One of the advantages of leaving the EU in March 2019 is the ability it should bring to change policies we do not like. Many of us wish to see a new borders policy, a new fishing policy, a new agriculture policy, and the reduction of taxes the EU insists on where we do not agree. Because we wish to get on with improving these areas we do not want a two year so called Transitional periodĀ if that means we cannot take control of our laws, borders and money.
I will look again at these areas in turn to see what the opportunities are, and to stress how undesirable it would be to agree to any transition which stopped us getting on with making these changes soon.
Let us take borders for starters. I wish to see a White Paper soon setting out the options and expressing a government preference on how we should control our borders and who we should invite in after March 29 2019.
I want a policy which is fair and even handed between people coming from the EU and from the rest of the world. We should move away from a priority system for EU citizens. I wish to see a policy which allows free movement of tourists, short term visitors, investors andĀ people with the means to support themselves. I want to allow in people with skills and qualifications we need, using a visa permit system. I want our approved universities and Colleges to recruit as many overseas students as they wish.
The policy should be enforced by a combination of work permits and qualifications for benefit eligibility.Ā That way we can have an open border as at present, whilst reducing the numbers of people coming here to claim benefits and to take lower paid jobs.
January 27, 2018
Woaaah!
Go steady sir!
Our trusted chancellor says we need a period of stability with no real change.
Mr BOE Governor says growth will be sacrificed without a good deal or we’ll all be fighting for sleeping space under the arches.
That wise Mr Blair says we should think again.
Mrs May is frightened of her own shadow but clearly wouldn’t stick her neck out to make such strident changes.
Mr Clegg is so worried sick he’s become a Lord and gone to ground.
You appear to be out on a limb, sir.
January 27, 2018
Maybe that’s why Mrs May’s boys are asking to extend the “transition” period.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2018/01/26/british-officials-secret-discussions-brussels-extend-brexit/
January 27, 2018
Trump’s speech at Davos was really great, he sold the US to the rest of the world while standing up for his country. He made clear policies on tax cuts, energy, unemployment, international corroboration, fairness in business and security, military and much more in a fluent coherent positive upbeat tone. Compare and contrast with what May and Hammond were allowed to say by the EU. Dour negative conformity high in bureaucracy. Muppets. It is easy to watch them all.
Not mentioned in the media only negative comments when questioned about the media.
January 27, 2018
British civil service officials suddenly need three years from now to prepare for Brexit. What have these lazy little remainers been doing since we had a referendum? Surely that cannot have been nearly two years ago.
January 27, 2018
”Art thou afeared
To be the same in thine own act and valor
As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that
Which thou esteemāst the ornament of life,
And live a coward in thine own esteem,
Letting āI dare notā wait upon āI would”…… ?
So why are our negotiators ”letting I DARE NOT wait upon I WOULD”? Is it because they value their own personal place in the EU’s plans?
January 27, 2018
A Change in the Tax Laws
The government to receive 5p less tax per item be it in the form of VAT, Corporation Tax, etc if the goods are wrapped or contained in plastic-like materials, and, civil servants be stopped from visiting the seaside with their children.
January 27, 2018
Hammond has implemented another tax rise on savers effecting 11 million people trying to do the right conservative thing. Sadly, Hammond could not by anyone’s standards be described as conservative. He is a EU manager happy to to do what he is told. May the same as well as the other remainers MPs. They do not want the job they are in. Oust the govt.
Do not vote Tory at local elections no matter if it goes against the grain. May needs a message her party will not be in power again for betraying the public and electoral voting system. Forty years we had the sham of elections meaning something when in reality just implementing what they were told by the EU while lining their own pockets. Time to clear the swamp.
January 28, 2018
@Hope; “Do not vote Tory at local elections no matter if it goes against the grain.Do not vote Tory at local elections no matter if it goes against the grain.”
That sort of idea goes by the name of either “Cutting ones nose off to spite someone else”, or “Shooting ones self in the foot”, unless you can be very certain of any independent candidates.
“Time to clear the swamp.”
Indeed, but which swap one?…
January 27, 2018
You mean what you want to allow in is over educated brats coming from the same class system as yourself..people with plenty of access to the bank of mum and dad- and that, it appears, is your red line. Well with all of the red lines in place we are surely going nowhere as far as an agreement with the EU is concerned..so onward and upwsrd to WTO rules..the EU will have to rub your noses in it before you get the message..what you’re saying is foreigners, rich foreigners, are OK so long as they are not european..well with tbis attitude we havn’t a hope in hell.
Reply I started out from a Council house and had no bank of Mum and Dad to fall back on
January 27, 2018
Jason wants us to carry on taking just about anybody in.
January 27, 2018
It almost sounds as though Jason Wells is on the side of the EU against his own country; there are a number of words to describe such a person.
January 27, 2018
No more than May, Hammond, Rudd, Liddington and other remain ministers.
January 27, 2018
I saw words like fair even handed and those that can support themselves, allowing those where there is a skill shortage.
This means that disguised and subsidised employment must end for large private companies.
These employers who avail themselves of migrant labour which are subsidised by housing benefits,child benefits, and other related social costs NHS, roads,rail,sewerage etc etc. where local workers are available at a price they dont want to pay.
More of an incentive on good employers to increase wages,training and develop local workers.
Those that benefit will be the ones who have faced intense wage competition for decades, via all parties policies in the last -25 years or more i can remember.
VAT on d0mestic fuel (capped) should go to zero.
VAT on energy saving measures should go to zero.
VAT on private flights should be increase to 20% or more. Similarly other extravagant use-age of fossil fuels.
Other distance related charges on air-flights should be abolished.
Airline should charge per the banded weight of a passsenger, with mandatory larger seating per banded weight.
Public transport subsidies should given 0n a per passenger journey basis to the provider. Empty seats should be penalised.
Other policies.
-PAYG border charges.
-PAYG road charges, particularly in congested area.
Reduce tarrifs between the uk and non-eu countries to close to zero or zero.
January 27, 2018
And pray tell..just who is going to get up at five in the morning to pick the vegetables and fruit..what young english people in numbers are going to man the fishing boats..what young qomen are hping to serve on tables in enough numbets and clean hotel rooms..nuts
January 27, 2018
Five in the morning is not early.
Try 2am or 3am as many English workers such as me already have to do.
January 27, 2018
I thought they were already here doing all the jobs you mention.
Do we need half a million new workers every year?
January 28, 2018
We will because the crowd here are already voting with their feet and going home..just ask the hoteliers and fruit and veg farmers
January 28, 2018
Actual Govt statistics show no such migrant flight.
Fake news
January 27, 2018
We need to improve productivity , and stop relying on subsidised workers, who are also needed in their own countries. Your english comment is a slur and disrespectful.
– increase wages , increase automation use technology, compete or go out of business or begin import/distributing from somewehere else.
January 27, 2018
They’re all here picking them already, and have the assurance they can stay.
The reason why the employers bang on about ‘fruit-and-veg-pickers’ is that the gangmasters are keen to attract more and more, to reduce wages still further and force the taxpayer to cough up more in-work benefits.
Similarly, when the CBI bangs on about ‘needing to attract qualified staff from abroad’, they don’t mean ‘more qualified’, they mean ‘cheaper’ – i.e. biddable refugees from the large reservoir of eurozone unemployed, easily replaceable with more such economic refugees.
January 27, 2018
Before now there should have been a post-Brexit ministry (led by someone who can make things happen) charged with identifying and preparing for such opportunities and for making all the necessary or desirable changes that arise as the UK seeks to re-engage with the world rather than hide in the Evil Empire’s skirts.
I have mentioned similar before here and am astonished that instead of seeing such a minister appointed we get instead a minister for loneliness.
January 27, 2018
I want to see a sensible energy policy introduced. One where we don’t give priority to wind at the expense of more reliable forms of energy. I want to see fracking take off in a big way, small nuclear installations and new gas fired power stations built. At the moment these forms of power are penalised and meantime we are paying out vast sums of subsidies to unreliable renewables. Germany and Poland ate still using vast amounts of coal. Energy security is vital and cheaper energy would help the economy and the consumer.
January 27, 2018
A sensible energy policy is high on my agenda too. Consign wind turbines etc to the Museum of Daft Ideas.
January 27, 2018
Fedupsoutherner
Perhaps when Poland and Germany have eaten through their coal reserves they can ask Britain’s now-defunct coal industry to revive itself?
January 28, 2018
Are you aware of where the fuels for our “reliable” forms of energy come from?
Half of all Uranium comes from just 6 countries which include Australia and Canada who our establishment spurned with th emove to the EEC/EU. Those six also includes Russia who also supply 15% of our gas.
We should certainly frack but also look to exploit other domestic forms of energy that allow us reliable and sustainable energy supplies.
January 27, 2018
“who we should invite in after March 29 2019.” And what mobility/desire/ will they have to move on from our country perhaps too soon to our thorough tingling enjoyment and reverberating happiness.
A brain surgeon for instance may have a brain of his own sometimes, come here, learn how to use advanced hi-tech tools, improve his English which is the greatest skill of all and then get on the next boat to another place where they have brains and more money.
A carpenter by contrast, no-ones fool most certainly but with low qualifications and much of his brains formatted and imprinted semi-externally into his hands may make a home, almost literally, table, chairs,beds, staircase, attic window, added porch, balcony, built-in wardrobes, a coffin for the mother-in-law, and think. “I’m not moving again, this is MINE”.
We British, I feel and know, prefer MINES
January 27, 2018
Charles Moore today in the Telegraph – Hammond should have been talking up our prospects at Davos – as Trump and Macron did.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2018/01/27/regret-polite-philip-hammond-utterly-unsuited-job/
Hammond is an economic and electoral liability. Why on earth did May ever appoint this foolish remoaner? The tax system he presides over is appallingly damaging to the economy and productivity and he makes it worse almost every day.
January 27, 2018
HMRC tax return filing system was not working last night nor again this morning. Wasting even more of my and lot of other people’s time. It has already taken me at least a week to prepare so absurdly complex it is now.
Absurd questions like “how many days did I work (for more than 3 hour) in the UK this tax year and how many abroad”?
I rang HMRC and after the usual endless wait and long silly messages (did I want to be surveyed, had I looked at their web site, what did I want, what was my NI no …… )
They finally confirmed the site has problems. Just keep trying and no they would not compensate for my time and would still fined if it is late and no they did not know when it might be fixed!
January 27, 2018
Lifelogic
This whole HMRC tax return filing system debacle is systematic of civil service incompetence…..in my early engineering days in the eighties I, as a Computer Engineer installing new computer systems, was aghast at the civil service technical staff’s ineptitude, which was running throughout its Data processing departments (as it was called then)….seems times have not changed for the better, but as you point out the key is who’s liability is it, clearly not the HMRC’s…
“when the problem is of HMRC’s own making, due directly to their technical incompetence, they are not liable…you are?”
George Orwell is probably laughing in his grave!
January 27, 2018
Hammond is speaking as he has done because he knows that Theresa May supports him. He looked very relaxed and confident. May, however, is apparently anxious that this soft approach has been spelt out now, and I believe would rather keep it hidden for longer. It is reported she has instructed Davis to tone down his “vassal state solution” speech so we do not get too alarmed?
January 27, 2018
Spot on. She came back and lied to say she proved her critics wrong on her capitulation for phase one of talks in true Cameron style. The facts are there to be seen but she hope the media will only grab the headlines and not report the substance of a truly disasterous phase one outcome. It is staying in by another name, a legal technical leave that Hammond previously accurately described.
Hammond is actually stating what is the true position albeit that is not govt policy or what the govt wants to tell the public in its deceit at this point until it is all signed up and too late to do anything. Truly appaling. Nevertheless consistent with May’s underhand behaviour in phase one when caught out by the DUP.
January 27, 2018
Hammond and his business elites are riding roughshod over the rest of the cabinet and the British voters. Hr needs to be got shot of. As we say in Yorkshire.
January 28, 2018
No I don’t think so. He is saying the accurate position too early for May’s liking. May is doing one thing while claiming another.
She has form for being underhand and untrustworthy. May gave away all our of right and liberties under the EU arrest warrant when she did not have to do it. She chose to give away your individual freedoms without any right to challenge in this country. What patriot looking after its citizens would do that? She needs to be ousted.
January 27, 2018
Together with dealing with the vast number of current illegals. The border agency needs beefing up. We need more free schools, I think I saw a report that showed standards in āsecondary modernā schools slipping. The policy on fibre broadband and our standing in the world is pathetic, Openreach has to be truly independent of BT and bring back Stop and Search. The crime figures for a Tory giverment were shocking. Reduce VAT. Our air fares I think are the most expensive in Europe. The air duty on flights especially for a family is shocking.
For a start TM to go. She is the block to all new ideas. It is called rowing syndrome. Moving forwards looking backwards!
January 27, 2018
Zero vision from the Theresa Brexitina May (& Hammond) is the problem – a fish rots from the head down.
Her general approach is this:- “We are silly high tax, lefties – just like Corbyn. We are full of expensive energy green crap, PC drivel, endless government waste, over regulation of everything and fake “equality/fairness” drivel – but just not quite as bad as Corbyn would be.
It is pathetic. One assumes she joined the Tories rather than the Libdims or Labour as she thought she had more chance of getting a seat and that her constituency would be posher and a more pleasant place to live.
January 27, 2018
Lifelogic
Exactly!
Similarly, the Turks have a homely proverb applied on such occasions: they say “the fish stinks first at the head”, meaning, that if the servant (Civil Service) is disorderly, it is because the master (Government) is so.
…never a truer proverb for our Governmental apparatus!
January 27, 2018
“One assumes she joined the Tories rather than the Libdims or Labour as she thought she had more chance of getting a seat and that her constituency would be posher and a more pleasant place to live.”
Very good, LL! I always wondered why she joined the Conservative Party.
January 27, 2018
This desire to control borders seems to me to be a constraint on the freedom of the individual. What business is it of the government if I wish to travel abroad for a while? Whilst we are in the EU I have the right to live anywhere in the EU, work anywhere, travel anywhere. Those rights are to be taken away.
I think our MPs should be defending our freedoms, not thinking of how to constrain them. Controls on the freedoms of citizens are characteristic of authoritarian states, not democracies.
January 27, 2018
Control of borders is what the people want, not what the government want.
January 27, 2018
Alan if we had no border controls at all how many people do you think would like to come to the UK from around the World?
100 million, 200 million, 300 million, 1 billion+ perhaps?
January 27, 2018
And how much freedom would you have then? A government’s first duty is to defend the realm.
January 27, 2018
The UK government very rarely intervenes to prevent a citizen leaving the UK to travel abroad, to live and work in another country for a period or to permanently emigrate, just as he pleases, so what on earth are you whining about? I take it you are not a wanted man trying to flee from justice.
Look, stop inventing specious reasons for opposing Brexit and admit that you want this country swallowed up and subjugated in a European federation. And you are free to hold that opinion, but be honest about it and accept that it is a view shared by only a small minority of UK citizens.
January 27, 2018
Exactly
January 27, 2018
Of whom Phillip Hammond is one.
January 27, 2018
If you are a British citizen, the British government is in no way constraining your freedom to work and travel anywhere in the EU. It is trying to control the right of EU citizens to come here and there is really no reason the EU governments have to constrain your rights in response.
January 27, 2018
Alan
How do you propose travelling across border in the 21 European countries not in the EU or the 140 odd other countries around the world ?
By the way I just got back from a business trip to Belgium ( i had to show my passport 4 times) so I’m afraid even within the EU currently there are border controls .
As a libertarian i would like to see open borders but then there are two problems, security against criminals and terrorists and you can’t have open borders and a welfare system , so what you are saying Alan is that you would like to scrap all welfare so you dont have to wave your passport as you enter a different country.
When you say freedom of the individual you mean your freedom , oh I see
January 28, 2018
I promised to get back to you trade barriers.
USA, washing machines, solar panels, steel and aluminium.
jAPAN, ALUMINIUM, RICE AND BEEF.
China, cars, financial services and insurance
South Korea, financial services, consulting and cars.
Please, of let me know if you need more?
January 27, 2018
You have a right which you can directly act on immediately and move to the EU! Those that voted to “Leave” the EU would not be able leave the EU easily.
MP’s should set out about regaining full autonomy from the EU as instructed by the electorate.
I suspect however you will stay and try and impose your freewill on others even though you have in your view reasonable alternatives.
January 27, 2018
I have been traveling into and throughout Europe since the late 1960-s without let or hindrance, other than the occasional queue at border controls. The main problem back then was ensuring that one had the right currency for the next country. No one is suggesting (unless the EU decides to through a spanner in the works against us) that anything will have changed post-Brexit.
Have you or has anyone you know tried to set up shop and a business anywhere in Europe without speaking the native language of their chosen country? Unlike the UK, where anyone, even without a basic grasp of English appears able to start up a business or employment in England. This would not be tolerated in almost all European nations and if you wanted to trade elsewhere, you would probably first have to learn their language and Law but your freedom to do so is unlikely to be hindered by Brexit.
Have you not noticed that border controls are being re-established in parts or Europe? Nothing has changed, nor is it likely to do so. Even within the EU, ten years ago I was stopped, as was everyone else, in the departure lane of a service station and examined – passports, what was in the car etc before being allowed to enter Germany. No reason given but I suspect they were looking for drugs.
So there we are, your ability to travel within Europe will remain unchanged, nor will you be prevented from setting up to work where you like, other than that as at present, inadequate qualifications and language difficulties might make it difficult to do so.
January 27, 2018
Excellent post and an experience I have shared over the deades of travelling in Europe.
January 27, 2018
Ps. TM instead of knee jerking reactions to every populist rant about Donald Trump should take note of the economic success he has achieved and the pro American leadership he has showed. Tacky and wrong at times but oh to have a leader that stands up to be counted.
January 27, 2018
Nig 1
Just viewed the full speech Trump gave at Davos, and the questions afterwards. (because you cannot trust the press to report anything correctly anymore)
I really do hope Mrs May was present and listening very hard indeed.
The speech was straight talking, and outlined actions that had been taken, and results gained so far.
It was delivered in a calm and measured manner, but left you in absolutely no doubt who was in charge of the Country.
Yes America first, but shouldn’t every leader put their own Country first.
Free trade yes, but Fair trade which needs to be reciprocal.
Worth a view unquestionably.
January 27, 2018
To be honest, we are lucky that he was so magnaminous in his reaction to T May, I’m not sure that I would have been so understanding to her……
zorro
January 28, 2018
Zorro
Yes he was in his direct talks to her, but I was referring to his closing speech to all those delegates assembled in Davos.
January 27, 2018
Trump was right to tell Brexitina May to get lost and concentrate on the Islamic terrorist threat. He should also have told her to ditch the climate change act, cut taxes & energy prices, cut the size of govern and cut regulation while he was at it.
January 27, 2018
Good morning.
An excellent article that many here I am sure will want to see. Sadly, as the so called Phase 1 Agreement is constructed, little of this is likely to happen.
In order for big business to maintain its access to the Single Market and Customs Union the UK Government has made concessions which effectively make even citizens of the UK second class citizens in their own country. To explain. Because the ECJ will have primancy over UK Courts, EU Citizens will have rights over and above those of UK Citizens. If the EU was t bring in a law which stated that their citizens were entitled to extra payments or similar employment rights that are native to their oen country, that could make it far more difficult and expensive for UK employers to get rid of them. It would mean that UK citizens could be made redundant first. That unless the UK adopts EU law making the UK uncompetitve. Think that could not happen ? Cast your minds back to the Gorden Brown years and the; “British jobs for British workers” fiasco. See link below or Google it.
I have always argued that what the rEU27 fear most is competiton from non-EU countries, and that includes their workers. EU Citizens know that they can just turn up. But once they too have to stand in line and compete for top jobs the UK will become more and more competitve in higher skilled areas.
I want to see more foreign and skilled solicitors, accountants, managers, engineers, doctors, dentists, journalists (especially journalists š ) and so on. We need more competition in those areas.
But alas we have pygmies running minding the shop, so I have zero hope of ever seeing it.
January 27, 2018
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1131708/British-jobs-British-workers-Wildcat-strikes-spread-foreign-workers-shipped-UK.html
January 27, 2018
I would suggest that having 47 letters to chair of 1922 committee might harden Mrs May’s attitude to Brexit and keep her on the straight and narrow path. The transitional period is far too long, allowing EU to dictate their unwanted policies onto us.
January 27, 2018
And allowing the sinister Hammond to dictate his unwanted policies onto us.
January 27, 2018
But we’re not leaving the EU in March 2019. I read Davies speech and he confirmed we are seeking at least 2 years as Vassal status within the EU.
If todays Telegraph is to be believed government officials led by Hammond are trying to extend it beyond the next election.
Just when are we going to be rid of this treacherous bunch.
January 27, 2018
Probably only after a Labour government alas, all thanks to Theresa (Brexit means Brexitina) May.
We only got May thanks to Gove (now full of green crap too) knifing Boris!
January 27, 2018
May is apparently worried that this truth is too unpalatable and according to reports in the Press she has instructed Davis to “tone down” his rhetoric. That to me means that we will still be duped, but the language will be more fuzzy. Theresa May we are not stupid and will not be taken for fools.
January 27, 2018
Unfortunately Theresa Brexitina May is clearly rather stupid.
January 27, 2018
Do not forget that the Brussels Broadcasting Corporation is in dire need of reform following a judicial review of it’s corporate bias in favour of remaining in the EU and it’s Guardianista view of all politics. It will be interesting to see whether the EU continues to fund it after Brexit and whether government allows it. Perhaps we could have a referendum on the future funding of the BBC news and current affairs element. For too long it has been left in the hands of the establishment , hence nothing being done
January 27, 2018
Good luck with the wish list !
I have felt ever since the phase 1 MOU was agreed and sent before Christmas that we had been right royally stuffed..
We have never heard a peep out of May and Hammond of any of the advantages of once again being independent, just a list of giveaways , without any aspiration whatsoever.
Watching TM and Trump together was a contrast between America First and Britain Last
With his phone call to encourage her to put Britain First and the offer of a trade deal in quick time there was a polite acknowledgment but no enthusiasm whatsoever.
She knows that with regulatory alignment our freedom of action in trade deals is curtailed.
Meanwhile we have the the comfort of the BBC to explain what is happening . āNo that is not good natured booing of the press , it is most likely people booing Trump because thatās what we woulmd do .ā
So every bit of good luck on the list.
It will be interesting to see if there are any wins at all !
January 27, 2018
This is a really rather quaint post.
This inept, incompetent, failing Conservative Brexit government will achieve nothing.
Brexit will be all consuming. It wonāt be finished in 2019 or 2020. It will take years.
During this time our country will stagnate and decline.
Mr Redwood – even if the ghastly Jeremy Corbyn is still there, in 2022 your party will be sent permanently packing.
There will never be another Conservative government in your lifetime. That will be the legacy of the hard-Brexiteers – the destruction of the party of Churchill and Thatcher.
But itās amusing that you are worrying about fish.
January 27, 2018
This will be a legacy of Remainers refusing to uphold their promise to respect the referendum result, not hard Brexiters. However, I do agree that this is the last Conservative government.
Decline is innevitable in the EU too partly because we will no longer be able to provide defence, intelligence and Ā£68bn a year.
January 27, 2018
GBP 68 bn a year? Do you expect a GBP/EUR depreciation to EUR 0.43?
January 27, 2018
trade surplus + 8bn direct contributions.
January 27, 2018
It might be the legacy of T Brexitina May.
But if the Tories were hard Brexiteers and real concervative with a sensible small state, low tax, efficient government vision they would win hands down.
January 27, 2018
They would indeed, Lifelogic. A new leader needs to be put in place pdq otherwise it is curtains.
January 27, 2018
It’s you post that is quaint Andy.
All your predictions of doom for the UK have not materialised so now it’s pushed off for doom in the future.
If Labour were in with a chance of winning at the next election they would be way ahead in the polls right now but they are not.
Nearer the election they will have to publish their manifesto and once they do their chance of winning will be even less.
January 27, 2018
Dear Edward–Hope you are right but don’t underestimate May and the Tories’ ability to produce a Manifesto so mind-bogglingly and counterproductively stupid that ‘defeat out of the jaws of victory’ hardly begins to describe it. How can the Tories go on with her when her judgement has been proven to be simply awful–not to mention her obvious continuing sympathy for staying in manifested by her retention of funeral director Hammond.
January 27, 2018
See Hammond’s latest disastrous stealth tax apparently announced in November, but about to bit. I am beginning to think that perhaps he is a plant to destroy what is left of the Conservative Party.
January 27, 2018
Edward2
We are dealing with historical and/or modern politics….has any manifesto been fully executed in our lifetime?
Labour’s next delusive manifesto (requiring reductio ad absurdum) will be just another one of a long line of deceitful opportunities to dupe the benighted electorate!
Labour’s internal mantra: Offer the world now, gain voters; then repent, then ignore voters!
January 27, 2018
So this is all about party politics.
January 27, 2018
From enough distance to see clearly, it looks more like intra party politics. The only one that counts, apparently.
January 27, 2018
If I were younger, I would do a Macron and start a new political party. Not that it would do any good, once you have elected a party in the UK system, there is no way you can get rid of it for five years. Even then; the same buggers just keep turning up in the HoC, time and time again.
Which highlights the transition / implementation problem. If Brexit has a downside economically, when will the voters start noticing it in the food shops? Does it need a transition period, long enough, to take those affects, the other side of the 2022 General Election?
Meanwhile, don’t forget “Shaking the Magic Money Trees” BBC Radio 4 Monday 20:00 hrs. At least it is trying to get its head around Modern Money Theory š
January 27, 2018
āDuring this time our country will stagnate and declineā
The UK will stagnate and decline for certain if we continue to remain in the EU which is fleecing us :
A trade deal so poor that we import Ā£100bn/year more than we export.
Would a UK PM sign such a trade deal today ?
A membership fee of Ā£10bn+/year which goes to support other countries when our NHS is in dire need of extra funding ?
A Customs Union designed to make our imports of non-UK produced clothing and food more expensive ?
A fishing policy where the EU takes many times more fish from our waters than we may take from their waters ?
A defence policy where the UK is expected to pay far more/GDP than any other country, including wealthy Germany ?
A freedom of movement policy which means that our country, already one of the most densely populated in the EU, must accept further large scale immigration putting intolerable pressure on housing, schools, health care, infrastructure, prisons etc..
January 27, 2018
Perhaps, before getting carried away with new policies, attractive though they may be, can you persuade your government to clarify exactly what they are aiming for in the next round of negotiation. There is so much rumour, counter rumour, he said this and she said something else that it’s interpretation is almost impossible. Mrs May needs to inject an element of clarity before the March presentation of what the EU wants is on the table.
January 27, 2018
Let’s get one thing straight, the people who voted to Leave do not like the fact that citizens from other countries wish to come to the UK.
Who is it that keeps the NHS going, serves you a coffee, (always polite and with a smile), picks the fruit and vegetables, drives our buses, clears the rubbish, I could go on.
Jobs that British workers do not want to do. Almost all the EU workers (and those from across the world) are bi-lingual.
I read the comments sent on here, clearly many people don’t care that we will all be worse off out of the EU, but think it is worth it to stop immigration.
As Farage said he would continue to fight if the Referendum went the wrong way, then we Remainers will keep fighting. This will go on and on for decades as we are in for the long haul.
Those who voted to Leave need to chill out. I get quite worried about their blood pressure, reading some of the comments they put up. Get some medication or lay down in a darkened room.
January 27, 2018
It is your first point which is wrong.
It is about freedom democracy and independence.
This nation has been welcoming to millions from other nations and will continue to be.
January 27, 2018
I don’t believe the British establishment has any desire or interest to control immigration. Whenever pressed to do something about it they do the minimum , or make a pretense of doing something, but actually doing nothing. They could have restricted A50 immigration, but they didn’t. There were measures they could have taken to restrict EU immigration, but they didn’t. Cameron said he was renegotiating our relationship with the EU, with immigration being one of the top concerns, but we gather he didn’t. We have the insane offer that gives people the right of residency here if they live here for 5 years. They believe they can bully us into silence and anyway we had no power to make them change policy . Brexit was a horrible shock to them, but they are still not doing anything to limit immigration, in fact the first things they are conceding is the free movement of people during the transition ‘to no where’ period.
In light of the fact that we cannot trust the British establishment to do anything meaningful on immigration we have to take it out of their hands. I would suggest we privatise it . All foreign nationals wishing to enter our country , people coming here to work, tourists, or students, should be made to buy an insurance bond. If they fail to leave at the agreed time , that insurance bond is cashed in, and the money used as a bounty for private investigation companies to be paid when they find these people. If companies or universities whinge about the detriment to their business model, well they can always pay for the insurance bond themselves. This system would have the added advantage , as with all insurance based policies, that its cost would be reflected in the probability of visitors absconding.
January 27, 2018
This is the trouble when politicians think in compartments one issue at a time. Even Dr Redwood has elevated PR over substance in this debate. What is the point of a ‘transition period’ when there will be nothing to transition to at the end of it?.
January 27, 2018
A lot of commentators (not just in this forum) seem to be asking the same question today.
January 27, 2018
I can explain the point of the so-called “transition” period.
It is to keep us in the E.U. for as long as it takes for the Remainers to drip, drip, drip away all hope and confidence in our future; and then, when they sense people have given up on Brexit, to overturn it by a parliamentary vote or by another, carefully fixed, referendum.
Now, I’m not saying that this is what will happen; but it’s what the “Transition Period” is intended to do.
January 27, 2018
A couple of real laughs today. Buzzfeed has got hold of a WhatsApp conversation of Tory Eurosceptic MPs. Nadine Dorries, literally, outlining that she does not know what the Customs Union is. Kemi Badenoch – apparently a ārising starā – also demonstrating her cluelessness. The Customs Union is what keeps tens of thousands of British motor and aerospace manufacturers in jobs. Rules of origin are genuinely lost on these people.
And British officials asking for a longer transition than 2 years. Theyāve figured out that itāll take longer than that to concrete over swathes of Kent for the army of extra bureaucrats we need post Brexit.
Brexit will send many British workers to the dole queues. Let make sure hundreds of the new claimants are Tory MPs. We can, finally, wipe this vile party out within the next decade.
January 27, 2018
So when did you first hear of this customs union thing?
January 27, 2018
We’re going to be a hugely different country in one or two decades time. All of the old ways will be gone.
Hopefully you’ll be here to enjoy it.
January 27, 2018
I thought you wanted some of the old ways to return..
January 27, 2018
Rien Huizer
Far from being anywhere near Brexit Britain is in the throes of a cultural Marxist putsch.
We are witnessing the overthrow of the stale, pale, male.
I wonder if Andy has ever lived in a country that is not run by stale, pale, males. There are plenty of them – most, in fact.
January 27, 2018
You have demonstrated in many posts your lack of knowledge of international trade Andy as you do here again.
You need to consider how all the nations not in the EU trade successfully with each other and trade happily with Europe.
January 27, 2018
They do so on the basis of treaties within the WTO framework. Without treaties, life can be lonely. So new treaties are required and that means either negotiating these de novo or negotiating to either inherit trade privileges obtained as a member of the EU (where EU cooperation will be required generally) or overcome constraints that these countries may have wrt trade blocs they are members of. Even the US is bound by a host of treaties that include MFN clauses. It is not easy and not easy to understand, but not for you, apparently.
Given the extreme shortage of qualified experts in Whitehall, maybe you would like to volunteer?
January 27, 2018
It is mutually beneficial to agree new arrangements or to simply transfer existing agreements.
My experience of business negotiations is that when both sides have much to gain then a fast solution can be easily reached.
January 27, 2018
>The Customs Union is what keeps tens of thousands of British motor and aerospace manufacturers in jobs
What kind of customs union are we in with the US?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2018/01/26/bombardier-gains-shock-trade-victory-us/
January 27, 2018
The US is not part of any customs union (hence the UK is not part of customs union), but has numerous participations in Free Trade Agreements and at least one Free Trade Area, NAFTA. FTA’s are one level below customs union (lack common treatment of third countries). You article is rather incomplete. The case was between members of NAFTA (Canada and the US) and indirectly with the third country that supplies wings, an EU member.
January 28, 2018
Eurowaffle, ignore it and go straight to wto.
January 27, 2018
I’ve learnt to keep it simple when asked the same question. The Single Market and its Four Freedoms apply INSIDE the EU frontier. The Customs Union applies the single market OUTSIDE the EU frontier. Naturally with the EU, there are a bucket load of exceptions with territories of member states and prospective member states.
January 27, 2018
Mrs May doesn’t know what the single market is. She doesn’t know what a customs union is. She has no leadership skills and is a proven loser with the voters. She has no comprehension of the depth of the complexity involved in untangling the Uk from the web of organisations. That’s why she only talks in very loose political terms. ‘deep and special relations bla bla. All we hear is white noise..
Dr Redwood is still pushing for the Eu to accept existing relations on trade despite the EUs long standing commitment to ‘no a la carte europe’. Inconvenient facts cannot just be wished away..The idea that new trade deals can be made in a short transition period is just laughable..maybe back in 1970 we could before the civil service became all about PR management and spin.
January 27, 2018
Clarity from May! – The nearest you will get is “Brexit means Brexit” (but in name only).
January 27, 2018
I think it’s wrong to say “Dr Redwood is still pressing for the EU to accept existing relations on trade” because the existing relations on trade within the EU have trade and migration inextricably linked, the EU’s inseparable “four freedoms”; and most people in the UK only want at most the three which are genuinely connected with trade and which have a clear economic justification, they do not want the fourth on the uncontrolled migration of persons which is really political in origin. That was in the original 1957 Treaty of Rome and knowing that our government should never have signed us up for it.
January 27, 2018
Agree with that Redwood.
The UK should not be allowing terrorists, murderers, rapists and other dangerous criminals into the country; any that get through, if caught, should be returned from whence they came.
January 27, 2018
The UK does not have to do that even under EU rules. It could have been much stricter on EU immigration than it has been so far. The main reason is probably employers (the typical Tory supporter) despite the fact that the UK’s open door to EU workers dates from the Labour era.
January 28, 2018
No we couldn’t – look at the judgements based on EU law and how we have had to allow all sorts of objectionable characters stay here!!
zorro
January 28, 2018
You’re arguing aginst yourself. Employers, except Labour aren’t pro-employer.
Basically, the philosopphy of the EU is freedom of movement for all and we don’t want that. Period.
January 27, 2018
The priorities John has outlined I fully support . Uncontrolled immigration was the key basis to my voting “out”. Allowing tourism to flourish , attracting the skills we need and encouraging those who will add to our investment base and economy outlines how we should permit immigration . Universities should also be free to admit foreign students as they wish providing a careful eye is kept on their continuing residence once their academic programme is completed .
The media reports so many cases of individuals who commit crimes and successfully evade deportation . Equally those who have entered this country illegally remain here and become a liability to the taxpayer and the community at large ; all this should be stopped . Freeing ourselves from the ECJ and establishing our freedom is the main objective .
January 27, 2018
There is no need to leave the EU just to “control immigration’ Plenty of ways to keep unwanted people out (and especially for a country outside Schengen) if one makes the effort. Look at the success of those abominable politicians in the countries once occupied by the Soviet Union in keeping immigrants and even refugees out.
January 28, 2018
It is impossible to control immigration whilst the ECJ is over-seeing it.
January 27, 2018
You have to be joking with May, Hammond and Davies in charge. Will 48 MPs please call for a leadership election to put us out of this daily Brexit misery. We need what I believe we Leavers voted for – exit after two years regardless of the consequences.
January 27, 2018
That would probably lead to another election. Losing an election would be the best way to escape blame for Brexit and destroy the Labour party by making Corbyn govern. Remember Tony Benn?
January 27, 2018
Everybody and their uncle will have a wish list for after Brexit. It will be no less and no more than it is now. They will want government to throw taxpayers money their way or at their pet causes. Also they will want to keep any rights or privileges or largess that they have gained from membership of the EU and woe betide anyone who tries to take them away from them. Much of the rancour of remainers surrounding Brexit is about the fear of losing those rights and privileges.
The ugly fact of life is from the time of tribal chieftains to today’s governments those in charge have played the game of favourites and bribery all for the sake of holding onto and enhancing their power. Nothing is done for the public good without it first being perceived by those doing it that they will gain something out of it. Certainly most enter public life to do good. Few succeed as they are corrupted by power or ideology or are totally unsuited for the role.
January 27, 2018
I rather unusually have a list of tax increases, and public spending reductions, I would like to see. Which would have massive support amongst the voters. But the political class don’t want to listen.
They are hellbent on their mistaken ideology.
I think it will take someone like Jordan Peterson to emerge in the UK for things to change, the political party system is not going to do it.
January 27, 2018
JR, Davis confirms free movement continues after March 2019 but EU citizens will register so that the govt in 2021 can form an immigration policy. So your party and govt lied to say freedom of movement ends when we leave. Regulatory means staying in the single market after the same date. ECJ still applies and May has pledged to give away twice the amount of contributions as well. What part of leaving the EU actually applies in real terms not some legal technicality?
Your party will never get in govt again fir lying to the people. Your party and govt lied to 17.4 million people and is defying electoral democracy. Letwin said that acting on the referendum vote was more important than any issue coming before parliament. He was right and now your party must be held to account for the biggest betrayal of the public in history.
January 27, 2018
The problem as I see it John.
Because we do not know what Mrs May will give away (further concessions to the EU) it would be quite pointless to arrange future policy for the UK, which then has to be scrapped.
If we had the guts to simply leave in 14 months time knowing nothing further would be given away then we could plan accordingly.
This is what introducing transition does, it lengthens the negotiation period so that it becomes self fulfilling.
Had we simply left when article 50 was sent in, then we would have had 2 years to plan all of these UK policies and they could have been up and running at the end of March 2019.
I see now it is being suggested in some places that we can extend transition to 3 -5 years, which in relaters means we will never leave.
As for your suggestion on benefits, this should be very simple, if you do not pay in you do not get.
As for health cover (a form of Benefit) most of us get travel insurance when going abroad for covering us should we be unfortunate enough to get ill what wrong with those who visit us doing the same.
January 27, 2018
Oops: relaters – real terms.
January 27, 2018
I don’t see the point in this article if leaving the EU in the way we understand it to mean does not happen? Unless of course you know something we don’t?
I’d like to see the formation of a lobby group of Tory MP’s committed to full Brexit. A group committed to the use of threats directed at this government should they not adhere to the result of the EU plebiscite. If the DUP, with only 10 MPs, can hold government to ransom why can’t 50-60 Tory MPs? Why???
I want to see daily attacks on May and Hammond. These two individuals are not representative of the Tory party. They leave a very sour taste in the gullet
The future sovereignty and independence is at stake with this faux Tory at the helm. Threats, dire threats, should be the order of the day.
And then when we have full independence we can read articles like this knowing full well they have at least a cat in hell’s chance of being codified
January 27, 2018
What we have to do now is copy the Labour party membership and take over the Conservative party. UKIP (Bless it and may it forever be remembered) is now a spent force, too much damage has been caused by internal conflicts. So we have a choice. Ask ALL UKIP voters to become members of the Conservative Party. Put aside personal feelings at least for the time being, Brexit is more important. Labour lied to you when its Manifesto told you it would basicaly go along with the Conservatives with Brexit, they lied when their Manifesto promised to pay student loans and scrap tuition fees, moreso since they knew there was no way that they could carry it out, so they cannot keep their word so can’t be trusted. May is doing the same but we can do something about that…..
This will give us the power to Select\Deselect MPs in their constituancies, (No Names, No Packdrill, For now).
Secondly, a new Political party is about to be born in February called ‘The Democratic and Veterans Party’, these are stalwarts of Brexit, the way the Vets and the Forces have been treat over the years, who can blame them. We HAVE to take control ourselves, May, Hammond, Rudd and most of the Cabinet are rEUmoaners and will defy the will of the people to appease their EU masters. We have to come out fighting for our lives or become subservient to the despotic EU. The choice is yours, others can’t speak for you. At the moment I slightly favour the first choice since we have not seen all of what the Vets stand for and at least we know we have some Champions in the Conservative party. I am UKIP but once I know (Feb 6th) which way to jump, I will. if you are sympathetic to this cause then please spread the word to all and sundry, tweet and retweet and ask others to do the same. We have tried the Democratic way and it looks like most MPs don’t believe in Democracy except when we elect them to Parliament, let us show them that they are wrong because ‘We Believe’.
January 27, 2018
It is very welcome to see a highly regarded politician such as yourself nailing your colours to the mast! Such unequivocal statements should be heard from the rest of our Government, especially those in a position to āānegotiateāā with the EU representatives. I believe many of us have tried for a long time now to keep our spirits up, wishing to believe that our people may just be clever and playing the long game to keep the EU on its toes. Sadly, I now think that most are now losing that belief and coming to recognise that there isnāt such an insightful agenda, and that there are far too many in our Government who wish to keep us tied in to the execrable EUās grand plan, in spite of the peopleās expressed will AND the growing proof that the UK as a whole doesnāt need the EU.
January 27, 2018
It is simple. Those who think they know best have decided that we will stay in all but name. It is apparently going to be one of the biggest frauds perpetrated on the British people, done by our Conservative PM and her apparently complicit MPs. An utter disgrace, in my view.
January 27, 2018
It is impossible to stay in all but name. That is not on the menu. It is either in or out and the only chance for the UK to limit the damage is to stay in by defaulr, for instance by discovering that the art 50 notice was invalid. Of course that would cost a few careers but in the UK there would be a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, the EU just got used to being rid of an unreliable member. What could they do? Clearly, Mr Redwood cs are playing into EU hands here.
January 27, 2018
Just like the fraud perpetrated when they took us in – a Tory government once again. They have long term form on selling out the people’s birth-right and are not to be trusted.
Many of us have said right from the start that we would not get the outcome of the referendum we voted for, just ‘out’ in name, at best a good old British fudge which leaves us in the worst of all possible worlds paying money we don’t need to and kowtowing to people we don’t vote for or can get rid of. Why they do it, I don’t know, but something stinks to high heaven.
January 28, 2018
No, at that time it was not the Tory Government that decieved us, it was one man, Heath. He was told of the full implications of signing The Treaty of Rome and he chose to keep quiet about it, thus decieving the Gov and the people by non disclosure. A letter from the Lord Chancellor Lord Kilmuir later asked Heath why he had kept the information to himself and not told Parliament? Heath replied, if I had have done, they would not have let me sign the Treaty of Rome. The man went against our Constitution, he commited treason.
(”It is a Praemunire to allow any laws or regulations not made by the Sovereign in parliament to take effect as law in England. This is illegal under the Acts of Treason 1351, the Act of Praemunire 1392, The Act of Supremacy 1559, and the Declaration and Bill of Rights 1688/9.”)
(”It is a Praemunire to allow any case to be taken to a foreign court not under the control of the Sovereign. The European Court Justice or the European court of Human rights are
foreign courts not under the control of our Sovereign. Praemunire is a crime akin to Treason. No such power exists for parliament to do this. This would be an Act of Treason under the 1351 Treason Act, A Praemunire under the 1392 Act of Praemunire, an Act of Treason under the 1559 Act of Supremacy, and the 1688/9 Declaration and Bill of Rights.”)
So you see Parliament has turned a blind eye to many acts of treason and should be made to answer for it.
January 27, 2018
I’m not sure it’s exactly a “fraud”. A fraud implies that you deceive somebody; but we can all plainly see whether we have left the E.U.or not.
No, it’s much more a deliberate denial of a democratic vote- rather as if a certain M.P. won more votes than another, but the loser entered parliament.
What the reaction of the country would be, invites speculation. I suspect anger, bitterness, and a hopeless shrug of the shoulders.
January 27, 2018
No, JC, it is a fraud because Theresa May has kept everyone on a long string continually saying Brexit means Brexit, when it means no such thing.
January 27, 2018
change policies we do not like.
======
That’s the Royal WE. You mean you can change policies.
The public can’t.
Just like any wannabe actress and a holywood producer, we don’t get to exercise consent.
You’re going to use force, violence, actual or threats to get what you want, and the public have to take it.
It’s time the public got.
a) The right to control you, to tell you what to do.
b) The right to consent or not to consent to what you do.
c) Full information – you know, like the debts you hide off the books. The big debts.
So why do migrants need welfare again? You’re proposing they get welfare
January 27, 2018
This is the kind of way that transitional provisions would normally be used: when the six countries first established their European Community through the 1957 Treaty of Rome, they allowed themselves twelve years to gradually set up the common market.
http://aei.pitt.edu/37139/1/EEC_Treaty_1957.pdf
āARTICLE 8
1. The common market shall be progressively established during a transitional period of twelve years.
This transitional period shall be divided into three stages of four years each; the length of each stage may be altered in accordance with the provisions set out below.
2. To each stage there shall be assigned a set of actions to be initiated and carried through concurrently ā¦ ā
A “transition” during which nothing changes is oxymoronic nonsense, and it is a shocking commentary on the intellectual quality of some of our elected representatives that they are even prepared to talk about a “status quo” or “standstill” transition.
January 27, 2018
Not in EU Law it isn’t.
“The national implementation decisions will be made during the two year transition period […] non-audit service restrictions are contained in the Regulation which came into force in mid-2014. Importantly, however, the Regulation includes a two year transition period which means none of its provisions will become binding until mid-2016. (pwc: EU audit reform)
January 27, 2018
“Not in EU law it isn’t”
The Treaty of Rome was EU, or more precisely EC, law, and primary law.
That is how transitional provisions in treaties are normally used, there are many other examples which you can look up if you like.
January 27, 2018
Some scally types sur la continent, are telling me that the EU will offer the UK, an Art 50 closing down “withdrawal agreement”, on a take it or just f***-**f basis in March.
That is an understandable reaction if Barnier’s team have been reading the comments on this website. The Commission techies claim Brexit is using up far too many budget man-hours, with zero gain for the EU.
Class this as continental scally fake news, Trump style. š
January 27, 2018
All of Carney’s prediction have turned out to be wrong. He has been wrong on everything and political wth leaving the EU. He should have been sacked in normal circumstance for being useless, however his fear and doom mongering serve May’s and Hammond’s purpose of incrementally feeding the public with little time to research and challenge. It is conditioning the minds of the uninformed.
This is a choreographed sell out Tory govt in conjunction with the EU. Everything done to last it out to break the spirit of leavers, a different approach to make us vote again and again to change our minds.
May trying to make us “feel” we make our own decisions, as she told a German newspaper last week.
Oust the govt now.
Davis needs a medical, his back tracking over the last few days since his interview with Rees-Mogg makes me believe his has lost Leave of his senses or he has forgotten how to tell the truth. It is illogical, contrary to what he said, contrary to what the public was told would happen when we leave in March 2019. We voted leave deal or not. That was only a side show small part of leaving. We did not vote to leave in name only to be a vassal state mulch cow of the EU. What does he think he was negotiating to get the outcome he has to date! Idiot.
January 27, 2018
Carney should have been sacked for massively abusing his position during the referendum too.
January 27, 2018
I agree, Hope.
January 27, 2018
Has Davis’s sold us out? I have absolutely no confidence in him.
In a speech to the World Economic Forum Mr Hammond said: āWe are taking two completely interconnected and aligned economies with high levels of trade and selectively moving them, hopefully very modestly apart.ā
Mr Davis responded to the Chancellorās comments during a speech in Middlesborough, saying: āThere is no difference between the Chancellor and myself, and indeed the Prime Minister, in terms that we both want a Brexit that serves the British economy and serves the British people.
January 27, 2018
Hope
Listen to Trumps speech (all of it) and then compare the two.
I would suggest Trump is a leader, Hammond appears no more than a servant to the EU, not even our own Government.
January 27, 2018
I did but JR has not posted my comment. I thought it was really good and I suggest d comparing with May and Hammond’s approved EU speeches.
A bit like the EU Florence speech May read out. Compare Lancaster speech to what has been agreed or the intention of the extension. It is not leaving it is a technical leave as Hammond described. This is the govt failing to act on the vote to leave and the govt at full swing trying to deceive the electorate. No matter how much it is against the grain do not vote Tory at local elections.
January 27, 2018
Trump is not only “a leader” he is The Leader.
January 27, 2018
I saw him say that and thought “How weak!”.
January 27, 2018
Could we not hear your views on the parlous state of the Justice system, anonymity, disclosure and the position of the DPP ?
I cannot see how innocent men accused of serious sexual offences can have any faith in the justice system, given the blatant failure to examine and disclose vital evidence to the defence. Now we hear that the problem is not just confined to sexual assault cases and a judge has called the CPS before him next week to explain their incompetence.
Saunders, The DPP, has been responsible for some crass comments which have made it obvious that she has utterly failed to realise the seriousness of the situation. If I were that judge I would be calling Saunders to appear before me personally.
If a man can be forced to resign just for attending that infamous President’s dinner, how can she possibly remain in her job ?
The only conclusion I can come to is that she’s only still there because she’s a woman.
January 27, 2018
No need to reinvent the wheel. Just review how non-EU countries handle immigration and choose the best to use as our starting point.
January 27, 2018
I just hope Mrs May and her band of merry men are reading this and realising just how unpopular the Conservative party with them at the helm is at the moment. As a previous staunch supporter of Conservatism I find myself not being able to support them on very much at all and their handling of Brexit is dire. This view comes across strongly on your blog John. What a shame nobody is taking any notice.
January 27, 2018
“They” (Mrs May and her merry men) are apparently not bothered by the views of the people. They seem just to be following their orders apparently dictated by the eurofanatics.
January 27, 2018
Iām with NHSGP
MPs to do what they are told to by their electors, the electors normally know best and are their employers.
Any immigration policy to be based on very small numbers, aim zero. We cannot house and look after the population we already have. Work permits with expectation of return to original country. Health Insurance provided by the employer. No aquired rights to remain and have state benefits.
Overall we should take on NO extra liabilities. Foreign criminals to be deported after confiscation of assets etc
January 27, 2018
Your faith in our government is really touching, John. I read your blog every day and enjoy your writing, but today I have read elsewhere thatthere are machinations to keep us in a non-transitional extended membership from anything up to 3 – 5 years (read indefinitely).
I’m afraid I am reaching the end of the road. Unless something decisive happens – i.e. a coup, I do not think that I will ever vote again.
January 27, 2018
Would that make it better?
January 28, 2018
Probably yes. The Armed Services of UK are hugely adaptable and very good at getting things done. They are also fair minded, highly motivated, well led, understand strategy and tactics, resources, intelligence and know how to form a plan, pursue objectives, deal with risk and threats, and all the other key activities required to deliver Brexit. Above all they are apolitical and patriotic. The Government is neither.
January 27, 2018
….I do not think that I will ever vote again.”
That’s just how the UK’s Continuity EU supporters want you to act in the future!
January 28, 2018
We are close to the point …. Correction. We ARE at the point when people are asking to whom they turn when betrayed by both Government and Parliament? It is all very well for experts like Jacob Rees-Mogg to say that Parliament’s authority comes from the people. But how in practice can the people exercise their sovereignty when the damage is being done before their eyes by a parliament knowing it is in place until 2022?
I note en passant, that the Armed Forces swear their allegiance to the Queen in Parliament, not to the Government. Perhaps we need to start enquiring of her Majesty what she thinks of it so far.
January 27, 2018
I feel exactly the same as you do, and I, too, will probably not trouble the election counter any more.
We know, of course, that Corbyn must be delighted that so many patriotic, sensible and loyal citizens are going to watch him carried into Downing St. by ignorant, uneducated, grasping supporters.
January 27, 2018
It is not just low paid manual workers that EU freedom of movement has had an adverse effect on the UK as you seem to imply.
To quote “Over 30 years ago apprenticeships in construction trades and the numbers of students studying civil engineering in the UK were far higher than today. Contractors believed they had a responsibility to work with local colleges to provide practice training and on the job experience to young people, so that they could be bricklayers, carpenters, plumbers and rail workers. But the new breed of management contractors which has grown during the last 30 years pulled their funding and support from apprenticeships.”
and
“In a world of supply and demand, the civil engineering industry would have been forced to change its unsustainable practice of under investment in the UK. However, the European Union provided a solution: unlimited access to cheap, disposable labour. Why invest in supporting and training people in the UK, if you can get cheap labour (Engineers, Technicians, Tradespeople) from the depressed economies of Europe? Spain has 50% youth unemployment and many qualified engineers will work for peanuts. This is the elephant in the room.”
January 28, 2018
Actually youwill be very surprised to find that many companies are now outsourcing their engineering to places like India.
January 27, 2018
Davis is reported to be planning to say that free movement will continue till at least 2021. What a farce. How many times do voters have to tell politicians that this is not what we voted for? Is anyone actually listening?
January 27, 2018
Davis will say “A” and then retract that stating that “A” is really “B” unless he changes his mind. He is simply a competent and brave politician who will not get pinned down on anything he does not want.
January 27, 2018
While agree with your views on immigration policy it is important that we also make a major commitment to reform of the bureaucracy. It is essential that it be quick and simple to apply for a visa online. The current system is both slow and unwieldy, putting of desirable migrants.
January 27, 2018
A new Chancellor with new policies is desperately needed (besides for Brexit reasons) if this report in the D Mail is true. What in goodness name is going on, Mr Redwood? He is supposed to be a Tory, not a remake of one Gordon Brown. Why did Tory MPs approve this? You are all responsible in the electorate’s eyes:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5318441/Chancellors-stealth-grab-long-term-investments.html
Ā£841million tax raid on savings: Chancellor’s ‘stealth grab’ on long-term investments to hit nearly 12 million Britons
The Treasury has revealed an obscure new tax that will hit long-term investors
Experts described it as a stealth tax on retirement funds and home loans
It comes after Philip Hammond said measures would apply only to companies
January 27, 2018
Not strictly on this topic:
http://brexitcentral.com/britain-consider-efta-stay-clear-eea/
“Britain might want to consider rejoining EFTA ā but should stay clear of the EEA”
However I would not even want to rejoin EFTA under its 2001 Vaduz Convention:
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2017/01/06/things-i-do-not-like-about-the-single-market/#comment-850964
That is from a whole year ago; I can hardly believe the way that even now some people still delude themselves that EFTA would provide a suitable end position for the UK, with or without the EEA thrown in for good measure … just as I can hardly believe the way that even now some people still assume that Norway is in the/a customs union with the EU and so that would solve the difficulties created by the new Irish government adopting an absurd, extreme and intransigent position over the border …
January 28, 2018
Because they do not regard themselves as British and have no sense of what it means to be a self-governing nation, even though the right to self-determination was the first human right ever established internationally (by the League of Nations in 1919).
January 27, 2018
It’s not just low paid immigrants, higher paid immigrants can cause problems too if they are being used to undercut Brits, drive down pay, etc. Trump is cracking down on h1b visas, and we should do the same with our equivalents. There needs to be an incentive to hire and train Brits, not the opposite as per current tax system.
Yes we need new policies, but we also need to believe that the intention is there to deliver, as there most obviously isn’t with current immigration reduction targets.
January 27, 2018
Things the Goverment MUST do now:-
1 Emergency Planning Powers ( extra holding space will be needed) for essential preparation for Brexit
2 Adequate Extra Lorry waiting areas near all ports
3 Accelerated check-in for compliant lorises
4 More Custom Officers to expediate Roll- on- Roll – off operations
5 New essential Electronic systems for above and also containerised trade
6 Recruit Inspectors to oversee certification-of-conformity for EU bound goods
7 New UK Fisheries Laws and leave the Common Fisheries Policy
8 Procure 10 Fisheries and Border Protection vessels
9 Legislationto require prime facie evidence tested in UK court before any Extradition
January 27, 2018
Sorry- meant Accelerated check in for Compliant lorries( Apple predictive text keeps changing my typing)
Are the Government doing any of these things John?
January 28, 2018
No. It has said the CFP will be rolled over and re-badged as UK policy. It’s in the Withdrawal Bill.
January 27, 2018
You may have forgotten that the majority of “EU” legislation is not originated or made by the EU but by global organisations such as CODEX and UNESCE, so we will NOT be able to just bin them and make our own.
January 27, 2018
I think immigration policy is a lot more than is suggested by your sentence ‘I want to allow in people with skills and qualifications we need, using a visa permit system’. Should a developed country like the UK be taking medically trained staff from third world counties (except possibly on a temporary basis for training and mentoring)? Rather an outward looking UK would train its own people to fulfill its own requirements and assist other dominions elsewhere. There are also the other issues, some of which I feel can only be discussed in prescribed ways, of religious and political affiliations, tribal loyalties, genuine asylum seekers (or those fleeing their responsibilities) which should be taken into account in immigration policy so as to increase (and not decrease) societal disharmony.
January 27, 2018
The last word on my post should read ‘harmony’ and not ‘disharmony’. Please either change or do not post.
January 27, 2018
Those who are determining policies should take note of the latest news which apparently further confirms people are fed up with ceding sovereignty and following policies in keeping with the new world order and the globalists.
It would appear that the Czech president, Zema, has just won the election, giving the EU nightmares as he is apparently that dreaded thing as a “populist” and is keen for a referendum on the EU. Great news if true.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/910776/Czech-election-result-latest-poll-2018-Milos-Zeman-Jiri-Drahos-president
January 27, 2018
Re the borders – every time somebody from the Home Office or Borders Agency opens their mouth, we hear defeatist garbage about how ‘we can’t possibly do X or Y in time for Brexit’.
Anyone would think they were being lazy, mendacious, defeatist, and deliberately disruptive – if we hadn’t been repeatedly told (mainly by them) what a fine, energetic and motivated body of men and women occupy all strata of the state apparatus.
January 27, 2018
We now appear to have DD dropping us in the mire.We voted to leave the EU in the belief that if we won the Goverment would carry out our wish to leave as quickly as possible.Our PM,aided and abetted by her “remain” cronies are now selling us down the river and we don’t appear to be able to stop them.Unless action is taken before they get too far ahead we may as well accept the fact that Brexit does not mean Brexit as the voters believed but something to assuage the grief of the “remainers”.Please will the “backbenchers” do something before it is too late and our “remainer”PM comes back from Brussels waving a bit of paper.
January 27, 2018
Even worse news tonight on the apparent planned backtracking. If true, this is not acceptable, to put it in printable form. No wonder Hammond has been on the airwaves preparing the ground:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/910810/UK-leave-EU-BBC-panel-prediction-Brexit-talks
SHOCK Brexit backtrack: UK will ‘REDEFINE relationship with the EU to avoid LEAVING’
BRITAIN will only end up redefining its relationship with the European Union, which will be a far cry from leaving the member-state bloc as the referendum pledged, according to a leading commentator.
January 27, 2018
Quiet simple get rid of May and Hammond or the Tories are finished. I will probably have a punt on Corbyn having a 40-60 seat majority after the next election irrespective of how incompetent they are, cannot be any worse than your bunch of quisling.
January 27, 2018
Maybe it’s me, and I’m wrong but it seems the anger is growing to breaking point. Mrs May must be removed and if Mr Redwood doesn’t help he’ll go down with the ship.
The well understood case is, do you stick with a traitorous leader because you are expected to be loyal, or do you go with what you know to be right and what you believe in. A difficulty encountered through the ages.
Do those who cherish democracy and the freedom of the individual have to take to the streets as they have done in the past when their freedoms are being taken from them?
I quite like the idea of rebellion.
January 27, 2018
It seems painfully obvious that details are being agreed by UK civil servants working alongside EU officials in Brussels and David Davis then, in couched terms, comes along and tells us more or less what the end result is. There have been more changes of direction than a Red Arrows display. Who’s actually in charge and, metaphorically, what compass setting are they using?
January 27, 2018
We are told again and again it is Jeremy Heywood and Ollie Robbins.
January 27, 2018
Probably “they” think is is none of your business.
January 27, 2018
As I have said before when those we elect to do our bidding do not, then we need to the right to stop them be it to deselect individual MP’s or to stop government from doing that, that the majority do not wish, how we achieve that peacefully I am not sure. One thing for sure is they are telling us one thing whilst scheming to try to dilute our independence. All those conspiring against the democratic wish are nothing more than traitors in my eyes.
January 27, 2018
Conservatives unelectable at the moment.
Without radical change in our political class this country is in serious trouble.
January 27, 2018
Fortune favours the brave/bold, Mr Redwood. It has really come to that.
January 27, 2018
Further confirmation , if it were needed, that we have been completely duped:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/910834/brexit-news-transition-period-eu-laws-philip-hammond-david-davis
Brexit CONCESSION: Hammond and Davis agree UK will be TIED to EU during transition period
THE UK will remain tied to the EU during the Brexit transition period with Philip Hammond and David Davis assuring businesses the country will āmaintain continuityā with Brussels. …..
In a show of unity following Cabinet rifts over Brexit, Mr Hammond, Mr Davis and Mr Clark today said EU laws will remain “common to both parties” during the transition to start after formal withdrawal in March 2019..”.
Well, we all know what that means. There will be an election which the Tories will lose, without doubt, if remainer May stays and then we will rejoin the EU. Simple.
January 28, 2018
What you want Dr Redwood requires some sense of what it means to be a self-governing nation state – something remarkably few members of the present government possess.
We already know certain things, for example the CFP will simply be re-badged as UK policy. The Government has no intention of moving away from it.
We also know that the payment of the 40bn divorce bill, far from being conditional on the conclusion of a good trade deal, will be made in instalments during the transition (to what? one might well ask). So UK has no leverage to do anything other than remain a vassal state.
January 28, 2018
The UK should not wait for the EU to consult on its negotiating stance. We should get our retaliation in first by publishing the agreement that WE want. There is no prospect of reaching a free trade agreement on services by March 2019. We have been asking for one since Maastricht and got absolutely nowhere. Everything else, though, is resolvable by then.
Where is it that we hold the whip hand? On agriculture and fisheries. On agriculture, we need, for reasons of military preparedness, to be about 70% self sufficient. The remaining 30% should be imported from best-value-for-money sources of supply, which will include America, New Zealand and (if they want to sell) Africa. EU producers’ UK market share would fall.
On fishing, we should define the maximum extent of our fishing waters and declare that we want 100% of the fish caught therein, making use of the Royal Navy in case of any aggro.
We might not wish to be so hard line in practice, but we should insist of free trade in goods in exchange for concessions.
January 28, 2018
Why do we need open borders?