Brexit and sloppy journalism

Some newspapers and BBC commentators, led by the Evening Standard seem to think everything revolves around Brexit if it is negative. They either avoid the positive or dismiss it as happening despite Brexit.

It has become a lazy habit of mind. Since Brexit, if the pound goes down, it is because of Brexit. When the pound goes up they tend to ignore it. After Brexit they delighted in the short sharp markdown of the Stock Market. When the strong upwards move commenced in the FTSE100 they said they had not meant the FTSE 100, the larger stocks, but had meant the FTSE250 which more accurately captures the domestic economy. When that too surged they switched to another topic.

They quietly dropped their recession forecasts for last winter, and tiptoe round the excellent jobs figures which have continued to show good new job generation throughout the post Brexit vote year. Instead they shifted their forecasts from recession to slowdown, and shifted the date from soon to later.

Using their methods I should be arguing that since the Brexit vote the Stock market is up sharply, showing improved confidence in our future prospects. I should point out that business has given a resounding vote of confidence in post Brexit UK in the most positive way possible, by hiring many more staff. I would point to the continuing very high levels of inward investment, to the growth in new housing being built and sold , and to high levels of consumption as all marvels of the vote. There we have it – the Brexit vote has brought us more jobs, more homes, more inward investment, more business confidence. The main complaint I now have from anti Brexit business is a worry they will not be able to recruit all the labour they need in future. In other words they plan to stay here and invest and grow here.

I do not do so because I think the impact of Brexit is exaggerated. Just as joining the EEC and then the single market did nothing to raise our growth rate – indeed it went down – so leaving the EU will have little economic impact. What it will do is important politically, giving us the power back to shape our own destiny and have a better economic future if we wish to make the changes necessary to bring that about.

101 Comments

  1. Service Provider
    July 15, 2017

    Dear Mr Redwood, I am very happy we are getting the power back to shape our own destiny. I sell a lot of services in Germany and have been able to use the law of the EU several times to stop the German authorities imposing unfair restrictions. Could you tell me how this will work once the UK has left the EU? Will Westminster pass a law instructing Germany how to behave?

    Reply Trade with Germany will be regulated by WTO rules and international law, and maybe by a special UK/EU Agreement as well. You will still have redress against unfair practices. It is interesting you have encountered such difficulties in Germany. I also when in the past in business found Germany a very difficult market.

    1. Jane Moorhouse
      July 15, 2017

      Service Provider. You obviously have personal reasons for staying in the EU. Germany seems to be your only source of business. We have no control as to how Germany behave, likewise we do not want Germany to control how we behave. It would appear that you will have to adapt and having had it your own way for years it is going to be difficult. However the British public do not want to be dominated by a German dominated EU and we have voted to leave. You like most Remainers and Teachers and Uni lecturers have had it so good while the rest of the country can go to hell as far as you are concerned. Like ex Pats, they don’t want to live here but they want to control over decisions by those of us who do live here. Remainers will do anything to get their own way to protect their personal interests. However they haven’t got their own way and will have to adapt. One of the best ways of doing that is to support this country, get behind the Government and assist in bringing about a deal for the future success of the U.K. and its citizens. It is a poor businessman who isn’t lively and intelligent enough to break into new markets instead of stagnating and fighting for the status quo. Me thinks you have had it easy for too long.

    2. Leslie Singleton
      July 15, 2017

      Dear Service–Do you sell services in America?

    3. NickC
      July 15, 2017

      Service Provider, Surely you agree a contract, and contract law, before exporting? That law is usually the importer’s law. What will change after we have left the EU?

      As a supplier into the EU (exporting from the UK) you will have to comply with EU law anyway, just as if you exported to the USA you would have to comply with USA law.

      By the way, when I exported engineering goods to the continent (only cÂŁ4k/yr), I found the Germans much easier to deal with than the French speaking Belgians. So there are variations within the EU.

    4. zorro
      July 15, 2017

      Ah service provider interesting hat you should come up with this one today after it had been on the BBC news yesterday when Helena Kennedy had questioned DD about it in a committee hearing…..

      I have to tell you that it is not the wild west outside of the EU, and before, during and after the EU, there has been WTO trade rules and various other international laws and agreements to determine arbitration in trade disputes. Germany can be noriously bureaucratic as can France – often a cultural thing….

      zorro

    5. libertarian
      July 16, 2017

      Dear Service provider

      You will have to tell us WHICH services you sell to Germany as currently there is NO SINGLE MARKET in services and in fact Germany operates quite different laws, regulations and licence requirements in certain service segments that are not at all in line with other EU states. Germany always has been a difficult market as it operates behind a wall of technical, protectionist regulation as it has all the while we’ve been a member of the EU . I would also ask you to provide evidence of which EU laws you’ve used in order to overcome German regulations and perhaps you could point us to where we can read the judgements ?

  2. formula57
    July 15, 2017

    “….led by the Evening Standard “ – is George Osborne on course to beat Edward Heath for the longest public sulk in history?

    1. Beecee
      July 15, 2017

      Well in his youth he was probably taught how to paper over the cracks.

    2. James Matthews
      July 15, 2017

      Mostly Heath only sulked (some remaining sense that the interests of the nation might be more important than getting his own way), though as far as duration is concerned, Osborne has a very long way to go to catch up. Osborne, on the other hand, is openly out for revenge. For once Heath is the better man.

    3. miami.mode
      July 15, 2017

      f57. It seems to be a trait with the name of Osborne that you have to Look Back in Anger.

      It would also appear that the original won the Evening Standard Drama Award!

      Plus ca change.

    4. Lifelogic
      July 15, 2017

      43 years until Ted Heath died from when he was rightly kicked out by the voters, sulking until the very end I understand. This after all his “prices and income policy” and other left wing insanities. Though I do not think even he wanted workers to be forced onto company boards, minimum pay rates for the self employed or any enforced gender pay “gap” reporting.

      Heath even managed to saddle the commons with Michel Martin as Speaker before we got the current (at least equally dreadful) incumbent.

      Heath did once however have the consideration to reply, very fully, to a letter I once sent him as a teenager.

      Not that I found much sense in what was said in the reply. He too wanted ever more government as I recall.

    5. Mitchel
      July 15, 2017

      Rather than being the organ grinder’s monkey,he should get himself an organ to work off his frustrations.Possibly a yacht,too;he can probably afford it now!

    6. Tom William
      July 15, 2017

      At least Heath realised Conservatives would not want him back in power again.

  3. David Cockburn
    July 15, 2017

    I agree with all you say but I’m puzzled why so many powerful figures would still prefer to be a ‘colony’ of the EU than to be an independent nation. Is it just love of the status quo which has served them so well? Is it that they are subsidised by the EU?

    1. Mark B
      July 15, 2017

      Little or no accountability.

    2. Chris
      July 15, 2017

      There is huge money to be made by the multinationals using a guaranteed cheap work force which can be moved/obtained wherever it is needed. For the political figures, there is great power and wealth (salaries, pensions expenses, allowances), certainty of employment, a career path in bureaucracy, with little or no accountability. The great power and wealth amassed at the core of the EU of the political elite is a magnet for political wannabes. This elite class which has developed accentuates the divide between rich and poor, and there seems to be one set of rules for those at the political core, and another for “the masses”. There seems to be little accountability, and the democratic will can apparently be ignored in the pursuit of the EU dream.

    3. Mitchel
      July 15, 2017

      Why did many of the scions of the upper middle classes like the Soviet Union-it wasn’t the ideology of socialism or communism,it was the totalitarianism.They could entrench themselves in power;something that was slipping away from them as we entered a more democratic,egalitarian age after WWI.

    4. hans chr iversen
      July 15, 2017

      it is just very unfortunate that John’s economic projections current and future have nothing to do with the reality of the British consumer

      Reply My predictions have been correct for the last year and a half, unlike the Treasury

  4. Linda Jones
    July 15, 2017

    Thank you, Mr Redwood, for being so positive. It’s a joy to read your comments. Pity there aren’t more politicians around to talk up our great country.

    1. hans chr iversen
      July 15, 2017

      John, growth rates are the lowest in the EU, retail sales have fallen to two quarters, savings rates are the lowest on record, pound keeps falling, inflation is up eroding falling purchasing power even more and the migrants are going home and new immigrants are falling steadily.

      But you still talk about paradise after Brexit, where you now also tell us we can stop paying in 20 months.

      JOHN WHICH WORLD DO YOU LIVE IN IT IS NOT THE BRITAIN I LIVE IN?

      ReplyTry reading byte figured. UK grew at 2% in year to end q1 2016 as I forecast and one of the best growth rates amongst advanced economies

      Why, don’t you get real instead of living in fantasy land

      1. libertarian
        July 16, 2017

        hans chr iversen

        Do you live in a make believe place? You dont mention the highest number of people in employment in history, the lowest unemployment since 1975, the number of new overseas businesses investing in UK

        You’re a fantasist

      2. Dennis
        July 16, 2017

        “John, growth rates are the lowest in the EU, retail sales have fallen to two quarters, savings rates are the lowest on record, pound keeps falling, inflation is up eroding falling purchasing power even more and the migrants are going home and new immigrants are falling steadily.”

        Wonderful news if only it were true. Population numbers falling, energy needs falling, growth falling, purchasing power down etc., etc. so smaller drain on the environment/ ecosphere/ resources etc. so becoming a fairer society to the rest of the world. If you can’t sacrifice for your children and their progeny then dystopia calls.

  5. eeyore
    July 15, 2017

    In media terms, Brexit is rapidly being repositioned as “Tory Brexit”. As the current narrative is that the Tories are useless and Mr Corbyn is a miracle worker, this leaves Labour much space to oppose and support simultaneously, as circumstances offer.

    The best defence is attack. The line should that Brexit is complex and difficult but going according to plan. Those who oppose are plotters and saboteurs who cannot accept reality. Name names. Let them waste their air time denying it.

    “Hard pounding, gentlemen. Let’s see who pounds longest.” (Wellington at Waterloo)

    1. Newmania
      July 15, 2017

      I have my own doubts about identifying this catastrophe as ” Tory Brexit”. The problem is that it will then taint the good things the Conservative Party used to stand for .

      Fiscal responsibility
      Trade
      Business
      Reformed Public Services
      Sound money
      Flexible working
      Pragmatism
      International Support for Western Liberal Values
      Security
      Rational Sense and Truth ( as opposed to populist myth)

      These important virtues have been sacrificed in a spasm of Nationalist idiocy and the affect has been to make the Remain voice a leftish one which it should not be . This is why it is such n act of betrayal for moderate and sensible Conservatives to do nothing as their Party is taken over by charlatans .

      As the country tips into a European style war betyween bigots and Communists I cannot imagine a darker poorer meaner and stupider future . No wonder the dream that it might just go away persists

      1. Richard1
        July 15, 2017

        Could be the reason Remain has become a leftish stance – which I agree it never used to be – is the general statist-leftist drift of the EU. The emphasis on regulatory convergence rather than competition, the burgeoning supra-national bureaucracy, and now the moves to impose common taxation policy should all be anathema to any pro-free market thinker.

    2. Ed Mahony
      July 15, 2017

      “Hard pounding, gentlemen. Let’s see who pounds longest.” (Wellington at Waterloo’

      – Wellington was fighting Napoleon, not his own people.
      Isn’t life too short to be fighting your own people? At least try and get them on y our side.

      1. Margaret Howard
        July 16, 2017

        Wellington didn’t pound hard enough. He was about to give up when the Prussians under Bluecher saved the day.

        1. Ed Mahony
          July 16, 2017

          Don’t know much about Waterloo but wasn’t Napoleon’s genius more about being a creative, agile thinker than being a pounder! (A lesson to be learned about Brexit …).

          1. Ed Mahony
            July 16, 2017

            Talking about Napoleon, how would he have reacted to Brexit?
            If he were British, he would have been able to make any scenario work, Remain, Leave or Reform (remain in the EU but reform).

            However, if he had gone for reform, something i’m sure he would have done is the following:
            1. Make sure you’re national debt is paid off
            2. Make sure you’ve built up your economy
            3. Make sure all outstanding problems of country have been sorted out
            4. Plan hard and in advance for Brexit (including uniting your people around it)
            5. Make sure you have the leadership for something so big, complicated and controversial (being Napoleon, he would have had the leadership skills / abilities, of course ..).

          2. Ed Mahony
            July 16, 2017

            However, if he had gone for Brexit (I mean), something i’m sure he would have done is the following:

            1. Make sure your national debt is paid off
            2. Make sure you’ve built up your economy
            3. Make sure all outstanding problems of country have been sorted out
            4. Plan hard and in advance for Brexit (including uniting your people around it)
            5. Make sure you have the leadership for something so big, complicated and controversial (being Napoleon, he would have had the leadership skills / abilities, of course ..).

            And rather than the Brexit leaders resembling Napoleon and his generals, sorry to say they’ve, resembled more, Lord Raglan in the the Charge of the Light Brigade.

          3. zorro
            July 16, 2017

            Ah Ed, a bit of an ‘afrancesado’ at heart it seems 😀…..

            I am afraid that Napoleon was a bit of a pounder at Waterloo, and none of his more brilliant tactical manoeuvres were employed as at Austerlitz.

            On a social and legal field, Napoleon was more of a codifier than a creative, agile thinker. Look at his infamous Continental system aimed at kneecapping up!

            I am also not as convinced that he would have been the economic supply genius you claim bearing in mind his ill fated Russian expedition where his supply lines were a disaster and he often made his troops live off the land (confiscate food from the populace)…. Wellington also with fewer troops but excellent supply systems put French forces and Marshals to royt on a number of occasions (Peninsular campaign)… History lesson over 😉……

            zorro

        2. zorro
          July 16, 2017

          Wellington played a dodgy hand very well. His best troups were in America, and he had a small number of reliable troops. He had to weave together a multi national force (Dutch/Belgian, Nassau, Brunswicker and Hanoverian regiments and other German speaking troops) to fight a homogenous French army with superior artillery and cavalry led by a man suffering from a bad case of piles!

          Wellington fought on the undertsanding that the Prussians would arrive (a lot earlier than they did) and even up the odds. Even without them, the Allied army fought off every French attack, forcing Napoleon to deploy his elite Middle Guard regimentsto attack his centre. The BRITISH troops in the centre send the elite French troops packing after they had initially seen off other allied troops!

          zorro

          1. Ed Mahony
            July 16, 2017

            @Zorro,

            Thanks for historical info ..

            Don’t know much about it, but wasn’t Napoleon’s problem in Russia overconfidence?

    3. Lifelogic
      July 15, 2017

      Corbyn certainly seem to think he can pull off the loaves and fish one. What is odd is that so many people actually think he can.

  6. alan jutson
    July 15, 2017

    Afraid bad news of all kinds tends to sell newsprint and attracts viewers when compared to good, no matter what the subject.

    Try and find a good news story of any kind in the media, you will struggle.

    Nothing beats a sensational headline to attract attention.

    Time for the Conservative Government to really get to grips with social media to try to counter the one way tide.

    Your daily blog is essential reading and helps keep some of our spirits up, but is simply not enough on its own to counter the mass media onslaught which is viewed by millions.

    Keep up the good work JR we will get there in the end, because failure to get back control, really is not an option, that would be surrender.

    1. alan jutson
      July 15, 2017

      Perhaps some members of your Party should really be looking at themselves and their behaviour since the referendum.
      Others need to educate themselves rather better about some facts before standing in front of a camera, but then those with the camera have their own agenda and seek these uninformed people out.

      Forgot to say well done for very politely putting Victoria Derbyshire in her place the other day with a simple and polite “do you want me to answer” in response to her interuptions.

      1. Paul Cohen
        July 16, 2017

        Quite right ! re trying to get a word in edgeways.

        Should be SOP (standing operating procedure) when facing one of the usual suspects.

        Pity David Davies isn’t more energised and convincing – Owen Patterson is…

  7. Mike Stallard
    July 15, 2017

    Leave the EU? Definitely. It is morphing into a Franco-German Eurozone run by unelected Guardians who may – or may not – be corrupt. Certainly their ideas on immigration, asylum, the economy, unemployment among the young, real Greek Austerity and more and more lovely buildings is not my idea of good government.
    Leave the Common Market (aka EEA)? No. We need to stay in it. And leaving the EU is not the same thing. We are signed up to the EEA and may very well need to invoke a separate article to leave that. Next question: is the EEA the same as the Single Market? Of course not. You can be in the EEA without signing up to a lot of EU nonsense.
    All very obscure. Lawyers must be rubbing their hands with glee at the thought of the lovely fees that are waiting, like the pennies in the arcade machines, to tumble all over the floor in front of them.

  8. Duncan
    July 15, 2017

    The destructive actions and opinions of people like Osborne, now the incumbent Editor of the LES, leave an acid taste in the mouth. It does defy belief that this man who is still a conservative politician even though he’s no longer a MP should still believe in the UK as some form of bit part in the political ambitions of continental politicians fills me with deep sadness and anger

    For far too long many decent Tories who believe in a sovereign, independent UK have been labelled racists, xenophobes and much worse. This type of politics focusing on race and foreigners is a classic left leaning trope designed to slander and silence your enemy. To think that under Cameron (yes, a Conservative PM) this tactic was used in the build up to the EU referendum was nothing short of criminal, a disgrace and a stain on this once great party

    The little man ie me and millions of others, are in no position to get our message heard in the public arena so we rely on Mr Redwood and many of his like minded allies in politics and the media (excluding the BBC and all the other pro-EU media rags)

    I have said once and I will say it again, at the heart of all this is the pernicious BBC. They are out of control and they have to be tamed. Impartiality was dispensed with many years ago and many tories still are aghast as to why we still haven’t done something about them. The BBC can say what it likes but I baulk at the fact that I am financing their capacity to do so. Abolish the licence fee and then privatise it

  9. matthu
    July 15, 2017

    OT – but is driving a train really so easy that even a woman could do it (as the chancellor apparently believes)? Sounds like a woodpile moment …

  10. Mick
    July 15, 2017

    http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/828883/Brexit-news-immigration-UK-free-movement-repeal-bill-Tory-Labour-plot-European-Union
    It just fills my heart with dread when we keep getting bombarded daily with articles like this, these MPs will try anything to get on to the eu express gravy train, they don’t give a toss about democracy or the will of the people just there self interest

  11. Peter Wood
    July 15, 2017

    Good Morning,
    Thank you for your positive statements, although I think the rise in value of everything, especially the stock market, has more to do with excessively cheap money and B of E QE than any vote.

    The reason the press is too negative is because there is a news vacuum; please ask Mrs. May to, first receive some public speaking lessons, and then get herself in front of the ‘media’ wherever and whenever she can, daily or every-second day, with a forceful and upbeat news item. She clearly needs a script, but keep it short, factual and positive.

  12. Anonymous
    July 15, 2017

    ‘Sloppy’ journalism ?

    Downright dishonest in many cases.

    In no way do I countenance threats and abuse but I do understand the degree of anger and frustration with political bias in the BBC. Thankfully it is noticed by very many people now.

    Laura Kuenssberg is particularly annoying. Could she, for once, drop the sour face when reporting anything Brexit ? It’s quite obvious what she’s up to.

    There is such disaffection out there that there could easily be a mass boycott of the BBC – all it needs is a trigger to start it.

    1. Anonymous
      July 15, 2017

      PS, The BBC imperils our relations with America. France has been altogether more mature about the issue.

    2. The Prangwizard
      July 16, 2017

      Nothing will be done. Mrs May and her circle like the BBC. They think it is fair and impartial and is good for the country.

  13. Peter
    July 15, 2017

    It is not ‘a lazy habit of mind’ at all. It is writing to support a remain point of view and continue to fight against Brexit.

    Now Tony Blair is getting airspace with a claim that the EC may come up with a change on Freedom of Movement to accommodate Britain. The claim being that we could then stay in the EC single market.

    This sort of stuff will never cease to get coverage.

    I wish we would just walk away. I am sick of all this.

  14. Richard1
    July 15, 2017

    What about this as a way for Mrs May to find ÂŁ10bns extra for a few popular policies and stick one to Osborne: cancel HS2, the great white elephant of which he was the principle champion.

    1. Stred
      July 15, 2017

      And the silly buggers Stonehenge tunnel.

  15. Lifelogic
    July 15, 2017

    More total lunacy from Diane Abbot today (also rather pushed on by the BBC). She wants only “builders” to be allowed to buy drain cleaners or acid and for them to all have a licence.

    Great idea love, but hammers, saws, bleach, petrol, screwdrivers, kitchen knives and countless other objects and chemicals can be equally or even more dangerous. Perhaps we should have a licence system for all those too. Maybe everyone in the country could work in the government department for enforcing and organising these countless licences.

    Loads of people die on the loo every year too, so clearly people need training and a government licence for that too. Perhaps licences for breathing & farting too – using up all that free oxygen resource and emitting CO2 and methane surely should not be allowed without a licence.

    Unfortunately T May tends to think in a rather similar way – as we saw with the Mathew Taylor report and her recent work speech.

  16. DaveM
    July 15, 2017

    I’m particularly amused by the way they witchhunt Blair over Iraq as if he’s a convicted traitor and war criminal, then, every time he says something that they perceive might have an effect on people’s attitude to Brexit, wheel him out as if the public regard him as some kind of oracle.

    They’re more out of touch with the public than Theresa May. And that’s saying something.

    1. DaveM
      July 15, 2017

      PS. Just saw Blair on the TV – he’s beginning to look and sound genuinely desperate…..why does no one ask him why he’s become so desperate? And if he’s so incredibly talented, why doesn’t he join the winning side and do something for the country he proclaims to love so much?

      1. Mark B
        July 16, 2017

        The desperate pose is designed to convey impeding doom, which he is trying to peddle.

        The man is good, but not that good.

      2. Jagman84
        July 16, 2017

        I think that Tony Blair hates the indigenous British. That’s why he instigated the import of a new electorate that would be so grateful that they would keep him (and his ilk) in power for generations. It did not quite work out but senior members of your own party, Mr Redwood, have continued his groundwork.

    2. Denis Cooper
      July 15, 2017

      Long before the UK referendum, immediately after the referendum and for more than a year since then EU leaders have more or less queued up to tell us very clearly again and again that as far as they are concerned the “four freedoms” of the EU internal or single market – freedom of movement of goods, services, capital AND persons – are indivisible.

      Even the BBC feels compelled to mention that Michel Barnier repeated this only last week, yet they and the rest of the media are perfectly happy to repeat Tony Blair’s assuredly false claim that EU leaders are now ready to be flexible on the freedom of movement of persons, and so we should reconsider staying in the EU single market, in fact maybe we shouldn’t leave the EU at all:

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-40615119

      And what does the UK government have to say about this? Anything from a No 10 spokesman immediately condemning this as the utter tripe it is? No, nothing like that has been reported yet. Or maybe a press release from the Department for Exiting the EU, referencing those repeated unambiguous statements from EU leaders and showing up this man as the incorrigible liar he is? Nope, they can’t be bothered, not because it’s Saturday but because they can never be bothered to rebut any of the anti-Brexit rubbish which circulates in the media day after day.

      My conclusion: the government would be perfectly happy to see public opinion swing against leaving the EU, and see opinion polls saying that a large majority of voters would actually welcome parliamentary defeats of the government’s Brexit legislation – first evil aim, set up a tyranny like that of Henry VIII, second evil aim grab power back from the Scots and the Welsh – and then use that as an excuse to ask the EU whether it could please take back its Article 50 notice.

    3. Lifelogic
      July 15, 2017

      Indeed they also like their other “wise” (i.e. wrong on nearly every issue) men and women. John ERM Major, Clegg + Wife, Heseltine, the many Kinnocks, Paddy Ashdown, Osborne, Shirley Williams – indeed nearly every SNP, Green, Plaid or Libdim person or lefty, remainer Tory like Mathew Paris.

    4. Leslie Singleton
      July 15, 2017

      Dear Dave–Have you seen Blair’s latest drivel (no commitment or names from him of course) about how flexible his beloved EU might be willing (he says) to become? Even if he weren’t talking drivel (though he is) that wouldn’t be enough for most of us who clearly see the direction of travel of this particular train and have realised it is not going to our destination so want to get off. Put another way, even if they changed radically (not exactly likely) they could in effect vote 27 to 1 the next day to change back again. No TVM.

      1. Leslie Singleton
        July 15, 2017

        Later–As so often, Nigel Farage has it spot on, “Tony Blair is showing people why he is now one of the most disliked living figures in British politics”. I’ll drink to that. Did Blair ever explain, among much else, why he gave away our Rebate, apart of course from his hoping to earn Brownie points with EU smallwigs for obvious reasons of self-aggrandisement? The good news is that what he has just come out with will help the Brexit cause. And to think our system allowed him to become important (historically) and now to become vastly wealthy. I even have a smidgeon of respect for the Labour Left in their hatred of him, and that doesn’t happen often.

  17. Mark B
    July 15, 2017

    Good morning

    BREXIT Was always, for me at least, about governance. Whatever the economic outcome I believe leaving the EU is of great national importance. It will allow the UK, once again, to express her voice on the international stage and not have it diluted via 27 other, often competing, voices through the single voice, and vote, of the EU Commission.

    Once again a British PM will be able to speak for our country and set out its interests and not have to negotiate with 27 others just to get some crumbs.

    We will be free to purchase goods and services on the ‘International Market’, which is far bigger than the Single Market, and demand a better and fairer prices. This will help Third World economies and our own.

    The EU, Single Market, Customs Union and EURO are all slowly killing the other 27.

    1. Ed Mahony
      July 15, 2017

      ‘It will allow the UK, once again, to express her voice on the international stage’

      – China is 21 times bigger in population than the UK. It’s GDP is 4 times larger and growing fast.

      Soon, China will be going, UK who ? But with the EU, with a population of half the size of China, and a larger GDP, the EU will stand out from the crowd. China will pay attention (and not want to upset relations with the EU over the much smaller UK).

      Something similar can be said for India, Japan, and the US (and like China, no other country will want to upset the EU over the much smaller UK).

    2. Ed Mahony
      July 15, 2017

      Also, part of the problem of the UK at moment, is that we live in the past – Empire. Long gone.

      And instead of looking at America for our economic model, look to Germany, who are great at creating products and services that people want to buy outside the EU (and inside). Although the euro helps, it’s ultimately down to the quality of their products and services (it’s not really what i think, but what all those people think who buy German products and services around the world).
      Also, the Germans are Europeans. The British are far more like the Germans and Europeans in general, in terms of culture and history, than the Americans (and I know only too well, having worked with both Americans and Germans for years).

  18. Anonymous
    July 15, 2017

    Also the notion that farmers won’t be able to employ cheap labour and so food prices will go up.

    Well.

    When it suits, the Left say that better wages raise more in taxation. But they want cheap imported labour, and a lower carbon footprint – whilst increasing the population with people who are here solely to enable themselves to consume more than they could at home.

    Add to sexual equality the contradictory policy of supporting the importation of sexist cultures.

    Confused ?

    No. The only people who are confused is the Brexit crowd, according to the BBC.

  19. Alan
    July 15, 2017

    ” leaving the EU will have little economic impact”.

    Well, we will see.

    1. Mark B
      July 16, 2017

      There will be economic impact and much else. You cannot hand over the running of your country to outside sources for nearly half a century and not expect some disruption when leaving.

      But looking long term I think we will more than make up for the lost ground

  20. Anonymous
    July 15, 2017

    Off topic please.

    Acid attacks. The barbarity of which should get full life terms.

    No restrictions on the sale of acid. This would, yet again, be a curtailment of personal freedoms for the actions of a tiny minority that the penal system has failed to deal with because it is too soft.

    Such a ban would mean I have to rip out my drainage and replace it – or get costly rodding companies in. I’m sure many households would suffer the same expense.

  21. The Prangwizard
    July 15, 2017

    ‘I too found Germany a very difficult market’. (Mr Redwood in a reply above)

    The Germans rigorously defend and promote their markets and their industry and business.

    It’s a tragedy that our leadership doesn’t do the same for our nation. They in league with their City spiv friends would rather offer them for sale for a fat fee to be bought up by such as the Germans. Which country is the more powerful?

  22. A.Sedgwick
    July 15, 2017

    Brexit fear is reminiscent of the millennium bug when the world was going to stop, the cliff edge scenario was in full flow. I think we have to accept the endless BBC factoring in the Brexit doom laden caveats, they have become institutionalised to it and only changing its funding to voluntary will wake them up to the real world.

    We have had mainly dreadful PMs and Chancellors since the war and the Cameron/Osborne duo have now shown their true colours to all, although with many others I always thought they were liberal wafflers not practical achievers e.g. the appalling coalition, pity that wasn’t tested in the courts.

    If May & Co are serious about B means B, they should do a Barnier, make Nigel Farage a peer, get him on the team with a brief to start networking the MEPs and get real – it’s trade stupid.

  23. Brian Tomkinson
    July 15, 2017

    JR :”It has become a lazy habit of mind.”
    Not at all, it is a deliberate part of their anti-Brexit propaganda. Today, Blair is all over media advocating staying in “reformed” EU. Didn’t Cameron promise that and receive the public’s answer? There are many in media and Parliament who are determined to do all they can to overturn the result of referendum. That action of ignoring the will of the people if it doesn’t agree with EU is the hallmark of the EU and it’s acolytes.

  24. outsider
    July 15, 2017

    Dear Mr Redwood,
    In front of me are two editions of Monday’s London Evening Standard, both picked up in the City between 5 and 6pm. The first (tagged West End Final) carries the banner headline “Cancer Patients in Brexit Scare” with a smaller headline about a “Tory revolt” over the UK leaving Euratom as an when we leave the EU. The second (tagged West End Final Extra) reverses the priorities with the main headline “Tory Revolt Goes Nuclear”. Not sure which is worst. I do hope that Mr Lebedev chose his new editor because he strongly shares his views, otherwise he must be increasingly embarrassed.
    Sadder is the decline of the Financial Times into an anti-Brexit propaganda sheet. It used to be a paper that knew how to separate its news from its views. Many years ago, I was acquainted with both the current editor and his father. Both were very serious-minded and strong about newspapers upholding their best traditions. I wonder whether the edior has been seduced by inclusion in the charmed circle that meets at Davos and the other top-table global finance fests, or is just influenced by the commercial importance of the FT’s continental readership, in which it has invested heavily. There is, I note, no longer any adjacent proprietorial hand to watch over editorial quality.
    Most shocking of all, however, is that the FT’s anti-brexit campaigning is mirrored in the website of the Reuters news agency, traditionally a paragon of straight news.
    There are always two sides to any issue but no-one, on either side, seems to care any more about objectivity, let alone balanced coverage.

  25. G Wilson
    July 15, 2017

    Using the remainer’s methods, we’d be arguing for “soft remain”.

    That’s no Court of Justice, no European Communities Act, but all the free trade you want.

    The remain voters just didn’t know what they were voting for. Nobody voted to be governed from overseas. Etc etc etc…

  26. David Murfin
    July 15, 2017

    This relates as much to yesterday’s item as this one, but:
    You wrote then that
    “Under WTO tariffs the UK government would gain around ÂŁ12bn of tariff revenue at the expense of UK consumers, which it could give back as tax cuts.”

    Doesn’t that rather mean that the price of German cars would go up; fewer would be bought; tariff income would be less than predicted; the actual figures are guesswork?

  27. Christine
    July 15, 2017

    The Conservative party need to quell this rebellion before it takes hold. They need to discipline the dissenters within their party. If they don’t then the party is finished in Government. Don’t these misguided MPs understand that Labour is looking for an opportunity to have another general election? Unfortunately the Remainers can smell blood and are using the media to try to sway public opinion. Some people are gullible enough to believe their arguments. The Remainers are just waiting for something to go wrong in the next two years then they will be out in even greater numbers. It’s time the Leave side put across the positive side. I’ve not come across any Leavers who have changed their minds but all this negativity is wearing the public down.

  28. Bert Young
    July 15, 2017

    I only read the media that adopts an anti EU point of view ; I seldom watch anything from the BBC . This is not because I am not aware or afraid of the other angles that exist , it is simply because I am my own man who trusts his own judgement . In my 89 years I have been tested many times ; disappointments I have known and I have not always won what I wanted . In my business life I kept a body of very intelligent and world – wise people around me ; I always consulted them before making decisions . My business was very successful and spread around the globe .

    The EU I consider to be a dead duck ; its centralised bureaucracy does not engage with the front line and exists in a world of self-preservation ; it is influenced almost entirely by Germany who has never been prepared to share its wealth or to accept that other EU countries do not want to follow its disciplines . Signs of destruction are there and it is merely a matter of time before the explosion .

  29. ian wragg
    July 15, 2017

    I see Adonis is likening Brexit to appeasement. What sort of mind set is it with the great and (they think) good which gives them the right to judge us.
    Politicians of all colours have and continue to lie to us, stupid Clegg wants another referendum with 16 year old getting 2 votes. Is there no end to their mendacity.
    Whatever you say, and I want to believe you, we are being softened up for some half hearted Brexit, continuing to fund infrastructure projects EU wide which we can’t afford at home.
    Mrs may has nothing to lose by insisting on a clean Brexit, anything less will destroy the Tory Party and put you in the wilderness for a generation whilst the Marxists destroy our green and pleasant land,

  30. Doug Powell
    July 15, 2017

    With respect JR, I disagree with your headline. What you refer to as ‘Sloppy Journalism’ is pure and simple ‘Downright Bloody Lies!’ Only an idiot believes that we can leave the EU and remain in the single market and customs union, yet this is what pedalled day after day. The propagandists/journalists, however, invert the argument and emphasise that the starting position for negotiation is that we must remain in the SM and CU, from which it follows, why then, leave the EU? – But they refrain from mentioning that at the moment!

    Just to show how dishonest journalists can be:- when the fishing areas made the news about 10 days ago a journo on a press preview programme said that if we had a 200 mile limit we would be able to fish right up to the outskirts of Paris! Even if this was said tongue in cheek, it showed no knowledge of maritime law and median lines, and was said to be misleading! This non journo went on to say that fishing zones were of no value because the fish didn’t know where the boundaries were! – This time she wasn’t joking!

    Incidentally, I see that Anthony of Iraq has surfaced this morning, quoting anonymous (ie dodgy) EU sources as saying they would agree to restrictions on movement of labour if we remained in the EU. Blair obviously believes that a good con is worth repeating! – Only last week Chilcot said that Blair was “not straight” with the UK over Iraq! Be warned!

  31. Turboterrier.
    July 15, 2017

    @ Richard 1

    Please don;t hold your breath on that one.

    HS2 is doomed before it even starts because like with the turbines you have not the infrastructure to disperse the extra load when it arrives. (if and when it does) All down to lack of forward planning.

  32. alan jutson
    July 15, 2017

    Shame some of our reporters and politicians do not have the spirit and pride of Country and community of past times.

    If you have an hour to spare Google: Douglas Bader This is Your Life, and view it.

    Would they give up to the EU’s demands ?

  33. Turboterrier.
    July 15, 2017

    Very good entry John.

    We all fall into the same trap regarding professional definitions of job titles.

    Journalists in the past were something else. Today we have personal opinion information fact recorders. Hence the rise of fake news. Anything to sell a story.

  34. Epikouros
    July 15, 2017

    It is very complicated world we have today brought about mostly by the increased size and numbers of governments and their agencies and the convoluted laws, regulations, treaties and policies that they have implemented. Culminating into a situation that only the very astute and energetic can make any sense of and identify correctly the causes and effects of any behaviour good or bad.

    Our society having been conditioned to embrace progressive theory and it’s fall into decadence and therefore moral decay no longer produces many who are astute, energetic or are fully decent and fair minded. You point out the evidence to support those facts as you describe the blatant biased and misleading reporting by the media. Manipulation, exaggeration, falsification and omission being their stock in trade. It is not just the media who are guilty of these degenerate practices it is widely in evident in all walks of life. Particularly pernicious in politics especially on the left as they have much power and influence.

  35. Kenneth
    July 15, 2017

    I am certain that virtually everyone who is warning of catastrophe after Brexit do not believe their own words.

    What has happened is they cannot believe their luck as the BBC and others report their utterances in a serious manner which encourages them further.

  36. A Briton
    July 15, 2017

    As long as we are under the control of ECJ Europe will control us and they will continue to ‘own’ our Sovereignty. If you want that WHY are we coming out of this undemocratic, irresponsible, corrupt political system? If you want to stay in to change it then join it completely – accept ALL the values they believe in, dump the ÂŁ and adopt the Euro and sit at the top table and CHALLENGE Brussels unelected Eurocrats drastically reducing the power that they have assumed unopposed and replace the present failed Leadership; CHALLENGE Germany’s leadership to effect a balanced view and proper way forward; If the whole idea of this miserable Organisation is political co-operation and unity then MAKE IT SO.
    Decision for us is:
    1) All the way IN
    2) All the way OUT
    3) HALF WAY is ‘NO WAY’

  37. Prigger
    July 15, 2017

    I am aware this is not a popular view in the minds of Tory and indeed Labour supporters. I know many may think it is along the lines of conspiracy theories relating to the Elvis Presley. But I firmly believe Tony Blair is alive.

  38. Denis Cooper
    July 15, 2017

    http://facts4eu.org/news_jul_2017.shtml#wk_2

    “The latest summary of the EU’s position is contained in a ‘Factsheet’ published by the EU Commission on Wednesday 12th July. It is entitled “State of play of Article 50 negotiations with the United Kingdom” and contains the following:-

    EU’S ‘CORE PRINCIPLES’

    “The withdrawal agreement should be based on a balance of rights and obligations, while ensuring a level-playing field. Cherry-picking of the Single Market and a sector-by-sector participation in the Single Market has been excluded by the European Council guidelines. The Union has also stressed that its four freedoms (people, goods, services and capital) will remain indivisible … ”

    So on July 12th according to the EU Commission “the Union has also stressed that its four freedoms (people, goods, services and capital) will remain indivisible … “, but by July 14th Tony Blair has found that EU leaders are willing to show more flexibility and allow the UK to control immigration from the rest of the EU.

    http://us14.campaign-archive1.com/?u=d25cbe539be88d77cfaa20e94&id=62e7837057

    “A new anti-Brexit strategy appears to be emerging, centred around the notion that the EU is prepared to reform freedom of movement once Britain realises what a terrible mistake Brexit is and decides to stay in after all, hence removing any objection to the UK remaining in the EU, because obviously the Brexit vote wasn’t about anything apart from immigration.

    Nick Clegg was first to propose this with an article last week along the lines of ‘Belgium gets away with aggressively deporting EU citizens so we should stay in and do it too’, although they seem to be far from the most muddled thoughts currently in his head in light of his call yesterday for a second referendum where under-30s’ votes count twice. Yes, you read that right.

    Stephen Kinnock is also going down the free movement reform route, albeit using the marginally more sly approach of rallying support for an “unspecified time-bound period” in which Britain remains in the EEA before then attempting to reform free movement … ”

    And they can all of them do this free from any fear that they may be chewed up by a media office or rapid rebuttal unit in the government department charged with organising our exit from the EU, because the man heading up that department thinks it is enough to adopt a genial confident pose and not actually answer any criticisms or seek to counter the constant propaganda aiming to frustrate the raison d’etre of his department.

  39. Prigger
    July 15, 2017

    Liu Xiaobo, a political detainee, died in Chinese custody. He was heralded in some parts of the West as a fighter for democracy in China.
    It is always sad when someone dies. British at Dunkirk. Russians at Leningrad.Chinese murdered in the Yellow River flood by the nationalist Chiang Kai-shek. Yes and the very young Cubans who died genuinely believing in a better life under Socialism at the Bay of Pigs.
    So it is a pity a brave and genuine man could go to his Maker believing democracy… as we know it… could ever be possible in a country of multitudinous localities, religions, ethnicities, and party believe systems of 1.371 BILLION people such as China. Northern Ireland has a population of 1.811 Million.

  40. ferdinand
    July 15, 2017

    If anyone wishes to discover a bit more of how the EU works they should read Yani Varoufakis book. I am only partly through but as a grand condemnation of the Euro and the Eu it stands ahead of many publications. How anyone could read the book and still want to be linked politically and economically with the EU beats my imagination.

  41. ChasE
    July 15, 2017

    So Tony Blair is sticking his oar in now- up to his old tricks- what does he not understand?.. UK is leaving the EU including the customs union…as we will see next week when D Davis and Barnier meet.. there will be no meeting of minds on anything and in that case we had better fasten our seat belts because we could be out long before March 2019.
    Blair will also see that there can be no bending of the EU rules on the four freedoms and despite what he thinks the EU political machine rules and the EU chiefs in place now have absolutely no intention of changing anything to suit the UK.. because from their point of view that could prove to be disasterous for the future cohesion on the union itself… So Blair will just have to rein in his kite and think again.

  42. BartD
    July 15, 2017

    For every argument put forward to say the economy is gaining or else suffering because of brexit i’m pretty sure someone else can be relied upon to put a counter argument.

    Between now and the end of the year will tell a lot and will depend largely on the success or otherwise of the talks.. the markets will very quickly pick up the news and investors will invest, spend or else hold off, save and divest.

    So better wait until around October before making judgements for future guidance- too early to say.

  43. JonP
    July 15, 2017

    Tony blair says he is not speaking on a “whim” so maybe that’s what sadaams weapons of mass destruction were..just on a whim

  44. Mick
    July 15, 2017

    http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/828986/Brexit-news-Nick-Robinson-ends-Tony-Blair-European-Union-reform-dream
    There you go another anti Brexit story this time by the eu loving Blair, does this muppet take the public for idiots or what, so we stay in the dictatorship eu then 5-10 years down the road they go back to there old would ays and flood us with more foreigners and laws and a conscripted armed forces but that’s ok for the likes of Blair and all the other eu luvvies because they’ll be sitting pretty in the eu laughing at the stupidity of us being ruled by the unelected, well Blair that’s not going to happen MUPPET

  45. Pat
    July 15, 2017

    I disagree- leaving the EU will benefit growth. Only the effect will be neither sudden nor dramatic, and will likely be lost in the noise for a long time. Say a boost of 0.1 to 0.2 % pa. Hardly noticeable but will compound over decades.
    If Germany wants to make trade difficult let them impoverish themselves. There are many other markets and many other suppliers.

  46. Jason wells
    July 15, 2017

    Journalism will always be sloppy and worse if it sells newspapers..

    On another note, yesterday, we hear tony blair talking about the possibility of the EU reforming itself to suit the Uk requirements ie. to restrict the flow of people across its border..all very alarming i’m sure for brexiteers! But to my thinking brexiteers can rest assured that there is not a snowballs chance in hell that reform can be brought about to suit british demands.. the uk government knows it, the tory party and labour party leadership knows it, and the EU chiefs know it..so it makes little sense for Blair to be going on about reform now. Here’s the thing- even if reform suitable to the uk needs were brought about..it would still not suit because the EU hierarchy knows that there will always be a very large percentage of the uk population that will never ever be happy or satisfied until uk is out completely from the eu..and that means also the customs union. Now that A50 has been triggered the eu will never let the uk off the hook- the uk has shown itself to be too much trouble than its worth- the EU in its own time will certainly reform but not to suit uk- just saying it straight out.

    1. outsider
      July 16, 2017

      “Journalism will always be sloppy and worse if it sells newspapers.”
      Dear Jason Wells, You make a fair point but not in the case of the London Evening Standard. When one had to buy the paper, it had no-nonsense, not to say pedantic editors such as Simon Jenkins. Its more sensational competitors fell by the wayside. Now that it is free and has no direct competitor, there is no reason for its staff to respect readers. People will anyway just pick it up for the free crossword, sudoku and TV listings.

  47. Kevin Quinton
    July 15, 2017

    I don’t believe for a moment that it is simply “a lazy habit of mind” on the part of these “news” organisations. It is a clear agenda to continue to push to overturn or dilute Brexit with their pro-EU propaganda (particularly the BBC who have received millions in grants from the EU).

  48. Leslie Singleton
    July 15, 2017

    Dear John–If it is true as you say, and I am sure it is based on your say-so, that our GDP went down after joining the EEC and after joining the Single Market, why have we not heard more of this (by no means just from you) and, with great respect for ‘Post hoc ergo propter hoc” (not), why hasn’t more play been made on this?

    1. zorro
      July 16, 2017

      Leslie,

      Hopefully this site will help which, if I have posted it correctltly, should show you the trend line in UK GDP growth over the last 60 years. You can see a clear downturn which shows that membership of the EU or Single Market has done nothing to boost GDP growth…..

      https://tradingeconomics.com/united-kingdom/gdp-growth

      zorro

      1. Leslie Singleton
        July 17, 2017

        Dear Zorro–Thanks very much–I still puzzle why we have never heard more (in fact scarcely any) on this (Any Questions, that sort of thing), which of course runs counter to the whole reason given for staying in.

  49. Terry
    July 15, 2017

    I would not describe it as “Sloppy Journalism” more “Treacherous behaviour”.

    Why would the News media (And the rest of the remoaners) want to undermine the democratically decided Brexit, in favour of Surrending OUR country to the whims, the enormous running costs, the Laws, Piles of Red Tape, Reams of Rules and Regulations and ultimately having to take orders from those unelected foreigners in Brussels? In short, to be subservience to Brussels ad infinitum. Why?

    Is it because the media Barrons are part of the ‘Establishment’? These want more than money, they want power. Ultimate power over the dumb people of, not just the EU but the Globe, starting with the Westernised Nations. The imperialistic aims of the EU supports their cause along with their policy of favouring the Big Corporations at the expense of the SMEs
    I can see no other logical explanation for the treachery.

  50. Alastair McIntyre
    July 15, 2017

    I noted that Dyson was very supportive of Brexit and it would be good to hear from him again.

    I confess that I am concerned that no really good articles have been published, that I’m aware of, that puts a compelling case for how Brexit can benefit Britain.

    Given that the Commonwealth has some 2.4 billion people against the EU’s 500 million it would seem to me that there is a great deal of scope to do amazing deals there. Africa has problems politically but there is great scope to do deals and could be a great source of energy and food at much cheaper rates. Aid to Africa has done nothing other than to waste money, promote corruption and most of it never reaches the real people. There surely has to be scope for promoting small business in African countries where they money goes directly to the people.

    Likewise we have already heard that New Zealand, Australia and Canada are all going to do free trade deals with us. Likewise the USA has already said there would be a free trade deal.

    What we need is to get encouragement for our local businesses to start looking at real exports and I suggest a tax regime that will encourage real exports outside Britain. The countries above mentioned all speak English and have similar laws in place.

    I believe the next International Commonwealth meeting is in London in 2018 so we need to use that as a spring board. And don’t forget that when we joined the EU New Zealand suffered a great deal as a result. We can learn from them as to how they have made such a huge success of their country since these days.

    And finally perhaps we could consider joining NAFTA and change the A from America to Atlantic? Also it might be worth Ireland leaving the EU along with Britain?

  51. PaulW
    July 15, 2017

    We need to be realistic and plan for the future and our future shipping needs in preparation for new trade deals with partners overseas. Right now our merchant shipping needs are conpletely run down and we are dependant on shipping companies owned in eu countries and other global structures, we need to plan now for our future shipping need so that we are self sufficient in this regard. For instance in the event of some global conflict the eu owned ships will look after eu trade matters first.. so better be prepared

  52. Sakara Gold
    July 15, 2017

    I am alarmed by reports in the tory press that our Brexit negotiating team have capitulated to EU demands that we pay an unspecified, but huge financial penalty into their budget BEFORE they are prepared to discuss T&C’s etc.

    Either our negotiating position is weaker than you have been suggesting, or DD is becoming distracted by his leadership campaign and has taken his eye off the ball.

    Obviously, a “hard” Brexit is called for. There are too many BMW and Renault cars on our roads anyway

  53. James Neill
    July 15, 2017

    All the experts are having a say- Tony Blair being the latest- these guys just don’t get it- A50 has been triggered and that means we are going out on 29th March 2019 so no amount of journalism good or bad, pro or con is going to change anything- why JR even finds the need to address the issue of tabloid journalism in this regard is puzzling- all of the action will be in brussels next week not in the standard news in London- the referendum has already been fought and voted on so there’s nothing more to say.

    It’s therefore hard to understand what tony blair hopes to achieve by his latest remarks. The EU is not going to change anything or reform to suit UK requirements- that’s a certainty because they understand that nothing they could do would ever be good enough to satisfy a very large swathe of the british population- they want out irrespective of the consequences..so then what is the point in going on and on- it’s only all pie in the sky

  54. Juliet
    July 18, 2017

    Daily anti Brexit bias …
    Tory bashing articles **/^

    Evening Standard **/^
    Metro
    Guardian **/^
    Independent **/^
    Bloomberg Brexit
    Financial Times
    Economist
    UK Business Insider
    LSE Brexit Blog
    Mirror

    BBC
    Channel 4 **

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