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Quick Brexit facts from reliable, official sources
Read by Ministers, MPs, MEPs, journalists, campaigners, and the public
BREXIT NEWS 01 - 11 JAN 2018  
 ‘PLEASE BE
NICER TO US’
HAMMOND FAILS TO INSPIRE THE GERMANS IN BERLIN
© Welt / Twitter
GERMANS RELEGATE CHANCELLOR OF
WORLD'S 5TH LARGEST ECONOMY TO A SIDE TABLE
If Philip Hammond and David Davis had hoped to make a splash by their combined visit to Germany yesterday, they will perhaps have been disappointed. Reading the German press overnight you have to look fairly hard for any mention of the visit.
Even the Frankfurter Allgemeine, for which Messrs Hammond and David Davis jointly wrote an article on Wednesday, has nothing today on its homepage about the visit. The joint article appeared yesterday behind FAZ’s firewall and it does not appear to have registered in Germany.
Last night the Chancellor also gave a speech to ‘Die Welt Economic Summit’ in Berlin. For information about this summit, please see the article which follows. Below we give some excerpts of Mr Hammond’s speech.
EXCERPTS FROM WHAT THE CHANCELLOR TOLD THE GERMANS LAST NIGHT:
“I know the repeated complaint from Brussels has been that the UK hasn't made up its mind what type of relationship it wants.”
“But in London, many feel that we have little, if any, signal of what future relationship the EU27 would like to have with a post-Brexit Britain.”
“Since the referendum in the UK, there has been a marked asymmetry between the enthusiasm expressed by certain third countries to pursue future trade deals with the UK and the relative silence, in public at least, from Europe on what the EU wants our future relationship to look like.”
 
“By signalling a willingness to work together in a spirit of pragmatic cooperation on a future mutually beneficial, partnership, based on high levels of access for goods and services...”, said Hammond, “the EU will send a message to the British people which will resonate as they consider the options for their future.”
“And that is my challenge to you.”
Chancellor Philip Hammond, Berlin, 10 January 2018
OBSERVATIONS
In the final excerpt above, the Chancellor appeared to be trying to make a coded appeal to the Germans, suggesting that the EU should make more cooperative proposals which might ‘resonate’ better with the British people.
Mr Hammond is clearly concerned that the tide of opinion is swinging further away from the EU each time it makes one of its aggressive announcements about Brexit. As an arch Remainer, he knows there are still many battles to fight and that it is still possible to water down Brexit to such a point that we might as well not have left.
Indeed, under some of the stranger suggestions of Remoaners, the UK would actually be much worse off than it would be if it stayed as a member of the EU.
We’ve read that final excerpt many times and we can’t see any other way of interpreting it, other than as an appeal to the German hierarchy to use its influence on Brussels to be more amenable and less unfriendly, in order not to solidify even more support behind a full and clean Brexit that the people voted for in 2016.
THE VENUE
Have you noticed how venues for gatherings of the great and powerful within the EU are increasingly starting to resemble Spectre HQ...?
© Welt / Twitter
NOTE FOR THE RECORD
For the record, here is the list of guests we have obtained:
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis, British Chancellor Philip Hammond (evening only) and EU Budget Commissioner Günther Oettinger, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, German Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection Heiko Maas, Markus Söder, Bavarian Minister of State for Finance, Regional Development and Home Affairs, State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Finance Jens Spahn, the group chairman of BÜNDNIS 90 / DIE GRÜNEN Katrin Göring-Eckardt, and Leader of the FDP Christian Lindner.
Numerous board members of German and international corporations were on the guest list of the event, among them José María Álvarez-Pallete (Telefónica SA), Frank Appel (Deutsche Post AG), Werner Baumann (Bayer AG), Aldo Belloni (Linde AG), Kurt Bock ( BASF SE), Vittorio Colao (Vodafone), Gerhard Cromme (Siemens AG), John Cryan (Deutsche Bank AG), Heinrich Hiesinger (thyssenkrupp AG), Timothy Höttges (Deutsche Telekom AG), Alex Karp (Palantir Technologies), Jean Pierre Mustier (UniCredit), Rolf-Martin Schmitz (RWE AG), Carsten Spohr (Deutsche Lufthansa AG), Johannes Teyssen (E.ON SE), Hans van Bylen (Henkel AG & Co. KGaA), Joachim Wenning (Munich Reinsurance Company AG ), Martin Zielke (Commerzbank). The event was led by Christoph Keese, Managing Director of Axel Springer hy GmbH.
[ Sources: Welt-Wirtschaftsgipfel 2018 | Die Welt | Twitter | Axel Springer ]
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
       07.45am, 11 Jan 2018
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 ‘IF EU STOPS THE MONEY,
WE’LL GET IT FROM CHINA’
© Hungarian ministry
ORBAN OVERSHADOWS HAMMOND
AT GERMAN LEADERS’ SUMMIT
Hungary’s Prime Minister tells Germans:
  • “If the EU does not make enough funds available, we’ll get them from China”
  • “Europe must stick to its Christian roots”
  • “Visegrad Group has greater economic weight in the EU than France”
Each January, invited leaders of politics and business meet at a prestigious gathering in Berlin organised by Axel Springer, the conglomerate that owns Die Welt and a large number of other publications in Europe.
The sixty plus guests this year included German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the CEOs of more than a dozen DAX companies, as well as EU Budget Commissioner Günther Oettinger (who happens to be German) and British Chancellor, the Remainer Philip Hammond.
If Chancellor Hammond thought he might be the headline international act for the German media, he will be disappointed this morning. Hungary’s flamboyant, straight-talking Prime Minister stole the show with some typically strong words for his mostly German audience.
© Welt / Twitter
ORBAN IST UBER ALLES
Viktor Orban has been everywhere in Germany in the last week. On Friday he made a highly-publicised appearance at the party conference of the conservative Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU), the sister party to German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU).
He followed this up on Tuesday when he was in Bild, Germany’s biggest selling tabloid, with a major interview. Then yesterday he was in Berlin, causing another stir.
OBSERVATIONS
Most of the speeches at the “Welt-Wirtschaftsgipfel” (Welt economic conference) are supposedly under Chatham House rules, which effectively means that people can speak without being reported. However in the case of Mr Orban we understand from Hungarian and German sources that he reiterated many of his recent themes, as well as adding something provocative.
Specifically he is going on the offensive at exactly the time that the EU Commission is planning further attacks on Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and others, for failing to behave in the way the Commission likes.
Orban is not one to mince his words. To say that the Visegrad group of Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia are stronger economically than France will touch a nerve in Berlin – to say nothing of Paris. Berlin has serious doubts that President Macron will be able to deliver on his programme of reforms in France, which means that the French economy will continue to tank very slowly.
It has long been our opinion that things are in fact much worse in France than they appear. France has always used the EU to prop up various parts of its economy and we also believe it papers over and embellishes the figures it reports to the EU each year.
If you want one example of the way France relies on the EU to prop it up, just look at its net contributions. France’s economy is only slightly smaller than the UK’s, and yet it pays half the net contributions paid by the UK. There is no way on this earth that this can be justified, except to say that the French ‘play’ the EU and particularly the Germans much better than do the British.
Returning to Prime Minister Orban, he is certainly flexing his muscles. You will no doubt see many newspapers use the forthcoming Hungarian elections in April as a criticism of Mr Orban’s actions and words, suggesting that he's playing to his home audience. In fact, the Hungarian Prime Minister’s position is one of the most secure of all the leaders of all the countries in the EU. He will win. He doesn’t need to look and act tough in Germany to win. He’ll win and he’ll win handsomely.
[ Sources: Hungarian government sources | Welt-Wirtschaftsgipfel 2018 | Die Welt | Twitter ]
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
       07.45am, 11 Jan 2018
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 WHEN WILL THE EU
STOP CLAIMING CREDIT
FOR UK SUCCESS?
© Eurostat / EU Commission
EU TRUMPETS ITS EXPORT FIGURES TO USA IN RELEASE YESTERDAY
BUT WITHOUT THE UK, ITS DEFICIT WOULD BE 22 TIMES WORSE
The UK is supposed to be treated as a full member of the EU until it leaves. This simply isn’t happening as we have reported many times before.
However there are two areas of its activity when the UK is always fully included:
  1. The trumpeting of good news due to the UK but claimed by the EU, and
  2. The calculation of contributions towards the EU’s inflated costs
AN EXAMPLE FROM YESTERDAY
Yesterday the EU’s statistics body, Eurostat, released information on the export of services to the US. It did so on its website and it also announced the news in a large tweet:-
© EU Commission / Eurostat
The EU claims that 26% of its services exports went to the US in 2016. This is true – the total amounted to €218 billion euros.
However the EU didn’t mention the UK’s involvement in this.
  • UK was responsible for 29% of the EU’s services exports to US
  • Total UK services exports to US in 2016: €63.6bn
  • In fact since 2010 the total UK services exports to US have been €389.2bn
In other words, what the EU is failing to tell you, as it trumpets its large sales of services to the US, is that without the UK its export performance to the USA would be very unimpressive indeed.
© The White House
EU’S BALANCE OF US TRADE WITHOUT THE UK
Below we show you the picture with and without the UK. The latter position is something which the EU had better start getting used to.
Chart © Facts4EU.Org 2018
DEFICIT ROCKETS WITHOUT UK
As you can see, the EU’s deficit in trading services with the US rockets when we exclude the UK. The UK has a very healthy trading balance in services with the US. UK exports in 2016 were at €63.6bn whereas imports were only €36.2bn. The UK had a positive trade balance of €27.4bn.
THE UK VERSUS THE EU27
Below we show the relative positions of the UK's trading relationship with the US, and the trading position of the EU27 with the US. To be clear, in each case we're looking at services, which is what the EU's press release yesterday was about. Services also happen to be the most important part of the UK's economy.
Chart © Facts4EU.Org 2018
Chart © Facts4EU.Org 2018
OBSERVATIONS
The EU has been very keen ever since Brexit to show the world – and in particular the citizens of its member countries – that it is not as bad at doing export deals as was claimed during the Referendum campaign.
This is simply untrue. The EU really is bad at doing trade deals and it has shown very little interest in global trade as a whole – until Brexit. Suddenly it seems as though we’re seeing announcements about progress on trade deals every day. We have seen the same news announced three times in different ways. We’ve seen some minor progress in trade negotiations being announced as if it were a new free trade deal.
Unfortunately large parts of the British media buy this nonsense without questioning it.
Make no mistake,
THIS IS EU PROPAGANDA
We deal in facts: facts which often take a lot of research to uncover. In many cases headline ‘information’ is readily available but the raw data behind the headlines takes much longer to find out and analyse.
This is the sort of job the BBC should be doing – but isn’t.
We do this because someone has to provide information for the government and our parliamentarians, in order for them to see reality and for the government to stop acting like the UK is a poor supplicant in the Brexit negotiations.
We also do it so that the information gets communicated to more of the public, in order that more people can see that Leave was in fact the right decision on June 23rd 2016 and remains the right decision today.
FOR OUR AMERICAN READERS
We have a final word, this time for our American readers. Please continue to ignore the garbage you may hear from some quarters of the British media and from some segments of the British political establishment, about your President and about the EU. Those people do not represent mainstream UK.
All developed societies are currently going through a period of change, which happens from time to time when the elites within societies get too big for their own boots and lose touch with reality and with the thoughts and feelings of the majority of citizens. This is happening in the US, the UK, and across the EU.
Here at Brexit Facts4EU.Org we continue to support our friends and allies around the world, including the US and all our Commonwealth partners. We look forward to even closer relationships once we have left the straitjacket of the EU. In particular we would very much welcome a visit from your President at any time. He represents you, the American people, and your great country, and naturally the great majority of the British people would support a visit by the President of the United States of America.
[ Sources: Eurostat official EU Commission figures ]      Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
       07.15am, 10 Jan 2018
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Name: : W Alkaway, UK      Date/Time: 10 Jan 2018, 12.29pm
Message: Or could this trumpeting be because the EU still believe that the UK will not totally leave? The lacklustre performance so far of PM May, with anti-Brexit Hammond still Chancellor, has convinced the EU Bureaucrats that May is not for leaving. Time the UK does deals with the World and announces what it is doing. No back bone to our politicians these days. And that goes for those who only serve themselves, not their constituents. They like receiving pay cheques, expenses and offers of future positions with the EU. The Gravy Train. A minority are at Westminster to loyally serve and do their duty; they stand out magnificently amongst the dross.
Name: : Brexiter Braintree Essex, UK      Date/Time: 10 Jan 2018, 11.18am
Message: The USA is not in the EU. We are constantly told by remoaners if we leave the EU our economy will collapse, the EU is our largest export market, we are too small to compete in the world. The truth is the UK can compete with the best of countries in the world. If you have the right product that other countries want, at the right price, they will buy it. Once we leave the EU, companies will look for other markets around the world. In this internet age, communication is easy and quick to establish when looking for trading partners. English is the international language of Trade. This is Britain's chance to break free from the ever more advancing EU superstate. In 1973 we were told the EEC was about Trade, which is what the population wanted, not surrendering sovereignty. When we leave we go back to what we have always been - an International Trading Nation.
Name: : Sylvia T, PA, USA      Date/Time: 10 Jan 2018, 07.37am
Message: Thank you for the message to us yanks! Seriously I love what you guys write and it teaches me lots about what goes on over there. Many of us here are happy we're going to get an independent partner back. MAGA AND MBGA!

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 IT'S ANOTHER
REMAYNER
CABINET
Chart © Facts4EU.Org 2018
8 REMAINERS REWARDED
ONLY 1 BREXITEER GETS PROMOTION
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG ANALYSIS OF CABINET CHANGES, BREXIT PERSPECTIVE
  • Theresa May ignores the public yet again
  • 72% of all Cabinet attendees voted Remain
  • 70% of full members of Cabinet voted Remain
  • Prime Minister promotes 6 Remainers within full members of Cabinet
  • PM promotes 2 more Remainers to positions attending Cabinet
  • Only 1 Brexiteer is promoted into Cabinet, because a Remainer turned it down
Mrs May yesterday spurned the chance to address the 18-month old scandal of having a Cabinet dominated by Remainers.
Instead of bringing in several new faces from the victorious Leave side of the Referendum debate, she promoted just one, and that was only because the Remainer she wanted for the job (Justine Greening) refused it.
HOW THE PERCENTAGES STACK UP AGAINST BREXITEERS
The Cabinet’s composition in terms of its huge Remain bias is broadly unchanged. 72% of all those attending Cabinet voted Remain. If you look only at full cabinet positions, the figure is 70%.
So, at the next Cabinet meeting when Mrs May looks around the table at all those present, only 28% will be people who voted for the majority position of Leave in the EU Referendum in June 2016.
INDIVIDUAL POSITIONS
Below is the table of positions as they stood at midnight.
Table © Facts4EU.Org 2018
As you can see from the shaded orange boxes, eight Remain supporters were rewarded yesterday with new jobs. Two more had their jobs enlarged – Jeremy Hunt and Sajid Javid.
One sole Brexiteer was promoted yesterday: Esther McVey was given the role of Work and Pensions Secretary – but only after Remainer Justine Greening was offered the job first and declined it.
NOTES
Caveat: We cannot yet be completely certain of which positions are full cabinet positions and which are positions that simply attend cabinet. This is partly because no official announcements have been published, and partly because the Prime Minister started renaming positions on the hoof yesterday, when ministers refused to move. For example, Jeremy Hunt had ‘Social Care’ added to his Health Secretary title.
In particular, the position of Employment Minister was one which attended Cabinet without being a full member of it, and this had previously been filled by Damian Hinds. Mr Hinds has now been made Education Secretary, leaving a vacancy.
No announcement was made yesterday regarding his replacement as Employment Minister and this has gone unreported by the mainstream media. In effect, whilst Mrs May supposedly dealt by midnight with all positions attending cabinet, this one is unaccounted for. For the moment we have assumed this has dropped out of cabinet attendance, when calculating our percentages above.
We have also assumed that Brandon Lewis’ new role as Conservative Party Chairman and Minister Without Portfolio will be a full cabinet role.
OBSERVATIONS
Our overall observation is simple. The Prime Minister has once again completely ignored the majority in the country. The standard argument is that it doesn’t matter which way a particular minister voted in the Referendum, “because we’re all Leavers now”.
Nonsense. Philip Hammond and Amber Rudd in particular have been doing everything in their power to scupper Brexit and they hold two of the most powerful positions in Cabinet. If they’re “Leavers now”, then here at Brexit Facts4EU.Org we’re all changing our names to Nick Clegg and Anna Soubry.
Yesterday Theresa May had two vacancies pretty much forced on her. Arch-Remainer Justine Greening refused to move from Education to Work & Pensions (DWP). As the PM had already moved David Gauke (Remainer) from DWP to Justice, this left a hole at DWP.
 
HURRAY FOR McVEY
Without this 'forced vacancy', there would have been no space for Brexiteer Esther McVey to enter Cabinet. Ms McVey was the ONLY new Brexiteer to appear in the Cabinet yesterday.
Ms McVey's will be a powerful voice for Brexit within the Cabinet and we congratulate her warmly on her success.
NORTHERN IRELAND
The other vacancy forced on Mrs May was that of Northern Ireland Secretary. This has been caused by James Brokenshire who sadly had to resign due to serious illness. We wish him a full and speedy recovery.
 
Here was a perfect opportunity for the PM to bring back one of two Brexiteers. Both were excellent former ministers, both had previously held the Northern Ireland job, and both would have inspired confidence in the Brexit-supporting public.
We refer of course to Owen Paterson and Theresa Villiers, both of whom we recommended to Mrs May yesterday morning.
 
The Northern Ireland job has a vital role in the Brexit negotiations, as we have seen in recent months. It also happens to be extremely important for the people of the Province because of Sinn Fein continuing to refuse to join in the Executive. That is a problem needing to be solved as soon as possible.
What better time that to bring back an experienced person? Northern Ireland politics is notoriously difficult to master. May had two superbly-qualified candidates. Instead, she promoted Remainer Karen Bradley.
The government has hardly covered itself with glory in the Brexit talks so far. Owen Paterson would have been an ideal addition to Cabinet, with his previous experience at Ag and Fish. (Environment Secretary.) To have his knowledge and expertise at the Cabinet table and in negotiations with the EU would have been a tremendous boost. Similarly Theresa Villiers would have been a steady and experienced pair of hands, with her knowledge of the NI/Republic of Ireland border issues.
NEW APPOINTMENTS TODAY
Today we understand Mrs May will be making many more announcements, bringing ‘fresh blood’ into government in the form of junior ministerial appointments. Much will be said about ‘diversity’. We would not be surprised if the kind of analysis we’ve done on Leavers versus Remainers is done in respect of women, those with disabilities, and those with claims to being part of a minority.
With apologies to those who will be promoted today, WE SIMPLY DON’T CARE.
Getting the Brexit balance in government right really wouldn’t have been hard. Theresa May has now had several opportunities and has failed every time. For the Cabinet to represent the thinking of the British people on the most important and overriding issue of our time is essential.
Theresa May has once again failed abysmally.
No doubt today’s announcements of promotions for women and minorities will absorb the luvvies at the BBC, Sky News, ITN, Guardian, Financial Times etc. Yesterday the BBC didn’t even mention the Brexit balance of the new Cabinet. Why should they? It suits them perfectly that the Cabinet represents the Remainer thinking of the Establishment of which they’re a part.
We hope that we have at least given voice to the frustrations which some of you must be feeling.
[ Sources: parliament.uk | gov.uk ]      Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
       06.55am, 09 Jan 2018
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Name: : Jon, Wales      Date/Time: 14 Jan 2018, 08.57am
Message: Like millions of others, I urge the UK government to stop wasting time and aim for a 'clean Brexit'. The EU commission will play this out for so long as it can, pumping out its propaganda, aided and abetted by remain MPs, and others. Our country will only be 'played' by the EU for so long as our MPs allow it. The UK is a major economy and strong country, and presently the second highest NET contributor to what has become a dictatorial EU commission no-one voted for. The better our country does, the more we have to pay them. They have the audacity to tell us what we may and may not do, and quietly grab powers for themselves. On that point, I remember former UK Prime Minister, Mr Cameron, clearly state years ago that no further powers would be handed to the EU commission without electoral consent? The arrogant unelected EU commission then 'attack' member countries who do not 'obey' their EU masters. Is it any wonder peoples across continental Europe have at last seen the light, and some leaders now openly rebel, putting their own citizens first, as they should do? UK Ministerial positions should in my opinion be filled with experienced MPs. All cabinet ministers should be singing the same tune for a 'clean Brexit', but they're not. If Mrs May had promoted more of the outstanding Brexiteer MPs, we could get things moving, fast. Either way, we MUST NOT allow the EU to hold our country to ransom. This is why we need Mrs May to take ALL monies off the table as we've already given too much?
Name: : Rosie, UK      Date/Time: 10 Jan 2018, 00.53am
Message: Two very wrong things about the shuffle: 1) Positive Discrimination. This will take generations to recover from. How will we be able now to trust someone from a favoured background? In our minds will be the suspicion that they only got the job because they are from a favoured group, not because they are up to it. 2) Why is Brexiteer Kwasi Kwarteng always left out? According to the new criteria he should be in the Cabinet at senior level. Could it be because he is too bright, too well educated, and too likeable?

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 WHEN WILL
THE TABLE TURN?
Chart © Facts4EU.Org 2018
PRIME MINISTER SHUFFLES ABOUT AGAIN
Cabinet table, 10 Downing Street                                                      © gov.uk
The Prime Minister is expected to reshuffle her Cabinet today and tomorrow, following the departure of her closest confidant and First Secretary of State Damian Green last last year.
THE CURRENT LINE-UP, AS AT 7am 8th JAN 2018
Below is our table showing the current composition of the cabinet – full members and those who attend it. We are showing Damian Green’s position as vacant but still in red for Remain, but we would be shocked (but delighted) if Theresa May appointed a Brexiteer to this role.
Table © Facts4EU.Org 2018
HISTORY OF THERESA MAY’S CABINET CHANGES
July 2016 – First cabinet
June 2017 – Minor changes, also added First Secretary (another Remainer)
Nov 2017 – Defence Secretary Fallon replaced by Williamson (Remain for Remain)
Nov 2017 – International Aid Secretary Priti Patel replaced by Penny Mordaunt (Leave for Leave)
OBSERVATIONS
At present the Cabinet has a heavy dominance of Remain voters – far, far more than can possibly be justified by excuses of ‘chance’ or ‘merit’. It simply isn’t remotely reasonable or conceivable on any basis to have a government so heavily-skewed against the majority view of the country, unless the act is deliberate.
For those who would immediately jump to the Prime Minister’s defence and claim that she had little choice because most Tory MPs backed Remain, we would ask you to research the facts, as we do.
Yes, a small majority of Tory MPs voted Remain (against the wishes of the majority of Conservative voters), but it was only 56%.
Chart © Facts4EU.Org 2018
And let’s be frank, a significant number of MPs voted the way they thought would help their careers. With David Cameron as Prime Minister, and with him being as Europhile as they come, few ambitious young Tory MPs wanted to jeopardise their chances of advancement by coming out for Leave when Leave was never expected to win anyway.
Few Tory MPs are as undemocratic and anti-Brexit as this lot below.
'The Dirty Dozen' - A Rump of Tory Remoaners
Gallery by Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2018
TODAY AND TOMORROW
As ever, rumours abound and Brexit Facts4EU.Org doesn’t comment on internal Conservative party matters nor on specific appointments in relation to government departments where Brexit has a lesser focus. We will therefore only comment on some specific individuals.
THE TREASURY & HOME OFFICE
We campaigned against Philip Hammond and Amber Rudd getting any kind of Cabinet roles in the first place. We were prepared to bury the hatchet with many MPs who backed Remain, but Hammond and Rudd were beyond the pale for us. We took an equally uncompromising stance over George Osborne, Anna Soubry, Nicky Morgan, and Kenneth Clarke. In the latter cases Mrs May agreed with us but alas she gave Hammond and Rudd two of the most senior positions of state.
We still call for both of these individuals to be fired, on the basis that they will never, ever, admit they were wrong about some of their appalling and divisive statements during the Referendum campaign, and nor will they ever, ever support and truly get behind Brexit. We have been proved right on countless occasions since the Referendum, when these two have quite evidently plotted for the thwarting of Brexit.
Unfortunately it seems that our Remain-voting Prime Minister still wants these anti-Brexit individuals as part of her government.
ON A POSITIVE NOTE
Below are four MPs from the Conservative benches whose praises we have regularly sung. Three of the four have massive governmental experience they can bring to bear, together with deep knowledge of the EU and how it works. The fourth is quite simply a beacon of bright, shining light for the younger generation, whose appeal transcends class and political boundaries. He also happens to be a constitutional expert, which is a handy thing to have around at present.
Talent the country needs for Brexit
Gallery by Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2018
These are by no means the only MPs we favour when Mrs May is looking to change her government and we could mention many more if we had time. They are amongst a significant pool of talent on the Conservative back benches whom we feel would be particularly useful in helping the government to deliver a full, clean, successful Brexit.
FINALLY
We feel that we – and the majority of our readership – have been patient for far too long. If Theresa May fails to address the shocking imbalance in the ratio of Remain-to-Leave voting MPs who hold cabinet or junior positions in her government, then history will judge her. And we will have no confidence in her.
More importantly we fear the British people’s growing sense of alienation from what really has become ‘the governing class’ will solidify still further.
This is not healthy, Theresa. Please don’t be blind to what is slowly happening.
[ Sources: Hansard | gov.uk ]      Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
       06.55am, 08 Jan 2018
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Name: : R Ellison, UK      Date/Time: 08 Jan 2018, 12.37pm
Message: Precisely the article I was hoping you'd produce, Facts 4EU. Perhaps PM Maybe Theresa May doesn't realise that we all will judge her by what she does next. This is a breaking point for the Tory Party, and the whole Country. Unless she proves her loyalty to the majority of the UK by making her Cabinet a Brexiteers' Cabinet, and sacks Remoaners Hammond and Rudd, then we will no longer be deceived. No amount of PR spin will work. Theresa May has only two choices: to be hailed and exalted for ever as the PM who delivered a clean break from a Mafia EU, or the PM with one of the most dirty, besmirched records of massive deception to the UK populace.

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 UK TOTALLY DOMINATES
TECHNOLOGY SECTOR
INVESTMENT IN 2017
© DIT
UK GETS MORE INVESTMENT THAN
ALL OTHER EU COUNTRIES COMBINED
There continue to be regular stories about concerns over Britain’s economy post-Brexit, particularly when it comes to finance and investment.
The latest figures from specialist US data provider Pitchbook show that the venture capital and private equity markets are in extremely healthy shape, with the UK completely dominating the EU for investments in the technology sector.
Investments were made in companies involved in activities such as virtual reality gaming, currency exchange, and e-commerce platforms. The Fintech area was particularly strong.
UK IS SUPREMELY DOMINANT
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
The UK’s dominance of the venture capital market for investment in the technology sector is extraordinary. Last year the UK received more than all other EU countries combined, with a total of just under £3 billion. The next closest was economic powerhouse Germany, with only £694.5 million.
CITIES – LONDON RULES
When it comes to individual cities, London’s dominance appears to be unassailable. London achieved investments totalling £2.45 billion – over four times that of closest rival Paris which came in at £565 million. Berlin was third with £456 million.
NO CLIFF EDGE AFTER REFERENDUM
Once again, this is another piece of economic news which defies the ‘Armaggedon’ narrative of Project Fear. Despite the stories of how investors would keep their powder dry and would wait to see if the British government would negotiate as soft a Brexit as possible, the opposite has happened.
Investors have shown their confidence in the UK in even greater numbers. Venture capital investment in technology firms increased by 83% from 2016 to 2017.
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
OBSERVATIONS
What Remain commentators and politicians often fail to appreciate is that many people voted Leave in the full expectation that the economy would suffer in the short term. Many Leave voters were prepared to endure financial hardship if it came to it, in order to regain national sovereignty and to start to put right all the wrongs increasingly imposed by an ever-encroaching bureaucratic monolith.
The best-case scenario for many British people was that the economy would stand still for a few years. Project Fear’s message of course was that the UK would be plunged into what David Cameron called “a DIY recession”. Chancellor George Osborne warned he would have to impose an emergency austerity budget.
The reality has been so, so much better. Whilst we continue to expect difficult times ahead, it has been a pleasure to bring you news like that above, showing how well the UK is doing.
WHY WE ARE CAUTIOUS
Yesterday a reader emailed to ask why we still see choppy waters ahead. The answer is simple, albeit not very savoury.
Other Brexit websites focus on the UK and on the British political scene. Whilst we cover this too, we also have considerable knowledge and experience of what happens in Brussels and around the EU27.
Regrettably we have to say that the EU elites – whether they work in Brussels for the Commission or in one of the governments of the EU27 countries – are fixated on their warped and dangerous construct that is the European Union. They care not for the democratic views of citizens. They’ve shown this many times in the ways they’ve ignored referenda and have continued on with their plans regardless.
They still believe in turning the glorious and disparate group of countries which form the EU’s membership into one great dysfunctional mass, driven from the centre by those who ‘know better’ than ordinary people.
We witness this day in, day out. These people would appal you more than perhaps you are already appalled, if you experienced every little detail of what they say and do each day.
Make no mistake, they intend to thwart Brexit just as much as the likes of Tony Blair, the Greens, the LibDems, some of the parliamentary Conservative party and most of the parliamentary Labour party.
The EU elites generally don’t see Brexit being rescinded however. They see it going ahead and believe it is then their duty to defeat the UK at all costs. For them, thwarting Brexit is about badly damaging the UK so that no other country dares to vote to leave.
 
Don’t forget Jean-Claude Juncker’s first reaction to the Referendum result on June 24th 2016:
“This will not be an amicable divorce.”
He said that before a single word had been spoken by the UK government. For Juncker and his colleagues, Brexit means one thing: punishment.
Ordinary people across the EU27 countries don't think like that of course. They're mostly sad that the UK is leaving (for various reasons) but they don't wish us ill. Unfortunately most of them remain unaware of the agenda of the unelected elites in Brussels.
THE PM, THE BBC, AND BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG
We wish that the Prime Minister would admit to the British public that there is no goodwill from the EU. That’s for the birds. When Mrs May talks of wanting a ‘deep and special partnership’ with the EU we want to shake her. We would love to force her to work in Brussels and listen to the EU elites for just one week. She needs to understand their mindset.
This is also true of the BBC, which completely fails to understand anything in Brussels. We know how to deal with the EU and we know just how powerful the UK is. The BBC just think that whatever the EU says is right, that the UK is some kind of impoverished and powerless entity, and that the UK stands no chance.
If the government mans up in 2018, we’ll be fine.
[ Sources: British Venture Capital Association | PitchBook Data, Inc ]
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual. ]
       04.35am, 07 Jan 2018
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Name: : Jon, Wales      Date/Time: 07 Jan 2018, 05.47am
Message: I have always believed in my country. The first investment chart above, should be a massive wake up call for the EU Commission, but especially for the remaining EU27 who wish to continue business with the UK? It appears to me, the more they attempt to 'harm' our country, the better we do. It occurs EU27 leaders should totally ignore the dictatorial EU Commission, whom are in my opinion simply trying to prove a point to the gullible, except the UK is strong enough to face them head on. Even now, I don't think the EU can grasp the fact the majority electorate KNEW there would be bumps along the way to exit, though we have been proven 100% correct at the levels of animosity towards us, yet they still want our money. Any further delay would I hope see the UK walk away from negotiations, as I believe the EU27 leaders would come to their senses and understood we're leaving. The FTSE100 closed the week on Friday 5th January at 7724. I don't hear the Remain camp complaining about the good news we continue seeing?

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 BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG's
“WHERE'S ARMAGEDDON?”
PART THREE
A short review of the immediate recession we were threatened with
(And you don't need to be an economist to read this and find it good!)
This is Part Three of our “Where’s Armageddon?” New Year’s series. We’re highlighting a few of the major economic indices, showing how the vote to Leave the EU eighteen months ago did not produce the economic wasteland we were threatened with.
Most people are aware that Project Fear turned out to be nonsense, but isn’t it good to have some solid facts in front of you?
WHAT HAPPENED TO INFLATION?
In September 2015 inflation reached its low point of 0.2%. This was 9 months before the Referendum. Since then it has been rising.
In other words and to make this very simple for Remoaners, the rise in prices started the year before we voted on whether to leave the EU.
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
By the end of 2017 inflation (CPIH) stood at 2.8%. This is still low historically and to put it into context, at the end of 2011 it stood at 3.7% - much higher.
THE RISING STOCK MARKETS
Following the Referendum the FTSE100 stock market index was doing well.
“Aha!” said Remainers, “that’s because those large companies that make up that particular index make their money in dollars, so they’re fine of course.”
“Just you wait 'til you see what happens to the mid-sized companies that make up the backbone of Britain – the FTSE250.”
As you can see below, both the FTSE 100 and the FTSE 250 indices have performed very well since the Referendum. The charts below, which come from the London Stock Exchange, show the growth in each index from 23rd June 2016 (referendum day) until 31 December 2017.
BELOW: FTSE 100 grew by 21.3%
© London Stock Exchange 2018
BELOW: FTSE 250 grew by 19.8%
© London Stock Exchange 2018
OBSERVATIONS
Those who are from the anti-Brexit mainstream media including the BBC like to focus on stories such as that of a Labour peer who most of the public had never heard of, who jumped before he was pushed, and who issued a frankly delusional tirade against the government’s Brexit policies.
He was inexplicably employed by the current Prime Minister, whilst never having been elected to anything and having received his peerage thanks to a SpAd job with Tony Blair. Between Christmas and New Year he resigned from his highly-paid job with a government quango, over Brexit. In essence, he’s on the extreme wing of the Remoanerites. Nothing other than blocking the Referendum result will do for him.
Whilst Remainer journalists and commentators focus on Westminster bubble stories like that one, they completely fail to address the serious issues which affect the lives of most people.
Here at Brexit Facts4EU.Org we think that other things are important. Things such as sovereignty, secure borders, British laws, jobs, businesses, the economy, education, health, housing, transport, communities, the countryside, agriculture and fishing, manufacturing, science and technology, social cohesion, defence and our armed forces, our emergency and local services, and impartial news from the national broadcaster.
We hope that some of the information we’re bringing you in this ‘Where's Armageddon?’ series is interesting. We've tried to keep it to the main economic data which has an impact on people's lives either directly or indirectly. In general, these are the kind of statistics which make the BBC news - except when they show Brexit in a good light.....
As always, the data is from official sources and is incontrovertible.
The immediate recession we were all threatened with if we voted to leave the EU was a complete fabrication. It remains our view that this fabrication was deliberate and cynical.
[ Sources: Office for National Statistics | London Stock Exchange ]
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       06.25am, 06 Jan 2018
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 BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG's
“WHERE'S ARMAGEDDON?”
PART FOUR
A short review of the immediate recession we were threatened with
This is the Fourth and Final Part of our “Where’s Armageddon?” New Year’s series. We’re highlighting a few of the major economic indices, showing how the vote to Leave the EU eighteen months ago did not produce the economic wasteland we were threatened with.
Most people are aware that Project Fear turned out to be nonsense, but isn’t it good to have some solid facts in front of you?
THE RISING MANUFACTURING OUTPUT
Below are the results of November’s CBI Industrial Trends Report. This is the CBI’s longest-running survey which began in 1958 and in their words “continues to be an accurate and timely bellwether for UK manufacturing and the wider economy”.
Bear in mind that the CBI has only ever been pro-Remain and is one of those organisations in the UK which has never apologised for its appalling track record in getting all of its EU and Brexit forecasts wrong.
CBI REPORT - Brexit Facts4EU.Org Quick Summary:-
  • Total orders - UP: the strongest in 30 years (since August 1988)
  • Export orders - UP: joint highest in 22 years (since June 1995)
  • Output volumes - UP: 40% of businesses said ‘up’, 12% said ‘down’
  • Net Balance - UP: +28% compared to long-run average of +4%
Below: Manufacturing orders, Jan 2016 – Nov 2017
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT – up by 10%
This is a significant indicator of the confidence the rest of the World has in the UK. The latest figures for 2017 show foreign investment in the UK has soared to over £1.5 TRILLION (£1,528.4 billion to be exact). This is an increase of £136.7 billion since the Referendum, an increase of 9.8%.
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
AND FINALLY, EXPORTS – up by 15%
When exports started shooting up after the Referendum, Remainers dismissed this airily. They patronisingly told Brexiteers (who are of course all very poorly-educated and not very bright) that it was simply an effect of the pound having fallen and making the price of British goods more competitive abroad.
Er.... No it wasn't. In Part Two of this series of reports we showed how the pound has risen against the dollar by almost 10% in 2017. Did exports then fall by the same percentage because our goods became more expensive for overseas buyers? No. As you can see in the graph below, exports have continued to rise.
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
DEPT FOR INTERNATIONAL TRADE
It's always nice to sing the praises of a government department. We have been impressed at the sheer drive and optimism of the new Department for International Trade, headed up by Secretary of State Dr Liam Fox. Since it was formed, this Department hasn't stopped. In addition to recruiting major international talent in the form of trade negotiators such as the Kiwi Crawford Falconer, Dr Fox and his team have been all over the world, drumming up business and preparing the way for trade deals.
Int'l Trade Secretary Liam Fox MP with Chinese Commerce Minister in China yesterday
We have followed their progress and it seems as though every week they're in a different country and on a different continent. We would be very surprised if their efforts were not already making a difference by raising the profile of British companies. We also think that the sheer fact of Brexit has raised Britain's profile globally and made it a more attractive trade partner for the future. We can't prove it, but we believe we're already seeing a 'Brexit Effect' in the rising global export figures.
OBSERVATIONS
In this series of four reports we've shown you the positive news about jobs, unemployment, wages, economic growth, the pound, inflation, the stock markets, manufacturing, foreign direct investment, and exports.
We have always expected the economic ride to be bumpy over several years as we extricate ourselves from the worst effects of being part of the EU. We still think there will be choppy waters ahead, as the EU continue to refuse to behave like a normal, adult organisation.
However it's now over 18 months since that glorious night when the United Kingdom voted to become independent again. The appropriate response from those who voted Remain is "Why were we lied to?" and many people now feel that way. However a few Remainers persist in some kind of bunker mentality, putting up absurd arguments against irrefutable evidence to the contrary. Naturally the BBC invites these people onto the TV and radio like a shot.
We genuinely believe that some Remoaners have lost it to such an extent that we're seeing real pyschoses in some well-known individuals. Time will tell but we must say that we've observed some cases where normal logic and reason have become strangers to the persons concerned.
Faced with the positive economic realities we have shown you in this series, the answer to the question "Where's Armageddon?" is "Not here, try Brussels."
[ Sources: CBI | Office for National Statistics | HMRC ]
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual. ]
       06.25am, 06 Jan 2018
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 EU’S CUBAN CRISIS
IN THE MAKING
© EU Commission
EU TREADS ON TRUMP’S LAWN WITH NEW EU-CUBA DEAL
Brexit Facts4EU.Org shows you why a Caribbean island matters in the Brexit debate
WHY THIS MATTERS
  • EU moves in on a Communist Caribbean island in US back yard
  • EU's Foreign Secretary launches thinly-veiled attacks on Trump
  • Another Spanish-speaking country where EU ignores human rights
  • Serious questions for Remoaners to answer
Yesterday, some 5,000 miles away from the EU, its de facto Foreign Secretary was stomping all over the Communist back yard of the most powerful nation on earth.
WHAT IS THE EU DOING IN CUBA?
In November the EU signed a ‘Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement’ with Cuba, which we reported on at the time. This latest trip to Cuba is Federica Mogherini’s third in three years, making this Communist island her most visited non-EU country outside of the Balkans, according to her.
Make no mistake, for the EU hierarchy this new relationship is important.
“It’s my third visit to Havana in three years,
which is probably a record apart from the Balkans,”
said Ms Mogherini in Havana yesterday.
Federica Mogherini, de facto Foreign Secretary of the EU in Cuba yesterday                © EU Commission
Ostensibly the agreement “provides new potential in the fields of cooperation, trade, investment and also political dialogue," according to Ms Mogherini. “The EU has become Cuba's top trade partner," she said.
For the record, Ms Mogherini held meetings with Rodrigo Malmierca Díaz, Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, with Esteban Lazo, President of the Cuban National Assembly, with Bruno Rodriguez, Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs at the MINREX, amongst others.
THE SIZE OF THE OPPORTUNITY
Despite the hype, here are the basic facts about Cuba’s economy. Its GDP is just 3.3% of the size of the UK’s.
Chart © Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2018
Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean, with an area of over 42,000 sq miles and over 11.2 million inhabitants. It is 4,855 miles from Brussels to Havana, a journey that takes around 12 hours’ flying time.
The Caribbean Spanish-speaking island of Cuba                                             © Google
EU ATTACKS TRUMP AND USA IN THEIR BACK YARD
Ms Mogherini is in Cuba for meetings with Cuban ministers, preparing for a joint meeting of the Council of Ministers in a couple of months’ time. Whilst there, she has taken the opportunity to go on the offensive against the US administration in a very obvious way.
Ms Mogherini made it clear she was happy to be doing deals with Cuba at a time when its relations with Washington are poor.
Here are some of Ms Mogherini's statements yesterday:-
“I know very well that right now some are trying to isolate Cuba. We Europeans, want to show, on the contrary, that we are closer to you than ever,” she told students and staff at Havana University.
“In response to those who build walls and shut doors, we Europeans want to build bridges and open doors.”
THE EU AND CUBA’S HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD
The Cuban government has been accused of numerous human rights abuses including torture, arbitrary imprisonment, unfair trials, and extra-judicial executions. Human Rights Watch has stated that “Cubans are systematically denied basic rights to free expression, association, assembly, privacy, movement, and due process of law”.
Ms Mogherini made a very strange statement about human rights, which we have on video:
“Our dialogue with Cuba on human rights began in 2015.”
- Federica Mogherini, 04 Jan 2018, Havana, Cuba
We comment on Ms Mogherini’s statement in our Observations below.
OBSERVATIONS
NO VISIBLE DEMOCRATIC MANDATE
Firstly we would like to know on whose authority the EU elites decided to make Cuba one of their top priorities for close international relations. We are not aware of Cuba being a priority of the British government in its foreign policy and the British people certainly have other priorities right now.
As we have shown above, in economic terms Cuba is of limited use. Certainly it isn’t of a size to justify the EU’s Foreign Secretary visiting it more than any other non-EU country except those in the Balkans. (We’re sure she exaggerated by the way, but nevertheless it’s clear the EU wants to trumpet what it’s doing in Cuba.)
You may wish to ask Remainers if they are happy for unelected bureaucrats in Brussels to decide major foreign policy like this, without anything even appearing in the news, let alone the British parliament deciding on it.
And yes, we’re sure this came up in one of the EU Council meetings a few years ago, and went through on the nod. So many decisions have been made like this, allowing the EU Commission to plough ahead much further than anyone expected. Often the British Foreign Office mandarins will have told the Foreign Secretary not to object, because they were trying to secure agreements on matters they thought were more important.
WHO APPROVED ANOTHER CUBAN CRISIS?
Having read and watched Ms Mogherini’s statements yesterday we are quite frankly astonished. If we were American we would be very irritated. It is perfectly clear that she is acting in such a way as to be interfering in the local theatre. Cuba is America’s backyard. If anyone doubts this, they have short memories or no knowledge of history at all.
For Mogherini to be saying things like “I know very well that right now some are trying to isolate Cuba” and “In response to those who build walls and shut doors…” is a deliberate provocation. We would just like to state for our American readers that Ms Mogherini does not speak for us. For that matter people like Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, don’t speak for us either.
We are about to go through yet more months where Remoaner MPs and peers will bleat loudly about democracy and having the right to question (meaning thwart) Brexit. We would love to know how these Remoaners feel about the complete lack of involvement they had in establishing the EU’s new policy towards one of the world’s last-remaining Marxist-Leninist regimes.
‘YUMAN RITES’
Finally we must comment on Ms Mogherini’s extraordinary statement about human rights.
She actually said, on video, “Our dialogue with Cuba on human rights began in 2015.”
This is a most extraordinary and quite blatant lie. We’re used to rebutting misrepresentations by the EU but this one left us fairly speechless when we first heard it yesterday. The facts are completely at odds with Mogherini’s claim.
In 1996 the EU established what it called a “common position” on Cuba, which guided relations for all member states until 2015. For 20 years, the EU attempted to influence Cuba’s appalling human rights record to such a degree that the Cuban government saw the EU’s actions as “an intolerable interference in Cuban internal affairs”.
For Ms Mogherini, the EU Commission’s Vice President and High Commissioner, to try to pretend that the EU has only just begun to try to influence Cuba is beyond belief. This suggests that all of this is new and that Cuba will rapidly become a progressive and democratic state now that the EU has made friends with it.
In fact the EU has tried and largely failed to influence Cuba’s appalling human rights record for 20 years. During that time there have been continual atrocities by the Communist regime.
WORRYING CONCLUSION
Perhaps that last sentence carries some of the key to all of this. Cuba is one of the last Communist dinosaurs still standing. Federica Mogherini was a committed Communist for the first eight years of her political career until the Italian Communist Party rebranded.
She is one of the smartest people we know of in Brussels and her people use her image at every opportunity. If you doubt us, take a look at the website of her part of the EU, which is called the EEAS or ‘European External Action Service’. Let’s just say that flattering photos of Ms Mogherini adorn many of the pages.
Because she is smart, and because she holds the reins of power of the EEAS which controls the new EU combined military, the EU’s foreign service, and many other capabilities, we consider her to be the most dangerous woman in Europe.
We will leave you with this question: Can anyone explain to us why the EU is so enamoured of the Communist, Caribbean island of Cuba?
[ Sources: EU Commission | EEAS | EU Parliament | Cuban media ]
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual. ]
       07.15am, 05 Jan 2018
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 GERMANS START TO
COUNT COST OF
MUTTI’S MIGRANTS
© ZDF
OFFICIAL LINK BETWEEN VIOLENT CRIME AND MIGRANTS
Yesterday in Germany an official government criminology report was published, showing the link between violent crime and migrants.
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG SUMMARY
  • Violent crime up by 10.4% from 2014-2016
  • 92.1% of this increase was committed by migrants
  • Pro-rata based on numbers, North Africans were the most likely perpetrators
The report was commissioned by the Federal government and looked at one region: Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony). It was carried out by Christian Pfeiffer, former State Minister of Justice, and two criminologists Dirk Baier and Sören Kliem, and it’s a study which is being taken seriously in Germany and has been widely reported.
The study considered the period 2014-2016. It is now accepted that all forms of crime have increased in Germany in the last few years, although figures vary across the different Lande (regions). Before this time, crimes had been falling steadily, but when one million migrants arrived in Germany in 2015, and many more in 2016, the violent crime rate in particular has risen significantly.
Chart © ZDF 2018
REASONS GIVEN FOR THE FIGURES
In the report, the authors are keen to give many reasons for the figures. For example they suggest that for different reasons, violent offences by refugees may be reported at least twice as often as offences by Germans.
They also state that the accommodation of migrants of different origin and religion in cramped accommodation promotes violence.
 
When it comes to the disproportionately high rates of violent crime amongst North Africans, they say that this is possibly “because they can not bring their dreams to fruition”.
In other words, North Africans are less likely to be granted asylum quickly (compared to Syrians and Afghanis, for example) and therefore they get more frustrated and commit more violent crimes.
The authors state that the violent crime mostly “concerns young male refugees between 14 and 30 years”.
They suggest that the presence of more women as a calming influence would help: “the higher the proportion of women in a refugee group, the more it behaves in a civil way.”
WHAT TYPE OF REMEDIES ARE SUGGESTED?
The report’s main author Herr Pfeiffer, former State Minister of Justice, was interviewed by the German media on his recommendations contained in the report.
 
He was asked about expelling migrants, which is now starting to be talked about more and more in Germany.
“I think it is time now to use the new coalition talks for a new perspective in refugee policy, namely to invest huge amounts of money for a return program,” he said.
Refused asylum seekers should get more support in their home countries, he added, and he suggested that more money should be provided to finance projects locally.
Report lead author, Herr Christian Pfeiffer
When it comes to migrants being given leave to stay in Germany, in general the report’s authors felt there should be better offers by the German state such as language courses, sports, internships, and care programmes for young refugees.
They also welcomed ‘family reunification’, whereby the families of all the young men who had made it to Germany be allowed in to join them. This would help to calm the young men, the authors felt.
Chart © Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2018
ABOUT NIEDERSACHSEN (LOWER SAXONY)
 
Niedersachsen is situated in north-western Germany and is the second largest state by land area and fourth largest in terms of population (7.9 million).
The state was created after WWII when it fell under the British zone of occupation. Its capital today is Hanover, a beautiful city which is renowned for the quality of language of its inhabitants.
 
In addition to studying the latest report, Brexit Facts4EU.Org also investigated the latest crime figures for 2016 which we obtained from Landeskriminalamt Niedersachsen (the Lower Saxony State Police Bureau).
Overall crime figures for 2016 show that:-
  • 28.0% of crimes were committed by non-Germans
  • 36.5% of murders were committed by non-Germans
OBSERVATIONS
BORING, BUT...
Firstly we should start with a disclaimer, even though we resent the fact it's required. We would never incite anyone to violence or hatred of any race. We deal in facts, and we comment on them. Our comments reflect common sense and are not driven by any agenda. We believe in freedom of speech and in our right to say what we want, including making generalisations about groups.
WHERE DO WE START?
We’ve looked at a lot of German media since the report was published. The report itself runs to many hundreds of pages including the appendices and much of it is pretty turgid stuff as you might expect. We also checked the latest information from the State Police, as we stated above. Hopefully the summary we’ve produced above is interesting for you.
The first major point to make is that this story would never have even seen the light of day a couple of years ago, when we were warning of the serious threat to Germany of the levels of rapidly-increasing mass immigration.
At that time, the German police were refusing even to discuss any aspect of crime in relation to migrants. They said they weren’t recording the information. Angela Merkel, the German government, and the whole German liberal mainstream media all acted as though the only way to talk about migrants was with a beaming smile on your face and golden halo over your head.
At the same time we were reading reports from individual police officers which told the opposite story. The problem was that we couldn’t bring you information because it was off the record. We may get criticised regularly by Remainers but they can never accuse us of reporting hearsay. Facts are facts, and that’s what they hate.
TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGING
Fast-forward to January 2018 and here we are with an official report, paid for by the German state, written by a former state minister and two eminent criminologists, admitting what the rest of us knew all along.
In fact the situation in Germany is much worse than is indicated by this report. You may wonder why the German media has said nothing about the huge increase in sex crime. The reason is that the report’s authors and the media still shy away from talking openly about the massive societal problems which now exist.
It is still the case that the German ‘Establishment’ holds a very different view to that of ordinary Germans. As in the UK, ordinary Germans live in the real world, not some bubble they have been able to create for themselves as is the case for politicians and journalists.
Ordinary Germans are having to face the consequences of the disastrous luvvie-politik which has been foisted on them in recent years.
The problem isn’t only of the politicians’ making of course. Unfortunately many people got caught up in the mass hysteria which took place across Europe in 2015, when otherwise normal Germans queued at train stations clutching flowers to thrust into the hands of thoroughly bemused young men from a wide variety of countries. In fact scenes like these occurred across the continent, it wasn’t only in Germany that rationality left the minds of half the populace.
Our Managing Editor still winces at the recollection of watching a video of smiling Dutch people in a town hall, singing a ‘welcome refugees’ song that one of the locals had composed, while presents were given out to the group of young, bearded men present.
THE ELITES STILL DON’T GET IT
Yesterday’s report in Germany shows that at least things are getting better in some ways. Is Germany back to normal yet? No, alas we can’t say that. On Tuesday this week Angela Merkel’s ghastly law which further abolishes freedom of expression in Germany came into force.
The law is complicated and we won’t analyse it here, but we simply want to put on record our total and utter contempt for the politicians across Europe who are fast imposing group-think on us all.
Despite the comments above, it is encouraging that Germans as a whole seem prepared to start talking much more openly about the migrant problem. Of course Merkel and her chums are hypocrites for not admitting the problem earlier, but at least a report like yesterday’s was actually reported, even if its conclusions weren’t in our view correct.
If you back freedom of speech, please support sites like ours. Even if you don’t want to support us financially for some reason, please back another site which is standing up for freedom.
Together in 2018 we can keep making progress.
[ Sources: Polizieliche Kriminalstatistik | Gewaltkriminalitat in Niedersachsen | ZDF | Other German media ]
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual. ]
       07.55am, 04 Jan 2018
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READERS' COMMENTS
Please send us your comments and we will publish them here. You can of course use a pseudonym if you prefer, and it's always nice to know roughly where you're writing from. Please always state the headline of the article you're commenting on.
Name: : Jon, Wales      Date/Time: 04 Jan 2018, 5.28pm
Message: May I say Facts4EU are absolutely correct by not publishing hearsay, and this simple 'self-regulation' is to be commended, though I would hope Facts4EU still present its opinions in the 'professional' and forthright manner it does. Remainers often present 'opinions' they fail to substantiate, yet they still continue to deny the facts when presented to them? In my personal opinion, freedom of expression is being attacked by the introduction of this law in Germany. One must therefore reasonably question, whether or not this is another 'tiny-step' in the march towards the anti-democratic EU construct, which all member countries may then have imposed upon them in one form or another, regardless of objections by citizens across continental Europe? Until the UK exits, we're still shackled to things that affect our liberties. In my considered opinion, the ONLY reason to curtail free speech, is for powerful elites to promote their political propaganda?
Name: : Brexit means Brexit, Halstead, Essex      Date/Time: 04 Jan 2018, 10.19am
Message: This article is obviously "Fake News". These unskilled, uneducated,economic migrants are coming to Europe to work and pay for our pensions. That's the mantra from our elite leaders, the people of Germany believed their leaders. Then the robberies, murders, rapes and bombings started and the people realised they had been lied to. So what do the elite politicians do? They shut down and control free speech, newspapers are censored, they are not allowed to mention the ethnicity of offending criminals. Everything not to politicians liking is labelled fake news. Slowly the German people are waking up to what their leaders have been doing, they have started voting against them. A few are probably understanding that Britain again is leading the way by voting to leave the EU. We want to trade with Europe not be governed by Europe, federal Europe is not the way forward for the UK. Let's hope that the remaining 27 countries are allowed to vote on their own future destinies. The UK has voted for ours, and it's for an independent sovereign nation once more.

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 EU PLANS TO REPLACE UK
WITH SIX VERY POOR
WESTERN BALKAN STATES
© Bulgarian Government
NEW MEMBERS “BEFORE 2025”, SAYS JUNCKER
  • Bulgaria to play role in EU enlargement into Western Balkans
  • Serbia and Montenegro to join EU within 7 years, says Juncker
  • Brexit is ‘opportunity to bring the Western Balkan peninsular on board’, says Bulgarian PM
One of the big topics for the new Bulgarian presidency of the EU Council is the enlargement of the EU to start including Western Balkan states.
This has been promised by the EU’s de facto Foreign Secretary Federica Mogherini, by the new Bulgarian presidency of the EU Council, and by the EU Commission President.
“I do think that the two countries [Serbia and Montenegro]
will be members of the European Union before 2025.”
- Jean-Claude Juncker, speaking with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov late last year
Bulgaria has said that its presidency of the EU Council for the next six months can help the EU to take ‘the risk’ of accelerating the accession of countries from the Western Balkans.
 
“We’re having some very difficult negotiations in Europe on Brexit, and this really is an opportunity for us to bring the Western Balkan peninsular on board as the UK withdraws from the EU.”
“The money concerned isn’t so great. We know what’s happened in Kosovo in the wars there. We know that billions and billions of euros were spent and there were thousands of human victims.”
“On the 17th of May the European Council will be meeting. It’s going to be 27 plus 6 – the leaders of the Balkans will be there, meeting the leaders of the EU.”
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov
EU TO REPLACE WORLD’S 5TH ECONOMY WITH FOUR MINNOWS
The four countries which are formal candidates and which are vying for EU membership are of course important in their own right. However they are tiny compared to the economic power of the United Kingdom.
Chart © Facts4EU.Org 2017
  • Combined total GDP of the 4 candidate countries is only 2.5% that of the UK
  • UK GDP: $2,629 billion
  • Combined GDP of EU's 4 candidate countries: $65 billion
EU’S (EX-COMMUNIST) FOREIGN SECRETARY IS HEAVILY INVOLVED
Mogherini at World Economic Forum last year, explaining how the EU would soon replace the UK:
“The big loser of the game that currently is being played will be the UK.”
“We always think the EU future will be the 27. Actually we are negotiating accession with several countries.”
“When we talk about the future of the EU, we have to take into consideration that countries especially in the Western Balkans will eventually become members of the European Union so we will be more than 27. The power of attraction of the EU is still extremely strong.”
Federica Mogherini, Vice-President of EU Commission
 
Just before Christmas, the EU’s de facto Foreign Secretary Federica Mogherini invited the Balkans leaders to dinner in Brussels. The aim was:
“to discuss the situation in the region and in particular the opportunities to advance the region’s European Union integration in 2018”
Her EEAS service went on to characterise the dinner further: “2018 will provide a unique opportunity for the region to make irreversible steps forward in its EU integration”.
At the private dinner, the following Prime Ministers “reiterated their full commitment to continuing to work for the European Union integration process” :-
  • Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama
  • Chairman of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Council of Ministers, Denis Zvizdić
  • Prime Minister of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Zoran Zaev
  • Prime Minister of Kosovo, Ramush Haradinaj
  • Prime Minister of Montenegro, Duško Marković
  • Prime Minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabić
WHERE ARE THE WESTERN BALKANS?
Very broadly speaking, the Western Balkans countries are situated north of Greece and south of Croatia (newest EU member) and Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. They ‘fill in a gap’ in the map of EU member states.
 
Click to enlarge maps
The EU has six Stabilisation and Association Agreements (SAAs) in force: with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (2004), Albania (2009), Montenegro (2010) and Serbia (2013), Bosnia and Herzegovina (2015) and Kosovo (2016).
Four of the countries are official candidates for EU membership:
  • Serbia
  • Montenegro
  • Macedonia
  • Albania
Only Serbia and Montenegro have started negotiations and are underway, in terms of their desired membership. These are the two countries that Juncker says will be members within seven years, by 2025.
Two of the countries have been promised the prospect of joining when they are ready:
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Kosovo (still not recognised by many countries around the world)
OBSERVATIONS
THE WESTERN BALKANS?
This is a very difficult region in many ways, torn apart following the break-up of Yugoslavia, and the scene of foreign policy and military disasters for the EU. Given the geographical proximity it is still felt by many that the EU’s actions (and inactions) did not constitute its finest hours.
Readers will no doubt wish the six Western Balkans countries well in their gradual development following some difficult decades. The UK of course was a significant global player in the region and still is, although we look forward to the day when the British Foreign Office is not hidebound by the foreign policies of the EU and can act with complete independence.
A great deal of UK Aid has of course been sent to the region over the years. Some British aid has been 'badged' as EU Aid, but this will change eventually, once the UK has left the EU. In due course recipients of British donations will realise just how generous the UK is.
THE EU'S FOREIGN SECRETARY - ANTI-UK, FANATICAL FEDERALIST
Based on the innumerable speeches we have listened to, Ms Mogherini is no fan of the United Kingdom. She studied political science in Italy and France and did her dissertation on Islam. She spent the first eight years of her political life as a member of the Italian Communist Youth Federation.
It seems Ms Mogherini is happy to replace the UK with four countries whose combined GDP is only 2.5% of the UK’s. Good luck with that, Federica.
SIGNIFICANCE FOR BREXIT
The fact that the EU is having to point to the Western Balkans (no disrespect) as an indication of how "The power of attraction of the EU is still extremely strong" (to quote Mogherini) is beyond parody. We would suggest that it demonstrates just how bad things are in the EU right now.
In her talk to the World Economic Forum last year, Ms Mogherini explained that soon she will have the responsibility for the EU’s future relations with the UK, saying that she ‘will have the file’ once the EU’s initial demands have been met.
It is less than encouraging to hear the second most powerful member of the EU Commission describing the Brexit negotiations as a game. It is equally disappointing to hear her expressing the outcome in terms of the UK being ‘the losers’.
This is the unappetising flavour of the organisation that the British people very wisely voted to leave.
[ Sources: EU Commission | World Economic Forum | IMF ]
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual. ]
       07.55am, 03 Jan 2018
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 A BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG SPECIAL INVESTIGATION
MASS CORRUPTION,
ORGANISED CRIME,
AND THE EU
© Bulgarian Government
DID YOU KNOW YOU HAVE A NEW PRESIDENT?
“Bulgaria will be the capital of Europe in the next six months,”
says the EU Commission's Jean-Claude Juncker
On Tuesday a new presidency assumed power in Brussels. Now, unelected presidencies are not exactly an endangered species in the EU. The place has more than you can shake a stick at, from EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, to Council President Donald Tusk, to President of the Eurogroup Jeroen Dijsselbloem, and many more in between.
One thing all the EU’s presidencies have in common is that none of them were ever voted for by popular mandate, and Bulgaria’s presidency is no exception.
However there is perhaps one unusual aspect of this latest power-base in the EU.
INSTITUTIONALISED CORRUPTION, ORGANISED CRIME, & AN UNFIT LEGAL SYSTEM
© Bulgarian Government
11 years ago on 01 January 2007 Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU, despite being under monitoring by the EU Commission for not being fully prepared for membership. Here we focus on Bulgaria.
To get around Bulgaria’s failure to meet the EU’s eligibility criteria, the EU imposed something called a ‘Cooperation and Verification Mechanism’ (CVM) on the country.
WHAT IS THE CVM?
Let’s use the EU Commission’s own description:-
“When they joined the EU in 2007, Romania and Bulgaria still had progress to make in the fields of judicial reform, corruption and (for Bulgaria) organised crime. The Commission set up the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) as a transitional measure to assist the two countries to remedy these shortcomings.”
MONITORING
In December 2006, just ahead of Bulgaria’s accession on 01 January 2007, the EU issued a set of benchmarks against which it was going to judge Bulgaria as it started to address all the issues which were incompatible with EU membership. In the intervening years since then, the Commission has issued regular CVM reports, looking at any progress being made.
From the conclusions of the EU Commission:
  • Bulgaria STILL doesn’t meet EU standards for membership
  • Despite this it remains a full member and
  • Today it holds the EU presidency for the next six months
THE LATEST REPORT
Last year (2017) there were in fact two reports. The one in January listed 17 ‘recommendations’ which still hadn’t been fulfilled. The follow-up in November – which it was originally hoped would give Bulgaria a clean bill of health before its presidency – did not make pretty reading.
Organised crime still hasn’t been tackled and in the section on ‘high-level corruption’ it says:
“The fight against corruption was highlighted... as the area where least progress had been made in Bulgaria over the ten years of the CVM.”
“While the Commission cannot yet conclude that any of the benchmarks are satisfactorily fulfilled... the Commission will assess progress again towards the end of 2018.”
Once again this is a triumph of hope over substance. None of the benchmarks have been fulfilled in 11 years of membership. Not one. And yet Bulgaria continues to be a full member of the EU.
Here is the latest report on Bulgaria from the EU, if you want to read it for yourself.
BULGARIA’S ECONOMY AND EU SUBSIDY
Bulgaria’s economy represents just 0.3% of the EU28 total. It is 1/50th of the size of the UK economy.
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
In 2015 – the latest year for which we have full figures from the EU - it received €2.25 billion euros, which is a lot of money in Bulgaria. In net terms it received the eighth-highest subsidy of the EU28. You may wish to place this in context with the CVM report stating that high-level corruption is the area where least progress has been made in 11 years. How much of this money has vanished?
OBSERVATIONS
Here is a country that doesn’t meet – and never has met – the eligibility requirements for membership of the EU. Despite all the efforts of the EU and all the money it threw at Bulgaria in the ‘pre-accession’ phase, the country remained ineligible.
In its assessments in the years running up to 2007, in effect the EU was saying that Bulgaria was ineligible for EU membership because it needed to reform its legal system, it needed to stop the corruption endemic in all aspects of Bulgarian life from the top down, and it needed to tackle the overbearing presence of organised crime in the country.
However, never one to let facts get in the way of a good story, the EU let Bulgaria join anyway.
Since then, for year after year the EU has assessed Bulgaria and has found it wanting. Not a single one of the EU’s 17 ‘recommendations’ (for which read ‘absolute demands’) has been fulfilled. The country does not meet EU standards of behaviour.
And yet here we are today, 11 years after Bulgaria joined, and it has the Presidency of the EU Council.
WHY THIS MATTERS FOR BREXIT
1. Corruption and the absence of rule of law is not a problem for the EU, provided you toe the EU federalist line. Here’s Juncker on Bulgaria’s new presidency:
“Since the very first day Bulgaria joined the European Union, Bulgaria is behaving like a founding member whereas other founding members are not always behaving like founding members.”
What Juncker is saying is that Bulgaria may be corrupt from the top down and it may be the EU’s centre of organised crime, but it backs the EU and the motto of its presidency is “United We Stand Strong”, so nothing else matters.
© Bulgarian Government
The EU Commission will leave Bulgaria alone, just as they're leaving the Spanish government alone in its mistreatment of Catalonia. They'll simply continue to attack Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic instead. Oh, and the nasty British of course.
2. It amuses us to hear Remoaners talking about the EU. If an EU personage utters some nonsense, this is held up as the gospel itself. It must be true and it must be according to the law, because someone in Brussels has said it.
Intelligent people who voted Remain are starting to see the true nature of the EU, and they are certainly seeing that Project Fear was indeed a pack of lies which was used to indoctrinate people into voting for the Establishment’s choice.
When it comes to Bulgaria, we hope the official information we have given you above will further demonstrate the hypocrisy and corruption which lies at the heart of this ghastly deception.
[ Sources: EU Commission | Bulgarian government | EU Council ]
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual. ]
       07.55am, 02 Jan 2018
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Name: : Jon, Wales      Date/Time: 02 Jan 2018, 3.51pm
Message: I find it shocking that presently, the UK still remains the second highest contributor to the EU construct. The better our country does, the MORE we have to pay the EU. Equally shocking is that tiny Bulgaria in terms of GDP (re chart above), are now able to tell the UK what we may and may not do during their Presidency. It appears Bulgaria is 'not fit for EU purpose', yet EU rules will almost always be moulded (or ignored) as it suits EU federalists. I wish all mainstream media would report these facts. Why they don't may be open to question and/or interpretation? Perhaps the BBC, for example, would inform those paying an enforced licence fee, the UK is the second highest contributor to the majority of EU member countries. Given the strength of the above article, may I suggest readers also search the reason former Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Jean-Claude Juncker resigned his post, so causing a general election on 20 October, 2013? (It makes for an interesting read). Thanks to all the Facts4EU team for exposing unequivocal facts. I have made a £50.00 donation to start my New Year, and feel REALLY pleased with having done so. I hope others can help fund our common purpose, even if only a few pounds - It all adds up? Happy New Year.
Reply: That's very generous of you, thank you and Happy New Year to you too!
Name: : Deansy, London      Date/Time: 02 Jan 2018, 10.51am
Message: At a Christmas family get-together last week my brother and I discoverdd that we both read your site. We were talking about Brexit again later when more family arrived and found that a sister-in-law reads it too. Is it a record that three of us from the same extended family read your site, without having mentioned it to each other?!
Reply: Quite possibly. We just hope you don't think you win a prize, because we're all stony broke here! :-)

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 PART TWO OF BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG's
“18 MONTHS AFTER THE REFERENDUM, HOW BAD IS ARMAGEDDON?”
(NO SIGNS OF IT YET)
This is Part Two of our “Where’s the Economic Wasteland?” New Year’s series. We’re highlighting a few of the major economic indices, showing how the vote to Leave the EU eighteen months ago did not produce the Armageddon we were threatened with.
Most people are aware that Project Fear turned out to be nonsense, but isn’t it good to have some solid facts in front of you?
ECONOMIC GROWTH SINCE THE REFERENDUM
Before Christmas the annual GDP growth was revised upwards for 2016 by the Office for National Statistics. At 1.9% the UK is the 1st equal, as the fastest-growing in the group of the major economies in the world (the ‘G7’), along with Germany.
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
Bear in mind that an immediate ‘DIY recession’ was threatened by the government if we voted to leave. It is therefore extraordinary that the economy continued growing in the second half of 2016, to the extent where the UK ended up at the top of the major economies of the world, alongside Germany.
In 2017 the economy continued to grow at healthy levels, with the latest quarter showing another 0.4% increase. The year is likely to end up around 1.7% growth. Not bad for an economy that was supposed to have plunged into recession (i.e. negative growth) long before.
THE RISING POUND
As we have pointed out many times before, the pound had been falling for several years and the biggest falls were from 2014, long before the Referendum. In the run-up to the Referendum almost all commentators felt that the pound was still over-valued. Immediately after the vote the pound fell further, but not by as much as it had fallen in the two years prior.
You will not hear this trumpeted on the BBC, Sky, or ITN, but
The pound rose consistently during 2017
to end almost 10% higher on the year
at over $1.34 to the pound.
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
OBSERVATIONS
Obviously it’s good to know that the economy of the United Kingdom is not plummeting south at a rate of knots. We researched and wrote these pieces partly to give you something to raise a toast to, as we all embark on a new year!
However this work goes deeper than that. When the New Year’s over and we’re all back to work (some of us never stopped of course) we have to remember that we really were sold a complete pack of lies by the Remain campaign, the government, and by almost every economic forecaster and so-called professional body out there.
From the CBI to the IOD, from the IMF and OECD to the WTO, from the PM and Chancellor to almost all the cabinet, from the Labour front bench all the LibDems, from Presidents like Obama to wannabe presidents like Hilary Clinton, from the Governor of the Bank of England to the HM Treasury itself, they sold us a pack of lies.
They all knew what they were doing. Shame on the lot of them.
Since we published this, a reader wrote to us suggesting that international readers might want to be reminded of what the Leave campaign was up against in 2016. He suggested we put a link to this piece which we published in October.
However you, dear Reader, may hold your head up high. You resisted the weekly onslaught of ‘expert’ opinion. You voted in the face of the certain threat of economic Armageddon and were true to yourself and to what you felt was right for the country.
On this bright start to the New Year we hope you are looking out with pride and with great hope and optimism for this wonderful country of ours.
We raise a silent toast to you.
[ Sources: Bank of England | Office for National Statistics | OECD ]
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual. ]
       06.25am, 02 Jan 2018
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“OH NO...”
“I knew I forgot something.”
“I keep meaning to donate to
those poor, hardworking people at Facts4EU.Org”
 
Alas none of us are hedge fund managers... or married to one. The Team (and one member in particular) has donated as much as it can. Can you please help fund our work?
Unlike many Brexit websites, we do our own research, write our own content, and create our own graphs.
Unfortunately we barely make it from one week to the next and we rely 100% on voluntary contributions.
We really could use your help in working for a clean and true Brexit.
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From 1 Star to 5 Star VIP you can donate an annual amount, or pay a small amount monthly.
The more you can help us, the more we'll try to offer you in return, in addition to that nice, warm feeling you'll get from knowing you're doing your bit to back a clean Brexit!
       Best regards, the Facts4EU.Org Team, Dec 2017
 IT’S OVER 18 MONTHS
SINCE WE VOTED
WHY ISN’T THE UNITED KINGDOM
AN ECONOMIC WASTELAND?
The Facts4EU.Org Toast-Raiser 2018!
As we look ahead to 2018, we decided to give you a Brexit Facts4EU.Org look at some of the key economic indices for the UK in 2017.
YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE AN ECONOMIST
Remember, you were threatened repeatedly with economic Armageddon by the then Prime Minister David Cameron and his Chancellor George Osborne, if you dared to vote Leave. These were not just long-term predictions. You were told there would very quickly have to be an emergency budget, that over 500,000 jobs would be lost, and that effects would be immediate.
One month before the Referendum, Cameron and Osborne did a double act at the head office of the home products retailer B&Q, where Cameron threatened that a vote for Leave would be a vote for “a DIY recession”.
What follows shows that the massive conspiracy put together by the Establishment - and which was arrayed against Leave - lied to an extent that goes way beyond ‘reasonable error’ when making economic predictions. This was deliberate, on a wide scale, and quite cynical. The authors of this attempted deception must be called out in due course.
For the moment we will simply give you some facts about last year, based on the latest data from official sources as usual.
OBSERVATIONS
HURRAH!
The facts which follow are ones to celebrate and we’ll join you today in raising a glass to them. Far too often we have to bring you sobering stuff. What follows are ‘reasons to be cheerful: one, two, three, four”. Some of us started after midnight with Part One and we'll see how far we get today.
[ Sources: The information which follows comes from official sources such as the Office for National Statistics ]
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual. ]
       07.55am, Tuesday 01 Jan 2018
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 SO, 18 MONTHS AFTER THE REFERENDUM,
HOW BAD IS ARMAGEDDON?
A BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG SHORT SERIES (PART 1)
Well, let's see :-
  • Jobs are up
  • Unemployment is down
  • GDP is up
  • Manufacturing is up
 
  • The pound is up
  • Exports are up
  • Foreign investment is up
  • Global attractiveness up
Yes, things are pretty bad...
Before we give you some detail, we should stress that it’s always possible to find poor economic statistics amongst the thousands of official figures which are released each year. What’s important, however, is the overall message which a non-specialist reader can discern from a wide range of indicators.
You don’t have to be John Maynard Keynes to decipher the message that the UK hasn’t plunged into the economic Armageddon you were threatened with, if you voted Leave. In fact the news is really rather good. Let’s start with jobs.
JOBS
32.08 million people are employed, the highest ever. Since the Referendum, an extra 323,000 more people have been employed.
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
UNEMPLOYMENT
The unemployment rate is 4.3%, the lowest for 42 years. This has fallen significantly since the Referendum, when it stood at 4.9%.
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
WAGES
The latest annual average wage growth figure stands at 2.5%, unchanged since the Referendum. In other words your income isn't exactly growing spectacularly, but then it wasn't before the Referendum either.
OBSERVATIONS
So, more jobs – the most ever – and wages are growing at the same rate as before the Referendum. Some of the lowest paid were suffering worst, because the enormous and uncontrollable levels of immigration into the country meant that large employers had a ready supply of cheap labour from the EU.
This remains the case until we leave, but unfortunately it appears this may take a while unless the government comes to its senses. The current plan is to acquiesce to freedom of movement until at least 2021.
The job losses threatened by the then government of David Cameron, packed with Remainers such as George Osborne (now Evening Standard Editor), Phil Hammond (current Chancellor), Amber Rudd (current Home Secretary), and Theresa May (current Prime Minister) ranged from 500,000 to 880,000. These were job LOSSES.
In fact jobs have been created since the referendum, not lost. Osborne, Cameron and their appalling bunch of cronies could not have been more wrong.
Jobs are real. They matter. They bring money into homes which is then spent in the economy at large. They generate tax revenues which pay for public services.
Jobs make for happy people with a sense of worth and pride in themselves. They help to fund our local communities and ultimately they give our country cohesion. They also point to a bright future for our post-Brexit world.
The facts we have shown you above are very positive. It simply isn't possible to 'spin' these. If you're talking to Remainers over New Year just remember: jobs are up, unemployment is down, wage growth is unchanged. Not bad, for Armageddon!
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG, RAISING A TOAST TO BREXIT BRITAIN.
Part Two in this series of great economic news will follow very soon. If you haven’t yet helped us with a donation, we really would be grateful if you would consider it. We hate to ask but it’s so important that we drive on through to a full, clean Brexit and we can’t influence this without some help from you.
[ Sources: Office for National Statistics | Labour Force Survey ]
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       06.55am, Tuesday, 01 Jan 2018
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“OH NO...”
“I knew I forgot something.”
“I keep meaning to donate to
those poor, hardworking people at Facts4EU.Org”
 
Alas none of us are hedge fund managers... or married to one. The Team (and one member in particular) has donated as much as it can. Can you please help fund our work?
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To read our output from December 2017, simply click here.
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Facts4eu.org is non party-political and not supported by any Brexit campaign.
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.
Please don't hesitate to contact the Editors if you can volunteer in some way, and particularly if you can support us financially.
NEUTRALITY:    Facts4eu.org focuses on information which shows that the UK is better off regaining its independence and growing globally. The entire weight of the Establishment is promoting the opposite case, so this site is just one small voice trying to redress the balance.

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