief, and that in fact EU27 countries didn't want him to be so aggressive. Nonsense. He has a strict mandate from the EU Council, via the EU Commission. Barnier's mandate isn't even as strongly anti-British as the EU Parliament would wish.
What Barnier has been saying is what is in his instructions. We believe that the reason some in the EU have been making slightly more conciliatory noises is because it's all part of the game. They scare the British with something truly horrendous, which makes their subsequent slightly less-appalling offer sounds good to Theresa May, so that she immediately agrees. This seems to be the plan.
VALENTINE'S DAY MASSACRE
The EU runs a very effective indoctrination/propaganda campaign against the British, and has done ever since the Referendum. Countless times we have asked the British government's Communications Dept to respond to this but their activities have been pitiful. The one exception is the Dept for International Trade.
As result of the EU's constant propaganda, the general public in the EU27 member states have a very warped view of what has been taking place. The EU elites who are runnning things have a political agenda. All they care about is their 'project'. Unfortunately the public simply don't know that the UK is prepared very generously to continue to allow the EU to trade with the UK without tariffs. This is despite the fact that the EU27 run an enormous annual surplus with the UK.
TURNING OFF THE TAP
If the British government won't start trying to get the message across to EU27 citizens, maybe some people power might do the trick? Imagine if everyone in the UK bought their flowers, chocolates and bubbly exclusively from British producers for Valentine's Day?
It would only be a small gesture, but if a British newspaper took it up, it might send the message that the British people are feeling very unloved on Valentine's Day. It should be stressed that this is thanks to the actions of the elite bureaucrats in Brussels, and that we want to continue to buy the goods produced by the EU27 after Brexit. However if we continue to be treated like a poor relation, and if the elites continue to play games with EU citizens' livelihoods for the sake of the EU's political 'project', then we will start to look elsewhere for our goods.
Just a thought, to prompt debate....
[ Sources: EU Commission | Rabobank | Mintel | Euromonitor | CBI | Ibis World | Flowers and Plants Association | Comité Champagne ]     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.        07.25am, 13 Feb 2018
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Name: Brexiter Braintree Essex, UK      Date/Time: 13 Feb 2018, 09.56am
Message: Your facts on the amount of exports the UK receives from France, Germany, and Holland should concentrate the minds of business leaders in those countries. It would also help our negotiators if we the British consumer began sourcing similar products that are available from outside the EU. Such actions would cause a slight downturn in EU exports to the UK at the moment, but highlight our importance. Far be it for us to start a trade war but it would perhaps emphasis the value the British market to member states of the EU. At the moment all the bluster and rhetoric about punishing the UK is coming from the European Commission, the unelected bureaucrats whose jobs and lives would be unaffected by a downturn in member states' economies. It's the working people of the member states of the EU who will carry the can for the political posturing of the Commission elites.

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 WHEN EU GOLDEN RULES
ARE BROKEN FOR SOME
Q:   WHEN CAN A FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF THE EU
       BE BROKEN?
A:   WHEN THE EU COMMISSION SAYS SO
We bring a bright Brexit Facts4EU.Org light
onto the crumbling state of a central pillar of the EU
"Internal border controls to be prolonged," has been a regular refrain from the EU Commission over several years now. But what does this mean? And what relevance does it have to Brexit?
WHAT IS THE SCHENGEN AGREEMENT?
The EU's precious "Schengen zone" of free movement remains in crisis. But what is it and if the UK isn't in it, so what?
Schengen is ostensibly a border-free zone across EU Member States. Currently the UK and Ireland are the only two countries to have opt-outs. Of the remaining 26 member states, 22 are full Schengen members, with Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, and Romania being legally obliged to join the area when the EU says they can. In addition, the 4 EFTA states of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland also participate in Schengen.
Make no mistake, the EU takes Schengen very seriously.
It has been a pillar of the EU since the zone's inception.
“The Schengen Area is one of the greatest achievements of the EU,”
the organisation says proudly.
Frictionless travel across internal borders within the EU is a big selling factor of the EU for many continental EU citizens. It has been a popular EU development.
WHEN THE EU'S GRAVY TRAIN HITS THE BUFFERS OF REALITY
There's just one problem.
Schengen has been effectively destroyed by reality. The effects of uncontrolled mass migration caused by Angela Merkel's government and the increased threat from home-grown terrorism has made Schengen virtually unworkable. When the EU refers to 'border controls' being extended, it means that the borders in question have had to revert to being normal, hard, international borders, and that Schengen has failed.
Time and time again over the past few years we have reviewed yet another announcement from the EU Commission, saying that such and such a country has been granted permission to disobey the rules of the Schengen agreement. The last such announcement we looked at involved 5 member states and gave them each another 3 months extension.
Here was the situation - there were 12 border routes affected :-
Austria-Hungary border
Austria-Slovenia border
Germany-Austria border
Germany-Norway sea routes
Denmark-Germany land border
Denmark-Germany sea routes
  Austria-Hungary border
Austria-Slovenia border
Germany-Austria border
Germany-Norway sea routes
Denmark-Germany land border
Denmark-Germany sea routes
Please note that these do not include unofficial actions taken by many member states over the last 3 years. For example on the France-Italy southern border, checks were introduced, and many fences were erected between Member States south and west of Austria.
Member states started breaking the Schengen zone by unilateral actions in 2015.
Twice in 2016 the EU Commission gave some of them formal permission (in retrospect) to do this. Note, this permission was in retrospect. In other words, countries had already effectively torn up their treaty obligations with the EU, and yet the EU let them off and retrospectively granted permission.
In March 2016 the EU commission said that Schengen would be restored "as quickly as possible and with a clear target date of December 2016".
In Jan 2017, the EU Commission recommended to the EU Council that countries should continue to be allowed to break the Schengen code for another 3 months.
It's now Feb 2018.
THREE BULLETS FOR BREXIT
1. Several EU countries broke their Treaty obligations with the EU over Schengen. Even if they had been approved in advance, any controls are supposed to be "temporary internal border controls in exceptional circumstances". The EU has allowed the current situation to go on for years.
2. Even if you accept that the EU Commission now gives legal rights to certain countries to suspend Schengen, this means the EU's supposedly inviolable rules are being broken. Free movement of people is one of the 4 holy tenets of the EU religion and the EU has told the UK that these ‘freedoms’ are sacrosanct. This message has been reiterated countless times by EU national leaders, President Juncker of the EU Commission, President Tajani of the EU Parliament, and President Tusk of the EU Council.
However, since Mrs Merkel’s disastrous ‘All Welcome’ immigration policy of 2015, one of the central mainstays of the free movement principle continues to be in crisis in 2018.
3. FINALLY, REMEMBER THE IRISH BORDER?
The EU is very, very, deeply, troubled and concerned about a hard border in Ireland. Putting aside the fact that its own EU Parliament last year proposed a technical solution without a hard border, what does the EU have to say about all the hard borders which its member states have put in place all over the EU?
Overall, we can say that EU member states broke the rules on something as fundamental as Schengen and were allowed to get away with it. They have then insisted on being allowed to continue to break the rules countless times since, and this situation persists to this day.
Any insistence by the EU Council, EU Commission or EU Parliament that EU rules can never be amended or suspended is simply untrue.
'PAS POSSIBLE' ?
The EU continually tells the UK that it won’t compromise on fundamental principles,
treaty obligations, laws, directives, etc.
We have shown how this is patently untrue.
It does it all the time.
SCHENGEN REALLY IS A BIG DEAL IN THE EU
It is worth stressing the importance of the whole concept of the Schengen borderless free movement zone to the British people, as it is perhaps not understood as a result of it not having been explained well by some of the mainstream media.
Here's what the EU itself says about the importance of Schengen to free movement
"Schengen is one of the major achievements of European integration. The creation of an internal area without borders where persons and goods can circulate freely has brought important benefits to European citizens and business alike."
"Schengen is one of the key means through which European citizens can exercise their freedoms, and the internal market can prosper and develop."
The EU Commission Schengen Roadmap, Mar 2016
"The border-free Schengen Area guarantees free movement to more than 400 million EU citizens"
“EU citizens need to be able to freely and safely travel within the Union. The Schengen Area has made this a concrete reality.”
“The Schengen Area is one of the greatest achievements of the EU.”
SOME PROOF FOR REMOANER POLITICIANS
It seems we still have to provide cast-iron proof of facts which Remoaner MPs are unwilling to find out for themselves. Funnily enough, these standards of proof don't appear to extend to any claims they make themselves.
In this case we eventually developed our own table of all the times the Schengen Area, much lauded by all the EU elites as one of the biggest achievements of the EU, has failed. The table is ours, but the data is all from the EU Commission.
This table is so long we are publishing it in a separate article below, or it would put anyone off reading this article!
OBSERVATIONS
The collapse of the Schengen Agreement is a source of major embarrassment to the EU. You'd never know it in the UK of course, because the BBC only has good things to say about the EU. If the EU fails on something, the BBC goes strangely quiet.
These days the BBC goes into chapter and verse when the EU has something critical to say about the UK and/or Brexit. But when a major plank of the EU's principles and operations goes belly up for years, that's not news.
In this case, the Schengen Agreement isn't functioning. This is mostly as a direct result of the unilateral action of one of its member states in 2015. Angela Merkel unilaterally revoked the EU's 'Dublin Protocol', under which 'refugees' were supposed to apply for asylum in the first EU country they entered. In doing this she caused a stampede of 3 million economic migrants (the EU now admits that's what they were) into the EU.
This is an open wound in the EU Commission's side. If we were in the UK negotiating team, instead of Remainers like Ollie Robbins and his civil servants, we would occasionally, gently, but regularly remind the other side that the EU's golden principles actually aren't golden at all.
Instead the UK seems to be continuing to act like we're subordinates to the ideological extremists running the EU. We reiterate that the very top level of the Civil Service needs to be cleared out 'pour encourager les autres'. They failed miserably to prepare for a Leave win in the Referendum, which on its own is enough. Since then they have clearly not been acting in the interests of our great country.
Let's get some British pride back in our mandarins. Clear out the wasters at the top. Promote the rising stars and ensure they believe in a positive and optimistic vision of the United Kingdom.
The EU's fundamental principles? Capable of being broken when they need to.
Another EU lie debunked for the British people
by Brexit Facts4EU.Org
[ Sources: EU Commission ]     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.        06.55am, 12 Feb 2018
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Name: Nicholas Branston‏, UK      Date/Time: 12 Feb 2018, 08.42am
Message: Travelling from Germany to Austria and back last year I came across these border checks. We were held up for an hour. A German friend informed me that the German government doesn't want them referred to as "border checks", despite the fact that this is exactly what they are.
Name: Norman C, UK      Date/Time: 12 Feb 2018, 08.23am
Message: At What Point Will You Say “NO MORE!”? There comes a time in every man’s life when he has to make up his mind on which side of the fence he stands. This colossal decision comes with life changing consequences. It not only affects his life but all of those around him. It matters not whose son, husband or father you are, the pigment of your skin, the colour of your eyes or the standing you have in the community. This decision is the result of years of experiences, upbringing, love, joy, pain, sorrow and the spirit that boils in the depths of your soul. You know in your heart it is a man’s duty to secure what is good and defeat what is evil. This is not something that needs to be taught in school or handed down from father to son. It is planted deep in our souls at conception. To cower down to the face of tyranny reduces our worth to that of a fool-hearted slave. Let history not ask where you stood when your time came to make that decision. Stand proud as you jump off that fence and line up with the side that represents all that is pure and good in this world. To turn your back now dishonours those who laid down their lives in order to give you the freedom to make this decision. Where is your line in the sand? At what point will you say “No More!”?
PLEASE HELP US TO
WIPE THE SMILE OFF HIS FACE
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 PROOF FOR REMOANER POLITICIANS
It seems we still have to provide cast-iron proof of facts which Remoaner MPs are unwilling to find out for themselves.
Funnily enough, these standards of proof don't appear to extend to any claims they make themselves.
Remoaner MPs might like to reflect on the fact that the majority of the time our information comes direct from the bowels of the EU. We use EU data wherever it's available, as in this case. The table below was created by us (and is therefore copyright) but the raw data comes from the EU Commission.
The table shows all the times the Schengen Area, much lauded by all the EU elites as one of the biggest achievements of the EU, has failed.
No. Member State Duration Reasons/Scope
 
45 Norway "12/11/017 - 12/05/2018" security situation in Europe and threats resulting from the continuous significant secondary movements; ferry connections with DK, DE and SE
 
44 Sweden "12/11/017 - 12/05/2018" security situation in Europe and threats resulting from the continuous significant secondary movements; selected harbours in Police Regions South and West and at the Öresund Bridge;
 
43 Denmark "12/11/017 - 12/05/2018" security situation in Europe and threats resulting from the continuous significant secondary movements; internal border with Germany;
 
42 Germany "12/11/017 - 12/05/2018" security situation in Europe and threats resulting from the continuous significant secondary movements; land border with Austria and flight connections from Greece;
 
41 Austria "12/11/017 - 12/05/2018" Security situation in Europe and threats resulting from the continuous significant secondary movements; land borders with Hungary and with Slovenia
 
40 France "01/11/2017 – 30/04/2018" "Persistent terrorist threat All internal borders"
 
39 Norway "11/05/2017- 11/11/2017" in order to address the serious threat to public policy and internal security in these States by — deficiencies in external border control in Greece and the subsequent secondary movements of irregular migrants entering via Greece and who move to other Schengen States.
 
38 Sweden "11/05/2017- 11/11/2017" in order to address the serious threat to public policy and internal security in these States by — deficiencies in external border control in Greece and the subsequent secondary movements of irregular migrants entering via Greece and who move to other Schengen States.
 
37 Denmark "11/05/2017- 11/11/2017" in order to address the serious threat to public policy and internal security in these States by — deficiencies in external border control in Greece and the subsequent secondary movements of irregular migrants entering via Greece and who move to other Schengen States.
 
36 Germany "11/05/2017- 11/11/2017" In line with Recommendation of the Council of 11 May 2017, land border with Austria
 
35 Austria "11/05/2017- 11/11/2017" In line with Recommendation of the Council of 11 May 2017, land border with Slovenia and with Hungary
 
34 Norway "11/02/2017- 11/05/2017" "In line with Recommendation of the Council of 7 February 2017, in the Norwegian ports with ferry connections to Denmark, Germany and Sweden"
 
33 Sweden "11/02/2017- 10/05/2017" "In line with Recommendation of the Council of 7 February 2017, Swedish harbors in the Police Region South and West and at the Öresund bridge"
 
32 Denmark "11/02/2017- 11/05/2017" "In line with Recommendation of the Council of 7 February 2017, Danish ports with ferry connections to Germany and at the Danish-German land border"
 
31 Germany "11/02/2017- 11/05/2017" "In line with Recommendation of the Council of 7 February 2017, land border with Austria"
 
30 Austria "11/02/2017- 11/05/2017" "In line with Recommendation of the Council of 7 February 2017, land border with Slovenia and with Hungary"
 
29 France "27/01/2017- 15/07/2017" Persistent terrorist threat - all internal borders
 
28 Norway "12/11/2016 12/02/2017" "In line with Recommendation of the Council of 11 November 2016, in the Norwegian ports with ferry connections to Denmark, Germany and Sweden"
 
27 Sweden "12/11/2016 12/02/2017" "In line with Recommendation of the Council of 11 November 2016, Swedish harbors in the Police Region South and West and at the Öresund bridge"
 
26 Denmark "12/11/2016 12/02/2017" "In line with Recommendation of the Council of 11 November 2016, Danish ports with ferry connections to Germany and at the Danish-German land border"
 
25 Germany "12/11/2016 12/02/2017" "In line with Recommendation of the Council of 11 November 2016, land border with Austria"
 
24 Austria "12/11/2016 12/02/2017" "In line with Recommendation of the Council of 11 November 2016, land border with Slovenia and with Hungary"
 
23 France "26/07/2015- 26/01/2017" "In relation to the emergency state as introduced further to the Nice attack All internal borders"
 
22 Norway "10/06/2016 - 12/11/ 2016" In line with Recommendation of the Council of 12 May 2016 under Art.29 of the SBC Norwegian ports with ferry connections to Denmark, Germany and Sweden.
 
21 Sweden "08/06/2016 - 12/11/2016" In line with Recommendation of the Council of 12 May 2016 under Art.29 of the SBC Swedish harbours in the Police Region South and West and at the Öresund bridge
 
20 Denmark "01/06/16 – 12/11/2016" In line with Recommendation of the Council of 12 May 2016 under Art.29 of the SBC Danish ports with ferry connections to Germany and at the Danish-German land border
 
19 Austria "16/05/2016 - 12/11/2016" In line with Recommendation of the Council of 12 May 2016 under Art.29 of the SBC, land border with Slovenia and with Hungary
 
18 Germany "12/05/2016 - 12/11/2016" In line with Recommendation of the Council of 12 May 2016 under Art.29 of the SBC, land border with Austria
 
17 Belgium "23/02/2016- 22/04/2016" Irregular migrants attempting to travel to UK - Border between the Province of West-Vlaanderen and France
 
16 Denmark "04/03/2016 - 02/06/2016" "Big influx of persons seeking international protection All internal borders, with focus on ferries from Germany and land border with Germany."
 
15 Norway "15/01/2016 - 11/06/2016" "Continues threat of big influx of persons seeking international protection All borders with focus on ports with ferry connections to Norway via internal borders"
 
14 Sweden "10/01/2016- 07/06/2016" "Continuous big influx of persons seeking international protection All borders, with special focus on harbours in Police Region South and Police Region West as well as on the Öresund Bridge between Denmark and Sweden."
 
13 Denmark "04/01/2016 - 03/03/2016" "Unexpected migratory flow All internal borders, with focus on ferries from Germany and land border with Germany."
 
12 France "14/12/2015- 26/05/2016" "In relation to the emergency state as introduced further to Paris attacks All internal borders"
 
11 Norway "26/11/2015- 15/01/2016" "Unexpected migratory flow All borders with focus on ports with ferry connections to Norway via internal borders"
 
10 Austria "16/11/2015 - 16/05/2016" "Continuous big influx of persons seeking international protection All borders, with special focus on the land border with Slovenia, Hungary and Italy, subject to possible changes The border can be crossed only at authorised border crossing points (the list attached)"
 
9 Germany "14/11/2015 - 13/05/2016" "Continuous big influx of persons seeking international protection All borders, with focus on the German-Austrian land border"
 
8 Sweden "12/11 - 09/01/2016" "Unprecedented influx of persons All borders, with special focus on harbours in Police Region South and Police Region West as well as on the Öresund Bridge between Denmark and Sweden."
 
7 Hungary 17-26/10/2015 Big influx of persons seeking international protection, land borders with Slovenia
 
6 Slovenia "17-26/9; 27/9-16/10/2015" Big influx of persons seeking international protection, land borders with Hungary
 
5 Austria "16-25/9; 26/9-15/10; 16/10-4/11/2015; 5/11/2015- 15/11/2015" Big influx of persons seeking international protection, all borders, focus on land borders with Italy, Hungary, Slovenia and Slovakia
 
4 Germany "13-22/09; 23/09-12/10; 13/10-1/11/2015; 2/11-13/11/2015" Big influx of persons seeking international protection, all borders with focus on Austrian land borders
 
3 Norway 24-31/7/2014 terrorist threat
 
2 Sweden "22/07/2011, 23h00- – 23/07/2011, 09h00" "Bomb explosion in Oslo and shooting on the island Utøya on 22/07/2011"
 
1 Norway "22/07/2011, 17h23-- 25/07/2011, 17h00" "Bomb explosion in Oslo and shooting on the island Utøya on 22/07/2011"
 
[ Sources: EU Commission ]     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.        06.55am, 12 Feb 2018
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 POTUS ON BREXIT
Just over a year ago President Trump said some nice things about the UK, as he often does. Despite the unpleasantness of many MPs, the appalling and damaging comments of London's Muslim Mayor, and the criticisms from Theresa May, the President of the United States of America is looking forward to the UK becoming free again.
We just thought it was a nice thought for a Tuesday morning!
"A free and independent Britain is a blessing to the world."
"I think Brexit is going to be a wonderful thing for your country."
President of the United States Donald Trump
[ Source: The White House ]        06.55am, 12 Feb 2018
 THE IDIOT’S GUIDE
TO THE BENEFITS
OF THE SINGLE MARKET
The Single Market started 25 years ago in January 1993. What a great moment to take a look at what it has done for the United Kingdom !
As everyone knows, the Single Market is held out by Remoaners as something essential for the very survival of the United Kingdom. Without it, they claim, we are toast. We therefore decided to look at what it's done for the British economy in the last 25 years, compared to the 25 years before it started.
SIMPLE SINGLE MARKET QUESTIONS
Okay Chuka Umunna, Keir Starmer, Anna Soubry, Ken Clarke, Dominic Grieve, Philip Hammond, Amber Rudd, and all Remainer/Remoaner MPs, here are some questions for you.
You say the Single Market has been so amazing for the UK economy that we can’t possibly do without all its ‘benefits’.
How much faster has the UK economy been growing since it started?
We know the EU is celebrating 25 years since the birth of the Single Market, because they never stop talking about it.
Can we see a graph showing the increasing growth since the Single Market started?
Simple questions, aren’t they? Should be obvious we’d have thought. And you must know the answers because you rabbit on about how wonderful the Single Market is all the time. You must have looked at the data in order to make your claims, mustn’t you?
Clearly the Single Market will have produced a noticeable improvement in the UK’s average growth rate, as it’s so marvellous. You tell the British public this on a daily basis.
All we’re asking is for you to help us poor, thick Brexiteers, by showing us the basic data. How much better off has the Single Market made us in the 25 years of its existence?
NOW, DEAR READER, FOR THE ANSWERS TO THOSE QUESTIONS
(Because you’ll never get an answer out of the Remoaner MPs.)
Below are the results of our research from official sources. It doesn't make pretty reading for Remoaner MPs.
1.     50 YEARS - BEFORE AND AFTER THE EU'S SINGLE MARKET
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
The above chart shows the UK's average annual growth of 2.5% per year for the 25 years from 1968-1992, before the Single Market started. The next column shows the UK's average annual growth for the 25 years since 1993, when the Single Market began. As you can see, average annual growth fell to 2.2% per year for the 25 years since the UK joined the Single Market.
50 YEARS OF UK ECONOMIC GROWTH
  • Before Single Market (1968-1992) : 2.5% average annual growth
  • Since Single Market (1993-2017) :  2.2% average annual growth
Unfortunately for Remainers, things get worse when you look at the average trend in the UK's GDP growth rate after the Single Market started in 1993.
2.     THE 25 YEARS SINCE THE EU'S SINGLE MARKET STARTED
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
Annual growth rates bounce around of course, but the red dotted line shows the overall linear trend since the EU's Single Market started. If the wild adulation of the Single Market had any basis in fact, wouldn't you expect to see a significant uplift in growth in the UK economy?
Since the Single Market started in 1993,
the UK’s annual growth rate has trended downwards.
OBSERVATIONS
Politicians of all hues talk of the Single Market every day. There are still MPs on both sides of the House who claim that no-one voted to leave the Single Market. This is despite the constant stream of videos showing all the protagonists during the Referendum campaign saying this would be the case.
We need to be clear about these MPs. They are liars. They lie repeatedly, despite all evidence to the contrary. This isn't a subjective view. It's a simple and very depressing fact.
Here is one of the many tweets from the appalling Chuka Umunna, Labour MP, who now leads the new Grassroots Coordinating Group (GCG) of main Remoaner groups opposed to Brexit. Allegedly these represent 500,000 members.
                          © Twitter
We’re sick and tired of the ignorance and the lies from these 'stuck in a time-warp' Remoaner MPs. Because of them, we have to keep fighting, when all we want to do is go back 100% to our 'day jobs'. Note that we don’t criticise open-minded people who voted Remain, only the MPs who are supposed to be informed and who should not have lied and who should not continue to lie.
THIS SIMPLY ISN'T BRITISH
It is now over one year and seven months since the British people voted to leave the EU. If the Referendum had been a General Election, no-one would have been arguing about the result over 1 ½ years later.
However, here we are, with prominent public figures seemingly unable to accept a democratic verdict which went against them.
What is even worse, they continue to try to re-play the whole Leave/Remain debate, even though that argument was settled with the vote in the first half of 2016.
And even worse than that, they continue to trot out the same baseless arguments – some of which have now been dramatically disproved by subsequent events.
And – if you can credit this – these people are given the biggest share of airtime on TV to keep making their non-existent case!
For example, we now know that all the absurd Project Fear predictions from David Cameron and George Osborne, the Treasury, the Bank of England, the OECD, IMF, etc etc etc were spectacularly false. The immediate emergency budget, the immediate recession, the immediate and massive job losses – these all turned out to be pure fiction, designed to scare us all into voting the way the Establishment wanted.
WE LIKE EVIDENCE
We’re pro-Brexit and we make no secret of the fact. We’re pro-Brexit for good reasons. Some of these reasons are subjective and hard to quantify. For example you either believe in independent, sovereign countries or you don’t. Most europhiles don’t – they are busy planning their superstate. By contrast we rejoice in the rich diversity still to be found across EU countries that (for the moment) still retain their own names.
In addition to the non-quantifiable factors, there are also many areas which are eminently capable of being researched and calculated. We have researched everything for years and the evidence has always been clear. Virtually every claim by the Remain campaign turned out to be nonsense. The facts supported Leave, and they still do.
As a subject area, the Single Market is ‘a biggie’. Why haven’t the mainstream Brexit organisations (the ones with all the funding) completely ridiculed the Remainers on the facts? It’s not difficult as the facts are so clear. We don't just have the powerful facts and graphs above. We have a great deal more information like this. Punchy, effective stuff. Fortunately we now have a solid reputation and are able to speak to MPs, MEPs, and other important people who can affect policy.
Are the British public aware that the Remainer MPs’ claims are based on no evidence whatsoever? No, alas. Major elements of the mainstream media don’t help with this of course, as they’re ardent Remainers themselves. For example the BBC’s news and current affairs output is now virtually unwatchable in our opinion. This is why we must continue to fight, with your support.
THE SINGLE MARKET’S A PUP
We know Remoaners will find some ridiculous way to get out of our questions above. The fact remains that these are fair questions. How much has membership of the Single Market, with all its huge costs for British business, increased growth in the UK economy?
The answer is that it hasn’t. In fact average annual GDP growth in the UK has fallen, from 2.5% per year in the 25 years before the Single Market, to 2.2% per year in the 25 years since.
Yes it’s one measure – but it’s a very obvious and very important one. And Remoaners need to answer this.
We hope you like the simple but effective messages contained in this article:
  • The UK economy was growing faster on average before the Single Market started
  • The EU's Single Market has demonstrably had no positive impact on UK growth
  • The UK's average annual growth rate has actually fallen since it started
THANK YOU
Quick note: Bizarrely it takes much, much longer to distil information into simple charts and messages, than it does to write long, erudite articles of 5,000 words which no-one outside the Westminster bubble reads. We could produce long academic pieces in less than half the time, but of course no ordinary member of the public would read them. We care much more about getting the messages out in a common sense way to millions of people, rather than in an "aren't we clever" way to a few hundred.
Some of the private messages of support we've received from you recently have meant a lot to us. We just wanted to say that.
[ Sources: Office for National Statistics | World Bank | OECD
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual. ]
       06.55am, 11 Feb 2018
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Name: Liz Ford, UK      Date/Time: 11 Feb 2018, 5.41pm
Message: Following my whinge on your website a couple of weeks ago about the bias of the BBC towards the Remain camp I decided to contact their complaints department, particularly in view of the IEA report which stated that the BBC bias with regard to guests on their news programmes was in the region of 68% remainers to 32% leavers. I thought you might be interested to see their reply - entirely predictable of course. [The standard reply from the BBC was too long to reproduce here - Ed. Essentially the BBC denies it's biased, despite the evidence of two serious reports now.] Summary: Biased? Us? It hasn't altered my opinion of the Beeb, particularly as they've given yet more airtime to Anna Sourpuss and Chukka Umunna in today's Andrew Marr Show. Sling 'em out! Bah humbug!
Name: Patrick F, Tunbridge Wells      Date/Time: 11 Feb 2018, 5.06pm
Message: I was staggered to read on the bigoted New European (Union)'s Facebook page that Editor-at-large Alistair Campbell believes the BBC is biased in favour of......Brexit.
Name: Sydney Ashurst      Date/Time: 11 Feb 2018, 10.15am
Message: I get tired of the the BBC's political correspondents expressing their own anti Brexit opinions. An item in the Daily Express caught my eye. BBC Europe Editor Katya Adler revealed the real reason behind the European Union's Brexit threats is that Brussels is "terrified" of the trading competition the UK will create against the bloc.
“Dr Katya Adler, BBC Europe Editor, said the real reason behind the EU's continuous Brexit threats is that Brussels is "very worried" the UK will become a "super competitive country" on their doorstep. Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Brexitcast, Ms Adler said: "Let’s imagine a scenario where the EU says, ‘UK we love you, you know we love you and you know that we don’t want you to leave and you know that we want to keep you really close, so let’s do a really advantageous free trade deal and let’s add some financial services into that. And we’ll give you everything you want. But you’re also free to make arrangements with anybody else you like where you may change your prices and become much more competitive than us’. That’s what they don’t want. They want to keep the UK close, but they want to keep the UK close and locked in. They are terrified about us becoming this super competitive country just right close to them and sucking in business that they would then lose out on. So, absolutely, they are very worried about that. And they’re rapidly on their computers saying, ‘Mmmm… How does this all add up?’” Now that appears to be an interesting comment from the BBC.
Name: Patrick H - London      Date/Time: 11 Feb 2018, 1.11pm
Message: It would be interesting to show the 25 economic years growth comparison between the UK, France and Germany by industries. France and in particular Germany, it appears, have been the main beneficiaries from the Single market, to the detriment of the UK. Do you have this comparison? It would also seem to me Germany and France have made sure the UK has been entangled in EU bureaucratic red tape and EU backed anti-competitive shenanigans, which has not been the case for them (they seem to break the EU rules consistently with nary a care). Just look at the UK industries compared to Germany... theirs have grown dramatically in this period, while the UK's have been in perpetual decline. Is it their biggest fear, post-Brexit, the UK's industrial phoenix will rise again and bring back those industries that were lost? Becoming a renewed industrial powerhouse as well as a global financial leader would be their greatest fear! As we all know, International competition has no friends!
Name: J Slater, UK      Date/Time: 11 Feb 2018, 11.56am
Message: Boy, you certainly have punched the message home on the decline in Britain's production since joining the Single Market. Your lobbying provides information for the public to get a balanced view, in spite of the skewed information pushed out by the likes of big businesses, the EU partly-funded BBC, the EU and some of our uninformed MPs who clearly don't do any research themselves. This has clarified how much misinformation the British Public are being fed. Your generosity, Facts4EU, in giving of your time to carry out hours, days, months, even years of research, is an invaluable source to inform public debate.
PLEASE HELP US TO
WIPE THE SMILE OFF HIS FACE
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 BUTTER WOULDN’T MELT
IN ITS MOUNTAIN
                          © EU Commission
HOW THE EU FAKES INNOCENCE
IN THE BREXIT WARS
In a series of cross-channel exchanges, this week has seen the two main protagonists in the Brexit negotiations raise the temperature for the first time.
“We never wished to punish the UK - it's totally foreign to my state of mind,
and this has been true from the very beginning”
- Michel Barnier, Brussels, Fri 09 Feb 2018
SOME PREVIOUS EU THREATS
 
“We intend to teach people... what leaving the single market means”
Chief EU Negotiator Michel Barnier, 2 Sept 2017
 
“There needs to be a threat, there must be a risk, there must be a price.”
Former President Francois Hollande, 15 Sept 2016
 
“This is not an amicable divorce.”
EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, 24 June 2016
(The day of the Referendum result.)
Summary by Brexit Facts4EU.Org, 2018
The above are just three examples of the aggressive and bullying attitude of the EU since the UK voted for Brexit.
Below you can watch the press conference that Michel Barnier gave in the safety of the Brussels press-room yesterday morning. If you don't have time, we have summarised the main exchanges of the week below it.
If you prefer, you can read Monsieur Barnier's statement in full here, although it doesn't include the Q & A.
SUMMARY OF SEQUENCE OF MAIN EVENTS AND STATEMENTS
CAUSING TEMPERATURE TO RISE THIS WEEK:-
Wed 7th Feb – EU published inflammatory ‘negotiating guideline’ paper, threatening the UK with totally unreasonable sanctions during the transition period. This paper also stated that the UK would only be ‘consulted’ when decisions are made on fishing quotas during the period.
Thur 8th Feb – David Davis responded: “I do not think it was in good faith to publish a document with frankly discourteous language, and actually implying that they could arbitrarily terminate, in effect, the implementation period. That’s not what the aim of this exercise is, it’s not in good faith, and we think it’s unwise to publish that.”
Fri 9th Feb – Michel Barnier says: “Frankly, I am surprised by these disagreements. The EU's positions are, from my point of view, logical…. Taking into account these disagreements, and to be frank, the transition period today is not a given.”
On Ireland Barnier said: “It is important to tell the truth. A UK decision to leave the single market and to leave the customs union would make border checks unavoidable.”
                          © Twitter
To this, DUP MP Ian Paisley responded: “Well then Mr Barnier, go right ahead and start building your hard border. Or else negotiated a sensible free trade deal with the UK. The choice is now yours.”
Barnier insisted he had “not been in the least discourteous or vindictive”. “We never wished to punish the UK - it's totally foreign to my state of mind, and this has been true from the very beginning and this will be true until the very end of the negotiations.”
Yesterday afternoon, David Davis responded: “We are seeking a time-limited period that maintains access to each other's markets on existing terms”. He talked of a “fundamental contradiction” in the EU Commission’s approach to the Brexit talks.
“Today they acknowledged that a way to resolve disputes and infringements is needed. Yet at the same time they dismissed the UK's push for reasonable safeguards to ensure our interests are protected. It is not possible to have it both ways.”
OBSERVATIONS
Monsieur Barnier’s protestations that “We never wished to punish the UK” is right up there with some of the greatest EU lies of all time.
Sorry Barney but you’ll have to do better than that. We’re only sorry that it’s us pointing this out to you, and not the whole of Fleet St, the BBC, Sky News, and ITN. Still, the majority of the British people are unfortunately used to having their views misrepresented on this subject. We just try to redress the balance a little.
Let's just look at Monsieur Barnier's former boss, former French President Francois Hollande talking at the Delors Institute in Paris on the evening of 6th October 2016. The current EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was in the audience.
“I have great affection for the UK,” he proclaimed, as solemnly as only a French President can.
Some minutes later, once the laughter had died down, he got serious about Brexit. “There needs to be a threat, there must be a risk, there must be a price.”
This statement by the French President was quite extraordinary and in our opinion constituted demanding money with menaces.
The EU’s approach to the UK since the Referendum vote has been hostile. In this article we have given just a few prominent examples. If someone from the government paid us we could produce many more.
Frankly, the British government should employ us as consultants. Goodness knows what the government’s Director of Communications and his/her team are doing, but they’re certainly not acting in the interests of the country over Brexit.
LOOKING AT THE POSITIVES
We’re delighted that the EU produced such a ridiculous new ‘negotiating guideline’ paper this week. The more absurd and unreasonable are the EU’s demands, the more likely it is that the UK will walk away from this charade.
The cabinet has been having meetings to try to agree a common approach over Brexit. Apparently another is scheduled for next week, as they were unable to agree this past week. Regrettably this kind of dithering and delay by the Prime Minister helps to explain why we are where we are, over 19 months after the Referendum.
We very much hope that the EU’s latest shenanigans will help to persuade a few more ministers to back the full, clean Brexit that the people voted for.
THE MOUSE THAT ROARED
So did a mouse roar this week? No, alas. The mouse sighed, blew out its cheeks, and said phooey.
In reality what has changed is that the Rt Hon David Davis MP, Secretary of State for Exiting the EU, finally responded to some of the continuing outrageous comments from the EU side, instead of there being the usual complete and silent acquiescence.
Still, it’s a start, no matter how miniscule.
Davis’ criticisms were mild, considering what the UK side has had to put up with. We would have told the EU where to go, a long time back. In doing so we believe we could have stopped the continual erosion of the British position that has taken place, which now sees us shackled to the EU for an extra two years, and without even the benefit of having a say on anything.
SAY NO TO BULLYING
If you don’t stand up to a bully, they never stop, and they get worse. The EU is a bully. We see it daily because we monitor what the EU does. We see the double standards and the hypocrisy. We see the mental instability founded precariously on a stagnant marshland of misconceived ideas from the 1950s. We see the naked hunger and the constant search for gratification of self-interest.
We see the lack of democracy, the lack of effective oversight, the rapid rise in indoctrination and brainwashing, the profligate spending of other people’s money, the waste - the sheer waste of human endeavour.
The European Union has become the purveyor of false promises and the destroyer of dreams.
The United Kingdom can now escape and create a shining vision of the future for hundreds of millions of Europeans, spreading the warmth of hope and prosperity to those from Greece to Sweden, from Portugal to Bulgaria.
Brexit Britain is going to be a fabulous place. In fact Great Britain is still great enough to be attracting hundreds of thousands more EU27 citizens to abandon their homelands and join us. They keep on coming... and this is 'despite Brexit'.
The EU is going to try to make the British people's life hell for a while, out of sheer animosity. Never mind. We’ve overcome worse as a nation. The sooner we stand up strongly to the unpleasantness of the EU elites, the sooner we’ll be free.
(Postscript: For the avoidance of doubt we hate the EU, but we love Europe, its countries and its peoples.)
[ Sources: EU Commission ]
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
       06.45am, 10 Feb 2018
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Name: Brexiter Braintree Essex, UK      Date/Time: 10 Feb 2018, 3.03pm
Message: The BBC's Europe Editor Kate Adler summed up the fears of the EU elites in an interview from Brussels earlier this week. She said Barnier and the Commission are scared that when the UK have left the EU, away from the rigged market that is the EU there will be an explosion of growth in the UK economy, and competition for the remaining EU block countries. When you analyse that theory it's probably correct. Think how the EU restricts trade, the working time directive, the tendering EU wide of all contracts of more than £500,000, they add costs and delays to projects. Also the increase in taxes and rules imposed on countries when they are successful, the CAP and external tariffs keep food prices high and restrict competition from emerging and other more efficient agricultural producing nations. We will see after we leave, but the EU Commission would appear to worry our future looks rosy.
Name: J Slater, UK      Date/Time: 10 Feb 2018, 4.36pm
Message: Has anyone noticed how the EU people (Juncker, Barnier, and even former French President Hollande) are all photographed with lips tightly screwed into a tight pout! What would the Naturalist Desmond Morris have made of this, I wonder. Is it chimp language? Do chimps do this when they're about to deceive their foe or steal a banana from their troup? Or does a pout denote fear? Just a light hearted observation. They all have one thing in common, they've all behaved like chumps. Not hard to check-mate that lot.
Name: Patrick H - London      Date/Time: 10 Feb 2018, 11.35am
Message: Excellent article again. Thank you. Incidentally, your final sentence "The sooner we stand up strongly to the unpleasantness of the EU elites, the sooner we’ll be free" .... This should also include our own homegrown anti-British/anti-Brexit variety too!
Name: David Lonsdale, UK      Date/Time: 10 Feb 2018, 07.43am
Message: UK growth has declined since we joined the EEC and declined further since 1993 and the start of the Internal market. We were not the sick man of Europe in 1973 and EU has not boosted our wealth. Do you know where I can find the figures?
Reply: Hi David, thank you for your message. Funnily enough we’re working on an article on this, which will appear on the site tomorrow morning.
 SAY HELLO TO UK POWER
                          © BFBS
BIGGEST WARSHIP IN EU WATERS
PROJECTS BRITISH MARITIME POWER
8 ACRES OF EXTRA BRITISH TERRITORY ARRIVES IN GIBRALTAR
HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH
Today, the largest warship operated by any EU country arrives in Gibraltar. HMS Queen Elizabeth is on sea trials and is paying her first visit to a port outside mainland UK.
Below is a live feed, courtesy of our friends at BFBS
NOTE: This live feed has now ended.
                          © BFBS
Captain Jerry Kyd, the Commanding Officer of HMS Queen Elizabeth, said: "It is a great privilege for me to be bringing our new aircraft carrier into Gibraltar for her first ever overseas port visit.
"Gibraltar is the perfect stop for HMS Queen Elizabeth as we conduct our flying trials in the waters off the Iberian Peninsula. And our visit also underlines the incredibly rich history and special relationship the Royal Navy and Royal Marines share with Gibraltar."
Below is a flypast video sent by one of the helicopters
Since departing the UK for the first time since being commissioned into the Royal Navy, HMS Queen Elizabeth and her ship's company of 1,000 men and women have been undergoing intensive training. Under the guidance of the Royal Navy's Flag Officer Sea Training organisation, all those on board have been honing their skills in dealing with a series of lifelike exercise scenarios including fires, floods, man overboard drills and a simulated crash on deck.
The carrier reached a major milestone last week when a Naval Air Squadron embarked in the ship for the first time, marking another first in the regeneration of the Royal Navy's carrier strike capability. Merlin Mk2 helicopters of Culdrose-based 820 Naval Air Squadron (NAS) have been working with the ship since she sailed from Rosyth for the first time in June last year.
OBSERVATIONS
Someone at the MOD is either very smart or very lucky. What a perfect day to project British maritime power in the Mediterranean, with the largest warship belonging to what is currently an EU member sailing into the port of a sovereign British territory just off Spain.
Next year, this warship cannot be claimed in any way by the EU as being 'part of the EU fleet'. And oh yes, they do claim to have an EU fleet, even though that is complete nonsense.
FINAL POINT: Some cynics talk of HMS Queen Elizabeth in disparaging terms, saying she has no aircraft and isn't reliable. We never understand why some people want to be so negative. In fact this ship already has aircraft on board, visible in the photos, and the UK now has 14 of the new F35 fighters, with more being built. She's on sea trials and it won't be long before she'll be operational.
[ Sources: HMS Queen Elizabeth | Gibraltar Chronicle | BFBS | MOD Royal Navy ]
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       11.35am, 09 Feb 2018
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Name: Jon, Wales, UK      Date/Time: 12 Feb 2018, 9.14pm
Message: HMS Queen Elizabeth makes me feel proud to be British, whilst I mock the EU commission for believing she belongs to them. A gentle reminder for the unelected unaccountable bureaucrats in Brussels, the European Union is NOT a country. We should perhaps think about building up the UK fishing fleet once again as we take back control of UK territorial waters. The EEC/EU trashed our fishing industry and introduced crazy directives along the way, never once consulting our fisherman. It is beyond all reason we should need to import fish swimming UK territorial waters!
Name: cs2011 - Devizes, UK      Date/Time: 09 Feb 2018, 12.38pm
Message: But for how long will Gibraltar remain sovereign UK territory? Given that there seems to be no end to May's treachery, I'm sure she will give up sovereignty when Spain inevitably vetoes any deal reached. I see that the EU position paper also stipulates that NI must remain within the SM and CU after Brexit (ie. in perpetuity), and no doubt she will agree to that too. Time is running out for Boris/Gove/JRM to trigger their flood of no confidence letters and force May out.
 THE NEGOTIATIONS STARTED
                          © BBC
WHEN WE VOTED TO LEAVE
A BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG OPINION PIECE
THE DIRE STATE OF NEGOTIATIONS
On Wednesday this week, the extended PMQs version of the BBC’s ‘The Daily Politics’ had its usual two guests, in this case a Labour shadow minister, and the Rt Hon Greg Hands MP. As Minister of State for Trade Policy, Mr Hands is number two to Liam Fox in the Department for International Trade.
What followed was excellent television as the Minister was put on the rack by the host, Andrew Neil. You can view the exchange here, but we want to make a very specific point about what the Minister said.
This relates to the thrust of the question: “what’s your position on the EU’s demands/threats?” Greg Hands’ defence for not answering Mr Neil’s questions about this was two-fold. At one point he said “The negotiations haven’t started yet” (referring to Phase Two, presumably ), and then he majored on “the details of the implementation period are down to the negotiations”. This was then repeated by Mr Hands over and over.
Let’s be clear, the Minister of State for Trade Policy was unable to tell us what the government’s trade policy is, one year and seven months after we voted to leave the EU.
Worse than that, he singularly failed to condemn the EU’s latest document out of hand.
THE JANET & JOHN BOOK OF NEGOTIATING
Most of the general public’s experience of negotiating is limited to negotiations within families or with a boss. However the same principles apply.
The moment something is announced on which there will clearly have to be a negotiation, that negotiation has started. It begins with the first public utterances from each side.
The reason is simple. Before even sitting down across a table, the sides are establishing their positions. Those positions obviously need to be as ambitious as possible. Certain of these can be talked of as being ‘non-negotiable’. Others can be spoken of in terms of red lines. Still more can be in the form of “we obviously need to have xyz....”
PLAYING HARDBALL
This is ‘playing hardball’ and scene-setting. It’s a process of starting to define the powerplay and showing how tough that side is going to be. It also sets expectations for the other side.
If one side says it will kill the other’s first-born children, it’s incumbent on the other side to make an immediate riposte, along the lines of “No you jolly well won't!” With David Davis often liking a common turn of phrase, perhaps he might utter “On yer bike, sunshine.”
It’s important to note that we’re talking about public statements, reports, press conferences, guidelines, etc – all of which happen before any sitting down.
                          © EU Commission
Instead of the above, what we’ve had has been weak, weak, weak. Greg Hands personified it on Wednesday. The EU had just released an appalling document threatening the UK with sanctions, and what is the government's response? “Well, we don’t have a position, we’ll have to negotiate with them about this.” There wasn’t even a condemnation of the EU by him for them behaving in such an intimidatory manner, which puts them quite clearly in breach of their duty under the Treaties. Extraordinary.
If you want to know why the government has gone backwards at every stage of the negotiations and has capitulated to such an extent, this is one of the reasons why.
EXAMPLE - GIVING AWAY £40 BILLION OF YOUR MONEY
The EU throws something outrageous out there, like demanding €60-80 billion for nothing, and with no legal basis for the demand, to see what the UK government’s reaction is. When the UK government doesn’t immediately reject such a ridiculous demand out of hand, the EU knows it can keep pushing. The result is that the UK government have actually agreed to pay around £40bn - which everyone knows will end up being much higher - for absolutely no reason.
STOP PRESS
We have just seen the last tweet that David Davis, Secretary of State for Exiting the EU, sent.
                          © Twitter
"Negotiations on implementation period proceeding well." Sorry, but what planet is this man on?
THE SOLUTION
We argued from the very beginning that business people should be brought in by the government to conduct the negotiations. We also said that for political direction and oversight, tough politicians with business and EU experience were needed.
The Rt Hon John Redwood MP is a classic example. A tough character with a variety of business experience who doesn’t suffer fools gladly and who – critically – knows a lot about the EU. Believe us, if John Redwood walked into a room in Brussels there would be none of the constant chortling which characterises Mr Davis’ approach.
We gave other examples, such as Rt Hon Owen Paterson MP – charming, but tough as old boots when he needs to be. And as a former Secretary of State for ‘Ag & Fish’ and for Northern Ireland, he knows Brussels very well.
As overall lead we don’t want a chortling comedian, we need a tough guy. And to negotiate the terms in each area we don’t want a bunch of overly-civil servants with no commercial experience, we need some tough business people who’ve been there, done that, and taken no prisoners.
Finally of course, we need a Prime Minister who’s strong and determined, and who’s not afraid of her own shadow. Now that really would send a message to Brussels that we’ve had enough of their stupidity and aggression, and that we’ll will walk unless they start being reasonable.
[ Sources: The Daily Politics (BBC) | EU Commission ]
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       06.55am, 09 Feb 2018
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Name: Paul A, East Sussex      Date/Time: 09 Feb 2018, 6.45pm
Message: If it's a divorce, as stated (incorrectly) by all and sundry, why on earth would ANYONE go to politicians and / or civil servants to negotiate a settlement? For God's sake Theresa May - go get someone who is at least capable or professional, or even better, both!
Name: Patrick H - London      Date/Time: 09 Feb 2018, 09.56am
Message: I have always suggested; give the EU enough rope and they will eventually hang themselves. The EU is confidently emboldened by the sheer spineless incompetence of T. May and her gaggle of ineffectual underlings. The EU will continue to push until they have reached the UK's breaking point that T. May can no longer ignore. The ensuing weight of the UK citizen's enraged displeasure will be so high, T. May will have to acquiesce to the Brexiteer MP's demand for serious and "real" bilateral negotiations. This will almost certainly lead to a tipping point, negotiations withdrawal and adoption of WTO rules. Never underestimate bullying and threatening arrogance; the EU has these in abundance and will be their ultimate Achilles heel !
 WHY DO WE
DO IT?
Here's a clue >>>>

© Guy Verhofstadt MEP, Twitter
Our readers are a knowledgeable lot, judging from our mailbag. We therefore don’t report on some of the big Brexit stories if we feel they are already being adequately covered by the mainstream media.
We may not agree with the slant of that coverage, but then we rarely do. We know our readers are smart enough to read between the lines. Instead we tend to focus on stories that are seldom if ever covered in the press or on TV.
ORIGINALITY
Sometimes these stories relate to EU matters which may not directly affect the Brexit negotiations. Our aim on these occasions is to ensure the public is in no doubt about the awful edifice they decided to leave. Post-Brexit the EU has got far worse, as the EU elites have become more candid about their objectives.
With all the Brexit-Reversing Remoaners around – and a BBC and Establishment avid to support them at every level – it is important to make the British people aware that they ‘didn’t even know the half of it’ when they voted to leave the EU.
The other very important reason we fight on, showing the awfulness of the EU 'Project', is about the prevention of any watering down. It may now prove very difficult for some form of Brexit to be stopped, but we worry deeply that it's being watered down to such an extent that no sensible person would recognise the final result as being Brexit at all.
For us, the government's current plans represent a continuation of EU membership in all but name. In fact, forget us. For anyone making a reasoned assessment of the government's plans, this isn't Brexit. We are therefore lobbying as much as we can to get this changed.
WE’RE NOT BREXIT CENTRAL
We bring you different types of stories, we do our own research, and we don’t just give you a rehash of links to someone else’s work. As one reader remarked in an email to us a few days ago: “One of the best things is that I never know what I’m going to find each day when I click on Facts4EU.Org!”
[ Sources: Caffeine | Grit | Willpower ]
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       06.55am, 09 Feb 2018
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Name: Jon, Wales      Date/Time: 11 Feb 2018, 10.32am
Message: As there was no comment left to this article, may I speak for everyone visiting and/or supporting Brexit Facts4EU, to say thank you to the team for the professional and forthright manner in which you present all articles. Everyone visiting can be assured they will read 100% well researched FACT, easy to understand charts and observations. Those who persistently 'screamed' for facts don't like it when they get what they asked for! As a supporter here myself, if everyone can donate even a couple of pounds, we can together feel good we continued to do our small bit to help the team secure Brexit, and to protect our democracy. Thank you. I am PROUD to be one of the 17,410,742 who voted to Leave the European Union. Just think what could be achieved if EVERY Brexiteer donated just TWO pounds? Remember this site is read by MPs, MEPs, peers, and the wider world. If the Brexit Facts4EU team were advising Mrs May, issues would have been dealt with long ago?
PLEASE HELP US TO
WIPE THE SMILE OFF HIS FACE
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You haven't given up fighting for the clean Brexit you voted for.
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       Best regards, the Facts4EU.Org Team, Feb 2018
 PRO-EU MAG SAYS
MOST EU MEMBERS ARE
NOT FULL DEMOCRACIES
                          © Unknown
“DEMOCRACY INDEX 2017, FREE SPEECH UNDER ATTACK”
The Economist has just published the tenth issue of its ‘Democracy Index’, covering 2017. This Index is compiled each year by the magazine's ‘Intelligence Unit’.
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG SUMMARY
  • 17 of the EU’s member states were classified ‘flawed democracies’
  • EU’s top performer was Sweden, ranked 3rd in the world
  • The UK was ranked 14th in the world
  • Spain is still classified as a ‘full democracy’, despite Catalonia
  • The 17 ‘flawed democracies’ in the EU included Italy, France, Belgium, and Portugal
This survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit describes itself as providing “a snapshot of the state of democracy worldwide for 165 independent states and two territories. [It] is based on five categories: electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture.… each country is then itself classified as one of four types of regime: ‘full democracy’; ‘flawed democracy’; ‘hybrid regime’; and ‘authoritarian regime’.”
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
It should not surprise anyone that the United Kingdom appears in the top 19 countries that made it into the classification of ‘full democracies’, ranked at 14th in the world, but some of the other entries may surprise you.
Notably the country containing the capital (Brussels) of what is supposedly a bastion of democratic values (the EU), is relegated into the ‘flawed’ zone. Poor Belgium. And the home of ‘Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité’ (France) will no doubt be appalled at its ‘flawed’ ranking, just below Botswana.
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
Our American readers may like to know that their own country is classified under the ‘flawed’ heading, as is Japan. Please don’t shoot the messenger. Other nationalities who read us may like to know that New Zealand, Canada, and Australia all made it into the 'full democracies' category.
OBSERVATIONS
Analysing and reviewing a study like this always gives us something of a dilemma. On the one hand, we consider the premise of this report deeply flawed itself, but on the other hand we want to make some points about the results they list.
FIRSTLY, THE RESULTS - WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?
The top-ranked EU country is Sweden, coming in at No.3 in the world. Absurd. Have the authors of this report gone anywhere near the place recently? Have they spoken to anyone from outside the Stockholm bubble?
Sweden now has some of the most ridiculous standards and laws in the EU. Just taking freedom of speech, this no longer exists there as far as we're concerned. We would never feel able to publish from there. The change in everyday life in Sweden is very sad. And we say this having experience within our team of having worked there.
The next obvious example is Spain. The authors mention the Catalan crisis, but nevertheless keep Spain in the list of ‘full democracies’. Try telling that to the Catalonians. Just because the continuing violations of human rights there are not reported by the British media, that does not mean they’re not happening. And of course the EU continues to do nothing about this disgrace on the face of Europe.
Finally we have to mention the UK. We are deeply unhappy at the increasing moves towards a police state and the abandonment of our longheld principles of freedom of speech. Most of the police forces in the UK are now a joke on social media. Policeman wearing dresses and painting their nails to show us how ‘inclusive’ they are, rather than going out and fighting crime. Chasing silly allegations of online hate crime instead of tackling burglaries, rapes, knifings.
Readers should be in no doubt that we feel highly constrained in what we can bring you on a number of subjects. The United Kingdom remains a free country in most respects, but there are many reasons to be deeply worried.
SECONDLY, ESTABLISHMENT BIAS
Now, however, we turn to the very concept of this report. The Economist is a magazine which is firmly pro-EU and pro-remain. Their editorial in the (weekly) edition before the Referendum is pure Establishment: superior, pro-EU, elitist and enough to infuriate any Brexiteer. We talk here of politics and Brexit, and pass no comment on the rest of the magazine's output.
“A vote to quit the European Union on June 23rd, which polls say is a growing possibility, would do grave and lasting harm to the politics and economy of Britain. The loss of one of the EU’s biggest members would gouge a deep wound in the rest of Europe.”
“And, with the likes of Donald Trump and Marine Le Pen fuelling economic nationalism and xenophobia, it would mark a defeat for the liberal order that has underpinned the West’s prosperity.”
“The liberal Leavers are peddling an illusion. On contact with the reality of Brexit, their plans will fall apart. If Britain leaves the EU, it is likely to end up poorer, less open and less innovative. Far from reclaiming its global outlook, it will become less influential and more parochial. And without Britain, all of Europe would be worse off.”
“We believe that leaving would be a terrible error. It would weaken Europe and it would impoverish and diminish Britain. Our vote goes to Remain.”
Excerpts from The Economist’s Referendum editorial, 18 June 2016
Note that twice in the opening of their Referendum editorial, they refer to the departure of the UK damaging the propects of the EU. This should leave you questioning whether the Economist cares much for the country of its birth.
At Brexit Facts4EU.Org we want all EU countries to succeed individually. However the economic well-being of the EU played no part in our decision of which way to vote in the EU Referendum. Nor should it have done.
We’re unashamedly pro-Brexit, having been examining all the arguments and data for a long time. The Economist is pro-EU. That’s fine, but it’s important that this be acknowledged and that international readers don’t think it’s impartial.
If you are a globalist, or work in the EU, then we’re sure that the Economist is a jolly good read. But seriously, did no-one there look at some of the results produced by their methodology in creating these rankings? Sweden at world no.3, for heaven’s sake? The report this year is entitled “DEMOCRACY INDEX 2017, FREE SPEECH UNDER ATTACK”. We know some Swedes who would give a hollow laugh at that.
THE ‘EXPERT REPORT’ SYNDROME
In short, we’re looking at another ‘expert report’ here. A couple of days ago we saw an ‘expert report’ from mandarins at the Treasury. That’s HM Treasury, the ones that messed up their pre-Referendum forecasts so badly. The forecasts that predicted the opposite of what has actually happened. The forecasts that drove the Chancellor and the Governor of the Bank of England to take measures they shouldn’t have taken.
Remainers of our acquaintance have immediately jumped on this new Treasury report, which forecasts the usual Armageddon, but delayed by a few years. That’s why people at the top of the Civil Service should be fired. Mandarins are continuing to produce garbage after already being made to look like fools when the initial forecasts were so disastrously wrong. Firing a few Permanent Secretaries in July 2016 would have sorted that out.
[ Sources: The Economist Intelligence Unit www.eiu.com ]
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       06.55am, 08 Feb 2018
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Name: Patrick H - London      Date/Time: 08 Feb 2018, 12.08pm
Message: I did not need to fully read your article to get the gist of the argument (though I did read it with great interest). All I needed to do was simply drop down to where you say "full report from the Economist’s 'Intelligence' Unit" That sentence alone, with Intelligence inserted, said it all. The Economist has once again produced a piece of journalistic delusive sophistry. They are simply another EU rewarded lackey. Belly laugh. Sweden indeed!
 THE SOVIET SOCIALIST
REPUBLIC OF EUROPE
Andrej Plenković in Strasbourg yesterday                          © EU Parliament
MEP’S HAVE LOVE-IN WITH CROATIA
CROATIAN PM TELLS THEM:
“The UK's exit is a result of populism
and a campaign of disinformation”
Yesterday in Strasbourg, MEPs gathered for the second in their series of debates on “The Future Of Europe”.
As usual, the EU has confused ‘Europe’ with ‘the EU’. 'Europe' is a continent of over 50 nations and the latter is an acquisitive economic and political organisation covering only 28 nations. But let’s skip the detail.
As part of the debate the Prime Minister of Croatia, Andrej Plenković, was invited to address the EU Parliament. As is common with debates in Strasbourg, there were few MEPs who made the effort to turn out for the Croatian PM at 09.00am yesterday.
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG SUMMARY – CROATIAN PRIME MINISTER’S MAIN POINTS:
  • “Our path needs to lead forwards, not backwards”
  • “Solidarity should remain one of the cornerstones of EU action”
  • “Build future based on equality of states, citizens and opportunities”
  • “The EU needs all of its members to advance equally”
  • “Our citizens should all feel the benefits of EU membership”
  • “A united Europe is key”
  • “We can only move ahead if we are together”
Mr Plenković spoke at some length about these themes. He also stressed the need for the EU to stand together because of Brexit. He blamed Brexit on lies by anti-EU campaigners, saying: “The UK's exit is a result of populism and a campaign of disinformation”.
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
The EU Parliament’s President Antonio Tajani said: “In his address, Prime Minister Plenković, outlined a positive, forward-looking vision for the future of Europe in which Croatia and the EU, by working together, will deliver a more effective Union. He made excellent arguments in favour of EU membership and how it has benefitted Croatia.”
BRITISH MEP SLAMS EU ENLARGEMENT POLICY
During his speech, the Croatian prime Minister also spoke about the proposed EU enlargement in the Balkans. A new EU strategy has been prepared to accelerate the progress of the Western Balkan states becoming part of the EU. This strategy foresees Montenegro and Serbia both joining by 2025.
Former UKIP and now independent MEP Diane James has been outspoken about EU enlargement.
© Diane James
Yesterday Ms James told Brexit Facts4EU.Org:
“The nature of the club changes with each new member. The current trajectory is to include those countries with a lower GDP per capita and higher levels of unemployment.”
OBSERVATIONS
Our first comment is a piece of advice to Mr Plenković. One day, Sir, you may need a friendly United Kingdom. It is exceedingly unwise of you to think you have the faintest idea why we voted to rid ourselves of the dysfunctional nightmare that is the club you joined recently. The vast, vast majority of the lies and disinformation came from the Remain campaign and from the Establishment of which you are a member. These lies are being disproved on a weekly basis as the country's performance has defied all the predictions of immediate Armageddon.
Frankly Prime Minister it is outrageous of you to think you know the first thing about this. Presumably you're one of those Eurofanatics who think that the FT and the Guardian - preferred reading in the corridors of Brussels - represent the views of the British people and the facts of life in the UK. They most emphatically do not.
YAWN, YAWN
Despite speaking to a near empty hall yesterday, Mr Plenković gamely ploughed through his ‘Homage to the EU Chequebook’. This covered all the themes which are required to be ticked off by any EU Commissioners present, in order for the member state in question to continue to be classified as ‘one of the good boys and girls’.
Specifically, it helps the case of a small member country if it talks a lot about unity, solidarity, being together, going forwards, advancement, equality, shared values, benefits of membership.... Er.... Did we mention moving ahead together in solidarity and unity, with shared values?
THE POINT OF ALL OF THIS
There are two main points we thought you might be interested in.
The first is the sheer monotonous drone of the main messages. If you spend any time monitoring the EU, you hear these all the time. They are repeated on a daily basis in hundreds of meetings, as well as the debates in Parliament or the Council, and in innumerable press conferences.
We have heard the messages about solidarity, unity, equality, fairness, justice, etc so many thousands of times that some us are starting to develop nervous twiches.
For heaven’s sake, let’s just call this out for what it is. This is all complete piffle. Meaningless garbage spouted from big mouths on empty heads.
We all know what this EU thing is really about. Which brings us to our second point.
MONEY, MONEY, MONEY
The second point is about the obvious: money. Croatia is of course a net recipient of ‘EU’ money. We say ‘of course’, because the majority of EU countries receive more from ‘EU funds’ than they put in. And these ‘EU funds’ are of course merely funds which the biggest net contributors like Germany and the UK have given to the EU each year.
In other words, it’s partly the largesse of the British people which funds all the airy-fairy nonsense spewing out of the EU on a daily basis. Without the generosity of the biggest two nations in the EU, all the EU’s grand plans are decimated.
The Croatian PM can talk all he likes about equality. The problem for him – and for all the 17 other net beneficiaries of the EU budget – is that someone has to pay for this grand-scale socialist redistribution scheme.
IMPLICATIONS FOR BREXIT
Over and again we have tried to explain how the EU-lovers’ mindsets are so different. After decades of an ever-enlarging EU – in numbers of member states as well as in the scope of its powers – these euromaniacs believe they are on some kind of mission, if not from God then from some soviet-style mantra of values.
So many of them genuinely seem to think they are entitled. Entitled to be subsidised at the expense of countries like Germany and the United Kingdom. Even the Croatian PM, who isn’t by any means a loony former Communist like so many in the EU, was talking yesterday about building “a future based on equality of states, citizens and opportunities”. Sorry old chap, but the 28 member states are not equal. Far, far from it.
It is for reasons like these that the decision of the UK to leave the European Union is felt at a very deep level by many in the EU.
They can’t even admit the real reason for their hurt is the knowledge that the brakes on their gravy train are about to be put on - hard. This frustration makes their anger more acute, and they blame us. Many of these people seem to have lost all grip on reality.
Perhaps we should try to put this into a British context.
A BRITISH CONTEXT?
Imagine a deluded person like Anna Soubry. Now imagine she’s Belgian, or Spanish, or Maltese, and has been given the political power which previously only existed in her dreams. Would you imagine that she would negotiate a normal and sensible trade deal with you?
No, neither would we.
[ Sources: EU Parliament | World Bank ]
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       06.45am, 07 Feb 2018
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Name: Patrick H - London      Date/Time: 07 Feb 2018, 12.17pam
Message: How reminiscent this all is, to the Soviet Union and its vassal states. Their constant solidarity, unity and shared values mantra and flag-waving absurdity...just so the likes of DDR's Erich Honecker and Romania's Nicolae Ceaușescu and their lickspittle lackeys could live luxurious lifestyles, at the expense of their poverty-stricken citizens. The EU is just a Neo-Sovietism construct, destined to collapse under its own nefarious weight, like so many others in the past! Food for thought: Interesting how much better these old Soviet vassal-states have fared under their own independence?
Name: Patrick H - London      Date/Time: 07 Feb 2018, 11.44am
Message: Andrej Plenković, yet another future EU lickspittle and EU political lackey. He is looking forward to grasping EU's (UK taxpayers') money and will, of course, speak glowingly on behalf of the nefarious EU, spouting the EU's political narrative, mantra and delusive nonsense, at any given opportunity. These obsequious little men are to be found all over the EU and are rather pathetic! Get us out of this insufferable EU political construct asap!
 “TIME HAS COME
TO MAKE A CHOICE”
Michel Barnier in London yesterday                          © Euronews
THE BRITISH PEOPLE MADE
THEIR CHOICE IN 2016, THANKS
STATEMENT BY EU CHIEF NEGOTIATOR, MON 05 FEB 2018
“First of all, I want to thank you, David, for your hospitality. I was very pleased to also meet today the Prime Minister, Theresa May. In a very short time, from now until October, we must advance on three fronts.”
“First, translating our Joint Report into legal text.”
“Second, the transition period, which you just mentioned, David. Let me recall that the UK government has decided the date of the UK withdrawal: the 29th March 2019. This was the UK's sovereign decision. Mrs May has asked to benefit from the Single Market and the Customs Union for a short period after this. The European Council has indicated its readiness to consider this request. The conditions are clear: everyone has to play by the same rules during this transition. Let me add one point about this transition: the certainty about the transition will only come with the ratification of the withdrawal agreement.”
“Number three: our future partnership between the UK and the EU. On that point we need also clarity about the UK's proposals for the future partnership. The only thing I can say now is that without a customs union- and being outside the Single Market - barriers to trade and goods and services are unavoidable. The time has come to make a choice. Thank you.”
       06.50am, 06 Feb 2018
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 CUSTOMS UNION WITH EU?
NON MERCI
Michel Barnier in London yesterday                          © No.10
What are tariffs and why do they matter?
What else do I need to know about the customs union?
Might the government be thinking of fooling us?
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG'S BRIEF EXPLAINER ON EU'S CUSTOM'S UNION
Tariffs are essentially import taxes. A business in country A wishing to sell to a company in country B has to pay the appropriate tariff, or import tax, set by the receiving country’s government for that particular product.
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG SUMMARY – EU CUSTOMS UNION
  • No tariffs on trading goods within EU28 countries
  • Non-financial barriers exist, despite rules, eg insisting on compliance with a country’s special laws
  • ‘Common External Tariff’ – thousands of tariffs & quotas on products imported from outside EU
  • UK must apply these tariffs & quotas, even if there’s no UK domestic industry to protect
  • Only the EU can do trade deals
Below we present a simple explainer, to make it easier to understand when ‘the Customs Union’ is discussed.
1.    No tariffs within EU
Ostensibly this works – UK businesses selling to EU27 countries do not have tariffs (‘import taxes’) slapped onto products they wish to sell there.
2.    No ‘non-tariff barriers’ within EU
This works far less well. In theory member states might not be able to impose non-tariff barriers, but this is often not what happens in practice.
The problem is that it is very difficult to police exactly what goes on and often these things are not well-publicised. If a member state is making things difficult for a company from another EU country because of some internal ‘regulation’ or ‘practice’, the company has to go to the enormous time, trouble and expense of making a claim against the country’s government.
By the time any such case would be decided, the directors of the company concerned would probably have retired and be drawing their pensions.
3.    Application of ‘Common External Tariff’
There isn’t one tariff, but it is often described in the singular. ‘Common’ describes the fact that all member states must apply the tariffs.
The EU has thousands of tariffs on products which companies in other countries wish to export to an EU member state. These tariffs are lodged at the WTO and are also represented in EU trade deals with certain countries.
4.    UK must apply these tariffs
The tariffs and quotas are there to protect industries in EU member states. The UK must apply a tariff, even if it has no need to. The majority of tariffs were put in place to protect industries in EU27 countries, not in the UK.
Part of what the UK has to accept from the EU is 'quotas', where the EU will not accept more than a certain quantity of a certain type of product. This results in a poorer choice for the British consumer, when additional products cannot be imported.
5.    Only the EU can do trade deals and set tariffs
One of the conditions of membership of the Customs Union (and the EU) is that the UK can’t do its own trade deals. Nor can it decide, unilaterally, that it will drop tariffs on products from countries where it might not wish them in place.
OBSERVATIONS
WHO BENEFITS FROM THE EU’S CUSTOMS UNION?
As you’ve seen above, British companies can sell into the EU without tariffs. For the tiny percentage of British businesses which sell products to EU member states, that’s great. Regular readers will know that we’ve demonstrated the figures on this before.
Unfortunately all the rest (over 90% of British businesses) have had to put up with the extra costs of the UK being in the EU, despite getting no benefit from selling to EU27 countries.
And, critically, all British consumers have to pay inflated prices for many everyday products, because of high tariffs imposed by the EU which do not benefit British industries nor the consumer.
Of course Monsieur Barnier was trying to persuade everyone on his flying visit to London yesterday that staying in the Customs Union is a good idea. The last thing the EU wants is for the UK to leave the cosy cartel.
THE EU'S COSY CARTEL
In effect, the UK is trapped in a cartel which keeps prices to consumers high, and which benefits few of the UK’s businesses.
If the Prime Minister tries in any way to devise a form of Customs Union or other arrangement with the EU which precludes independent action on trade by the UK government, then we suggest she should be opposed.
We are already opposed to the government’s current plan to stay in the EU – in all but name - for a further two years after March 2019. We are horrified that the government appears to have accepted that it will not be able to do trade deals during the so-called transition period.
On top of this we believe it is essential that Mrs May does not contemplate negotiating some deal with the EU for the time after 2020, which will involve the EU having any say over the UK’s product standards and any say over its tax or tariff regimes.
We continue to campaign for a full and clean exit from the EU on 29th March 2019.
[ Sources: EU Commission | WTO | CapX ]
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       05.55am, 06 Feb 2018
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Name: Jon, Wales      Date/Time: 08 Feb 2018, 08.28am
Message: It is essential Mrs May avoids being lured into any form of 'customs union' whatsoever. At present, Mrs May is ON NOTICE, for this really is her last chance to prove herself. I notice she is starting to toughen up though she ought to have done so long ago. Younger generations should try and understand how the EU works if they can. They need to understand its dictatorial nature. They need to understand nothing stops them visiting any EU country. Of course, when we exit they will require a British passport. If any EU member country doesn't want you to visit they will say so, but that's a matter for them, not the UK. Just ensure you take medical insurance just in case. Visitors from the EU should also carry medical insurance. Ignore disappointing demands and threats from the unelected EU commission, as planes will continue to fly, trade continue, and so on. Continental businesses enjoy tourism from, and into the UK. They also wish to sell their product into lucrative UK markets, but this works both ways. Any new barriers the EU place will I hope be met like for like. The EU remains in denial and they just don't get the fact we're leaving their political construct? (We're not leaving the continent of Europe). In simple terms, in any domestic divorce a 'clean break' is often the better outcome. Both parties go their own way and do their own thing without restriction upon either party. Both parties are free to follow their own destiny. Outstanding details follow that decision. There is little difference with Brexit, and formal notice to exit was hand delivered. Like most Brexiteers, I wish a 'clean break' from the European political Union, to remain friendly, offer to continue tariff free trade (with ZERO contributions), and so on. ANY right-minded person would think it straightforward. Unfortunately the EU [commission] do not think this way. They see we had the audacity to vote leave and are upset about it. I say to the EU, you had decades to reform, decades to cut your spending, and decades to understand the European commission itself is anti-democratic. You had decades to stop ruling the masses, grabbing powers, and so on. The EU IGNORED all these things by choice. The UK majority had enough, so you then threaten us and try to damage our country. The UK will not be the last country to exit. Sovereignty and national pride mean a lot to us.
Name: Brexiter Braintree Essex, UK      Date/Time: 06 Feb 2018, 09.37am
Message: The EU through their negotiator Barnier, still don't get it. We want to leave your cosy cartel, unlike France and Ireland who were persuaded to vote again until they voted the way the EU wanted. Britain is leaving, despite the threats, as a free sovereign independent country we can and will trade with anyone. The EU have tried all sorts of ways to thwart that action, the UK Government must stay strong and resolute. We live in the internet age, the old ways of doing business have changed. The EU 27 with their external tariff wall of protectionism is not sustainable. The UK should just leave the EU with no trade deal. Just trade with tariffs, we do already with the rest of the world. I wonder how long it would take Germany, France, Ireland, Holland and the rest of the countries, who have a massive trade surplus with the UK, to approach us about a trade deal. We could negotiate on our terms.

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 YOUR EU
YOUR COUNTRY?
EU's de facto Foreign Secretary (left) in Iran last year                          © EU Commission
AT WHAT POINT DID YOU VOTE FOR THIS?
This article is about the status of the EU, the EU28 countries and nationalities, and a supranational body
1. YOUR FOREIGN AND DEFENCE POLICIES?
As if it were a country, the EU has a de facto Foreign Secretary. It also has a de facto Defence Secretary. Bizarrely these two roles are carried out by one very powerful woman in the EU, whose official title is:
"High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
and Vice-President of the European Commission"
© EU Commission
In reality this makes Federica Mogherini (left, in the headline photo) the EU’s Foreign Secretary and Defence Secretary, all rolled into one.
Brexit Warning
By the way, you need to care who this woman is. On the day the UK officially exits the EU, Federica Mogherini will officially be the Commissioner and Vice-President in charge of relations with the UK. This makes her someone you need to start getting to know.
We find it extraordinary that the British press barely seem to know who this Italian former Communist is, let alone report on her.
We have published many detailed stories about her, but for now let’s just say that in our opinion she is the most dangerous woman in the EU.
2. YOUR FOREIGN POLICY IN ACTION
Below is a list of actions or activities of the ‘European External Action Service’. This is the very powerful Directorate run by Ms Mogherini.
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG SUMMARY
EU 'FOREIGN OFFICE' ON FRIDAY 2ND FEBRUARY 2018
© EU Commission
  • Statement on the situation in Guinea Bissau
  • Déclaration conjointe sur la suspension des activités de la Maison Schengen à Kinshasa
  • On-line consultation with non-governmental organisations implementing international assistance to Syria and the region
  • Statement by the Spokesperson on the decision of the Supreme Court of the Maldives
  • South Sudan: EU adds 3 persons involved in serious human rights violation to sanctions list
  • Statement by High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini and Commissioner Johannes Hahn on the latest developments in Turkey
  • Statement by the Spokesperson on the human rights situation in the Republic of Equatorial Guinea
- ‘European External Action Service’, 02 Feb 2018
This is just one day, 24 hours, in the life of the EU’s Foreign Office. Not the full list of what it was doing that day – this would be far too long to list here – but just the items it felt it wanted to tell us about.
What you see is a snapshot of a Foreign Office in full flood. And this has been going for years.
At what point did you vote to allow the foreign policies of the UK to be run by the EU?
3. YOUR MILITARY AGENDA
Below is the current list of operations on the EU’s Security & Defence website.
You are fully aware of these, of course? After all, these military missions are being conducted in your name, as a citizen of the EU.
© EU Commission
4. YOUR EU’S FOREIGN AID PROGRAMME
As regular readers know, we repeatedly take the EU to task for pretending to be ‘Europe’. It isn’t. Europe is a continent of around 50+ countries (depending on exactly how you define it) and the EU is only 28, soon to be 27 countries.
We have consistently and vehemently objected to the EU’s most grotesque claim about generosity, saying that “The EU is the most generous donor in the World”. This simply isn’t true. The USA is No.1, followed by the UK at No.2.
It is only if you pretend that the EU’s 28 member states, all donating on their own account individually, are in fact donating as ‘the EU’, that you can pretend the EU is the world’s biggest donor of humanitarian and development aid.
In other words, the EU is taking credit for what its individual member states did with no involvement from the EU.
HERE IS THE EU'S FANTASY
(EU IS #1)
Chart © Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2018
 
AND HERE IS THE REALITY
(USA IS #1, UK IS #2)
Chart © Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2018
5. YOUR EU’S GDP
A very common search on the internet is for ‘GDP by country’. This produces a Wikipedia page in the top results and we noticed a change in it. We can’t say for certain when this change happened, but we believe it could have been within the last two years.
THIS IS HOW THE EU LIKES TO PRESENT ITSELF : AS ONE COUNTRY
Chart © Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2018
 
Chart © Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2018
Above are the two graphics used at the top of the Wikipedia page. Yes, we know that Wikipedia is not an official nor reliable source of information. Nevertheless, we show this purely because it’s indicative of a growing trend internationally for organisations to report EU results as if the EU were a country, instead of 28 individual countries.
Wikipedia isn't controlled by the EU (yet) but we're showing the above because it demonstrates how the EU's propaganda is working. Imagine how many schoolchildren doing homework across the EU and around the world are gaining the false impression that the EU must be a country?
OBSERVATIONS
We frequently report on the actions of the EU, as these are severely unreported in the UK media.
Put simply, most British people have no idea what the EU gets up to each day and equally they have no idea how much more power the EU takes for itself each year.
The UK joined the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1973. This was understood by British people to be fundamentally a trade bloc. We now know that the UK government was fully aware of the end-goal of this organisation – to create a United States of Europe – but this was suppressed from the British people at the time.
Over the decades, various treaties enlarged the scope, the power, and even the name of this organisation, until today we have the European Union. Few people in the UK have any idea what it entails nor what its powers are, not even the majority of Remoaner politicians.
SO IS THE EU YOUR COUNTRY?
All the way through the EU Referendum debate of 2016, the Remain camp were at pains to downplay the powers of the EU and its planned future power-grabs. Talk of the EU’s military ambitions, talk of enlargement of the bloc, and talk of the EU’s plans to become one country, were dismissed with a wave of David Cameron’s paw.
The reality is of course very different and we are seeing this more and more with every new announcement coming out of Brussels. We can also see it in the way the EU has successfully lobbied to be shown as a country on international listings.
WHO DID THIS TO US, AND WHY ISN’T IT BEING REPORTED NOW?
The Rt Hon Ken Clarke MP once infamously joked that he had never got around to reading the Maastricht Treaty. This is the crimson-faced buffoon who always gets shown on the BBC when they cover parliament, as he is an arch-Remoaner on steroids. In the insane world that passes for a BBC news room these days, this probably qualifies him as an independent expert.
© Parliament
Even in more recent times, in the debate in parliament in 2015 on whether to have an EU referendum, the current Chancellor Philip Hammond said: “Call me negligent but I didn’t read the treaty”, referring to his Remain vote in the first referendum in 1975.
This helps to explain the ‘EU is wonderful… because it is’ brigade. They are happy to spout some virtuous-sounding statements about the EU, without having the first idea what they’re talking about because they don’t know any of the detail.
These people talk about a European Union that they believe – perhaps hope - exists.
They have no idea about the cancerous and dysfunctional monster which is currently limping towards either full dystopian dictatorship or an implosion.
[ Sources: EU Commission | World Bank | OECD | Hansard | and for once, Wikipedia! ]
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       06.55am, 05 Feb 2018
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 THE UNCIVIL SERVICE
© HMG
FORMER HEAD OF CIVIL SERVICE
LAMBASTS BREXITEERS AS NAZIS
This morning the Head of the Civil Service under Tony Blair, Lord Andrew Turnbull, attacked Brexiteers for behaviour which he said is ‘worthy of 1930s Germany’.
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG SUMMARY
Nazi slurs from elitist mandarin about Brexiteers
  • “worthy of 1930s Germany”
  • “at the start of the Nazi era, the ‘stab-in-the back’ theme developed.”
- The Right Honourable The Lord Turnbull KCB CVO, The Observer, 04 Feb 2018
Speaking to The Observer, Lord Turnbull compared Brexiteers to Nazis in Germany in the run-up to the Second World War.
Turnbull was speaking after the uproar this week regarding comments made in Parliament and elsewhere about the lack of impartiality of elements of the Civil Service, as we reported yesterday. (See article below.)
Here is what this Head of the Civil Service and Cabinet Secretary from 2002 to 2005 had to say:-
LORD TURNBULL’S EXTRAORDINARY NAZI SLURS AGAINST BREXITEERS
“‘Dolchstoss’ means ‘stab in the back’. After the first world war there was an armistice, but the German army was then treated as the losers. Then, at the start of the Nazi era, the ‘stab-in-the back’ theme developed.”
“It argued that ‘our great army was never defeated, but it was stabbed in the back by the civilians, liberals, communists, socialists and Jews’.”
“This is what I think these critics are trying to do. They are losing the argument in the sense that they are unable to make their extravagant promises stack up, and so they turn and say: ‘Things would be OK if the civil service weren’t obstructing us’.”
Turnbull was of course also Permanent Secretary to the Treasury before he got the top job in the Civil Service, and it is the Treasury which has come under the strongest attack this week from Jacob Rees-Mogg and others.
MEANWHILE JACOB MARCHED ON
Jacob Rees-Mogg MP was all over the news yesterday – although not in circumstances that any of his followers would wish to see him in. Videos emerged of the MP for North-East Somerset attempting to stop violence breaking out when protesters stormed a meeting he was about to address at a university in the West Country.
© Twitter
With no police presence visible, Mr Rees-Mogg bravely and typically went to speak to the protestors and ended up in the middle of a small melee. His supporters will no doubt hope to see a degree of protection in future for the MP.
Earlier in the day, Mr Rees-Mogg spoke to the BBC’s anti-Brexit Today programme. Speaking about Charles Grant, head of the pro-EU Centre for European Reform, he said that Mr Grant had been given inappropriate briefings.
MR REES-MOGG ON THE TREASURY'S ACTIONS
“He is getting private briefings from the Treasury against government policy. This is very serious. It is not for officials to invent policy.”
“With the referendum and with the EU, the Treasury has gone back to making forecasts. It was politically advantageous in the past. It is the same for them now. I do think they are fiddling the figures.”
OBSERVATIONS
JACOB REES-MOGG
Jacob Rees-Mogg speaks for many of those who voted to leave the EU and who feel they have been betrayed by this government.
Ordinary people often see no need to distinguish between the actions of ministers and the actions of their civil servants. The ministers are in charge of the civil servants, so the theory goes, and therefore the civil servants should act to implement the Referendum result as swiftly and effectively as possible.
Instead of the implementation of a clean Brexit we are seeing selective leaking of new but still inept forecasts by a Treasury Dept that were so demonstrably and catastrophically wrong in their predictions prior to the vote. So badly out were they, there really is no conclusion other than the fact that their actions were cynical and deliberate. They lied to us on a huge scale.
FIGHTING THE REMAINER LIES
The Brexit Facts4EU.Org team were among a few groups who spoke out strongly to disprove the Treasury’s lamentable but Armageddon-like predictions. We showed how these forecasts were nonsense, but there’s no doubt that they nevertheless scared vast numbers of people into voting for Remain.
Very regrettably, it’s clear that the Civil Service at its senior levels is packed with Remoaners. For decades these mandarins have been used to getting their own way. A wonderfully amusing TV series was once built around this, called ‘Yes Minister’, subsequently ‘Yes Prime Minister’.
These mandarins are still at it and it’s important that they are called out for their disgraceful behaviour.
THE UNCIVIL SERVICE
The comments in this morning’s Observer by a former Head of the Civil Service and Cabinet Secretary are breathtaking in their arrogance and ignorance. Whilst no-one will ever prove it, everyone in Whitehall will know that this intervention will have been discussed amongst many people both in and retired from the civil service.
Comparing Brexiteers’ actions to those of pre-war German Nazis is deluded, deeply insulting, and designed to intimidate. The arrogance of these superiority-obsessed clerks knows no bounds and they seem to think that they can dismiss their crass incompetence in the Referendum campaign and since, with no consequences.
If we had a Prime Minister with any backbone, certain key members of the senior echelons would have been fired back in July 2016. A culling may yet take place if there is a change of leadership in the government.
In the meantime we will simply say that The Right Honourable The Lord Turnbull KCB CVO and his colleagues are a disgrace to the Service and to the country.
[ Sources: The Observer | BBC Radio 4 Anti-Brexit Today Programme ]
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       03.15am, 04 Feb 2018
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Name: cs2011 - Devizes, UK      Date/Time: 04 Feb 2018, 2.26pm
Message: The irony is that it is people like Turnbull who are the real fascists, since it is they who seek to overturn the democratic will of the people.
Name: Jen a.k.a. Abicat, UK - via Twitter      Date/Time: 04 Feb 2018, 11.07am
Message: So who is surprised. Yet another Blairite peer trying to smear the Brexit campaign. Another reason the HOL needs a big overhaul at the very least, disbandment at the very best. Great analysis of the whys and wherefores from Facts4eu as always.
Reply: Thanks Abicat. Always good to hear from our Labour Leavers! Keep the comments coming.
Name: Paul A, East Sussex, UK      Date/Time: 04 Feb 2018, 10.09am
Message: Re article on the right dishonorable Lord Andrew Turncoat, the uncivil servant whose very substantial salary / pension we, the tax payers, fund: Is he so ignorant of the situation in Germany in the 1930s that he can't see that the EU is a dictatorship from the same mould? All dictatorships in history have caused wars and suffering for millions. As an example may I cite the desire for power over the continent of Europe by the dictator Adolf Hitler in the 1930s? Seemingly and collectively Turncoat hates 17.4 million leave voters and their desire for freedom to leave the EU dictatorship whilst we still can. Would his article insulting the majority of British voters in the referendum constitute a hate speech?
Name: Brexiter Braintree Essex, UK      Date/Time: 04 Feb 2018, 09.15am
Message: But you people don't understand, we at the civil service know better than you pleb voters. We went to public school have been to Oxbridge and studied PPE, or Sociology. We know best, we are the ruling class. You plebs can vote, but you don't understand, so we will make the decisions for you. That is the attitude being foisted upon us the voters, by our administrators and political rulers. If it was just the UK electorate rebelling, such an attitude might be dismissed, but all over Europe electorates are voting against the political elites. The people are speaking through their ballots, unfortunately the political elite don't want to listen. This will not end well.
Name: Steve R, UK      Date/Time: 04 Feb 2018, 07.07am
Message: Presumably, the Avon police were too busy painting their fingernails to bother with stopping trouble at university meetings between freedom of speech loving democrats and Nazis. Maybe the Avon lady had called at the police station and they were choosing a nice colour.

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Another Facts4EU.Org exclusive
 EU TAXPAYERS
PAY €0.5 BILLION
TO IMPROVE 37 MILES
OF POLISH ROAD
Early last year the EU agreed to pay nearly €0.5 billion euros (£0.4 billion pounds) of taxpayers' money to improve a 37 mile stretch of road in northern Poland.
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG SUMMARY
One example of how EU spends your money
  • The funds are provided for ‘modernisation work’
  • Exact cost is €463 million euros for 37 miles on DK7, between Gdańsk and Elbląg
  • EU allocated further €68 million for another Polish road
  • Total is more than €0.5 billion euros
- All data obtained by Brexit Facts4EU.Org from official EU sources
This work was first commissioned by the EU more than a year ago. Apparently the work is 'difficult', which is why it will take almost two years to complete just 37 miles. This is a stretch of road in northern Poland.
Click the map to see the approximate location of the 37 miles of Polish road you're helping to pay for.
It might not be a road that you use too often.
THE EU COMMISSIONERS WHO ARE IN CHARGE
© EU Commission
Last week we told you about one of President Juncker's EU Commissioners.
She's the Polish one called Elzbieta Bienkowska who is responsible for the Single Market but who has no commercial experience whatsoever.
However she does have a Master degree in Iranian Studies.
SO WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE POLISH ROAD?
Today we're introducing you to another of President Juncker's Commissioners: the Romanian Corina Creţu, who is responsible for something called 'Regional Policy'.
“In addition to reducing journey times, this renovation will ensure more comfort and safety for drivers”
The work is expected to be completed by October of this year.
© EU Commission
WHERE THE MONEY COMES FROM
The money comes from the EU’s ‘Cohesion Fund’, which in turn comes from the taxpayer. This fund is only for relatively new member states.
Whilst the UK contributes, it is entitled to receive no payouts from this fund at all.
This Cohesion Fund is part of the EU’s massive £400 billion Structural and Investment Fund.
OBSERVATIONS
This is just one piece of news from Brussels, showing how the EU works, and how the UK taxpayer’s money is spent by EU bureaucrats from the Commission.
We simply do not believe that the British people are aware of what the EU does and how it spends the taxpayers' money provided in the billions each year. Maybe everyone would be happy for the EU to spend British taxpayers' money as it sees fit, with no approval required from the British Parliament.
We don't think so.
We believe that if the British people really knew what went on in Brussels, and how the British government has allowed billions per year of taxpayers' money to be spent on things which no-one in the UK had any idea about, that the Referendum would have been won by 2:1.
We are considering producing an updated research report into the EU's €400 billion ESIF fund, which is never mentioned by Remainer politicians as most of them don't even know about it. The EU's expenditure above is under this category. What do you think?
We welcome your thoughts, as ever.
[ Sources: Various EU Commission Directorates | Polish news sources ]
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       05.15am, 04 Feb 2018
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Name: Jon, Wales      Date/Time: 07 Feb 2018, 09.09am
Message: Poland is a massive RECIPIENT of EU funding from one fund or another. It doesn't matter how much remoaning MPs and peers try to spin this article, the UK at present is the second highest NET contributor to the European Union, and by definition, the second highest contributor to 37 miles of road in Poland (sic). From a UK perspective, this is an outrageous abuse of UK contributions when we have our own urgent domestic issues to address. Close to my location for example, we have around 100 metres (yards in my language) of footway in serious disrepair. So dangerous is it, we walk along the road, and it has been this way for several years. In my opinion, the massive UK Foreign Aid budget should only be used for disaster or other relief. The rest should be used at home. We need to be just a touch selfish at times, for we see ever more funding going overseas. When we stop paying £billions to the EU every year, maybe this footway will be levelled and resurfaced. Perhaps I'm not the only person angered by contributing to roads in another country? To clarify, if the UK was in surplus, we would more willingly assist others on a voluntary basis, though it would not mean we need to be politically tied to, or governed by foreign unelected bureaucrats who spend other peoples money like water.

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WIPE THE SMILES OFF THEIR FACES
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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 ALL PRESIDENT JUNCKER’S MEN
starring Jacob Rees-Mogg as Robert Redford
and Steve Baker as Dustin Hoffman
© Er... the original was MGM
IS THE CIVIL SERVICE WORKING
FOR A FOREIGN POWER?
JACOB REES-MOGG MP RELEASES... THE TREASURYGATE TWEETS
Various comments by high-profile individuals once again brought this question into high focus last week. We started the week with the leak of a so-called ‘economic impact assessment’ which has been prepared by civil servants.
This then morphed into an attack on Undersecretary of State for Leaving the EU, the Rt Hon Steve Baker MP, for his comments about the Civil Service and their alleged anti-Brexit campaign.
Yesterday the Hon Jacob Rees-Mogg MP, Chairman of the European Research Group in Parliament, published his 'TreasuryGate' Tweets, which we re-publish below.
1. THE LEAKED ECONOMIC FORECAST
On Tuesday Labour asked an urgent question in Parliament regarding a leak about a forecast document, allegedly stating that the UK economy would perform much worse as a result of Brexit. The leaks produced many suspicions that this was the work of the unreformed Remoaners at the Treasury and the Cabinet Office.
In Parliament, facing an urgent question by arch-Remoaner Sir Keir Starmer, the Undersecretary for Brexit the Rt Hon Steve Baker MP gave a robust response.
He described the document as:
“an attempt to undermine our exit from the European Union.”
At this point it is important to bear in mind that this is a government minister talking about a document produced by senior civil servants.
Steve Baker also made it clear that it had not been prepared within his own DExEU department, as had been claimed by Remainer MPs, but by others in other government departments. He then went on to criticise the Bank of England, who had been complicit in forecasts presented by the Chancellor George Osborne prior to the Referendum.
BANK OF ENGLAND - RIDICULED BY MINISTER
“Let us take as an example the respected Bank of England. What institution could be more respected for its analysis?”
“In August 2016, it made a quantitative forecast of the impact of Brexit, saying that exports would go down by 0.5%, but they went up 8.3%.”
“It said that business investment would go down by 2%, but it went up by 1.7%.”
“It said that housing investment would go down by 4.75%, but it went up by 5%.”
“It said that employment growth would be zero—flat—but it went up to a new all-time high.”
RIGHT: Action man and former RAF Officer the Rt Hon Steve Baker MP,
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union

© Steve Baker
Unrestrained by ministerial office, Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg went much further:
“These forecasts come from the same source as the rotten forecasts made before the vote to leave. The Treasury at that point said that unemployment would rise between 500 and 800 thousand. That turned out to be nonsense. Bad forecasters come up with bad forecasts.… To think you have any idea where the economy will be in 15 years is erroneous.”
Consultant Editor of the Daily Mail, Andrew Pierce, went even further than that on Twitter:
“Of course the Treasury skewed the research on Brexit as they did before the Referendum in Project Fear. The paws of Jeremy Heywood [Head of Civil Service] are all over it.”
2. THE ALLEGATIONS OF A TREASURY ANTI-BREXIT SQUAD
On Thursday Jacob Rees-Mogg MP asked the minister Steve Baker about an alleged comment from the head of a think-tank. It was alleged that Treasury officials were in effect anti-Brexit and were deliberately trying to sabotage it. Here is the exchange:-
Mr Jacob Rees-Mogg (North East Somerset) (Con)
”ill the Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, my hon. Friend the Member for Wycombe (Mr Baker), confirm that he heard from Charles Grant of the Centre for European Research that officials in the Treasury have deliberately developed a model to show that all options other than staying in the customs union are bad, and that officials intend to use the model to influence policy? If that is correct, does he share my view that it goes against the spirit of the Northcote-Trevelyan reforms that underpin our independent civil service?”
Mr Baker
“I am sorry to say that my hon. Friend’s account is essentially correct. At the time I considered it implausible because my direct experience is that civil servants are extraordinarily careful to uphold the impartiality of the civil service. We must proceed with great caution in this matter, but I have heard him raise the issue. We need to be very careful not to take this forward in an inappropriate way, but he has reminded me of something that I heard. It would be quite extraordinary if it turned out that such a thing had happened.”
Paul Blomfield (Sheffield Central) (Lab)
“You said it was correct.”
Mr Baker
“I did not say it was correct. I said that the account that it was put to me is correct. It was put to me, and I considered it an extraordinary allegation—I still consider it an extraordinary allegation. [Interruption.] To be absolutely clear, I said it was correct that the allegation was put to me. I did not in any way seek to confirm the truth of it. What I would say is that we need to proceed with great caution, because it is essential that we continue to uphold and support the impartiality of the civil service.”
Yesterday Mr Baker was forced to come back to the House to apologise, as the precise words he used did not quite reflect what Charles Grant of the pro-EU CER had said.
Mr Jacob Rees-Mogg fired back on the matter, with a 5-part tweet which we show below, in addition to various comments that he made in TV interviews.
© Jacob Rees-Mogg
OBSERVATIONS
Let us all please be in no doubt. The Civil Service in Whitehall does not work for you. When it comes to matters relating to the EU and Brexit, they work for Brussels.
Steve Baker didn’t apologise to Parliament yesterday because he doesn’t think senior civil servants are working against Brexit. He apologised because the precise wording he used was wrong. That doesn’t make his central beliefs wrong.
Both Steve Baker, Jacob Rees-Mogg, and the majority of Brexiteers know full well that Whitehall is riddled with a cancer. The tumours are prevalent throughout the senior echelons of the mandarin class and are particularly obvious in Downing Street at the Cabinet Office, and at the Treasury.
Immediately following the Referendum we argued that the senior men (and they were all men in the senior depts) responsible for the deliberate misinformation to the British public during the Referendum campaign, and who were responsible for the complete unpreparedness of the British government for a Leave result, should have fallen on their swords.
As time went by - and as it became obvious that none of these individuals were going to do ‘the decent thing’, as it used to be known - we said they should be fired.
We can’t name a single top civil servant whom we believe voted Leave. We can’t name a single one of Her Majesty’s Ambassadors, representing our great nation around the world, whom we think voted Leave.
We will, because it’s right to do so, single out one ex-Ambassador whom we think supports the correct implementation of the democratic decision of the British people in June 2016. That person is Sir Christopher Meyer, former UK Ambassador to Germany and to the United States.
Sir Christopher remains an FCO man through and through, but at least he accepts the result of the Referendum, which is more than his former colleagues do.
The senior echelons of the Civil Service are so riddled with anti-Brexit and anti-democratic people we have come to the conclusion that there needs to be a dramatic cull. If nothing else, seeing entire ranks of those who have failed their country being dismissed under a cloud would certainly focus the minds of their junior colleagues.
In amongst the junior ranks, we believe there will be decent talent which will rise to the top, throwing off previous allegiances, and starting to work for the good of the country and its people.
We understand why ministers like Steve Baker have to sing the praises of civil servants in Whitehall. We know he doesn’t really think that, but has to say it. (Well, we don't know for certain, but...)
We’re not constrained, so we’ll say it clearly. Fire them.
Finally, if any civil servant wants to contact us in complete confidence, you have our assurance that we would go to jail rather than reveal sources, in the best traditions of the days of Woodward and Bernstein, of Watergate fame. Just send us a message with a phone number and our Editor will call.
Just put 'Deep Throat' in the subject line....
[ Sources: Parliament (Hansard) | Various news sources and MPs ]
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       09.05am, 03 Feb 2018
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Name: Jon, Wales      Date/Time: 07 Feb 2018, 06.06am
Message: When Steve Baker was at the Despatch Box in the House of Commons taking questions, the Rt Hon David Davies [DExEU] was sitting on the front bench behind him. Mr Baker responded to a query from the Hon. Jacob Rees-Mogg MP. Mr Baker duly answered. I sensed I was witnessing something else, for when Mr Baker gave his response, David Davies sat in silent horror and squirmed at hearing the response given by Mr Baker. I took a snapshot of 'the exact moment' as it was clear Steve Baker had said something he shouldn't have, at least in the eyes of David Davies. This led me to believe, rightly or wrongly, and 'reading between the lines', that information was being moulded for the benefit of voters viewing at the time. I make no allegation, implied or otherwise, save to say, that's how it came across. In the UK we have a saying, "the camera never lies"?

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 ANOTHER BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG ORIGINAL PIECE
GERMAN PEOPLE
ARM THEMSELVES
SMALL ARMS LICENCES DOUBLE IN GERMANY SINCE MIGRANT CRISIS
Shocking repercussions of the German migrant crisis and its impact on daily life is revealed
Germans have been arming themselves in huge numbers since the early days of the migrant crisis which started in the summer of 2015, although it really began some years earlier.
At the end of August 2015, Chancellor Angela Merkel unilaterally suspended the EU’s ‘Dublin Agreement’ on asylum. In doing so she effectively opened Germany’s – and the EU’s – borders to millions of migrants, the majority of whom were not refugees.
PIC LEFT: © Carolin Matthie, Germany's 'Gun Girl'
In October of 2015, 275,000 Germans already had small arms licences, entitling them to hold pistols, pepper spray, gas cannisters, etc. At the time, we reported on the fact that German shops were running out of weapons, so great was the new demand. Our reporting was not picked up by the BBC.
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
Just over two years later in January 2018, the German government has now admitted that the number of small arms licences has more than doubled, to 557,560.
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG SUMMARY – GERMANS TOOLING UP
GERMANY RE-ARMING
  • Over half a million Germans now hold a small arms licence
  • That’s a 102% increase (doubling) in 2 years since the migrant crisis started in 2015
GERMANY FEELING UNSAFE
  • In Jan 2017, almost one-third of Germans felt ‘less safe’ than before the crisis
  • Nearly a quarter of Germans felt ‘very’ or ‘fairly’ unsafe
GERMAN POLITICAL REACTION
Germany’s chairman of the Conference of Interior Ministers, Holger Stahlknecht of Mrs Merkel’s CDU Party, who runs the Home Office in the region of Saxony-Anhalt, was asked about the latest figures.
Holger Stahlknecht                                             © Epoch Times
“Obviously, people believe they buy security with a small gun license,” Stahlknecht told German newspaper Handelsblatt.
This story has broken in Germany as a result of an information request by the Green Party’s Irene Mihalic. She called the “increasing level of arming of society” very worrying. She added that it would make the guarantee of public security “massively more difficult” and was concerned at the “warped” debate.
Overall she was not happy and worried about the “unauthorized carrying of appropriate weapons”. Sadly we do not have her views on the increasing numbers of German girls and women who are now the subject of violent attacks.
OBSERVATIONS
Often it’s not what people say, or tell opinion pollsters, or what journalists guess at, it’s what they actually do in real life that matters.
We have repeatedly reported on major societal issues in EU countries, precisely because we believe that these things are later reflected in public policy. This matters, if you want to understand the thinking amongst the EU27’s leaders in regard to Brexit.
So here we have Germany, the largest country in the EU by population – and the largest country by funding of the EU overall – and its people are voting with their wallets. They're buying small arms.
It doesn’t matter that the German media refuses to report with any sense of balance or completeness on certain types of crime. It doesn’t matter that their media refuses to report on the ethnicity or nationality of those who are responsible for the massive surge in crime in that country.
It doesn’t even matter that German anti-freedom of speech laws are now so draconian that we wouldn’t ever want to publish in Germany.
What matters is that the German people, despite the ‘goody-two-shoes’ nonsense they feel they have to spout to their media whenever they’re asked questions, are acting differently. And actions tend to speak louder, as they say.
LOCK AND LOAD
Members of our team have always enjoyed great relations with Germans – in work and socially. However we hope we won’t offend some of our German readers if we say that sometimes you have a tendency to do what you’re told.
We see this when we look at your opinion polls on matters relating to the EU or to your society generally. Sometimes you say what you think you should say, are expected to say. Or at least that's what we believe to be the case.
We really wish that more of you would pipe up and say what you think deep down. We know you’re not stupid. We know that vast numbers of you don’t believe the total load of Müll you’ve been fed in recent years.
The issue of weapons is fundamental. You have to be pretty concerned to start getting licences to hold offensive weapons, even the non-lethal varities.
Well over half a million of you now have these. That’s over twice the number two years ago.
© Carolin Matthie
We read and watch your media. It’s a light-year behind the thinking of ordinary people across the European continent and in other parts of the world. Brexit and President Trump are just two big examples of how the elitist politicians and the elistist journalists and commentators are so far behind the curve now.
You’re buying offensive weapons. It’s okay. People do that eventually, when the threat levels around them get to a certain point. It doesn’t make you a raving extremist. It just means you care about your own safety and that of your family.
All you have to do now, is start to translate the feelings which are making you worry about your safety, into real actionable thoughts with which to effect movement and change in your tired political class. (We have one of those, too.)
And when it comes to Brexit, we want to trade with you, you want to trade with us. Don’t let your politicians stand on absurd principles that you don’t really believe in, and threaten the livelihoods of many hundreds of thousands of German workers.
Let's just be normal, and trade because we both do well out of it!
[ Sources: German Interior Ministry | Handelsblatt & various German Media | Carolin Matthie YouTube | Die Grüaut;ne ]
       06.55am, 02 Feb 2018
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Name: Patrick H - London      Date/Time: 02 Feb 2018, 10.08am
Message: This Christmas, my German wife (from Cologne) purchased two pepper spray cans (PSC) in a local supermarket (freely available), for the times she or my daughter are in Cologne. The pepper spray cans reside in our Cologne apartment. My wife, along with her family and friends are really concerned, though they will not speak out beyond the confines of their homes, for fear of a backlash from the local authorities. UK people have no idea how restricted Germans are at this time and how detested Merkel is becoming. But you will not see this or hear this on TV, MSM or on the radio, where a rosy picture of migrants is frequently depicted! I can only assume that our time will come when UK authorities follow a similar path of censorship? Good work FACTS4EU in addressing this tricky subject!
Reply: Thanks Patrick. Readers will no doubt be reassured when they read your comment to know that we were not exaggerating in our piece above.
Name: Brexiteer Braintree Essex, UK      Date/Time: 02 Feb 2018, 09.27am
Message: So you import 1.5 million people, mainly men of fighting age, from third world countries. From countries who have very little concept of law and order. Some maybe, have regular civil conflicts. What could possible go wrong? These immigrants will behave the same way as they behaved in their home countries, causing civil unrest robbing, raping, murdering people. What do the Governments of these countries who imported these immigrants do? They crackdown on the local populous for pointing out the Government error of the social experiment foisted upon them. Any criticism of the Government actions is classed as hate speech, laws are introduced restricting freedom of expression, anybody not accepting these changes is dismissed as a far right extremist. Notice a pattern emerging? People are scared the authorities are not protecting them so they take measures to protect themselves by buying guns. We in the UK are not allowed guns, but we have the same problems as Germany. There are in the UK no-go areas in our major cities, crime is rife and the authorities do nothing about it. All across the EU the multi-cultural experiment is failing, but Governments refuse to accept it. This is not going to end well, we should take note.
 FACTS4EU.ORG : FACTS AND ORIGINAL ANALYSIS FOR BREXIT
CLUELESS M’LUD?
TRY SOME FACTS
See below to find out who this is                           © Parliament
Some Remainer lies are subtle. Some are blatant.
All are relentless
The House of Lords is debating the EU Withdrawal Bill. This is difficult to avoid if you like to keep up-to-date with the news. It seems that every hour the BBC, Sky and ITV have been determined to show us the latest peer pronouncing about Brexit and how mad the UK is to be pursuing this course.
Over and again during yesterday’s exchanges in the Lords – and in the Commons – the subject of the Single Market came up. The Single Market comes up every day, in one way or another.
SOME MORE QUICK & SIMPLE FACTS ABOUT THE SINGLE MARKET
  • The UK will still trade with EU countries after leaving the EU – deal or no deal
  • Over 160 countries trade with the EU - without membership of the Single Market
  • After 26 years, it still doesn’t work – ‘unfinished and stalled’ [Major OECD report, 2016]
  • It’s in 31,500 EU legal documents, so it’s an integral part of EU membership [Eur-Lex database]
  • The UK’s growth rate has slowed since 1992 when the Single Market started [ONS data]
  • Only 3.6% of UK businesses use the Single Market anyway ['Stronger In' website]
Happy with how the Single Market's run, noble Lords?
On Tuesday we told you about the woman at the EU Commission with no business experience who is in charge of the Single Market.
Ms Bieńkowska might not have any commercial experience, but we’re sure her Masters Degree in Iranian Studies from Jagiellonian University in Krakow is proving very useful in her role as EU Commissioner for the Single Market, Industry, and SMEs.
© EU Commission
OBSERVATIONS
We have produced a great deal of research on the Single Market - and some of it has been used in the mainstream media.
The one thing we have learnt over the years is that we have to keep repeating the same facts in different ways, over and over again. The reason is simple. Remainers repeat their lies over and over again. It's not enough for us to counter these lies with facts just once. We have to do it as many times as possible.
Each of the facts in the red-bordered box above is true. We know. We spent hours or sometimes days researching each fact, using EU or international sources. The only piece of information we've used in that summary box that doesn't come from the EU, the OECD, or the IMF is from the official Remain campaign - called 'Stronger In'. From information they published on their website we extrapolated that only 3.6% of UK businesses use the Single Market - despite 100% of all British businesses paying for the 'privilege'.
Just think about that for a moment. Even if Stronger In's figures are wrong by a factor of two, this means that over 92.5% of British businesses aren't benefiting from the precious Single Market which the unelected Lords have been talking about this week. And yet they've all been paying for it.
DECENT REMAINERS (AND WE KNOW MANY) WILL BE READING THIS AND THINKING
On a daily basis Brexit-denying MPs, journalists and commentators are telling the public that leaving the Single Market and Customs Union would mean economic disaster for businesses, people’s jobs, and the country. Sometimes this is blatant, sometimes it is subtle, but whichever it is it never stops.
We are also told that “no-one voted to leave the Single Market or the Customs Union”. This is then closely followed with something like:
“Yes, people voted to leave, but no-one voted to make the country poorer”
Videos have had to be created showing one official person after another - during the Referendum campaign and in the run-up to it - stating that leaving the EU meant leaving the Single Market and the Customs Union. The 'official people' included the then Prime Minister David Cameron, the then Chancellor George Osborne, the senior people in the official Remain campaign, and the official people in the Leave campaign.
When Remoaners are ridiculed with these facts they move onto something else for a while, but will then come back to the same old lies some weeks later. This is why it's important to keep repeating the truth. We shouldn't have to do it, but unfortunately there's no choice.
We'll leave you with some more thoughts which Brexit MPs and commentators need to keep repeating.
The Single Market comes with unlimited immigration and subjection to EU laws.
It doesn’t work and creates costs for 96.4% of UK businesses which don’t use it.
In many ways the Single Market is the EU: bureaucratic, dictatorial, and dysfunctional
It determines what we produce, how we work, and what we can buy
The Single Market isn’t a market, it’s about politics, rules, and centralised power
The British people voted to leave this behind, to be independent, and to go global.
To say anything else is a deliberate attempt to deceive and manipulate.
The Single Market sounds fine in principle, m'luds, but in practice it has never worked. Keep reading Brexit Facts4EU.Org and we'll keep giving you facts.
DID YOU MISS IT?
On Tuesday we wrote a piece about the Commissioner responsible for the Single Market. If you missed it you can read it here.
OH YES, THAT LORD IN THE PHOTO ABOVE
In case you didn't recognise him, that's Baron Michael Cashman, Eastenders actor from 1986. In that sitcom he was famous for the first gay kiss on British TV between two men, and used his fame to launch a political career in the Labour Party. Yesterday he was one of many Lords speaking in the Withdrawal Bill debate. As a former MEP he's an arch-europhile, naturally, and his speech isn't worth reproducing here.
[ Sources: Office of National Statistics GDP growth figures | OECD Report on Single Market | Eur-Lex EU Legal Database | Stronger In Official Remain Campaign Website | EU Commission on Bienkowska | EU Commission Bienkowska CV ]
       06.55am, 01 Feb 2018
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Name: Michael Wood, UK      Date/Time: 02 Feb 2018, 09.49am
Message: Those of us who believe in democracy seem to spend our lives fighting a rearguard action against anti democrats. It need not be so. It is beyond time that ministers (and business leaders) started asking some pointed questions. Top of the agenda: If the EU don't want a free trade deal how much are they willing to pay for access to the UK single market? This access is of greater value to them than our access to theirs is. I'm praying this timidity is because they need to get the withdrawal bill through all its stages and is treading softly to do so.
Name: Patrick F, Tunbridge Wells, UK      Date/Time: 02 Feb 2018, 07.38am
Message: What laws might the EU impose on the UK if we agree to a transition period? I ask the question in the assumption that the EU will make laws to deliberately damage the UK's interests, rather than enhance them. You may choose to publish my question or not. Keep up the good work!
Reply: It's a good question Patrick. We'll write about this when we can.
Name: Brexiteer Braintree Essex, UK      Date/Time: 01 Feb 2018, 10.35am
Message: The reason people over fifty-five are more aware about the EU, is that they can remember what Britain was like before we joined the EEC. They can make a judgement based on experience. If you have nothing to compare life in the EU with before Britain joined your judgement is flawed. A large number of members of the House of Lords also have a vested interest in remaining, lawyers, former EU employees. To me sovereignty, democracy and freedom are non negotiable, material wealth and trade secondary, nice to have but not essential.
Name: David Hayward, Rotherham, UK      Date/Time: 01 Feb 2018, 09.42am
Message: I think we should leave and take the economic consequences, the long term is far more important than the short term. If there are job losses some people will leave the UK and fewer people will want to come to the UK, this will lower net migration and lower the demand for public services and housing. We can then start deporting illegal migrants, criminal migrants, and economic migrants that contribute nothing to the UK.
Name: Patrick F, Tunbridge Wells      Date/Time: 01 Feb 2018, 07.36am
Message: I was appalled to watch Labour's Baroness Blackstone age 75, say this, in the House of Lords. "Old people, who voted in large numbers to leave, have most of their lives behind them." I want to live long enough to see the end of this archaic institution and the reactionaries within it. I'm 57 and a former Labour voter because of people in the party like her.
 RECENT BREXIT
NEGOTIATION DOCUMENTS
We thought you might find it useful to have an index of some of the key Brexit documents all in one place. We will add to this over time.
SOME KEY EU DOCUMENTS FOR THE BREXIT NEGOTIATIONS
30 Jan 2018 - Press release (the one confirming the UK must surrender completely)
OBSERVATIONS
This has been a small public service from Brexit Facts4EU.Org.
[ Sources: EU Commission | EU Council ]        06.55am, 01 Feb 2018
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We present facts we've researched from official government and EU sources.

Now that the Referendum has been won, we have 2 main aims:
1.  To provide bullet-pointed and factual summaries of key points, to help people to ensure Brexit is delivered in full.
2.  Crucially, to allow MPs and campaigners to give reliable and consistent facts to the public.
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