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Quick Brexit facts from reliable, official sources
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BREXIT NEWS   15-25 Mar 2018
 WHAT OPEN BORDERS LOOK LIKE
A FACTS4EU.ORG ‘BREXIT BITE’
Sometimes in the course of our researches for the articles we’re working on, we come across something we’d like to share with you.
Often these items don’t fit into an article we’re working on, so we recently started a new, occasional series called “Brexit Bites”. We generally won’t have time to do a lot of work on these pieces of information, but they will be things which we think you might nevertheless like to see.
Below is the latest in this new series of Facts4EU.Org ‘Brexit Bites’.
A GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION OF THE EU’S IMMIGRATION PROBLEM
                      © Created by Brexit Facts4EU.Org using EU Commission tools
The map above shows you a snapshot of the EU in terms of immigration. Look at the dark blue areas – these were the ones with the highest net migration, the ones with the fastest-growing populations. The latest data available is for 2015 and that is what you’re looking at.
The most striking feature is of course the preponderance of dark blue over Germany. You can also see how the UK has some areas of dark blue and a great deal of mid- and light-blue, as does Scandinavia.
Finally, you might wonder why non-EU countries such as Turkey are shown on the map. We did too, but couldn't get rid of them.
OBSERVATIONS
Our German readers might at this point be groaning. If so, we don't blame them.
In very simplistic terms, the reason behind Germany and Scandinavia showing up in blue in 2015 was the effect of millions of migrants illegally entering the EU after Frau Merkel unilaterally tore up the EU’s Dublin Protocol on asylum.
By contrast, the UK’s reasons for being predominantly blue were the inability or unwillingness of the Cameron government (Home Secretary: Theresa May) to do anything about their promise to reduce immigration dramatically, plus the continued massive annual influx of EU27 citizens – particularly from the poorest EU countries and those with high unemployment.
For year after year Theresa May presided over a disastrous immigration policy. Not a disaster as far as the politicians were concerned of course, but a disaster for thousands of communities across the United Kingdom.
Bizarrely Mrs May got indirectly rewarded for this incompetence or wilful neglect when the country voted for Brexit – partly to stop EU immigration – and she then inherited the top job when David Cameron resigned.
For six years when she was Home Secretary Mrs May kept promising but kept failing to deliver on immigration. For the last 18 months she has been promising that Brexit means Brexit, and that we would regain control of our borders, our money, our laws, etc. One by one these promises have been reneged upon by Mrs May.
Today we are left with a Brexit planned for March 2019 which is nothing of the kind. In the next piece we will make a comment about the ‘nothing’s agreed until everything’s agreed’ excuse.
In the meantime, we hope you enjoyed this little ‘Brexit Bite’. Would you like more like this?
[ Sources: EU Commission ]
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
       06.55am, 25 Mar 2018
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READERS' COMMENTS
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Name: Jon, Wales      Date/Time: 25 Mar 2018, 12.13pm
Message: I'm beginning to wonder if we should tear up ALL negotiations thus far and send in REAL negotiators (preferably the Facts4EU team together with high profile Brexiteers and businessmen). To my way of thinking, negotiations do NOT mean one side gives away everything, AND pays £billions for the privilege of doing so. The EU commission continue to do anything they can to damage our country, but they MUST understand we have no legal requirement to pay an 'exit fee' (Remember, all they want is UK money). But the most unbelievable of all, is where Mrs May accepted jurisdiction of the CJEU during the so-called transition or implementation period - THIS IS WRONG, and is underhanded political spin. In fact, I wonder if it's even legal?
No British Prime Minister can subject British citizens to a foreign jurisdiction where the UK will effectively be a vassal state. We know the EU commission and some EU members are hostile towards the UK for our decision to exit, but that's their problem, not ours.
Mrs May has caved in to most things, as a browse through Facts4EU articles will show. It may also mean the EU commission will ram through as many new directives and laws as fast as they can just for the hell of it, and our Parliament will be impotent?
WTO TERMS OF TRADE LOOK EVER MORE ATTRACTIVE AS EACH DAY PASSES?

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 “NOTHING’S AGREED UNTIL
EVERYTHING’S AGREED”
WHY THE GOVERNMENT’S LINE
WON’T WASH
A Sunday Thought-Provoker from Brexit Facts4EU.Org
After the Referendum we immediately argued that the EU would never agree a sensible deal with the UK. We argued this on political grounds, saying that the EU elites simply couldn’t afford to act in the interests of the citizens of the EU27 countries. We also argued that these people are in a different universe, where logic, reason and accountability are strangers from another time and place.
These views sound subjective but were and are based upon years of experience of doing business with the EU countries and years of observing the EU elites at work and play.
THE PROBLEM WITH “NOTHING’S AGREED”
Next week, British cabinet ministers are being sent out around the Kingdom on some kind of Brexit charm offensive. It seems that the public are to be told about the changes which will be coming after the technical Brexit date on March 29th next year. Given that the only changes are that the UK will no longer have any say about anything, it might be thought that the stop-offs on this tour will not need to last long.
Government coach pulls in to town....
Minister to aide: “Where’s this?”
Aide: “Grimsby.”
Minister to aide: “Christ! Why wasn’t Gove given this one?”
Minister steels himself and steps off coach. “Very pleased to be here today to present the government’s excellent negotiated agreement with our EU partners, deep, special, special and deep, partnership, future, mumble. Thank you.”
Minister to aide: “Quick, get me back on the bloody bus.”
The position reached by the UK government with the EU last week is nothing short of an unmitigated disaster. We will continue to analyse the reasons for this in other articles but for now we would like to discuss one question.
“NOTHING’S AGREED UNTIL EVERYTHING’S AGREED” (NAUEA)
This is the grand let-out clause which is being trotted out by all and sundry. In addition to the PM and her ministers talking about this, we now hear NAUEA (pron.: Naw-ee-ah) being used with increasing frequency and desperation by pro-Brexit MPs.
It must be difficult being Jacob Rees-Mogg with your red lines, and the red lines of your European Research Group, only to find that every single one of these has been crossed by your leader. Expect to hear the “nothing’s agreed” line far more in the coming days and weeks. It’s all they have left.
The line being taken is that even though the deal that has been negotiated is a dog, it’s a dog that can still be taken back to the kennels. Perhaps in Mr Rees-Mogg’s case the dog in question should be a hound, but then one can take a metaphor too far.
‘FROM MAY TO SURRENDER’ – A BBC SITCOM STARRING THERESA MAY
Imagine the scene in Downing Street last weekend, just before the new deal was announced by David Davis and Michel Barnier in Brussels on Monday.
The Prime Minister with her top team of advisers....
Aide 1: “Right PM, here’s where it stands.”
Aide 2: “You’ve given in on absolutely everything.”
Aide 1: “You even gave in on things they hadn’t asked for yet.”
PM: “I did?”
Aide 1: “Unilaterally and unconditionally offering them our armed forces and security agencies?”
PM: “Ah, that, yes. Well I thought it might make them like us more.”
Aide 2: “Ahem, Prime Minister.”
PM: “So how do I present this to the people?”
Aide 2: “Well, you can still use the old ‘Nothing’s agreed until everything’s agreed’ thing.”
PM: “I can? Won’t the public see through that?”
Aide 2: “No-one has so far, PM. And we have the BBC and many others in our pocket of course.”
Aide 1: “We just have to hope those guys at Brexit Facts4EU.Org don’t splash on this.”
THE GUYS FROM BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG SPLASH ON THIS
There is one fundamental problem with the NAUEA. The entire basis of the transition period and getting this deal agreed quickly was allegedly because of the need for certainty.
Pro-Brexit MPs have been telling us this week that the surrender (they talk of ‘compromises’) of Mrs May will be worth it in return for certainty that we’re leaving and certainty around the deal for businesses. They also say that these ‘compromises’ won’t even be made if there’s no deal, so we shouldn’t be alarmed.
“Businesses and citizens are crying out for certainty”, we’ve been told thousands of times. Okay, the need of certainty for EU27 citizens already in the UK and for UK citizens already in the EU27 countries is a fair point. We argued for that immediately after the Referendum.
However for any citizens who haven’t even moved yet there’s no need. They move on the basis of no certainty, or they don’t move. Unfortunately of course Mrs May has already given in on that, as she has on everything else.
When it comes to businesses needing certainty, this applies mostly to big businesses. We won’t go into that right now.
But just think for a moment.
If Nothing’s Agreed Until Everything’s Agreed, where’s the certainty?
And if there’s no certainty for anyone, why the need to surrender on everything?
Imagine you run a British business employing 50,000 people. Imagine you have investment decisions to make and have choices, depending on how lucrative the EU or rest of world markets might be. If nothing will actually be agreed until next March when all the parliaments vote, and if we simply walk away because of last minute shenanigans from various EU27 countries, then where is your certainty?
There is a fundamental, logical inconsistency here and we don’t understand how our incredibly expensive BBC news people haven’t spotted this and pointed it out. Come to that, highly-paid journalists who work for media organisations which aren’t publicly-funded should also have been asking this.
If there’s no certainty, which there isn’t, then there’s no excuse for the abject surrender offered to the EU by Theresa May.
       06.55am, 25 Mar 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: Chris, Devizes, UK      Date/Time: 26 Mar 2018, 6.16pm
Message: Replying to Brexiteer: I wouldn't bet on Gibraltar being a red line for Theresa May. So far, there is apparently no limit to her treachery. Every time she spells out red lines, they get rubbed out a few days later. The newest example is the transition phase agreement where she lied to the House twice saying: 'No UK PM would accept this', then capitulated a couple of weeks later. As a 'ReMayner' she is trying to achieve BRINO in order to satisfy Tory party doners in the City and industry, but to Hell with democracy.
Name: Brexiteer, Braintree, Essex      Date/Time: 25 Mar 2018, 5.30pm
Message: I suspect that a deal will be agreed between Davis and Barnier, and then the Spanish will throw their oar in and demand Gibraltar. That will be the red line for May, and then whole deal collapses. WTO here we come!
Name: David, Darlington, UK      Date/Time: 25 Mar 2018, 3.53pm
Message: Oh how I love the mnemonic NAUSEA. [See below - Ed.]
Absolutely brilliant.
Name: Jon, Wales      Date/Time: 25 Mar 2018, 10.37am
Message: I have reached a point where my trust in UK Prime Minister May and a majority of MPs has sunk to an all time low. However hard I try, I cannot see them delivering a 'clean Brexit' unless we push them. I exclude Brexiteer MPs from my distrust, but wish more would be pro-active, and the rest remember who elected them into their taxpayer-funded privileged positions of power. There are too many MPs who appear happy to be subservient to the EU, and that's half our problem - we're 'fighting' the establishment AGAIN?
I wholly dismiss the unelected bureaucratic commission. We did not elect them so must treat them with the same contempt and discourtesy as they treat us? They ignore democratic decisions and carry on regardless. I'm angered European Union members and the commission effectively meddle with our democratic decision just because they don't like it.
I'm fed up hearing MPs pump out the same old rhetoric in the House of Commons which looks and sounds like a pantomime for the benefit of Brexiteers. They probably think if we see them put on a debating session, we'll back down and take the heat off - NOT A CHANCE!
How many times have we heard Minister's (and some MPs) repeat things in parrot fashion - they look and sound foolish?
Prime Minister May should SPEAK LIKE ORDINARY PEOPLE and drop the repetitive slogans? (A change of her speech writers perhaps)? The Westminster bubble don't realise we can see though their spin (we had enough practice pre-referendum).
All MPs must stop political posturing and GET ON WITH DELIVERING BREXIT.
Name: Hogwash, Midlands      Date/Time: 25 Mar 2018, 07.40am
Message: 'Nothing's agreed until SIMPLY everything's agreed' allows the much better acronym NAUSEA. This sound-bite and 'Brexit means Brexit' are both sickening platitudes meant to reassure the multitude that TM etc will not let the EU dictate a poor deal to UK. We are already seeing much turd polishing attempted by TM and co.
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Do you still have the determination to get the Brexit you voted for? Or in fact more than ever before?
To the right: Articles in the national press,
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 BREXI-CHAT IS BACK
THIS MORNING!
The first and best free chat-room for people who are pro-Brexit will be open this morning.
TIME:   09.15 – 12.00am            DATE:   Saturday 24th Mar 2018             PLACE:   Email us for the link.
To keep this a nice friendly environment we ask you to email us first for the link to the room. Entry is completely free and we don't add your email address to any mailing list.
First period, 09.15-10am, any pro-Brexit person can join us. From 10-12am the room is for 2-star supporters or above.   
We look forward to having a chat about your thoughts on where we are with Brexit, and to answering any questions you might have. We ask Remain campaigners to respect the fact that this chat-room is for Brexiteers only, as time is limited and the purpose is not to debate with those who still wish to stay in the EU.
The public session starts at 09.15am. If you would like to carry on the chat with the Editor of Brexit Facts4EU.Org who will join at 10.00am, then you need to be a 2-star supporter or above. If you're not already supporting us that's not a problem. Take a look at supporter options here!
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 MANAGED SURRENDER?
                      © Politico
EU POLITICAL MAGAZINE PAINTS WHITE FLAG OVER DOVER
(Metaphorically speaking)
Required reading for eureaucrats and politicians in Brussels is a magazine called Politico. In the stakes for europhilia heaven it gives the Financial Times and the BBC a run for their money.
Capable of good analysis and with regular scoops, it would nevertheless make the average Brexiteer’s blood boil in the UK. Let’s just say that faced with the same facts, we and Politico come up with entirely different conclusions. And our conclusions would be the sounder, naturally.
Yesterday an article appeared about this week’s Brexit developments written by one of the contributing editors, a Brit who worked for Reuters for many years and who lives in Paris. It’s well-written as usual and it’s not extraordinary in its content. We’re mentioning it to you purely because it probably sums things up for the Europeans who read it today.
MANAGED SURRENDER
Beneath the headline “Brexit: A managed surrender” is the sub-heading “London talks tough but gives Brussels what it wants” Here are the first two paragraphs:-
“Forget red lines, bellicose declarations and rhetoric about the United Kingdom taking back control — Brexit so far has been a process of managed surrender.
“British officials acknowledge that Prime Minister Theresa May has mostly had to accept the European Union’s terms for the divorce and a transition period to avoid a cliff-edge rupture in economic ties that could have crippled business.”
The first paragraph is accurate in our view. The second of course descends into the usual pro-EU bias. No nation can possibly survive outside the EU, blah, blah, blah.
The writer then describes the optimism of British officials who believe that things will get better from here. To this, his response is brutal:-
“Dream on! The withdrawal talks are likely to become even more lopsided as an unofficial October deadline for agreement on the framework of the future UK-EU relationship draws near. Any resemblance with a negotiation among equals is purely cosmetic.”
We are not for one moment suggesting that this particular article in a political industry magazine has any monopoly on insight or truth. However we thought you might like to see something fairly typical in terms of analysis, from the continental perspective.
OBSERVATIONS
This is what they think, and we believe they’re absolutely right that Mrs May is presiding over a defeat of epic porportions.
The big question is: what’s to be done?
In our interview with John Redwood (article below) he suggests the following advice:
“I think your readers need to write to their Members of Parliament. If their Members of Parliament are not clear on this, the readers can say: 'You know what, we voted for Brexit and there were very good reasons for that. Leaving with no deal gives us most of what we want, will you please make sure you pass that on to the government?'”
“… they must talk to their MPs, and also it’s entirely helpful to the UK and to the government, because if the EU understands that there is a very strong tide of opinion in the United Kingdom that the deal on offer so far is not good enough, then the EU knows that they’ve got to think about what they’re going to do about that, because this is a deal which in the end has to satisfy the British people and their parliament.”
A BLOODY NOSE
In June 2016 the people gave the Establishment a bloody nose. It’s interesting talking to MPs whose opinions we respect overall. They get that. They also believe in listening to their constituents.
At a base level all MPs know they have to be nice to the electorate. People like Redwood actually care about what their constituents think – he’s forever asking them for their opinions. But even lower-grade MPs care about their jobs and so they have to listen even if they don’t take on board the views. Sometimes they have to act on them purely to save their skins. The more emails they get from their constituents, the more they're going to stop and think.
ONCE MORE UNTO THE FIGHT?
Here we are on 24th March 2018, exactly one year and nine months since we were celebrating victory on that wonderful morning in 2016 – Independence Day.
Can we regain the energy, enthusiasm and sheer dogged determination to make another effort to give the Establishment a second bloody nose? More to the point, can you?
Why not do one thing this weekend? Why not take John Redwood’s advice to you – after all he was talking directly to you, our readers – and write to your member of parliament? He did not suggest that idly.
HOW TO EMAIL YOUR MP QUICKLY
Always include your name and address or your email may not even be read. Find your MP's email address really fast here. If you would like some advice, the Parliament website has some good information here. And if you would like us to suggest some things to say, let us know here.
Oh, and there’s one more practical thing you could do. You could make a donation to Brexit Facts4EU.Org to keep us in the fight. Firstly, right now we need your generosity to keep going at all, and secondly there really is so much more we could do if we had more resources. For now, though, just knowing we had enough to survive on would at least be something. Thank you!
[ Sources: Politico | John Redwood ]
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
       06.55am, 24 Mar 2018
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READERS' COMMENTS
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Name: Chris, Devizes, UK      Date/Time: 24 Mar 2018, 10.45am
Message: The problem with writing to your MP is that most of them are Remainers, and take no notice. My MP for example, is Claire Perry, and she is on record as calling her constituents 'swivel eyed idiots'. I like John Redwood, and always read his Blog, but I think we need much more dramatic action from the Tory Brexiteers to oust May and get Brexit back on track, before it is too late. As I understand it, it needs 48 MPs to write to the 1922 committee and force a leadership challenge. But that has to be followed by a No Confidence vote in the House, which she would probably win, unless the Tory Brexiteers sided with Labour, and therefore caused a General Election. The Tories should be able to win up against Agent Cob, but only with a new leader such as JR or JRM.
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 THE REDWOOD INTERVIEW
Rt Hon Dr John Redwood MP                       © UK Parliament
LIKE A BREATH OF
BREXIT FRESH AIR
Right now, Brexit feels like it’s not in the strongest state it could be when it comes to governmental control by Theresa May, David Davis and others. At least, that’s what you’re telling us.
At times like these you turn to people you feel you can trust. Not necessarily people with the highest profiles, but the people who have run the hard miles and who have not necessarily donned a sexy t-shirt to attract the TV cameras.
One such man is our interviewee today: the Rt Hon Dr John Redwood MP (Con, Wokingham).
Dr Redwood is the former Minister for the Single Market under Lady Thatcher, former Secretary of State for Wales and twice a leadership contender for the Conservative Party. In the 1995 leadership election he ran against John Major - the ardent europhile who has recently interfered uninvited in Brexit - and back in 1995 he won the support of the Sun newspaper in the contest. Never a mean feat at any time.
In subsequent years Dr Redwood held various shadow cabinet posts, which significantly added to his expertise on a variety of matters. One thing which distinguishes Dr Redwood from many MPs these days is his substantial background in business, having held many directorships. When he talks about business and the economy he is usually worth listening to. He’s a man who has done and still does, as well as talking about things. This is a breath of fresh air in Parliament these days.
DOES HE KISS BABIES?
Hmm… Not as much as some, but do you care? Wouldn’t you rather have an MP who knows what he’s talking about rather than someone who preens and poses for Kay Burley on Sky News or for one of the many nameless juveniles who pass for BBC presenters these days? We know we would.
When Dr Redwood talks about Brexit he is most definitely always worth listening to. Right now, he seems to be one of only a tiny handful of Tory MPs who is prepared to stand up for what he believes in.
Ladies and gentlemen, we present a tea/coffee break with the Rt Hon Dr John Redwood MP, courtesy of Brexit Facts4EU.Org.
THE BREXIT INTERVIEW
Q:  Can you please give us your overall view on the Brexit state of play?
“What I’m going to be talking about today and the next two days are the big opportunities to actually get on with it. I do think people need to get positive message about what a new fishing policy looks like, what a new borders policy looks like, what we want to spend our money on and so forth. Because I think one of my roles is to explain that we voted for Brexit for very good reasons, the world is going to be better as a result of Brexit and we don’t want too much delay in getting there.
“The general message I have and the answer to your first question is ‘nothing is agreed until everything is agreed’. As far as I’m concerned the EU’s got to be a lot more generous in their offer on what the future looks like, in order to justify any of the Withdrawal Agreement proposals.
“The Withdrawal Agreement proposals are on the whole negative for the UK and they’re not things we have to sign up to unless there are good reasons.”
Q:  Given the way things have gone so far, readers are sceptical. Most people understand the ‘nothing’s agreed ‘til everything’s agreed’ but what grounds for optimism can you give to people that the government will adopt that approach, if indeed the final agreement is not acceptable?
“Well, my advice to people is to do what I’m doing which is to stay positive and make it very clear to the government that we expect a good deal otherwise we’d rather have no deal. The government constantly assure me that they will be ready for no deal if things don’t work out. Now they also say they are keen to have a deal.”
My message to them and I hope that your readers’ message to them will be that no deal gives us an awful lot of what we want. It means we can spend our money from April 2019 onwards without giving them any more of it, it means we get our fish back from April 2019, and we can have a better fishing industry. It means we can make our own laws, it means we can make our own trade deals, it gives us practically all that we wanted when we voted for Brexit. The only thing it doesn’t give us is a Free Trade Agreement better than the WTO’s Most Favoured Nation status with the EU. But I think the EU have got to work very hard to satisfy people like me and many of your readers that the deal on offer is a fair one for the UK.”
Q:  We never believed the EU will give us a good deal. Looking at what the government has already agreed to, our readers are very worried there won’t be a ‘stand up’ attitude from the government and that we might be much better off with WTO.
“That’s why I’m saying to your readers, that they should do what I’m doing which is to make it very clear to the government that any deal must be better than no deal and that no deal is quite a high bar. I always made it clear before the referendum as well as after the referendum that we might end up with no deal. I think people are fine with no deal, but could I imagine a deal that is better than no deal? Yes I could. Would I like that? Yes, of course I would. I wish the government every success but I think your readers need to write to their Members of Parliament. If their Members of Parliament are not clear on this, the readers can say: 'You know what, we voted for Brexit and there were very good reasons for that. Leaving with no deal gives us most of what we want, will you please make sure you pass that on to the government?'”
Q:  Your message is that now is the time for readers to make their views clear to their MPs?
“Yes, they must talk to their MPs, and also it’s entirely helpful to the UK and to the government, because if the EU understands that there is a very strong tide of opinion in the United Kingdom that the deal on offer so far is not good enough, then the EU knows that they’ve got to think about what they’re going to do about that, because this is a deal which in the end has to satisfy the British people and their parliament.
“I passionately believe that Brexit is going to be great for our country. Now is the time to maximise our clear statement of intent to MPs and to ministers, to wish them well in their negotiations and that requires them communicating to the EU that the majority of the British public - and not just Brexit voters now, but quite a lot of remain voters as well - don’t think this deal is good enough and the EU’s got to lift its game.
Q:  People feel that you stood up to be counted. Your strength of belief seem to be stronger than some colleagues. Do you have any comment on that?
“This has nothing to do with me or about me, it’s not about personalities. This is about the fact that 17.4 million of us voted to leave the EU and we knew exactly what we were voting for, and we want to leave the EU as soon as possible. And it’s about the fact that several million people who voted remain accept the democratic verdict of the British people and think that the government needs to be firm in negotiations, because it’s only worth signing a deal if it’s clearly better than no deal.
“I would like to say something about what the wins are going to be. All I want, all I’m asking the government to do as soon as possible is to make various statements, publish a series of white papers setting out how things are going to be a lot better after we’ve left. So I want a fishing white paper which explains what the fisheries under our control will look like, how we’ll restore our fisheries to greater strength, how we become a net exporter of fish again.
“I want to see various statements following on from the paper which Michael Gove has already published on farming, on how we can grow more of our own food and cut out some of the food miles we have, improve our standards of animal husbandry and so forth that we haven’t been able to do under EU laws.
“I want to see the Treasury set out how we’re going to spend the £12 billion we save each year and explain how soon we can actually save that money because I think people do want to get that money back as soon as possible.
“I want to see the Trade Secretary set out when and what kind of trade deals we’re going to be signing, certainly rolling over the EU ones with countries which is our right to roll over in our own name and the new ones which he’s going to develop as soon as possible.
“So there is a whole lot of positive work which we wish to see and the sooner the better because that shows the government is keeping faith with the majority of the country, and with the country as a whole recognising that Brexit can be good news.”
Q:  There’s a strong feeling about Civil Service and disappointment with the upper echelons that they didn’t prepare for a Leave result in the Referendum.
“I don’t want to make generalised critical comments about the Civil Service. There are very good civil servants and we just have to make sure that we lead them, make sure that the work they do is with the pro-Brexit thrust of government.
“What I would say is that I fail to understand what the issues are that we could resolve in April 2019 that we can’t resolve in the year between now and then. It doesn’t seem to me that it’s going to be easier to resolve things in the so called transition period than it is to resolve them now. So I’m an optimist about the capability of British government. I say: “You’ve got another year, you can sort out everything in the year let’s put a bit of time pressure on it or a bit of a deadline, and get on with it.” It often works better.
“If you have an Olympics to organise you can’t go for a two year transition after a successful bid, before you then start to get the Olympics ready. Similarly, with leaving the EU we need to have everything ready before March 2019. I’m sure the government will, they keep telling me that’s their plan.”
Q:  Do you agree with our editorial position that the transition period is not required?
“I’ve always said I don’t think you can decide on whether you need a transition period or how long it should be unless and until you know what you’re transiting to. So I don’t think you can agree a transition period before you know what the end agreement is going to be and how long it might take to implement.
“I’ve always left open the possibility you might need an implementation period but you clearly don’t need one if there’s no deal to transition to. And the government has always confirmed that, because the government has always accepted and agreed with me that they will be ready for leaving with no deal in March 2019 if that happens. They’ve always said they don’t want that to happen, but they said they’re planning in case it does. And that would mean leaving with no transitional period so it confirms what I’m saying. You would only need an implementation period if both sides agreed they needed a little time for some details to be sorted out.
“And the Prime Minister used to wisely say that the implementation period might be implementation periods - plural. It might only take 3 months to do a big chunk of it but it might take a year and a bit to do something else. Why delay longer on all the things that work anyway? And one of the good news things is that by insisting that they are preparing for no deal is that they are preparing for a deal. All the things you have to do for ‘no deal’ you also have to prepare if there is a deal. So you’re not wasting your money or your time, you’re getting on with it.”
Q:  Anything more you’d like to say about Brexit?
“I am very, very positive about it and if we follow good domestic politics as soon as we leave we can grow faster and be more prosperous and that’s what we want.
“And I did a lot of economics for the Vote Leave campaign and one of the most interesting things was when I did the back history. None of the graphs or charts show any beneficial upside when we joined the EEC and no beneficial upside when they completed the Single Market in 1992. Indeed, as it happens both events were followed by very nasty recessions. And the second recession was a direct result of the European policy. So I just don’t understand all this pessimistic commentary that says there’s going to be a hit when we leave, I just don’t see it.
“Why should there be a slow down when we leave, when there was no speed up when we joined? The thing is ridiculous.”
Q:  Jobs – What are your thoughts on the unbelievable magnitude of error in forecasting by the Chancellor and the Treasury, about the short-term impact on jobs of a Leave vote, bearing in mind yesterday’s latest great news on new jobs?
“As one of the few people who made formal forecasts in the referendum campaign, saying that the official forecasts were clearly way out, I’m obviously very relieved and very pleased that I was right. The pessimism was quite unjustified. There was never any likelihood of there being a recession or of big job losses just because we voted to leave, and so it has proven to be the case.
“The UK economy continued to grow at a good rate for the first 9 months after the vote as I thought it would, then it slowed from April 2017 because of changes in domestic policy - absolutely nothing to do with the Brexit vote. It is high time that official commentators and forecasters looked at the actual numbers and got closer to the truth.
Q:  Dr Redwood, some pro-Brexit people now see you as the last man standing in terms of supporting a true and clean Brexit.
“Thank you. I will carry on telling it to the country as I see it. I will be consistent unless I’m proven wrong on something in which case I will apologise. I think I’m having the better of the argument. If I do get something wrong I say sorry and I adjust it. I like to be accurate.”
Q:  Finally, our readers will appreciate you giving up your time to talk to us and the Brexit Facts4EU team would like to thank you.
“Thank you. I am pleased Facts4EU have continued to provide daily briefings and commentary on Brexit and how it can work well for the UK.”
OBSERVATIONS
It has not been the happiest of weeks for most pro-Brexit people in the country. Many feel they have been very badly let down.
That's why our editor picked up the phone to Dr Redwood. He was a stand out Member of Parliament this week, for refusing to back down and merely make weak noises about being 'disappointed' as some MPs did. Most importantly he has robustly maintained his clean Brexit stance and his confidence in the future. This is not - so far - a man who is acquiescing to what came back from Brussels on Monday.
In the article about the Common Fisheries Policy below we mentioned the urgent question in the House of Commons on Tuesday. Below is the contribution made by Dr Redwood.
“Will the Government go to the Council this week and say that this deal from the EU is unacceptable and that we voted to take back control of our fish, our money, our borders and our laws? We have accepted a two-year, nine-month transitional period, so will the Government just get on with this?”
We like the word 'unacceptable'.
[ Sources: John Redwood | Hansard ]
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       3.15pm, 23 Mar 2018
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Name: Angry Lincolnshire lad, UK      Date/Time: 25 Mar 2018, 06.57am
Message: Oh God if only we had the choice at the time between Redwood or Major, it would have been Redwood all the way, it is like chalk and cheese. John Redwood a man of substance and Major an adulterer, so not a person I would trust at all!
Name: Jon, Wales      Date/Time: 24 Mar 2018, 06.16am
Message: May I say thank you to the Rt Hon Dr John Redwood MP for taking some of his valuable time to answer questions in an open, honest and optimistic manner for Brexit Facts4EU readers and supporters. I believe many will share his views and continue talking up our country.
I am, however, baffled why some MPs are still talking down our great country - It doesn't make any sense! It is encouraging Dr Redwood maintains his stance and does not hold back. If something needs to be said in Parliament, he will (among others) usually say it without fear, and have the answers when challenged.
Perhaps Dr Redwood is in the ideal position to address a long standing issue with parliament. I would like to have confidence in our Ministers when they stand at the Despatch Box in the House of Commons regarding Brexit. When I see or hear positive things said about leaving the European Union, I cheer. I do not not want to hear those same Minister's doing a complete 180 soon afterwards, as that says either 'secret back-room' deals or surrender?
Importantly, why is our government allowing itself to be pushed around by the EU commission and EU neighbours? We elected neither.
Name: Patrick H, London      Date/Time: 24 Mar 2018, 01.50am
Message: Excellent interview with Dr John Redwood, thank you. As always, Dr Redwood sees Brexit clearly and demonstrably beneficial to the UK population; as do more than 17 Million voters. In spite of the vocal naysayers' persistent "erroneous" gloom and doom scenarios, so prevalent within the Government/Civil service and the broader spectrum of Remainers, plus supported by their delusive mouthpieces within the biased MSM, the social and economic Armageddon did not materialise. However, for all the positive comments from Dr Redwood, there is a feeling the most prophetic part of the discussion was your second to last comment "Dr Redwood, some pro-Brexit people now see you as the last man standing in terms of supporting a true and clean Brexit" As much as I and many others welcome Dr Redwood's honourable tenacity, insightful knowledge and veracity, there is a view circulating that Dr Redwood is becoming somewhat of a lone ranger! However, I trust we can all assist him in some way to execute the wishes of the UK majority in making Brexit a truly inspirational success, not just in Britain, but also an international beacon of hope for normal people's triumph against all the nefarious odds!
Name: Getahead, Troon      Date/Time: 23 Mar 2018, 7.44pm
Message: It is becoming clear that what Theresa May calls Brexit is something other than leaving the EU. Her total capitulation to the EU's demands in regard to the "transition" period was appalling. If this is an indication of the type of final deal we will be offered by the EU then Mrs May must be made aware that such a deal is unacceptable and, if accepted, that her Tory party is unlikely to be elected into 'power' again. There are moves afoot to rejuvenate UKIP, perhaps with another name. Hopefully this new party will form our next government.

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 THE BETRAYAL OF OUR FISHERMEN
Michael Gove answering an urgent question                       © UK Parliament
in House of Commons on Tuesday                                
A GOVERNMENT AT SEA ABOUT BREXIT?
It was always the intention of the UK government that the UK would exit the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) at the same time that it exited the EU. We have published many times on this topic and recommend our latest two explainers: Fisheries Part 1 and Fisheries Part 2.
This article wraps up the state of affairs and records the betrayal.
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG SOUND-BITE ON FISHERIES
“The Prime Minister has been clear: Britain will leave the Common Fisheries Policy as of March 2019. We both support her wholeheartedly.”
- Michael Gove (DEFRA Secretary) & Ruth Davidson (Conservatives Scotland leader), joint statement, 11 March 2018
“We made that case after full consultation with the representatives of the fisheries industry. We pressed hard during negotiations to secure this outcome, and we are disappointed that the EU was not willing to move on this.”
- Michael Gove (DEFRA Secretary) urgent statement, House of Commons, 20 March 2018
“A WEEK IS A LONG TIME IN POLITICS...”
THE FACTS OF THE FISHERIES BETRAYAL
Whilst the exit date of 29th March 2019 does not represent Brexit to almost all of the 17.4 million people who voted for it, nonetheless this is the formal date of departure. It is this date which had previously been confirmed as being the date of leaving the CFP.
Exiting the CFP was a policy confirmed by the Prime Minister Theresa May, by the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) Michael Gove, and by the DEFRA minister George Eustice.
In politics, history has a habit of being rewritten, so for the record we are citing just a few examples below of the promises made. In some cases it was explicitly stated by the speaker that ‘leaving the CFP’ meant leaving it on 29th March 2019 prior to the transition period, but even when not explicitly stated the context was clear in each of the instances below.
DEFRA SECRETARY OF STATE MICHAEL GOVE
“When we leave the European Union we will become an independent political state and that means that we can then extend control of our waters up to 200 miles or the median line between Britain and France, and Britain and Ireland.”
“One critical thing about the common fisheries policy is that it has been an environmental disaster. And one of the reasons we want to change it is that we want to ensure that we can have sustainable fish stocks for the future … I think it’s important that we recognise that leaving the European Union is going to help the environment.”
- Michael Gove on the Andrew Marr Show, BBC1, 02 July 2017
“Leaving the European Union means leaving the Common Agricultural Policy, leaving the Common Fisheries Policy, and taking back control of environmental policy.… the two areas where the EU has most clearly failed to achieve its stated environmental goals are the Common Agricultural Policy and the Common Fisheries Policy.”
“My father, grandfather and great grandfather all made their living from the sea. My great grandfather was a fisherman, my grandfather and father fish merchants. My father’s business closed in the nineteen-eighties when I was a schoolboy, one of many that closed after this country accepted EU control of our waters through the Common Fisheries Policy.
“But it is still the case that 40% of fish stocks in the Atlantic, North Sea and Baltic Sea are being fished at unsustainable levels. By leaving the CFP, taking back control of our territorial waters, granting access to other countries and allocating quotas all on the basis of what is scientifically sustainable, we can ensure that we set and follow the very highest standards in marine conservation. And that, in turn, should lead to the revival of our coastal communities.”
- Secretary of State Michael Gove, speech setting out his ‘vision on the future of our natural environment’, 21 July 2017
THERESA MAY, PRIME MINISTER
Asked by Alistair Carmichael Liberal Democrat Chief Whip, about staying part of the common fisheries policy during any transitional period:-
“When we leave the European Union, we will leave the Common Fisheries Policy.”
- Theresa May, House of Commons, 11 October 2017
U-turning five months later....
“the point about the implementation period is that it … ensures that businesses, fishermen included, do not face two cliff-edge changes in the way they are operating … it is maintaining, as far as possible, the status quo, so that people do not have to make those extra changes… it is not the same and will not be the same as the end state”
- Theresa May, House of Commons, 21 March 2017
 
GEORGE EUSTICE, MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Asked by Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab) about whether the common fisheries policy will apply to the UK during any transition period:-
“As the Prime Minister made clear to the House on 11 October, when we leave the European Union we will leave the common fisheries policy, and we leave the EU in March 2019.… We will become an independent coastal state on the day we leave the European Union in March 2019.”
- George Eustice, Fisheries Minister, House of Commons, 26 Oct 2017
JOINT STATEMENT MICHAEL GOVE AND RUTH DAVIDSON – 11 MAR 2018
“In the referendum campaign in 2016, we were on opposing sides. However, now that the vote has happened and Britain has decided to leave the EU, we are united in our determination to ensure Brexit delivers for Britain’s fishing communities.
“We believe it is vital that we regain control over our own fisheries management. We want to use the opportunity of Brexit to secure a sustainable marine environment for the next generation.
“As proud Scots, we feel a particular debt to fishing communities who are looking to government to deliver a better deal for them. We agree we must deliver a fairer allocation for the British fleet in our own waters.
“As we leave the EU, we want the UK to become an independent coastal state, negotiating access annually with our neighbours. And during the implementation period we will ensure that British fishermen’s interests are properly safeguarded.
“The Prime Minister has been clear: Britain will leave the CFP as of March 2019. We both support her wholeheartedly.
“Whatever differences we had on Brexit, we both agree that our fishing industry stands to benefit from our departure from the Common Fisheries Policy. We are both committed to doing all we can to make those benefits real.”
- Michael Gove (DEFRA Secretary) & Ruth Davidson (Conservatives Scotland leader), joint statement, 11 March 2018
MICHAEL GOVE – FOLLOWING THE CAPITULATION, 19 MARCH 2018, BRUSSELS
“Our proposal to the EU was that, during the implementation period, we would sit alongside other coastal states as a third country and equal partner in annual quota negotiations. We made that case after full consultation with the representatives of the fisheries industry. We pressed hard during negotiations to secure this outcome, and we are disappointed that the EU was not willing to move on this.
- Statement by Michael Gove, House of Commons, 19 March 2018
“Given the assurances that I and others were given over the past year right from the Prime Minister down that we would leave the common fisheries policy at the end of March 2019, who was actually negotiating this and did they really care about fishing? I would like the Secretary of State to answer this: did the officials actually argue that we could be left out right away and that it would be nothing to do with the implementation period?”
- Kate Hoey (Vauxhall) (Lab), House of Commons, 19 March 2018
“The hon. Lady asks a very direct question. That absolutely was the case. We had an immensely hard-working team of officials who negotiated incredibly hard on our behalf. They were in constant touch with Ministers every step of the way, and they encountered intransigence on the part of the EU, which was disappointing—I make no bones about it—but one thing that cannot be faulted is the hard work, mastery of detail and determination of the civil servants in DExEU and DEFRA to get the very best deal for Britain, and I will not hear a word said against them.
- Michael Gove, House of Commons, 19 March 2018
OBSERVATIONS
Very regrettably the government has capitulated fully to the EU over fisheries, just as it has done on almost everything else.
The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is like the Single Market, the Customs Union, and the supremacy of the EU Court of Justice - if you don’t exit them you haven’t exited the EU. That, however, is now the official policy of the government.
WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT
We have published this further article about fisheries because – like passports – it is an iconic issue. If the government can’t even get it right on things like this where the public instantly gets it, what hope is there for larger and more complex issues?
We felt it was important to record what was said over the past year or more, and what is now happening. When we reviewed what the PM said during PMQs on Wednesday when she was asked about it, she managed to answer without ever admitting that fisheries were being abandoned during the transition period and that the policy had changed. Instead she answered in such a roundabout way that future generations reviewing Hansard would almost not know.
Well, now we’ve recorded the betrayal more completely.
BREATHTAKING ARROGANCE
The other reason we wanted to write this article was to demonstrate an attitudinal problem within Whitehall about Brexit which we encounter all the time, but for which is sometimes difficult to give good examples. This week we have two examples to give you, both about this fisheries issue.
Example 1 – Michael Gove
In his answer to the admirable Kate Hoey MP during his answers to the urgent question on Tuesday, Michael Gove finished with: “one thing that cannot be faulted is the hard work, mastery of detail and determination of the civil servants in DExEU and DEFRA to get the very best deal for Britain, and I will not hear a word said against them.”
He said this with barely disguised irritation. Please note that the ostensible cause of the irritation was not the betrayal of the UK’s fishermen, but his annoyance at the suggestion that perhaps people hadn’t been doing their jobs properly in Whitehall.
Well we have news for you Mr Gove. The majority of our readers don’t care one jot for you or the people involved in this national disgrace. They care about the livelihoods and futures of our fishermen and our coastal communities. And, as an island and sea-faring nation, they also care about the sovereignty of our national waters.
Are your feelings hurt, Mr Gove, or the feelings of other people working on this? Tough. We and others criticise because it’s damn right to do so. How dare you try to deflect by suggesting that all of you have been working so hard?
David Davis tried to pull the same stunt on Monday, saying that “I’d like to join Michel in commending both our negotiating teams for their skill, their commitment and from time to time their ability to go without sleep.”
We work day and night and have done since long before the Referendum, because we’re so exasperated at the poor quality of information on offer to the British public from the BBC and other media organisations. We hate the propaganda inflicted on millions by the British government and by the EU.
Every night some of us are working, but we don’t go on about this all the time. Many of our readers also work very hard and sometimes have to put in exceptional hours.
Frankly if one or two highly-paid people on the British negotiating side lost a few hours sleep in the last couple of weeks, they needn’t have bothered. The results of negotiations are frankly deplorable. They could have slept the sleep of the dead and we doubt anyone would have noticed.
Example 2
When this scandal broke, Scottish Conservative MPs from fishing constituencies in particular were severely alarmed. Not because they are ardent Brexiteers – quite the opposite. Being part of arch-Remoaner Ruth Davidson’s 12 Scottish Tory MPs means that they’re Remainers to a man and woman, with the sole exception of Ross Thomson (Aberdeen South).
One of them was even the Finance Director of the official Remain campaign ‘Stronger In’, for heaven’s sake. Some of our team sacrificed a great deal to fight this man and his awful colleagues in the Referendum campaign. We know many of our readers did too.
No, the Scottish Tory MPs weren’t alarmed because of any threat to Brexit. They were alarmed because of the risk to votes in their constituencies.
Photo right: Luke Graham MP, former FD of 'Stronger In'
 
Be that as it may they had a meeting with the government’s new Chief Whip, the Rt Hon Julian Smith MP, following Monday’s announcement in Brussels. Apparently he told them at the end:
“Don’t worry, it’s not like the fishermen are going to vote Labour.”
This is precisely the arrogance that could get Mrs May into deep trouble in the upcoming local elections. For some time now we have seen a gradual change amongst readers who formerly used to criticise us severely when we were hard on Mrs May.
MRS MAY, YOU MIGHT WANT TO LISTEN TO THIS
Now we’re finding that readers who are normally loyal Tory party members are telling us that they will not be making any extra donations to the party, and nor will they canvas. Much larger numbers of readers were traditional Tory voters who moved back from UKIP after the Referendum and who are now saying that they will either vote UKIP again or will simply withhold their vote completely.
This is all as a direct result of their disbelief and horror at how the government is pursuing the negotiations. In fact, the only hope for many Tory readers is the old chestnut that ‘nothing is agreed until everything is agreed’. These readers are hopeful that Mrs May’s appalling results to date will never see the light of day because the UK will end up walking away with no deal.
In our next article we’re bringing you an interview that our editor did with a major Conservative Brexit figure yesterday. This very bright and very experienced MP has some interesting things to say, as well as offering advice to Brexit Facts4EU.Org readers on how to get the Brexit they want.
The interview is currently being edited and coded and it will be published above, as quickly as possible this morning.
Do not miss it!
[ Sources: UK Parliament | Hansard ]
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       06.55am, 23 Mar 2018
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Name: David Joyce, Hereford      Date/Time: 25 Mar 2018, 3.50pm
Message: With all that hard work and attention to detail, the men from Whitehall failed abysmally. In the private sector they would be sacked but instead they are rewarded. Further, it is the duty of ministers to oversee and direct the work of officials so it must be failure on the part of Gove, Davis and May.
Name: Starman, Home Counties      Date/Time: 23 Mar 2018, 6.06pm
Message: Interesting video - less than 10 minutes. Describes the treason inflicted by Heath & others. Special PC describes that the Treason Act has not been repealed. Death Penalty still stands or life in prison. Civil Servants currently hoping to give money to EU army to tie UK into are committing conspiracy to commit treason or malfeasance in public office. Hammond likewise with EU pensions paid by UK should be transferred to UK funds not keep them with EU for 45 years. So many ways UK people are being undermined. Finally. We are born with rights & the govt or EU have to right to take them from us. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBUO7OhgiKk
Name: Not4EU, UK      Date/Time: 23 Mar 2018, 10.17am
Message: What is in these people's heads other than betrayal of our country? We cannot start to rebuild our fishing industry, with the resultant 'natural' regeneration of our coastal communities, until we have full control of our fishing waters. I suspect that they won't be able to even ban pulse fishing without the EU permission. An island nation, with some of the richest fishing waters in the world, is a net importer of fish. No wonder the EU love May. She can't help giving our country away for absolutely no return.
Name: Patrick H, London      Date/Time: 23 Mar 2018, 10.04am
Message: MRS MAY, YOU MIGHT WANT TO LISTEN TO THIS! Well at the end of the day it will be the people's choice which candidate will be chosen at the next local elections. It will be here that people will show their anger at these lying politicians. As they say, "Make them listen by hitting them in the pocket" and I also subscribe to the notion, if there is not an alternative to Lib/Lab/Con then I shall not vote at all, and I am sure there are very many who feel the same way as I do, regarding this shameful example of the Establishment ignoring the UK people AGAIN! It feels like a complete stitch-up right from the moment the people voted democratically to leave the EU. The establishment did not like it... and mobilised all the forces against this Brexit decision (installing T. May for starters), including installing those politicians that appeared to be backing Brexit, but most likely were simply thrown into the mix to give the illusion there are honourable politicians out there that would support the people....the decision to ignore Brexit was made the day after the vote! WHAT MUGS WE ARE!

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 YESTERDAY WE BROKE
A MAJOR BREXIT STORY.
DID THE BBC COVER IT?
No-one really doubts the answer to that question. Of course they didn't.
We happen to think that the news that the British government has decided to open the country's doors to another EU country was pretty major stuff.
Free movement is to be extended this July, just 9 months before the UK is supposed to be exiting the EU and waving goodbye to free movement and open borders. Mrs May's government has announced that it has seen fit to open the doors to 4.3 million Croatians.
We have nothing against Croatians personally of course, but that's not the point.
Seriously BBC, just how big a joke are you now? We're tiny and broke. You're huge and you can afford to pay flappy-eared idiots hundreds of thousands of pounds a year from licence-payers' money, who then pretend they know something about Brexit instead of football.
Yet we can break this story but you either can't be bothered or just don't want to cover it for your own political reasons.
Once, every member of our team would have supported the News and Current Affairs Dept of our independent BBC to the hilt. Now your performance is so pitiful we just want you gone.
The story about the UK opening its doors to free movement from Croatia is below.
     Journalists from the BBC can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.        06.55am, 23 Mar 2018
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Name: Not Amused, Europe      Date/Time: 25 Mar 2018, 07.01am
Message: Yes but anyone would prefer Croatia, to any further muslim country. What we need is Christian country migration if we need migration at all!
MAJOR INTERVIEW
Yesterday our editor completed an interview with a serious and important pro-Brexit MP.
This will appear on our site this morning and you do NOT want to miss this!
It is currently still being edited and coded, but will appear at the top of this page very soon.
 4.3m CROATIANS GIVEN
FREE MOVEMENT TO UK
Croation PM Andrej Plenković criticising the UK                           © EU Parliament
at the EU Parliament in Strasbourg 6 weeks ago                          
UK GOVERNMENT QUIETLY OPENS DOOR TO CROATIANS
NEW & EXCLUSIVE:   After June this year, all Croatians will be able to travel to live and work freely in the UK, according to a government announcement which was made this week.
The government announced quietly on Monday by way of a written statement to the House that the restrictions on the EU’s newest member will be lifted from June this year.
As of 01 July, Croatians will be able to come and work in the UK without needing a visa or other permission. Once they have arrived they will also be eligible to stay in the UK, in the same way that other EU citizens are eligible.
According to the transition deal that the government agreed with the EU on Monday, this means that any Croatian who arrives before 01 January 2021 will have full citizen’s rights including the permanent right of residence, and the same family reunification and other rights.
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
HOW WE FOUND OUT
Immigration Minister Caroline Nokes made the announcement in a Written Ministerial Statement to Parliament on Monday. These are devices which, whilst being formally correct, do not always get close scrutiny when other major news is happening.
At the same time, Prime Minister Theresa May informed Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic of the decision by letter, outlining that the restrictions which have been in place since 2013 as part of Croatia’s EU accession treaty will be lifted.
All of this happened at the same time that the big news from Brussels was breaking, of the EU-UK agremeent on the new withdrawal and transition deal.
Only two weeks ago the Brexit Secretary David Davis visited Croatia and held a meeting with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković in Zagreb. According to Croat media, Mr Plenković asked David Davis to reconsider the issue of free movement. It appears that he did.
Three other EU countries, Austria, the Netherlands and Slovenia, will continue to apply restrictions to Croatian nationals.
SOME INFORMATION ABOUT CROATIA
                          Extracted from a map by © 'Captain Blood'
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG SUMMARY – ABOUT CROATIA:
  • Population: 4.28m
  • GDP: $50bn (1/52nd that of the UK)
  • Age of country: 26 years old – part of Yugoslavia until June 1991
  • Civil war from 1991-1995
  • NATO member since: 2009
  • EU member state since: 2013 (the latest member to join)
6 weeks ago in Strasbourg, MEPs gathered for the second in their series of debates on “The Future Of Europe”.
As part of the debate the Prime Minister of Croatia, Andrej Plenković, was invited to address the EU Parliament. As is common with debates in Strasbourg, there were few MEPs who made the effort to turn out to see him, but we reported fully at the time.
One part of his speech stood out - the part where he was demonstrating his EU credentials by slamming the UK
“The UK's exit is a result of populism
and a campaign of disinformation”
- Prime Minister of Croatia, Andrej Plenković, Strasbourg, 06 Feb 2018
Mr Plenković spoke at some length about solidarity, unity and all the other themes designed to impress the EU-fanatics present. He also stressed the need for the EU to stand together because of Brexit. He blamed Brexit on lies by anti-EU campaigners, saying: “The UK's exit is a result of populism and a campaign of disinformation”.
BRITISH MEP SLAMS EU ENLARGEMENT POLICY
During his speech, the Croatian Prime Minister also spoke about the proposed EU enlargement in the Balkans, which he favours. A new EU strategy has been prepared to accelerate the progress of the Western Balkan states becoming part of the EU. This strategy foresees Montenegro and Serbia both joining by 2025.
Former UKIP and now independent MEP Diane James has been outspoken about EU enlargement.
© Diane James
After Mr Plenković spoke, Ms James told Brexit Facts4EU.Org:
“The nature of the club changes with each new member. The current trajectory is to include those countries with a lower GDP per capita and higher levels of unemployment.”
OBSERVATIONS
The announcement that the UK's doors are going to be thrown wide open to Croatians was made on the day the new EU-UK withdrawal and transition deal was announced by Michel Barnier and David Davis in Brussels.
Even the mainstream media was forced to report the announcement of the withdrawal and transition deal - because it was so significant - although they failed adequately to report the opposition to it as usual.
A cynical person might say that Monday was therefore a perfect opportunity to slip out the news about free movement for all Croatians into the UK. If this was the intention it was a success. We have been unable to find this news from any other British news organisation, including the BBC.
Unfortunately for the government, Brexit Facts4EU.Org were on the case as usual.
We know many of the countries in the EU – members of the team have lived and/or worked in many of them. Croatia is one of the few we don’t have personal knowledge of, in part because it only became a country one could safely visit from 1995. Some British people will know Croatia because of tourism – it has a beautiful coastline.
The government is at pains to reassure the British people – those who are reading this, because they made sure no-one else could know about this – that almost no-one from Croatia will come to live and work in the UK from this summer.
If that is the case, why was it that the Croatian Prime Minister specifically asked David Davis to lift the restrictions, when they met just two weeks ago?
Readers may also remember when the then UK government gave similar reassurances in 2004 when Poland and many Eastern European countries joined the EU. The public were then told by the Labour government that "between 5,000 to 13,000 net immigrants per year" were expected. More than a million Poles arrived, as well as many other nationalities.
It was a similar story with Romania and Bulgaria.
WE WERE WRONG ABOUT ONE THING
Six weeks ago when Mr Plenković made his comments about Brexit we gave him some advice. Here is what we told him:
One day, Sir, you may need a friendly United Kingdom. It is exceedingly unwise of you to think you have the faintest idea why we voted to rid ourselves of the dysfunctional nightmare that is the club you joined recently. The vast, vast majority of the lies and disinformation came from the Remain campaign and from the Establishment of which you are a member. These lies are being disproved on a weekly basis as the country's performance has defied all the predictions of immediate Armageddon.
Frankly Prime Minister it is outrageous of you to think you know the first thing about this. Presumably you're one of those Eurofanatics who think that the FT and the Guardian - preferred reading in the corridors of Brussels - represent the views of the British people and the facts of life in the UK. They most emphatically do not.
Since then, we regret to say that we have realised that the UK government seem to be prepared to give away everything, demanding nothing in return. They seem to be doing so in the misguided hope that this show of generosity and decency will inspire the same in our EU partners. Naive in the extreme, as they would know if they spent as long as we do studying the EU.
THE BIGGER STORY
The bigger point here, though, is about the widening gulf between the government and the people of our fair islands. It is as if the political classes are on a suicide mission. Do they really not understand what a seismic shift has been taking place?
Brexit isn’t an issue like any other. Betray the public on Brexit and the consequences may be far more than you bargained for.
We have to say we have been amazed at the number of people who have told us in the last few days that they will never vote Conservative again. And most of these say they are life-long Conservatives.
The latest news about granting free movement to Croatians, in the same week that the government has capitulated totally to the EU, and in the same week that we are told that the UK’s passports will be made by a Franco-Dutch company when the UK is home to the biggest passport-maker in the world…? All of this simply astounds us.
We do have one piece of good news for you, to end on. As a result of the British government's actions, the Croatian government has generously agreed to lift restrictions on British workers going to Croatia.
We're sure that will be a load off for you.
[ Sources: UK Parliament | Hansard | EU Parliament | World Bank | UN | Diane James MEP ]
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
       06.55am, 22 Mar 2018
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Name: Martine, UK      Date/Time: 22 Mar 2018, 07.15am
Message: Hi - I'm interested on your views on this: http://www.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2018/03/13/this-is-why-we-re-taking-david-davis-to-court-for-a-brexit-r Eloise Todd taking David Davis to court on the 'referendum lock'. She says' our Brexit terms will actually mean a big transfer of powers to Brussels, particularly for the transition period and possibly even beyond'. If this is true then the deal is a total scandal. This group is a danger to Brexit. More here: https://twitter.com/TechForUK?lang=en Best wishes, Martine
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 EU CONFIRMS IT
DEFEATED UK
IN BREXIT TALKS
Unelected EU Council President Tusk                   © EU Council
(UNELECTED) PRESIDENT TUSK CONFIRMS UK SURRENDER IN LETTER TO EU27 LEADERS
In a shocking but not unexpected confirmation yesterday, EU Council President Tusk wrote to all EU27 leaders to confirm Prime Minister May’s complete capitulation in the Brexit negotiations.
EU'S "UK SURRENDER CONFIRMATION LETTER"
  • “We have achieved success when it comes to citizens' rights and the financial settlement”
  • the rights of our citizens … the number one priority for the EU. And we have made it”
  • “citizens will be fully protected from the consequences of Brexit”
  • “This is good news for all Europeans”
  • “Prime Minister May … accepts all options agreed in December to be on the negotiating table”
  • “Including the option of full regulatory alignment between Ireland and Northern Ireland”
The EU summit starts tomorrow but Brexit will not be discussed until Friday morning, after Mrs May has left.
Below is the full text of President Tusk’s letter in relation to Brexit.
“When it comes to Brexit, we will discuss how to approach the rest of the negotiations with the UK, including on our future relationship. I want us to have a broad debate on our negotiating strategy. In this context I will ask you to adopt a first set of guidelines on the future relationship with the UK. Additionally, yesterday our negotiators reached a solution on parts of the withdrawal agreement. Whether all 27 Member States can welcome this at the European Council remains open. I still need a couple more hours to consult with some of the most concerned Member States. To me, one thing is clear. We have achieved success when it comes to citizens' rights and the financial settlement. As I have stated from the very beginning of these negotiations, defending the rights of our citizens will be the number one priority for the EU. And we have made it. European citizens will be fully protected from the consequences of Brexit. This also means that our citizens crossing the Channel in this period will not get worse treatment than those who did so before. This is good news for all Europeans. As regards the most contentious issue, namely Ireland, Prime Minister May has reassured me that she accepts all options agreed in December to be on the negotiating table. Including the option of full regulatory alignment between Ireland and Northern Ireland if there is no other possibility to avoid a hard border. This bodes well for the rest of the negotiations.”
OBSERVATIONS
In our articles yesterday we analysed Theresa May’s withdrawal and transition deal with the EU and concluded that it represents a defeat on all issues and even a complete U-turn on an issue which the Prime Minister had said “no UK Prime Minister could ever agree to” only 19 days earlier.
President Tusk’s letter confirms our analysis. It is clear that the EU is simply delighted at the capitulation of Theresa May, David Davis, and the rest of the British government. We study these EU apparatchiks daily and we know them. It would be no exaggeration to say that they simply can’t believe their luck.
For any Remainers and for our readers who work in Brussels, please note that it is not possible to pretend that Mr Tusk's letter was that of a man claiming to have achieved a victory when he hadn't. No, that role fell to the British Brexit Secretary David Davis.
So complete was the EU’s victory on Monday that President Tusk was even able to twist the knife further in his letter, saying that he wasn’t yet sure that all 27 member states would accept the deal. Officials have reported that his comment relates specifically to Spain which is starting to ramp up its demands over the Gibraltar issue. Currently, Spain has a veto over the entire deal in relation to Gibraltar.
Make no mistake. This deal isn’t just a bad deal for Britain, it’s appalling. It represents abject surrender across the board.
If the people responsible on the British side had been working for a business, they would have been fired for gross incompetence.
In fact, so bad are the results that if we didn’t know better we would say that the British government had been paid off. Naturally we are not suggesting that in any way. We merely wish to get across how bad this deal really is.
Brexi-Kitten the office mascot could have done better.
NEXT: The phoney trade deal 'victory'.
[ Sources: HMG | EU Council ]
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       06.55am, 21 Mar 2018
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Name: Lesley, Scotland      Date/Time: 21 Mar 2018, 11.01pm
Message: A question/request.... It seems that the so called deal on transition is a complete capitulation to all the EU demands. As things stand our government seems to have created a situation for post March 2019 even worse than it is right now, as a full member. My questions are - how irrevocable is this? Is the 'nothing agreed until all agreed' for real? Is everything agreed so far made null and void if we leave on WTO rules? Will we crash out if the final 'deal' is voted down in Parliament? And finally - what can we do as individuals to make our displeasure clear? Do we write to the PM, our MP, our nearest Tory MP? Can we do anything to change what's been agreed so far I feel so impotent - the weakness of our negotiators makes me ashamed. Where is the belief in our country, our strengths, our abilities? Why do we kneel down in absolute subservience before the almighty EU? Don't know if you are able to post a short article on 'things you can do” because as has been written on your pages, we are not exactly at the point of 17.4 million of us taking to the streets or converging on Westminster. (Sadly!) Thanks so much for your work...it is much appreciated.
Reply: Excellent questions, Lesley. We'll try to address these shortly. As ever we're very constricted by lack of resources cause by insufficient funding.
Name: John Finn, Coventry      Date/Time: 21 Mar 2018, 10.51pm
Message: I think the Facts4EU reaction is a little over the top. First, let's be clear, the EU elite needs to let it be seen that they are winning and are the ones who are who are laying down the conditions for withdrawal. Who cares - let them. Secondly, I'm not sure we should consider that protecting the status of EU citizens in the UK (and vice versa) is a "defeat". Thirdly, Could we negotiate trade deals without the EU's say so? Possibly - but the EU could still make things difficult. In any case, the likelihood of negotiating a deal that starts before 2021 is pretty small. It might not be ideal but as long as it's made clear that nothing is agreed until everything's agreed. We can still move forward in a reasonably strong position given the difficulties May is likely to face in Parliament.
Name: Michael Wood, Wales      Date/Time: 21 Mar 2018, 8.35pm
Message: I don't think Tusk should be so cock-sure. The eurocrats have certainly earned the enmity of all patriotic British people. I am still of the opinion that the migrant crisis is going to bring them down; internet news sources describe worsening conditions in all major European countries everyday and these conditions are definitely going to lead to a violent end.
Name: Brexiteer, Braintree, Essex      Date/Time: 21 Mar 2018, 1.40pm
Message: I am assuming that the UK capitulation during these negotiations is to allow negotiations on a final trade agreement to proceed. May then hopes that trade deal will solve the Irish border problem. She is still under the illusion that the EU are negotiating in good faith. As long as no monies are paid "and nothing is agreed until every thing is agreed" holds sway. Either Spain or Ireland are going to veto any final agreement anyway, this charade of negotiating is pointless. Interesting German industry bosses are talking about opening factories in the UK because they fear a hard Brexit.
Name: Tony Medland, Bristol      Date/Time: 21 Mar 2018, 12.18pm
Message: The government insists on verbal fig leaves to hide the facts. 1) There is no "implementation period" - it's a simple EXTENSION period. 2) The later renamed not so great "great reform bill" was really a consolidation bill swallowing EU law & then repealing the 1972 European Communities Act. Big brother doublethink. And as for the recent submission to EU - pathetic. We need some negotiators who believe in the country.
Name: Chris, Devizes      Date/Time: 21 Mar 2018, 10.22am
Message: Given that May has lied to Parliament (and the people) over the transition deal (specifically the Irish border issue), should she not be sanctioned by the Speaker and forced to resign? The rules on this seem pretty clear to me: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misleading_of_parliament
Name: Patrick H, London      Date/Time: 21 Mar 2018, 10.07am
Message: This gross political capitulation is the most disgusting episode in my lifetime and I have seen some Governmental nefarious cockups in my time. Unfortunately, the Establishment is self-satisfied, arrogant, and worse, could not care less for the citizens of the UK. Additionally, unlike the French, the UK citizens will sit back passively and just take it on the nose as always... and the Establishment know this! This defeat signals the last vestige of hope for our democratic society. The loathsome Government Remainers have won, albeit a pyrrhic victory! For all the excellent work that has been done by Facts4EU and others, it has come to nothing! Frankly, future voting is worthless.

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 THE SINGLE BRITISH ‘VICTORY’
Brexit Secretary + unelected EU Chief Negotiator                   © EU Commission
WASN’T A VICTORY AT ALL
In amongst all the dreadful news coming out of Brussels on Monday, David Davis tried to claim a small victory in one area.
DAVID DAVIS’ WRONGFUL CLAIM TO A SMALL VICTORY – MON 19 MAR 2018
“the United Kingdom will be able to step out, sign and ratify new trade deals with old friends — and new allies — around the globe for the first time in more than 40 years.
“These will come into force when the implementation period is over. Providing new opportunities for businesses across the United Kingdom and seizing one of Brexit’s greatest opportunities.”
- Brexit Secretary Rt Hon David Davis MP, Brussels, Mon 19 Mar 2018
NOT A VICTORY AT ALL – THE FACTS
  1. The UK already had the right to negotiate trade deals
  2. The EU has now delayed the start date for these deals until 2021 - and the UK agreed
Regrettably, Mr Davis’ claim relates to a subject we have had to rebut many times in the last few years. Once the UK triggered Article 50, there was absolutely nothing in the EU Treaties preventing the UK from negotiating and concluding trade deals with other countries.
We’ll repeat that:
THE UK HAS ALWAYS BEEN ABLE LEGALLY TO
NEGOTIATE TRADE DEALS AFTER IT TRIGGERED ARTICLE 50
SUPPORTING EVIDENCE
We have published on this subject many, many times over some years. In January last year we even challenged EU Foreign Secretary Federica Mogherini to come up with any evidence at all to support her assertion that the UK was prevented under treaty obligation from doing trade deals until after it had left the EU. No evidence was forthcoming.
Back in October 2016, the Prime Minister was asked a question about this issue in the House.
Question from Arch Remainer Jonathan Djanogly, Cons MP for Huntingdon :
“Technically, it seems that the UK cannot enter into trade deals with third-party countries while we are still a member of the EU.”
Answer from the Prime Minister :
“My hon. Friend is right that there is a limit to what we can do when it comes to entering into a trade arrangement before we have left the EU, but that does not mean that we cannot scope out negotiations and start to have those discussions.”
We called out the Prime Minister after she told Parliament that the UK couldn’t negotiate trade deals until after it had left. We effectively called out the civil servants for not wanting to correct this. No response.
We provided detailed legal opinion on this matter, as well as providing clear and unambiguous explanations as to why this claim has no basis in law or in common sense.
This is no different to an employee resigning and then having the right to negotiate and sign a contract with his new employer whilst working out his notice.
Below this article we will re-publish one of our many previous articles on this topic. Firstly though let’s look at how the new EU withdrawal and transition deal has made matters even worse.
UK COULD HAVE NEGOTIATED DEALS, READY TO START ON 30 MAR 2019 – NO MORE
Before David Davis’ new deal with the EU, the only constraint on the UK was that such new trade deals couldn’t enter into force until after the date of exit – which was supposed to have been 29th March next year.
Now of course, as a result of the government agreeing to a transition period after exit which effectively means the UK doesn’t leave the EU until 1 Jan 2021, the new trade deals will not be able to start for a further 21 months after the notional date of exit.
OBSERVATIONS
THE GOVERNMENT’S ONLY ‘VICTORY’ WAS IN FACT ANOTHER DEFEAT
So, the government’s only ‘victory’ which they have trumpeted many times since Monday is in fact not a victory at all. It’s yet another defeat.
As a result of the transition period, the situation will in fact be far worse because the EU has succeeded in emasculating the UK as an independent trading country for almost two years longer than would otherwise have been the case.
Summary
The UK will not be able to start trading under its own deals until 21 months after 'Brexit',
thanks to the government’s ‘victory that wasn’t’
If this isn’t either gross incompetence or blatant Brexit-blocking, can someone from the government please explain?
[ Sources: HMG | Lawyers for Britain | EU Commission ]
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       06.55am, 21 Mar 2018
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 TRADE DEALS - THE TRUTH
                   © DIT
LAWYERS ALWAYS SAID UK COULD
NEGOTIATE TRADE DEALS BEFORE EXIT
Over the past few years - since before the Referendum - there were continual claims by the EU, egged on by the Remain campaign and government ministers, that the UK was legally prevented from pursuing trade opportunities with the rest of the world prior to Brexit.
In that time we have published many article rebutting these claims, and have even challenged the EU's de facto Foreign Secretary to produce her evidence for her claim that it is embedded in the treaties. She produced none because she couldn't. There isn't any.
In an attempt to try to produce one example of a victory for the UK in its Brexit negotiations with the EU, the British government has now claimed that the EU has agreed to allow the UK to negotiate trade deals during the Transition Period.
In fact the UK had the right to negotiate trade deals during its Article 50 notice period which ends on 29 March next year. From 30th March any such trade deals could have started, had it not been for the government's negotiated settlement with the EU, which they agreed on Monday.
HERE IS THE LEGAL CASE FOR NEGOTIATING TRADE DEALS NOW
Our condensed summary of legal opinion from the 'Lawyers for Britain' Report
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG SUMMARY - LEGAL OPINION ON UK TRADE DEALS NOW
  1. The view that the UK may not negotiate future free trade agreements (‘FTAs’) with countries outside the EU while it remains a member state is not supported in the EU Treaties or by the decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).
  2. The EU may not prevent the UK negotiating and entering into such treaties providing that they will not come into force until the UK withdraws from the EU.
  3. The EU Treaties give the Union the exclusive right to enter into FTAs with non-EU countries. However member states give up this right on the basis that they will be members of the Union once they come into force. Any exit may go through a process of departure likely to take some years.
  4. EU member states have a duty of sincere co-operation with each other. What the CJEU has never suggested is that this duty gives it the jurisdiction to consider whether member states negotiating treaties outside the EU’s competence might damage the wider interests of the Union.
  5. A treaty coming into force after the UK withdrew from the EU would not be in breach of the UK’s treaty obligations to the EU. By analogy, the UK would be acting no differently to a person negotiating a new employment contract before the end of his current employment.
  6. The EU has the objective of creating an area of prosperity and good neighbourliness outside it. In taking steps to enhance its economic prosperity once it left the Union, the UK would be acting in accordance with that object. If the EU sought to prevent such steps, it would endanger the wider area of prosperity and its good relations with its future neighbour.
With our thanks to the team at Lawyers for Britain, you can read the full report from Francis Hoar, barrister and Committee Member of Lawyers for Britain, here. Mr Hoar was the barrister who won the celebrated High Court judgement in 2015, which voided the election of the Mayor of Tower Hamlets. This was the longest election petition in English legal history, lasting over six weeks.
OBSERVATIONS
We hope you will not mind us pointing out that we were the ONLY pro-Brexit site which published on this topic until Lawyers for Britain produced their excellent work. For us it was essential that the UK 'got on with it' and started negotiating with other countries for three reasons:
  1. Continuation of trade with the few countries with which the EU has a free trade deal
  2. Commencing negotiations with the World Trade Organisation
  3. Starting talks for FTAs with key allies around the world, such as the US, Australia, etc.
We wrote about this subject, and then Lawyers for Britain was formed and provided the invaluable legal basis for what we were already convinced of having read the Treaties.
This is precisely the kind of area where we feel we could make even more of a difference than we already do. If we had some more financial resource it would enable us to campaign more effectively at the political level.
With everything now going on, and Brexit in some considerable jeopardy, sorry but we have to ask... If you're a regular reader and you haven't already done so, maybe you could help in the fight to achieve a clean Brexit with a donation so that we can fight harder - no matter how small the sum?
[ Sources: Our own treaty & legal research | Lawyers for Britain ]
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       06.55am, 21 Mar 2018
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Name: Jon, Wales      Date/Time: 22 Mar 2018, 09.14am
Message: I have long felt following our decision to forge our own destiny and exit the political European Union, that the EU have one purpose - to do everything they can to attempt to damage our country out of spite. They do this thinking it may prevent other EU member countries from taking the exit route. Their dictatorial bullying WILL backfire for they have badly misjudged British resolve. The EU27, or more importantly, the unelected EU commission, are not displaying 'good neighbourliness'. However, I will credit the EU commission for one thing - they have played upon the weakness of Mrs May and are laughing all the way to their bank at the expense of UK taxpayers?

The summary of legal opinion will not please remoaners, but these are facts they cannot deny. In my opinion, we must stop pretending to be subservient to an EU that knows we're leaving, and just get on with it. The EU commission (and Verhofstadt) can bleat all they like, but there is nothing really to stop us 'engineering' our future to be ready from day one? We don't require their permission. Now if I'm wrong, I'll say I'm wrong, but I do not see the present government standing tall against the EU and delivering a clean Brexit. Perhaps we should all make a song and dance at the next election because some may not like the result!

I would caution those MPs and peers whom are attempting to thwart Brexit, to remind them we've had countless elections where there are differences of opinion. Hence, voters make their voice heard at the ballot box in a General Election and vote for one candidate only. In other words, the electorate rejects all other candidates. At the 2017 General Election, the Hon Stephen Gethins MP (SNP), won his Westminster parliamentary seat by TWO VOTES only. In fact, three of his SNP colleagues were also in the lowest ten majorities. We never once heard a call for a rerun in those four constituencies. They were democratic results and we just got on with life. Let us not forget many Scottish voters also rejected SNP candidates at election.

The point is made in order for ALL MPs to get behind our country and STOP the juvenile in-fighting. You were all elected to serve the people, not the other way around.
 “I INCREASINGLY DESPAIR”
We are pleased to publish an article by a guest writer who goes under the pseudonym 'Not4EU'.
Sounds like our name, but she's completely independent. She's a member of the public who is a reader and also a supporter. One of the perks for those who support us financially with donations is that they're able to send us an opinion (or factual) piece for publication.
In her piece below Not4EU analyses yesterday's events and provides her own take on the British government's Brexit strategy.

I have now calmed down to incandescent rage. My feelings will not get any calmer than that. I've also looked at the front pages of the 'newspapers' and found only two carrying small paragraphs mentioning the 'agreement'.
Tumbleweed, much like coverage of the abuse of terrorism powers for political purposes curtailing journalism / freedom of speech and yet another town, Telford, where young girls have been abused.
I increasingly despair of what this country is becoming.
Let's recap where we are, and see if it matches the people's expectations. Something is needed or we will think that we've gone mad.
What was demanded:
The country voted to leave the political construct that is the EU and regain our independence 636 days ago. This means that our sovereignty is returned, our law is supreme and that we, in the form of an accountable and elected Govt, have full control of our laws, our territory, our borders, our governance and our economy.
Delaying fudge:
  • The PM resigns instead of doing what was promised - deliver A50 the day after the vote, thereby requiring a leadership election.
  • A remainer PM is crowned, not voted for. She installs a 75% remainer Europhile cabinet with a couple of leave placemen to take the fall.
  • We discover that the Govt had made no plans for a leave vote. 'Time' is now required before A50 can be delivered. This is dereliction of duty.
  • An unnecessary 'snap' GE is called with the longest run-in that I've ever seen, with policies designed to lose core votes. The Govt lose their majority.
  • The Govt make a weak case in the Courts, seemingly (from a normal person's point of view) ignoring counsel from Lawyers4Britain, so lose and the case referred to the Supreme Court where the legal argument is more limiting. If they had not been allowed to intercede, the result may have been worse.
  • 280 days after the vote, A50 is delivered.
  • At the first sign of British headway in the negotiations, the money powerpoint, May 'takes control' and installs her pet remainer in no 10 to 'oversee' things.
  • The Govt continues to make no plans for a 'no deal' outcome, then claim 'more time' and therefore a 'transition' period is needed.
What they are calling a good deal:
They 'say' that we are leaving the EU on 29th March 2019, 375 days from now. This is just pure sophistry, not borne out by facts.
Law: Will our law be supreme?
No. We will follow and implement all EU law until at least 2021. We will have no say in any new laws during this period. We will be a colony, a vassal state, of the EU. Any transition period will be used to tie us into the EU, without our consent. It is worth remembering that the 'fantasy' army came into fruition in just 3 months.
Territory: Will we control our territory?
No. The EU will have full control of our waters throughout 2019. They will only 'consult' us whilst they make the decisions. They will use the transition to further decimate our fleet then claim in International Court that as we are unable to fish our own waters they claim the right to do so, plus having established 'historic fishing rights'.
NI will remain under EU control, in itself a breach of the GFA.
Borders: Will we control our borders?
No. Unfettered immigration from the EU will continue, no doubt enhanced by the numbers of 'new' citizens in EU countries. We will have to apply to the EU for permission, only on State security grounds, to change this. People coming from the EU after we have 'left', have full rights over which we have no control.
Will we have control of our governance?
No. See the section about laws.
In addition, our military and defence are being signed up, behind our backs, into the 'fantasy' EU army and defence structures so will be governed by the EU.
We are also remaining in the 'policing' structures so things like the EAW will still apply allowing foreign courts to demand our citizens' extradition without evidence.
Economy: Will we have control of our economy?
No, given that a 'nothing changes' so-called transition is proposed so current rules will apply, though I haven't looked into this closely yet.
No trade agreements may be implemented, and the EU wants to 'sit in' on any negotiations that we might have.
Whilst the 'headline' contributions may cease, the 'off-the-books' contributions will seemingly continue.
SUMMARISING...
I have yet to see a single item that will be 'returned' to our control on 30th March 2019, so what exactly are we leaving on 29th March 2019 other than any representation? No doubt we will also have to fund the EU elections in May next year, unlike other countries that facilitate this for expats via their embassies as I haven't heard anything to the contrary.
I simply cannot see how ANY trade deal could outweigh the capitulation we've seen and there's a year to go. This is a VERY BAD DEAL.
A 'no deal' at least gives us what we voted for. It is then for us to make of our independence what we will.
Democracy appears to be dead in this country.
I did not vote for Brexit. I voted to leave and be an independent country.
OBSERVATIONS BY THE FACTS4EU.ORG TEAM
The above article clearly comes from the heart, as you can see for yourselves. We've published it because it is a good example of what we are seeing from many people.
During the last 21 months since the Referendum, it seems that many in the political classes have assumed that they could slowly re-take control and ignore the democratic decision of the British people. There haven't been riots on the streets each time the government has given away yet another essential piece in the negotiations with Brussels.
We are now sensing, however,a fast-growing groundswell of very angry sentiment amongst what are normally the silent majority in our great country. In many ways the comments sent to us by 'Not4EU' above personify this, only being British she doesn't overtly threaten to overthrow the state!
Nevertheless, she is deadly serious and so are millions of ordinary people. Just because the BBC is failing as usual to report accurately and impartially on this matter, doesn't mean that 'normal' people aren't stirring.
We'll give you just one little example. In the last couple of years we've received many comments and private emails about Mr Jacob Rees-Mogg. They have all - without exception - been positive.
Suddenly since yesterday's draft agreement between the British government and the EU, we've started to receive some negative comments. It seems that people feel he should now do something instead of simply talking about red lines, or going on a fishing boat on the Thames tomorrow. His comments about the deal seem to have struck people as being far too weak - almost to the extent of him backtracking on some of what he has previously said.
Already David Davis - previously very popular amongst our readership - has now almost totally fallen from grace. 'Bitterly disappointed in him' seems to sum this up. Were he to stand for the Conservative leadership he would lose catastrophically.
We tend to take with a pinch of salt when someone says "that's it, I will never vote Tory ever again", but now we're hearing this so often it makes us wonder.
One thing is for sure. If someone like Jacob Rees-Mogg stood up for a true, clean Brexit now, he would receive enormous backing from across the political spectrum. And we're talking about real people here, not the Westminster bubble. We're talking millions of voters from across class, race, age, and income boundaries. We're talking about the kind of unassailable majority that could make him the longest-serving prime minister.
However if he plays games, he will not be easily forgiven. A substantial portion of those who might get behind him now would feel doubly betrayed if their hero were to be found wanting. And the last thing we want is to run any risk of someone like Amber Rudd or Ruth Davidson ever running the Conservative party.
We've had quite enough of Remainers and Remoaners, thank you very much.
[ Sources: Not4EU (pseudonym) ]             11.55am, 20 Mar 2018
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READERS' COMMENTS
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Name: Jon, Wales      Date/Time: 22 Mar 2018, 07.04am
Message: An excellent article from guest writer "Not4EU", and one I trust MPs and peers take full notice of. I do not believe the Westminster bubble appreciate the strength of feeling in our country. To be giving away all our forebears fought and died for must rank as the lowest of the lowest ever. It is my view our Prime Minister has had her time and too many chances to prove herself. I am certain everyone has noticed how the political 'spin-doctors' have changed the rhetoric away from Brexit, and when you hear something 'good' from the EU commission, we know it's just a matter of time before we hear politicians going against the will of 17.4 million voters like they have with other countries. I have little doubts this figure will now be higher. I no longer believe in David Davis [DExEU]. Mrs May should in my view be removed from office on a vote of no confidence and very swiftly replaced by a pro-Brexit PM to stay on track. If Mr Rees-Mogg would accept this responsibility, he would be a welcome change. At present, this is nothing like Brexit - we're being stitched up? I voted to LEAVE, and so say all of us. I could not now bring myself to vote for any party, such is my distrust of politicians. I will however vote for the party that gives me what I voted for on 23 June, 2016. I will NOT be governed by the unelected bureaucratic overpaid EU commission after 29 March, 2019, PERIOD.
Name: Norman, Taunton      Date/Time: 20 Mar 2018, 4.01pm
Message: Unfortunately we live in a democratic dictatorship. I agree with this writer and like her voted to leave the EU having regretfully been hoodwinked by Ted Heath at the last referendum where I voted to remain. I apologies for my lack of knowledge and forethought. But for the life of me I cannot see us every leaving the EU unless we have a leader who has the guts to say no to them and just tell them we are leaving. No payments, no agreements. If you want any agreements then we negotiate after we have left. Also unfortunately we are ruled by an elite who do not really want us to leave. The only way forward is regretfully going to be when this country and the EU collapses and we end up with anarchy.

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 “NO UK PRIME MINISTER COULD EVER AGREE TO IT”
- THERESA MAY, 28 FEB 2018
                     © Parliament TV
On Wednesday 28 February the EU published its Draft Withdrawal Agreement.
This draft contained a highly explosive section on Northern Ireland, now known as the ‘back-stop solution’ which would see NI tied into the EU’s Single Market and Customs Union – and therefore into the EU itself – after Brexit.
At Prime Minister’s Questions that same day, here is what the Prime Minister Theresa May had to say about the ‘back-stop solution’:-
ANSWER 1
“The hon. Gentleman is right: the draft legal text that the Commission has published would, if implemented, undermine the UK common market and threaten the constitutional integrity of the UK by creating a customs and regulatory border down the Irish sea, and no UK Prime Minister could ever agree to it. I will be making it crystal clear to President Juncker and others that we will never do so.”
ANSWER 2
“As I said earlier, and I am happy to repeat again, the draft legal text that the Commission has published, if implemented, would undermine the UK common market and threatens the constitutional integrity of the UK by creating a customs and regulatory border down the Irish sea. No UK Prime Minister could ever agree to it, and I will be making that absolutely clear.
The Rt Hon Theresa May MP, Prime Minister, 28th February 2018
JUMP FORWARD 19 DAYS…
Barnier & Davis yesterday                     © EU Commission
Yesterday the EU’s unelected Chief Brexit Negotiator Michel Barnier and the UK’s Brexit Secretary David Davis MP held a joint press conference in Brussels, to announce that they had reached substantive agreement on most of the new transition deal and withdrawal agreement.
Part of this deal involved the UK agreeing to the back-stop solution for Northern Ireland to which the Theresa May said “no UK Prime Minister could ever agree”.
“We agreed today that the back stop solution must form part of the legal text of the withdrawal agreement.”
Michel Barnier, (unelected) Chief Brexit Negotiator, EU Commission, 19 March 2018
Opening page of 129 page document:
“With respect to the DRAFT PROTOCOL ON IRELAND/NORTHERN IRELAND, the negotiators agree that a legally operative version of the ‘backstop’ solution for the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, in line with paragraph 49 of the Joint Report, should be agreed as part of the legal text of the Withdrawal Agreement, to apply unless and until another solution is found.”
Mrs May has not yet announced when she will be standing down as Prime Minister.
WHAT ELSE DOES THIS AGREEMENT SAY?
The 129 page document from the EU covers a very large number of issues. Around 75% of these have been agreed and these agreements are either in detail or in outline. There remain some areas still to be thrashed out but the direction of travel is clear.
United Kingdom government appears to have capitulated on every single point of dispute.
Here are just some of the lowlights:-
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG SUMMARY - DRAFT WITHDRAWAL AGREEMENT
  • Border in Irish Sea – backstop solution still in place
  • Free movement into UK – to continue
  • Right to stay permanently – to continue
  • Single Market – to continue
  • Customs Union – to continue
  • Jurisdiction of foreign judges and supremacy of foreign law – to continue
  • Massive annual payments to the EU – to continue
  • Inability to trade internationally under UK-negotiated trade deals – to continue
  • EU’s rights over UK’s territorial waters – to continue
  • The Common Agricultural Policy – to continue
  • The Common Fisheries Policy – to continue
All of the above will continue as at present until at least the start of 2021.
What will not continue is the UK’s right to be present on all decision-making bodies in the EU. The UK will not be able to influence laws, directives, regulations or anything else.
DOWNLOAD LINK
Here is the EU’s document in its entirety – all 129 pages.
OBSERVATIONS
Even by the low standards of discourse among the chattering classes when it comes to the EU, yesterday plumbed new depths for us.
When reviewing such a lengthy document and considering all the travesties it's hard to know how much information to put into an article like this. We chose the Northern Ireland issue to represent just how bad the sell-out is. We could have chosen many more.
For example, you may wish to read our two explainers on the problems of our fisheries industry and the issue of regaining control of our waters. You can read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.
The United Kingdom will truly become a vassal state of the European Union, to borrow Mr Rees-Mogg’s phrase. Given the enormous economic, military, diplomatic and cultural power of the UK, this vassal status relative to the EU will be on a scale never before seen in history.
Words such as ‘sell-out’, ‘capitulation’ and ‘surrender’ start to sound meaningless when the media seems to have little comprehension of what a disgrace this is.
What was even worse for us was seeing supposedly pro-Brexit organsiations and individuals almost seeming to accept the appalling defeat being inflicted on all Leave voters by this government.
In June 2016 the ordinary people of this great country defeated the combined might of the EU, British political parties, the establishment, the world of finance and big business, and international organisations and world leaders. We did what no-one thought we could do.
Why are leading Brexiteers and pro-Brexit organisations sounding so defeatist?
WHY AREN’T THEY SAYING, LIKE US, THAT WE DO NOT ACCEPT THIS?
Prime Minister you started your premiership by telling us what Brexit meant. (Brexit, from what we recall.)
Well, whatever Brexit really means, the EU document you’re signing up the country to isn’t it.
[ Sources: HMG | EU Commission ]
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
       07.25am, 20 Mar 2018
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READERS' COMMENTS
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Name: Brexiteer, Braintree, Essex      Date/Time: 20 Mar 2018, 6.26pm
Message: The UK is being screwed by OUR own civil servants, they are the ones negotiating with the EU. Their political masters ie Davis and May are just letting them get on with it. The truth is the EU are desperate to punish the UK for having the audacity to vote against the EU project. May keeps on about a special relationship with European friends. What friends? Ones that try and steal your financial services business, Macron and Merkel and Ireland trying to blackmail the UK over the border issue. Everyone except our political masters can see we hold a lot of sway in these negotiations. We should play to our advantages, screw the Germans over their car sales. Now Trump is threatening EU tariffs on German cars, to lose two big export markets would be a disaster to the German economy. Remember they have to pay for one million new europeans who don't and can't work. The EU has been screwing the UK for years. We are just a cash cow for their project. Time for the UK to say jog on to all 27 countries. If they want to trade we will trade but if you want to punish us, forget it we will trade somewhere else.
Name: Helen Taylor, Lincolnshire      Date/Time: 20 Mar 2018, 12.50pm
Message: Hello, I am not sure if you are aware, but a petition from the ordinary people of the internet was presented to no10 Downing Street yesterday. That petition contained the names of over 1.4 million concerned citizens who voted for the Brexit we were promised. I am not sure that this will ever get the recognition that it deserves or even acknowledged as arriving at no 10. It will be buried by the remainers. The petition was on facebook under the name of The List. If you can please use this in your research and be a voice for the ordinary folk who are getting extremely disillusioned with the whole political farce in this Country. We have no political party or politicians to actually vote for or who are actually going to give us the Brexit that was outlined in the referendum. God help this Country.
Name: Chris, Devizes      Date/Time: 20 Mar 2018, 10.25am
Message: It seems that Tusk and Varadkar between have set a massive trap, and the useless incompetent May has just walked right into it. All the EU has to do is refuse to accept any UK proposed solution for the Irish border, and NI then effectively remains in the EU in perpetuity. May will be remembered as the PM who triggered the beginnings of a united Ireland, which is exactly what the EU wants. A united Ireland makes the UK smaller (weaker) and the EU larger. May should be charged with treason for lying to the House and the British people.
Name: Carole, Merseyside      Date/Time: 20 Mar 2018, 09.24am
Message: You forget to detail Paragraph 49 of the joint report. (THIS IS THE BACKSTOP)

49. The United Kingdom remains committed to protecting North-South cooperation and to its guarantee of avoiding a hard border. Any future arrangements must be compatible with these overarching requirements. The United Kingdom's intention is to achieve these objectives through the overall EU-UK relationship. Should this not be possible, the United Kingdom will propose specific solutions to address the unique circumstances of the island of Ireland. In the absence of agreed solutions, the United Kingdom will maintain full alignment with those rules of the Internal Market and the Customs Union which, now or in the future, support North-South cooperation, the all island economy and the protection of the 1998 Agreement.

NO transition period and NO trade deal negotiations. A clean, no deal Brexit is what many people want and deserve.
 WHO LOVES IT?
REMAINERS & THE EU
Chuka Umunna MP                     © Twitter / Chuka Umunna
AT LEAST SOME PEOPLE ARE HAPPY
HERE ARE SOME REACTIONS FROM THE EU AND FROM REMAINERS YESTERDAY
MICHEL BARNIER
In yesterday’s press conference in Brussels, EU Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier could barely contain his glee.
Whilst taking care to cover this with false warnings such as “We are not at the end of the road - we still have a lot of work to do”, it was clear that he was over the moon at the whitewash victory he has achieved over the British government.
“What we are presenting to you today with David is a joint legal text which I think is a decisive step”
“I want to reiterate that in recent days we have gone an essential part of the way to an orderly withdrawal that we’ve been working on from the very first day of this mission.”
KEIR STARMER, LABOUR BREXIT FRONTBENCH SPOKESMAN
“This agreement could have been signed months ago but ministers wasted time fighting among themselves, holding out on negotiating objectives that they have failed to achieve and pursuing their reckless red lines.
“It is welcome that they have finally struck a deal on transition”
CHUKA UMUNNA, SENIOR LABOUR BACKBENCH SPOKESMAN
“Despite once claiming they held all the cards in the negotiations, in the end the Brexiters have been prepared to compromise and surrender on almost every single point.
“On the divorce bill, on the primacy of European law, on freedom of movement, on fisheries, the Government has yet again capitulated. We should be in no doubt that this will be the shape of things to come in the negotiations over the future relationship.”
GUY VERHOFSTADT, CHIEF BREXIT COORDINATOR, EU PARLIAMENT
“Welcome progress in #Brexit negotiations. The EP will scrutinise & have the final say.The UK's attempt to discriminate against EU citizens in the transition has been defeated. The EU must allow free movement for UK nationals resident in the EU after Brexit.”
NICK CLEGG, ARCH REMOANER AND FORMER LEADER OF LIBDEMS
“HMG raises the white flag in Brussels, yet it will no doubt be hailed as a triumph. This is shaping up to be an embarrassing Brexit delivered at all costs. Is this humiliation really what people voted for?”
GEORGE OSBORNE, FORMER CHANCELLOR AND MAJOR REMOANER
“transition deal agreed - but PM backs down over insisting EU nationals can’t come here with full rights after we leave, a whole-of-Ireland solution as the default in the absence of agreement to an alternative & UK say on new fishing quotas”
CAROLYN FAIRBAIRN, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, CBI
“this is a victory for common sense that will help protect living standards, jobs and growth”
OBSERVATIONS
If the government had been doing its job at least vaguely acceptably, we would have expected significant grumblings from the EU and from Remoaners in the UK. Instead they have either praised the deal or – in the case of those scoring political points – they have pointed out how much the government has caved in.
Yesterday a Twitter follower criticised us, saying that our view of the deal is all wrong and that it is in fact a success for Theresa May. Well, apart from the simple analysis we’ve done, another good way to judge a deal is by the reactions to it from people who should be unhappy.
We understand that a few Conservative readers are unhappy when we criticise the government. We don’t do this for party political reasons. We do it because it’s deserved. If this government is incapable of carrying out the will of the people, then it must be changed to one that will.
And if Remoaners and the EU elites are happy with the deal, it means the government has been incapable.
[ Sources: Parliament ]
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
       07.25am, 20 Mar 2018
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READERS' COMMENTS
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Name: Jon, Wales      Date/Time: 21 Mar 2018, 11.58pm
Message: I think it reasonable to suggest ordinary electors have never been lied to so much by remain MPs. I cannot believe the country is allowing them to get away with it. I keep pinching myself and wonder if they've been bought off or not? Why can they not see the big picture? Why do they want to keep us shackled to the EU monster we never voted to join in the first place? Why has former Chancellor Osborne not apologised for lying and threatening, pre-referendum? Why has former deputy leader Sir Nick Clegg not yet given a public apology to Sir Nigel Farage for one of the biggest lies of all time, re fantasy EU army? There are many WHY'S which remain MPs fail to answer - because they have no argument in the first place. Sir Keir Starmer of the Labour party is a barrister. He was former Director of Public Prosecutions, so one may believe he would consider the unelected EU bureaucrats alien to UK society. The problem is he supports the anti-democratic EU more than he does our own country. Have just heard yet more surrender - THE NEXT PASSPORT which will be blue, is to be produced on mainland Europe? This really has gone a step too far.
Name: SibeliusFan, West Midlands      Date/Time: 20 Mar 2018, 10.46am
Message: Nick Clegg: 'HMG raises the white flag in Brussels, yet it will no doubt be hailed as a triumph.' Well, I never thought I'd have occasion to say this but... I agree with Nick!
 WHAT ARE WELL-KNOWN BREXITEERS SAYING?
Below is a short summary of what some key figures from the Brexit camp were saying yesterday.
RT HON IAN DUNCAN SMITH MP
“There does seem to be a real concern… It appears that at least through the implementation period nothing will change and I think that will be a concern and the government clearly has to deal with that because a lot of MPs are very uneasy about that right now.” Ian Duncan Smith to BBC
DOUGLAS ROSS MP (CON, MORAY)
“There is no spinning this as a good outcome. It would be easier to get someone to drink a pint of sick than try to sell this as a success.”
SIR NIGEL FARAGE MEP (FORMER UKIP LEADER)
“We sold out fisheries when we joined the EEC and we’re selling them out now as we leave.”
“Theresa the Appeaser has let the people down again. She's like the Duke of York marching the troops to the top of the hill to march them down again.”
                     © Twitter / UKIP
JACOB REES-MOGG MP
“The transition agreement in itself is unsatisfactory. It is hard to see what points the Government has won and it has given in on fishing rights, free movement and the issue of sincere cooperation.
“As one correspondent said, the Government has rolled over without even having its tummy tickled.
“It is, nonetheless, tolerable if the end state is a clean Brexit. As so often the words of Sir Francis Drake apply ‘it is not the beginning, but the continuing of the same unto the end, until it be thoroughly finished, which yieldeth the true glory’.”
JOHN MILLS, LABOUR LEAVE
“The transition deal agreed between David Davis and Michel Barnier this morning leaves us more committed than ever to a divorce bill in the region of £40bn - without any certainty that a satisfactory trade deal by March 2019. A very disappointing outcome.”
LEAVE.EU / ARRON BANKS
“Michel Barnier reveals that our quisling government has agreed to surrender Britain to the arbitrary will of a foreign power during the "transition" - no say in decisions, but total submission to EU rules.”
ROSS THOMPSON MP (CON, ABERDEEN SOUTH)
“Scottish fishermen voted overwhelmingly to leave the EU, ditch the CFP and take back control over our waters. Coastal communities across the country have suffered long enough. We must seize the #seaofopportunity. Anything less than that would be a betrayal of those communities.”
JOHN LAMONT MP (CON, BERWICKSHIRE, ROXBURGH AND SELKIRK)
“This agreement with the EU in no way matches what I hoped to achieve for fishing. It will mean our fishing waters continue to be controlled by Brussels for much longer than expected. We must have complete control of our waters after Brexit.”
OBSERVATIONS
The wider British public are not yet aware of what the new agreement with the EU contains. Last night and during the course of today they will be slowly taking in one or two elements, but overall we doubt very much that they think:
  1. This is more important than normal, and
  2. It’s a total surrender
The reason for this is simple. People have busy lives and the majority still have to rely on catching news broadcasts on the TV or radio. A smaller number read the newspapers and a small but growing number go to the internet for news.
Very regrettably, as our readers know, most journalists either haven’t got a clue about the EU, or they’re ardent Remainers by nature and clan, or often both.
What we need is for Brexiteers who are well-known to be speaking out loudly and clearly today and in the coming days. We already believe that Jacob Rees-Mogg and possibly Nigel Farage will be involved in an event on the Thames tomorrow where a box of fish will be dumped overboard as a symbolic representation of what is happening to our fishermen.
However welcome this is it is a drop in the ocean. What we need are our pro-Brexit MPs to be acting strongly today. Mr Rees-Mogg now has to put his country before his party. To call the agreement ‘tolerable’ is just not good enough.
We call on all pro-Brexit MPs today to speak out very strongly – from whichever political party they hail. We also need the big name pro-Brexit organisations to speak out. When did you last hear BrexitCentral criticise the government? Well they need to do it now.
Tim Martin at Wetherspoons is a sound and reliable Brexiteer. Lord Digby Jones also speaks well for business from the informed Brexit standpoint.
On the political side we need every single MP who voted Leave to speak out today. In particular we’d love to hear from John Redwood, Owen Paterson, Theresa Villiers, and Sir Bill Cash. All pro-Brexit members of select committees should be saying something – in particular the EU Scrutiny and Exiting the EU committees.
In the Upper House there are Lords Lawson and Lamont and several others who can speak fairly freely.
[ Sources: Parliament ]
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
       07.25am, 20 Mar 2018
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READERS' COMMENTS
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Name: Jon, Wales      Date/Time: 21 Mar 2018, 10.06pm
Message: I call upon ALL LEAVE GROUPS to get together in the defence of our country, and put any differences to one side at this important time. WE HAVE A COMMON DUTY AND AIM.

Pro-Brexit Facts4EU have attempted to achieve this gathering. Their dedicated small team continue to present well researched 100% FACTS on a 'shoestring', but FACTS we can all rely upon, and FACTS you generally wont see on MSM.

Let there be no doubts, we have a majority of UK politicians (and interfering others) attempting to thwart Brexit - at any cost? Our government have seemingly sold out British fisheries while foreign vessels plunder our seas, among other things. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.

Parliament was given an explicit instruction to Leave the European Union, which did not mean jump back into things by another name! People are not stupid. People are not thick. Many of us are intelligent and see the outward looking picture instead of being trapped within the shackles of an anti-democratic EU machine. We dismiss all the name calling and abuse we've put up with for years, whilst accepting others have a different point of view. Others across the continent have similar views.

Brexiteer MPs need to become much more pro-active, but ALL should fear one thing - THE BALLOT BOX!
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 PARLIAMENTARY REMAIN COMMITTEE PRODUCES...
Report sends Mr Ress-Mogg into Twitter frenzy                     © Twitter / Jacob Rees-Mogg
...A REMAIN REPORT
Yesterday the House of Commons Exiting the European Union Committee published a document entitled “The progress of the UK’s negotiations on EU withdrawal: December 2017 to March 2018”.
This was supposed to have been a Committee report but 7 out of the 21 members of the committee refused to sign the report. As one member, Jacob Rees-Mogg MP said yesterday:
“Select committees reports are only influential if they are unanimous. Dividing on Leave / Remain lines simply re-fights the referendum.”
In the end the report is in fact no more than an entirely factional and one-sided document produced by the MPs who previously and still do back Remain. In this sense, whilst the document has the technical status of a committee report, it has the practical value of a piece of work from the old Remain campaign.
KEY CONCLUSIONS OF REMAIN REPORT
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG SUMMARY - REMAIN REPORT OF EXITING THE EU COMMITTEE
  • Overall the document is very pessimistic about almost everything
  • “we cannot see how it will be possible to maintain an open border [between N.I. and the Rep. of Ireland] with no checks and no infrastructure if the UK leaves the Customs Union and the Single Market”
  • “the Government should seek a limited extension to the Article 50 time”
  • “Withdrawal Agreement [to] include a provision to allow for the extension of the transition/implementation period”
In essence, the Remain report suggests that the Article 50 period itself be extended beyond 29 March next year. It then further suggests that the ‘Transition Period’ be extended too.
‘THE BREXIT REPORT’
As the seven Leave voting MPs on the Committee were unable to sign the one-sided Remain Report, they have produced a minority report which we are calling the ‘Brexit Report’.
We have not been able to find the ‘Brexit Report’ of this Committee in any of the overnight editions of the mainstream media. This is the report of the seven Brexiteers on the Committee, which was written by Jacob Rees-Mogg MP who is also the Chairman of the European Research Group of Tory MPs.
Given that this is the interesting report out of the two which were published yesterday, we have decided to publish this in full in the next article below.
WHICH MPs VOTED FOR WHICH REPORT
AYES: 13 (Chmn doesn't vote except in a tie)
Joanna Cherry
Stephen Crabb
Mr Jonathan Djanogly
Richard Graham
Peter Grant
Wera Hobhouse
Stephen Kinnock
Jeremy Lefroy
Mr Pat McFadden
Seema Malhotra
Emma Reynolds
Stephen Timms
Hywel Williams
NOES: 7
Mr Peter Bone
Sir Christopher Chope
Andrea Jenkyns
Craig Mackinlay
Mr Jacob Rees-Mogg
Mr John Whittingdale
Sammy Wilson
All the Noes were Conservative MPs with the exception of Mr Sammy Wilson of the DUP. The Ayes contained all Labour members of the Committee, the sole LibDem, the SNP, and 4 Conservative MPs: Stephen Crabb, Jonathan Djanogly, Richard Graham, and Jeremy Lefroy
OBSERVATIONS
The first thing to say is that the 4 Conservative MPs who signed the absurd majority report should be publicised in their constituencies. Indeed, we do not even see that it is compatible with supporting the government's Brexit position to be able to sign this document.
Sorry Mr Rees-Mogg, we're fairly sure you won't like this but voters have a right to know what their MPs are up to, so here are the Conservative MPs who voted for the Remain report:-

Stephen Crabbe

Jonathan Djanogly

Richard Graham

Jeremy Lefroy
Whilst the Remain Report is covered in the usual caveats it is clear that the Remainer MPs who voted for this rather than Mr Rees-Mogg’s version would simply like Brexit to go away. There are very little in the way of constructive suggestions. The ‘Remain Report’ accepts the status quo and when problems are identified it assumes they cannot be overcome with some determination and application.
As the BBC is apparently unable or unwilling to tell you what Jacob Rees-Mogg’s ‘Brexit Report’ says, we are publishing this in the next article below.
[ Sources: Parliament ]
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
       07.05am, 19 Mar 2018
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READERS' COMMENTS
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Name: Patrick H, London      Date/Time: 19 Mar 2018, 1.03pm
Message: It is astounding how so many disingenuous individuals in the British political establishment ignore the democratic will of the people. Brexit is not simply a matter of whether we leave the EU or not, it is more about the continuing "existential" act of common people's ability to exercise their (hard fought for) legal rights, to ensure their elected politicians execute the common people's wishes. Should Brexit fail, we will be handing over the future of our lives (and that of our grandchildren) to the dictatorial establishment elites FOREVER! At this point, there will be no requirement to vote for a new UK government, as they will all be the same politically, having effectively capitulated UK decisions to Brussels and their Global masters! Additionally, there will be no future need for a UK parliament or Westminster. Endgame: It will have become a "game, set and match!" for the wealthy elites and their self-serving political disciples!
 - MINORITY REPORT –
Starring Jacob Rees-Mogg
as Tom Cruise
                     © (and apologies to) 20th Century Fox & Dreamworks
READ HOW JACOB & FRIENDS
FOUGHT PRE-CRIME FROM
BENN’S PRO-EU COMMITTEE
As Brexit Facts4EU.Org reported in the article above, Hilary Benn’s Exiting the European Union Committee published its ‘Remain Report’ yesterday.
The Committee of 20 MPs plus its Chairman Benn were divided as the report drafted by Benn made no attempt to reach a consensus view. It was backed by 13 MPs on the Committee – all Remainers – and by the Chairman Hilary Benn himself.
Mr Jacob Rees-Mogg, Committee Member and also Chairman of the influential European Research Group of Eurosceptic MPs, was always aware what the future was likely to hold.
It was clear very early on to us - and therefore even more so to Mr Rees-Mogg - that the chairmanship of this Committee was very biased. We watched as witnesses who presented evidence the Committee didn't want to hear were sidelined, whereas witnesses of the "we're all doomed" variety were fawned over.
Seeing the future, it is clear Mr Rees-Mogg started keeping very good notes. At some point in the last couple of weeks he converted these into a separate report which was eventually signed by all seven pro-Brexit committee members on Wednesday last week.
REPORT DOWNLOAD
This ‘Brexit Report’ is not available as a separate document so we have created one, which is attached.
Please note that we continue to improve the formatting of this document, which currently amounts to 39 pages. The download is currently only available as a PDF.
OBSERVATIONS
This document is unique to Brexit Facts4EU.Org and it took a lot of time to produce even in its current fairly basic state, but we thought it important for readers to be able to study the current thinking on the various key issues, and how these might be addressed.
Regrettably we do not currently have sufficient resources to summarise and comment on Mr Rees-Mogg's Minority Brexit Report. We hope in due course as donations continue to grow to be able to bring you more analysis of that nature.
[ Sources: Parliament ]
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
       07.05am, 19 Mar 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: Patrick F, Kent      Date/Time: 19 Mar 2018, 12.32pm
Message: Dear Facts4eu, In the last three weeks I have been blocked from posting on the Facebook pages of The New European and our latest political party Renew. I have not contravened any Facebook guidelines, neither have the NE or a Renew moderator written to me about the content of my posts. I have committed the 'crime' of disagreeing with the Remain position and have posted links to sites that refute articles, both have published. I have encouraged those who have read my posts to engage in the Brexit debate and if they disagree with my opinion, to refute what I say, using facts. Invariably, those few polite responses I have received do not advance the Remain argument. Rather, they reinforce my view that the great UK public are not aware of the true nature of the EU beast. As my voice has been silenced, may I encourage others to politely engage with the New European and Renew on Facebook and put forward the Leave case. Regards, Patrick F

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 THIS ARTICLE HAS HAD TO BE DELETED
[ Sources: [Removed] ]      Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.        08.40am, 18 Mar 2018
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Name: Patrick H, London      Date/Time: 18 Mar 2018, 12.37pm
Message: This letter was so well written, I at first thought it had been sent by FACTS4EU. Thank you for sharing. Let's trust all the independent Brexit groups will eventually work and coordinate together. Now just waiting for the final outcome of the negotiations. I feel it will be monumental, just unsure whether it will positive or negative in its the outcome?

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 EU OWES $710 BILLION
ON NATO DEFENCE
One of the UK's new F-35B fighters                     © MOD / Lockheed Martin
IN JUST THE LAST 8 YEARS
NEW & EXCLUSIVE BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG
ANALYSIS OF NATO PAPERS
Analysis by Brexit Facts4EU.Org of the backing data for NATO’s Annual Report 2017 shows that the EU countries who are NATO members have underspent by a staggering $710 billion dollars in the last 8 years.
On Friday we brought you information about the current situation – in 2017. Today we bring you a more complete picture over this decade so far, from 2010-2017.
THE EU’S NATO UNDERSPEND – OVERVIEW
NATO relies on its member countries investing in their defence capabilities in order to function. It does this in a very egalitarian way, asking members to invest at least a minimum percentage of their GDP in defence each year. This means that countries help the NATO Alliance in proportion to the wealth of their country.
Or at least that’s the idea....
Percentages above 5% used to be common, but these days NATO is doing all it can just to persuade its members to invest the low minimum of 2%.
In 2014 matters came to a head at the NATO summit held in Wales when all under-performing members pledged to increase their investment to the minimum of 2%. The only way NATO could get even this low threshhold agreed was by saying that the pledge could be implemented gradually, up until 2024. This had been a sticking point with Germany.
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG SUMMARY - EU OWES $0.7 TRILLION
  • 20 EU countries underspent by a shocking $710 billion
  • 6 EU countries aren’t NATO members at all
  • Only 2 countries – UK & Greece - spent more than the minimum
EU’S NATO UNDERSPEND – AVERAGE PERCENTAGE EXPENDITURES 2010-2017
So far this decade, from 2010 to 2017, almost all the EU countries who are also members of NATO have consistently spent less than NATO’s minimum guide of 2% of GDP on defence.
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
Only the UK and Greece invested at least 2% of their GDP in defence. All the others fell short, with many not intending to reach the required level until 2024, according to NATO. 6 out of the 28 EU countries aren’t even NATO members at all.
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG SUMMARY - AVERAGE SPENDS ON DEFENCE: % OF GDP
  • UK: 2.23%
  • NATO Europe average: 1.34%
  • Germany: 1.25%
  • Luxembourg: 0.41%
It is perhaps worth pointing out that the de facto leader of the EU27 (Germany) spent less than the average of all NATO members in Europe. In fact, Germany’s performance has been dropping this decade. It spent even less in 2017 (1.24%) than it did in 2010 (1.35%).
And Luxembourg - previously run by EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker for many years - didn't even manage to hit 0.5% of GDP expenditure on defence.
The UK has invested an average of 2.24% of annual GDP so far this decade, comfortably above the NATO’s minimum.
EU’S NATO UNDERSPEND – KEY COUNTRY UNDERSPENDS 2010-2017
As you can see from the chart above, the underspend by some major EU countries involves very significant sums. In Germany’s case it amounts to $220 billion dollars since 2010.
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
OBSERVATIONS
Since before Brexit the unelected EU elites have been accelerating their ambitions to become a military power.
It has never been widely reported – although we covered it many times - but prior to the Brexit vote the EU’s External Action Service (EEAS) was busy with plans to establish the EU common defence forces for which it had long hankered. The EEAS is headed up by Commission Vice-President and long-time former communist Federica Mogherini.
These plans were already advanced before Brexit - with EU battlegroups already in existence and some EU countries combining some of their forces - but it was only when everyone else was busy with the aftermath of the Brexit vote that Ms Mogherini and her friends were able really to press down hard on the accelerator.
As a political operator we have nothing but respect for Ms Mogherini's skills. As lovers of democracy and the rule of law, however, and as amateur students of geopolitical and military history, we are dismayed at what this woman has achieved.
We hope you find our thoughts below interesting.
THE NATO 2017 REPORT – WHY IT MATTERS
This analysis of NATO’s latest annual report is important for a number of reasons.
Firstly, it’s important for the overall defence capability picture it presents. NATO is and remains the central plank in the strategy for the defence of Europe.
The EU can bleat all it wants and posture on the world stage with its little African adventures in former French colonies, but it is not any kind of relevant force at present.
Additionally, over and over again we have to correct them when they try to pretend that (comparative) peace in Europe is somehow down to them. It is NATO that has preserved the peace and that won the Cold War.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS – “$710 billion dollars worth of truth”
Secondly there’s the financial implications of what we have discovered. Put simply, the UK has been subsidising the defence of its European neighbours to a massive degree. We have now given you numbers you can use with confidence as they come from NATO itself, and from NATO’s EU-fanatic Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.
Perhaps it’s the Secretary-General who didn’t want the kind of analysis we’ve presented to appear in their report. After all, it hardly shows the EU in a good light. Nevertheless, NATO gave us enough tables of data for us to be able to extrapolate the truth.
$710 billion dollars worth of truth. And that’s just in the last 8 years, and it’s based on 2010 prices. In other words the real amount is much, much higher.
We stuck to the figures NATO has used because that way our politician readers can quote them with confidence. As ever, we’re happy to make all our core information used in creating the charts and sound-bite figures available to politicians and think-tanks.
THE COST TO THE UK
Imagine the scenario in Europe if all the other EU countries had been paying their way. Overall defences would have been far stronger than they currently are, and impoverished little Russia would perhaps have thought twice before invading European soil in Crimea and Ukraine.
Very importantly, the pressure would have been relieved on the UK. Just this decade the UK has invested $46 billion more than NATO minimum – and that’s at 2010 prices. Meanwhile in the same time period Germany has invested $220 billion less than it should have done.
Do you think this is this right? No wonder Germany always seems to have money to burn.
EU – MILITARY LEADER OF EUROPE?
The third and final point we’d like to make is about the EU, its leadership, and its military ambitions.
Please be in no doubt whatsoever. The EU plans to have its own full military forces. It plans to take over the forces of its member states, as it becomes a superstate. This is incontrovertible, as anyone who has read our defence research in the last two years knows.
Did you know that a couple of weeks ago the EU Parliament gave the green light to the EU’s first dedicated military funding? No? You mean you didn’t catch that on the BBC? Strange....
This is all part of the planning that has been underway in Brussels for years and which has been racing ahead in the last couple of years. The UK’s establishment is working as hard as it can behind the scenes to ensure that the UK remains part of the EU’s military ambitions.
Did you see the reports in the Sun and the Daily Express this week? We had all that information in confidence before those stories appeared, and agreed to hold back so that the mainstream papers could get them to a wide audience.
FULL METAL INSANITY
The UK establishment’s desire to keep the UK strapped into a nascent and incompetent EU military machine is sheer insanity.
Just look at the information we have provided for you on Friday and this morning. For decades the EU countries haven’t even been capable of doing the absolute basics in terms of keeping a serious military capability going. They haven’t even come remotely near to paying for it, let alone organising it.
The only two credible military powers in the EU are the United Kingdom and France, and the UK is leaving.
CONCLUSIONS
We have shown you with complete clarity how the EU countries have been unable to fund their own defence capabilities to a minimum level.
We have even shown you how the EU’s biggest economic power, Germany, has managed to decrease its percentage spending on defence, at exactly the time that it pledged to NATO that it would increase it.
If the EU countries can’t fund and manage defence inside NATO, with the huge advantage of being backed by the United States military machine and with the world’s 4th biggest military power (the UK) on its doorstep, what on earth makes anyone think they’ll be capable on their own?
We have published dozens of detailed articles about defence since before the Referendum. We’ve done so because it’s little understood. We have shone a big bright Brexit light on the EU’s plans, and on the plans of British civil servants to thwart Brexit for our boys and girls in uniform.
We cannot allow anyone to be left behind when we leave the EU – our forces, our fishermen, our citizens living in Northern Ireland, Gibraltar, or anyone else.
With your help we’ll keep thundering and fighting for decency, democracy and freedom.
[ Sources: NATO | MOD | EU Council | EU Commission | EU Parliament ]
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
       07.30am, 18 Mar 2018
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READERS' COMMENTS
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Name: Brexiteer, Braintree, Essex      Date/Time: 18 Mar 2018, 8.53pm
Message: The reason May wants to stay close to the EU is she is scared. Scared of failing in Trade talks. Scared that we cannot go it alone as an Independent sovereign state. Scared that the EU will punish the UK. Scared that the unemployment rate will rise. Scared that the City of London will not be able to carry on trading. Scared that without that trade deal the taxes the City pays will dry up. Scared that without her offering up our armed forces to the EU, the above will happen. We the British people should be scared that OUR Government should even contemplate surrendering control of our armed forces to unelected unaccountable Eurocrats. We are being used by the EU, and 17.4 million people can see that, but apparently our political masters can't.
Name: Patrick H, London      Date/Time: 18 Mar 2018, 1.02pm
Message: Interesting piece from the UK Defence Journal - Nov 2017. Researchers at European Geostrategy broke global military powers down into four categories: Super Power, Global Power, Regional Power and Local Power. The United States took the top spot as the world's superpower, while Britain took the Global Power slot, bringing her in second behind America. Regional powers include France, India and Germany, while local powers were those such as Italy, Brazil, and Turkey. The organisation European Geostrategy rate the United Kingdom as a global power, they define this as: 'a country lacking the heft or comprehensive attributes of a superpower, but still with a wide international footprint and [military] means to reach most geopolitical theatres, particularly the Middle East, South-East Asia, East Asia, Africa and South America.' No wonder the EU want our NATO money and our military forces integrated into the rest of 27 nations, and more importantly, under Brussels control. We must keep our British forces safe and keep them under strict British control.... One day we may need their loyalty!
To be honest there are no cute puppies, abandoned children
or even a snow leopard on the Facts4EU team...
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 HOW THE UK KEEPS PAYING FOR EU MISTAKES
EU PRESENTS UK WITH ANOTHER MASSIVE BILL
This week the European Commission announced it was “mobilising additional funding for the Facility for Refugees for Turkey”.
This fund was originally discussed by Angela Merkel with Turkey’s President Erdogan in late 2015 and was formally agreed by the EU Council in early February 2016.
In return for this funding, the Turkish President agreed to reduce the huge tide of refugees flooding into the EU, following Angela Merkel’s infamous unilateral tearing up of the Dublin protocol for asylum in the summer.
Now the EU wants more. The same again, in fact.
BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG SUMMARY - TURKISH FUND
  • The first tranche 2016-2017 was for €2bn extra from member states
  • The UK paid 16.4% of this, or €327.6m
  • A second tranche is now being claimed, for another €2bn from member states
  • The EU will demand another 16.4% of this, or €327.6m
  • In addition the EU is putting in another €1bn from ‘the EU budget’, which the UK pays part of
  • TOTAL BILL TO THE UK FOR BOTH TRANCHES: €904.2m (approx £800m GBP)
WHO PAYS FOR THIS FUND?
The UK is the second-largest contributor to this fund. Below you can see the contributions from each country for both tranches of the fund.
The UK's total is €655.2m, but this excludes the UK's additional contributions to the fund from its normal payments into the EU's general budget. An extra €2bn is being contributed from the EU's general budget, of which the UK's part is €249m. This €249 is not shown in the chart below because we don't have the exact proportions for all the other 27 countries, as we do for the main part of the fund.
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
Important: As we have reported many times before, funds like the ‘Facility for Refugees in Turkey’ do NOT form part of the normal EU budget. They are in effect ‘off the books’. You will not find these mentioned in any summaries by the ONS, HMRC, OBR, House of Commons Library… and most certainly not in any summaries from the BBC, Sky News or ITN.
These sums are ADDITIONAL to the net contributions which you see reported. There are also other EU funds like this and which the UK pays into, and which we have previously reported on.
In addition to the above, the UK also pays its share of the additional €2bn which the EU decided to put into the Facility for Refugees in Turkey fund out of its usual EU general budget.
So, the total fund is now €6bn, of which the UK will have contributed €0.9bn.
In its latest announcement this week, the EU has now confirmed proudly the latest results for one of its initiatives for dispersing the money in Turkey:-
1.2m refugees now have an EU cash card
which dispenses EU taxpayer cash to them each month
This is in addition to the various refugee programmes paid for by this fund and administered by NGOs
and by the Turkish state.
OBSERVATIONS
Last May we warned the British government about the EU trying to claim a second tranche of money for this fund. We said that the EU would inevitably need to extend the facility, in order to continue to bribe Turkey into keeping migrants there, rather than letting them cross into the EU in the hundreds of thousands.
Last week our warnings came to pass.
There is no treaty obligation for the UK to pay anything into this fund. As we stated above, it is ‘off the books’.
The UK does NOT have to pay this
In any case half of it it applies to a period after the UK has left
However we predict Mrs May won’t think twice before agreeing to pay
MERKEL’S GET OUT OF GAOL CARD
The Facility for Refugees in Turkey fund was specifically designed to get Frau Merkel out of the awful hole she dug for herself when she made the ridiculous and self-serving announcement that all refugees were welcome in Germany.
That decision by Frau Merkel proved disastrous for the countries lying between Turkey and Germany. As a result of the borderless Schengen Zone – which the UK is not a part of – migrants initially poured across borders on their way north, until one brave leader said no and started erecting fences on his border.
POPULISM CONDEMNED, POPULISM COPIED
That man was Viktor Orban of Hungary. Yes he is a controversial figure, even amongst many of his own people, but he will comfortably win the Hungarian elections coming up shortly. He will do so despite being repeatedly vilified by the liberal elites in Brussels and in our media.
We can’t repeat often enough that the rhetoric and actions that Viktor Orban is vilified for, have now been copied by every other EU state and leader. If Mr Orban says or does something he’s a fascist xenophobe and an international pariah. However if someone like lovely-liberal-luvvie Mark Rutte (PM of Holland and darling of Herr Juncker and his cabal) says or does it, then that’s just fine with everone, up to and including British Guardian readers and attendees of BBC editorial meetings.
In other words: populism condemned, populism copied.
COMPASSION FATIGUE
Yesterday we had to point out to British Labour MEP Richard Corbett that he was wrong when he stated that the EU was the biggest international aid donor in the world. The EU itself constantly claims this, but it too is wrong.
That distinction of most generous international aid donor belongs to the United States, and the United Kingdom is in second place. Labour MEPs may wish the EU to be like their idealistic view of it, but they really have been in Brussels long enough to know that this is a forlorn hope. They should stop lying to the British people.
Here at Brexit Facts4EU.Org we do not lack compassion. It’s obvious to us that our readers are like-minded. What we do lack is tolerance for overpaid, under-performing, unelected eurocrats doing what they want with British taxpayers’ money.
This Turkish fund would certainly not exist in this form if it hadn’t been for Frau Merkel’s catastrophic unilateral error in 2015. Since then, the EU elites have been complicit in covering up for this mistake by agreeing to the establishment of this fund – and they now want it extended.
The UK already gives very generously to the region – more than any other EU country. We do not need the EU taking yet more of our money, re-badging it as EU money, and distributing it for its own political reasons in ways DFID itself would not do.
X
 
When the UK gives foreign aid via the EU, the EU makes sure to take all the credit.
 
Prime Minister, PLEASE start to wake up. We struggle each week to find anything remotely positive to say about your handling of Brexit. We would love to get behind the government, we really would. Alas you are making this impossible.
Here is something where you could start the fight-back, Prime Minister. All you have to do is state that the UK will not be participating in the second tranche of this fund and that it will be making its own international aid dispositions in the region.
Simple.
Have you seen the above news anywhere else? No.
We worked through the night to research and check all available figures to ensure what we brought you is as accurate as possible. If you haven’t already helped to keep us going with a small donation, maybe you might consider it?
[ Sources: EU Council | EU Commission | EU Parliament ]      Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.        06.55am, 17 Mar 2018
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Name: Patrick H, London      Date/Time: 17 Mar 2018, 3.50pm
Message: FACTS4EU, we applaud your robust erudite hard work in bringing the truth out about the EU's constant nefarious and profligate shenanigans. However, our biggest fear is Theresa May treacherously selling the UK down the river.... "British negotiators expect to clinch a deal on Brexit transition terms as early as this weekend following a series of climbdowns to secure a deal from the EU, the Telegraph understands".... We are lost with this current incompetent lying Government and we will show them at the next general election the error of their ways! I speak for many that feel the same way I do...and should a "non-mainstream" Political Party present itself "who backs Britain/full Brexit", we will vote for them en masse!
Name: Sbut, Someplace in Europe      Date/Time: 17 Mar 2018, 1.28pm
Message: Off the books, I love that expression no better than CREATIVE ACCOUNTING - the books of cheats and vagabonds.

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 EU FAILS ON DEFENCE
– AGAIN
NATO Annual Report                                        © NATO
NEW NATO ANNUAL REPORT SHOWS HOW
EU CAN’T EVEN BEGIN TO DEFEND ITSELF
Yesterday 15 March 2018, Norwegian Euro-fanatic Jens Stoltenberg released his fourth annual report as NATO Secretary General.
NATO is a political-military alliance of 29 countries, of whom 22 are members of the European Union including the United Kingdom. Six member states of the EU are not members of NATO: Austria, Ireland, Finland, Sweden, Malta and Cyprus.
EU STILL CAN'T PAY ITS OWN WAY
The alliance is completely propped up by the United States, which was responsible for 71.7% of defence expenditure last year. The next most important contributor was the UK, as it has been every year.
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
Given that the EU is constantly boasting that it’s the largest single market in the world with 510 million people, some of our American readers might ask themselves how come they’re paying nearly three-quarters of the total defence spend? They might wonder that if the EU has over half as many people again as the US, how come it’s not paying over half as much more on combined defence?
THE NATO ‘PLEDGE’ TO BEAR THE BURDEN
For decades the US has carried the burden of western defence spending, followed by the UK. The other EU member states have spent far less than they were supposed to.
Matters reached a head at the NATO summit in Wales in 2014, when agreement was finally achieved that NATO members would begin the process of bearing their fair share of the costs of European defence.
The pledge called for all allies that do not already meet the NATO-agreed guideline of spending 2% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on defence to stop cuts to defence budgets, to increase spending, and to aim to move towards spending 2% of GDP on defence within a decade.
They also agreed to move towards spending at least 20% of annual defence expenditure on major new equipment, including related research and development, in the same timeframe.
Whilst this was hailed as a triumph, the reality is that major countries such as Germany – the biggest economy in the EU – would only agree to aim for compliance by 2024, 10 years from when the agreement was reached.
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
As you can see above, only 3 EU countries met the 2% defence spending target last year: the UK, Greece and Estonia. Greece has major issues with its neighbour Turkey, and Estonia lives in constant fear of invasion by its neighbour Russia.
The defence expenditure of the UK is of course many, many times that of Greece and Estonia, so it remains the case that last year the UK invested far more than any other EU member state in the security and defence of the continent.
THE NATO REPORT 2017
© NATO
Yesterday the ardent Europhiliac Secretary-General of NATO, Norwegian former communist Jens Stoltenberg, put his best spin on this as usual, so as not to appear to criticise EU members:-
“All NATO members have pledged to continue to increase defence spending in real terms. The majority have already put in place plans on how to meet the 2% guideline by 2024. And we expect others to follow,” the Secretary General said.
The report released yesterday shows that in 2017 the EU member states have increased spending on defence by only 3.7% overall. Whilst this is growth, it comes nowhere near what is required to redress the deficit of decades and it doesn’t address the current serious underfunding in any meaningful way – despite what the pro-EU Secretary-General of NATO said yesterday.
It is also worth bearing in mind that France had its troops on its own streets for almost all of last year due to the threat from islamic terrorism, so a lot of its expenditure was spent on immediate domestic concerns rather than the overall picture for European defence.
UK FAR OUTSPENDS EU27 ON DEFENCE OF EUROPE, AS USUAL
© Facts4EU.Org 2018
As usual, the headlines you will read will be what is in the NATO and EU press releases. For example, there are no separate EU figures published in the NATO documents and spreadsheets. We had to wade through and do separate calculations. Regrettably NATO’s Jens Stoltenberg included Canada and non-EU members in some of his figures, which allows him to paint a rosier picture than is actually the case.
OBSERVATIONS
It is the case that the EU is quick marching towards its own fully-fledged EU army, navy, and airforce. There can be absolutely no doubt about this from all the evidence available from numerous sources including departments inside the EU. We have published this evidence many times and will continue to do so.
What is also clear is that the EU member states have failed completely to fund their own defence or Europe's for decades. Again, this is clear from all the figures available over many years.
Yesterday’s NATO annual report merely reconfirms what we already knew. We continue to report the latest figures and produce charts like those above because Remoaner MPs continue to peddle absolute lies about this.
Regrettably the EU Commission itself has continuously published propaganda about its defence capabilities and aims ever since the UK’s EU Referendum, presenting itself as a credible actor on the military stage.
It is not.
Conducting a few minor operations in some former French colonies does not constitute the kind of military force which would deter a Putin, if his megalomania increases still further.
THE UK’S NEW DEFENCE SECRETARY
Oh dear. The Rt Hon Gavin Williamson MP, appointed by Theresa May in November, made his first major speech at Rolls Royce Englines in Bristol yesterday. What an embarrassment that must have been to the fine people working there.
When he was first appointed we ridiculed Mrs May’s choice. Williamson had no background in defence, he had never been a minister, and he had consistently voted against the Military Covenant. We were right in our initial assessment, as anyone who saw yesterday’s fiasco of a speech will no doubt agree.
Thank goodness we have the best forces in the world. Hopefully the Chiefs of Defence Staff will keep this idiot on the right track.
[ Sources: NATO ]      Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.        06.15am, 16 Mar 2018
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 LAUREN SOUTHERN AT
THE EU PARLIAMENT
Yesterday in Strasbourg...                                        © Janice Atkinson MEP
EXCLUSIVE 1-ON-1 INTERVIEW
FOR BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG
Young Canadian conservative journalist, banned from UK under terrorism act, speaks out
Yesterday afternoon during her visit to the EU Parliament in Strasbourg, the hottest property in the building was a young Canadian journalist by the name of Lauren Southern.
Lauren Southern gave Brexit Facts4EU.Org an exclusive interview. In this interview Ms Southern gave us her views on her banning, on free speech, and on the EU and Brexit.
What follows matters to us all and we hope you will have time to read it.
WHO IS SOUTHERN AND WHY IS SHE IN THE NEWS?
On Sunday evening Ms Southern boarded a bus in Belgium to take her to Calais with the intention of crossing over to the UK. At Calais she was asked to leave the bus and detained by the UK border force. Some time later she was handed over to the Kent police who told her she was being detained under Section 7 of the Terrorism Act. In all she was held for six hours before being refused entry to the United Kingdom.
Her crime was to have taken part in an event in February in Luton designed to investigate the protection afforded to different religions under the law.
A news organisation had run an article questioning whether Jesus was gay. Ms Southern and some colleagues decided to test whether the same question could be applied to Mohammed, without the police being interested. The answer was clear when she was questioned by the Bedfordshire police, her materials were removed, and her activities were stopped. She was neither arrested nor charged with any offence.
                                        © Lauren Southern
WILL YOU BE BACK? WILL YOU BE FIGHTING THIS AND WILL YOU DEMAND AN APOLOGY?
“I can tell you I will be challenging this. And one thing I can say is that it seems all the best people are being banned.
When I speak to my legal advisor I might mention the apology thing, that’s not a bad idea. I do believe if I don’t challenge this it will set a precedent where the government believes they can just ban people for their political opinions without anyone standing up.
It will just be a simple cut and dried case of ‘these people are here to challenge our ideas, these people are here to challenge the corruption in our government’, and yet they are absolutely turning a blind eye to islamic rape gangs, and crimes that are attacks on free speech. They think ‘we can simply ban them if we don’t want the public to know about our incompetence.’
I don’t want that to be the new precedent in the United Kingdom so I will challenge them. And why not put that cherry on top and ask for an apology? I sure as hell would like to think the UK would be turning back the tide of censorship and turning it back to realise ‘yes, this wasn’t an accurate action and it was completely antithetical to what British values should be and we are going to make this right.’
These are what my hopes are. We’ll see what happens to the nation that has elected Sadiq Khan as the mayor of a major city… Who knows with the way things are going? But it’s not a bad idea to ask for an apology.”
WHAT ARE YOU DOING AT THE EU PARLIAMENT?
“I’ve been given wonderful opportunities to speak in front of a panel of people about my ban, why the UK government needs to focus more on free speech and on rearranging its priorities to be focusing on actual criminals, not individuals who are trying to come into the country legally and who have no criminal record, speak the language, love the culture, and are only contributing to the economy.
I’m having the police’s time spent on me while there are hundreds and hundreds of jihadis coming back into the nation and while there are rape gangs running about Telford not being addressed because that’s seen as racist or bigoted to address them. But they can ask me all manner of questions like whether I’m a right-wing extremist. It’s very bizarre what the priorities are there.
It’s been wonderful to be given the opportunity to speak about this in front of politicians who can actually make some changes and bring this forward in their countries.”
YOU’VE ALSO BEEN REPORTING ON SOUTH AFRICA, HAVEN’T YOU?
“Yes I’ve also gotten an opportunity here to speak about South Africa, which was a bit of a surprise. I wasn’t sure if I’d get that chance, but Janice Atkinson [British MEP] and I spoke in front of a panel about the crimes against white farmers in South Africa and the great injustice being brought down in the land confiscation by the ANC and the EFF.
                                        © Lauren Southern
A lot of what has happened today was spurred by my UK ban so while the UK may be banning me to silence my speech and silence the speech of people like Brittany Pettibone and Martin Selmer, there still some people in the United Kingdom who are willing to give me a platform even outside the country. They have really bolstered my voice and bolstered the issues that needed to be spoken about. Like free speech and the South Africa crisis.”
RUMOUR HAS IT YOU MET NIGEL FARAGE?
“Yes, I met with Nigel Farage today as well. I’m doing something for LBC radio about the issue - luckily they’re one of the few members of the British media that would actually speak to me and give me a platform. The others have tried to ignore the issue for a long time, much like they were trying to ignore the islamic rape gangs and all manner of things that question their narrative.
Luckily Nigel did give me some sort of a platform. I also met leaders of UKIP, but these were all informal meetings giving their condolences I guess and expressing their embarrassment about their nation at the moment.
Of course I keep having all these people from the United Kingdom expressing their embarrassment about their country when they’re the last ones that need to be doing that and apologising for that. People like you are the ones standing up for me. It’s the politicians in power that will not speak to me that try to ignore me that should be giving me the apology.”
LET’S TURN TO BREXIT – WHAT’S YOUR POINT OF VIEW?
“Of course I was actually in the UK when the vote happened. It was a monumental ‘screw you’ to the establishment and the globalists who wanted to force the United Kingdom into this cultural suicide pact that was the European Union and the mass migration brought on by it.
To see the United Kingdom prevail and fight back against that and vote for their own freedom to remain with their own culture and their own identity and destiny was a beautiful thing to watch first hand. It’s a shame I won’t be there to see it actually fulfilled.
Obviously there have been people who have been trying to undermine what’s been going on. There are people even discussing reversing it and having more votes but it seems that people are fighting hard for Brexit to actually occur, even at the expense of their own jobs. There are people like Janice Atkinson – it’s wonderful.”
BREXIT’S A FORCE FOR THE GOOD
“Politicians are supposed to be servants of the people and in the EU and elsewhere it seems very much to have become the other way around apart from a few exceptions.
Fortunately when you see politicians not acting in their own interest - and even acting in ways that are detrimental to them personally - you can tell that the action is clearly going to be good for the nation.
There’s far too much politics that’s based on where the money is going and where the power is going. With Brexit you can tell demonstrably that this is not what’s occurring. And that’s a great thing to see.”
OBSERVATIONS
We interviewed Lauren Southern because she was addressing some MEPs in Strasbourg and because she represents what we consider to be a serious development in the government’s attitude to freedom. We care about the post-Brexit Britain we’re all going to live in and we’re sure you do too.
Ms Southern is a Christian but is no fundamentalist. Whilst she is a journalist, it is true she covers stories from a campaigning perspective and it’s also true that her perspective is from the right.
Does she use her youthful good looks to promote the causes she believes in? Yes.
Does she sometimes engage in newsworthy activities, such as protesting in a little zodiac boat in front of NGO ships with dubious funding which are setting out to pick up migrants from the coast of Libya? Oh yes.
Does any of this mean she shouldn’t be afforded a normal welcome in the UK? No.
IS SOUTHERN THE ONLY ONE?
On Friday last week, a young conservative American journalist and the leader of a European young libertarian movement were both detained for nearly three days, before being deported. The American journalist was in the UK to conduct interviews and the Austrian politician was planning to speak at Hyde Park Corner.
Just think. These two young people were locked up for nearly three days. In the same way as Lauren Southern, neither had committed any crime and nor were they intending to.
These three young people have been deemed unwelcome in the UK despite the fact that they are amongst the least likely terrorists you’ll ever meet. These days it seems you can be barred for not holding ‘BBC beliefs’.
FREE SPEECH IS FREE SPEECH
It really doesn’t matter to us what these three young people think, provided they are not advocating violence or racial attacks. What matters is when the government thinks it can use a wholly inappropriate piece of legislation (the Terrorist Act) to detain and deport individuals whose politics it disagrees with.
This is simply wrong. It is not British. And we will fight this.
To paraphrase the late Lady Thatcher, we have not spent years fighting the totalitarianism of the EU only to have it reimposed by the British government via the backdoor as we Brexit.
The same arrogance that is on display with the government starting to deny entry to conservative thinkers and politicians will also be used to tell us that there’s no alternative to delaying Brexit until 2021, which is what the cabinet sub-committee allegedly agreed on Monday. (We’ll report more when we have the facts.)
Whether your views are right, left, or completely off-field, we hope you will join us in telling Mrs May that her totalitarian nonsense has to stop. This matters when it comes to Brexit and when it comes to the post-Brexit world we wish to inhabit.
An exhausted Lauren Southern yesterday                © Janice Atkinson
[ Sources: Lauren Southern | Janice Atkinson ]
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
       06.55am, 15 Mar 2018
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Name: Patrick H, London      Date/Time: 15 Mar 2018, 12.05pm
Message: Of course, we all know why there must be no alternative journalistic narrative from that as set out by the Government, big business and the MSM, such as the BBC. Any antagonism towards Muslim/Islam is particularly frowned upon, why? Well, there are many reasons but the simplest one is money! Behind Islam in the UK are the like of Saudi Arabia with their vast amounts of money invested in the UK, residing in British banks, etc. The UK is beholden to Saudi Arabia's vast wealth and its purchasing power. The UK is highly dependant on Military purchases etc and this transcends any indigenous requirements or journalists irritating the Saudis, and the Middle East in general!
Name: David Wrad, Rotherham, UK      Date/Time: 15 Mar 2018, 09.19am
Message: Since Lauren Southern was prevented from entering the UK I have spent my time trying to promote this petition online. Please promote the Petition see if we can get it to the 100,000 before it closes.
Sign this petition and pass it on. It asks to "Create a Freedom of Speech Act and Bring an End to Hate Speech Laws". And please do as I did and complain directly to No.10 about Lauren's, Brittany's, and Martin's treatment.
 BRITISH MEP LEADS CHARGE ON
RIGHTS OF CONSERVATIVE JOURNALIST
Yesterday in Strasbourg...                           © EU Parliament
A FACTS4EU.ORG ‘BREXIT BITE’
The reason Lauren Southern was able to address MEPs yesterday was because of the efforts of a British MEP, Janice Atkinson, whom we have coincidentally featured a couple of times recently.
Ms Atkinson organised transport so that Lauren Southern could attend the EU Parliament which is meeting this week in Strasbourg.
Janice Atkinson is a Vice-President of the ENF – Europe for Nations and Freedom group in the parliament. She remains on good terms with many UKIP MEPs, who were very interested in supporting Lauren Southern yesterday.
OBSERVATIONS
The Labour and LibDem MEPs, usually very concerned about human rights, were apparently unconcerned at the liberty issues surrounding Ms Southern’s plight. We do not know if any Conservative MEPs showed any interest but have not been able to find any evidence so far.
[ Sources: ENF Group, EU Parliament ]
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
       06.55am, 15 Mar 2018
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 JACOB REES-MOGG
ON PAYING THE EU
A FACTS4EU.ORG ‘BREXIT BITE’
“When our negotiators go to bed at night, they should say to themselves, for the 21 months remaining of the Multi-annual Financial Framework, without our money the European Union is bust. It has no legal ability to borrow. Neither the Germans want to pay more and neither do the Poles want to receive less. And that is our best playing card.”
“Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. If we don’t get a good trade deal, we take our money away. If we don’t get a good Implementation deal, we take our money away. That’s what they need, that’s what holds their feet to the fire.”
Excerpt from “The Moggcast: Episode Four”, from ConservativeHome.
To listen to the entire programme click here.
OBSERVATIONS
If the Prime Minister talked like this, even those who voted Remain would back her.
[ Sources: ConservativeHome ]
     Journalists and politicians can contact us for the full list of links, as usual.
       06.55am, 15 Mar 2018
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Name: Patrick H, London      Date/Time: 15 Mar 2018, 1.14pm
Message: Money, they need the UK money, plain and simple! So what is really going on in these negotiations that are not being revealed to the public? There are plain-speaking, articulate and erudite MPs such as Jacob Rees-Mogg; John Redwood, Liam Fox et al, that lay the digestible facts on the table. Question to FACTS4EU: If these facts are so understandable, by all and sundry and especially the Government, why is it so difficult to nail this negotiation? I have my own thoughts, but would welcome your knowledgeable insight into this increasing comical debacle? What is the UK Government hiding?
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