Brexit has delivered two important changes that get no mention. We no longer pay annual contributions to the EU – and have increased the NHS budget by more than the savings and by more than proposed on the bus. We no longer come under the large amounts of new law coming out of Brussels, leaving us free to decide if we want a law at all and if so what would be the best one for us. Many hundreds of pieces of legislation passed since we left do not apply in GB.
The PM promised to carry on with the Bill planned by his predecessors, the EU Retained Law Bill. He saw the advantage of tailoring law to our needs. The aim was to remove all those inherited laws from the Statute book that were no longer relevant to us, the ones we had opposed unsuccessfully as members, and the ones where we could put in place something more effective for us. Jacob Rees Mogg when Business Secretary got the civil service to produce a website or dashboard with all the pieces of relevant law listed.
When I set out to write this yesterday officials had taken the dashboard down and left a message saying this useful resource is “no longer available”. That was a chilling message. When I complained it reappeared.  It seems to square with news leaks that the current Business Secretary wishes to dilute the legislation, turning it into a device to keep most EU laws instead of initiating the proper review we need. Officials were said to always have been reluctant to carry out the exercise and to recommend pruning EU law. Clearly some senior officials and some business lobby groups have forgotten the good reasons the UK had for trying to prevent or to modify endless EU legislative proposals when we were a member. My main recollection from my days as Single Market Minister were many discussions, lobbyings and meetings to try to stall or dilute unwanted legislation that mainly served to give the EU more powers over more areas of government and our lives. It was doing the detailed work as Single market Minister and seeing the damage to innovation, small business and enterprise that much of the regulation would do that made me consider changing our relationship with the emerging government of the EU.
The EU Retained law Bill passed the Commons with a large majority and little Conservative disagreement. It would be odd if Labour decided to use their peers to try to wreck one of the gains of Brexit close to an election, after they lost so many votes over trying to stop Brexit in the previous Parliament. I hope the PM tells the Business Secretary if she does want to dilute this to think again. We could be better for freeing ourselves of laws that cost too much and get in the way. Of course the plan was always to keep important employment, safety and environmental safeguards and where necessary to continue with our UK policy of going beyond the core standards laid down by the EU in those areas.
May 11, 2023
Good morning.
But we are still paying into the EU, and probably will continue to do as the EU find evermore ways to fine us or, extract monies from projects that we share with them.
As mentioned by others yeaterday, we will be slowly drawn into the EU Sphere through various agreements such as a Common Defence Policy. Something that is not in our interests as we have no enemies that directly threaten our boarders.
We are still persuning 19th Century policies in a 21st Century world.
May 11, 2023
Mark,
Yes payments in to EU for “past commitments”. There is at least some structure on how these are calculated and I’d hope our politicians would have the backbone to challenge changes to the figures. This may be an idle hope.
I was more concerned that Sir J notes the Bus Sec and civil servants wish to dilute the Retained EU Law bill. Such activity will cost the Tories more votes.
How long before any vocal Brexiteers who push for action here get accused of bullying? It’s the Civil Service latest weapon in maintaining the staus quo.
May 11, 2023
‘Getting accused of bullying, it’s the Civil Service latest weapon’
Penman in the Guardian today. “The head of the union for senior civil servants has urged Rishi Sunak to stop letting ministers call officials âlazy, woke, inefficient, remainer snowflakesâ or brand them âmachiavellian geniusesâ trying to unseat the government.”
It doesn’t say which ‘Ministers’ have used the words Lazy, woke or remainer snowflakes? Has the Senior Civil Servant of any accused Minister had team meetings and moved people around in the team to manage it more effectively? Referred the Minister for HR training in that specific area if they have proof and a build-up of evidence that it’s making the team toxic? A Minister can’t be watching their back all the time!
You can define laziness i.e. regularly/excessively late to their workstation/home computer (define measure x/100), taking overly long breaks with examples, being uncontactable on x occasions in the past month, not productive processing x, y is expected in 10 working days, this should be their target over the next fortnight and if it is felt unachievable a time and motion study with their section manager will be organised.
If a ‘woke’ matter is affecting their work, in what way redefine it concerning their job if it is a work problem? Are they harassing someone to change their views, or are they bullying a colleague that doesn’t agree with them? Focus on the impact their behaviour is having on the team or the Minister.
âmachiavellian geniusesâ is perhaps a very fancy term for ‘saboteur teams’; they do exist Harvard Business did a review on it. Higher performing teams are loyalist teams, and you can’t actually say that workers bringing in suitcases of booze and getting drunk on the premises, taking sneaky photographs and constantly breaching security codes by briefing the press are loyal, can you? Were the team members showing any visible commitment to the department’s success?
May 11, 2023
The population is being bullied by the BOE!
Now letâs see the Govt and Courts jump into action.
May 12, 2023
I think the Guardian should ask Penman today if, by their definition, Hoyle bullied Badenhoc yesterday in the HoC in front of everyone; he was quickly wound up by a voice in the chamber saying, “Who does she think she’s talking to” and went ballistic in front of everyone repeating that “Who do you think you are speaking to?”. The papers report it as he ‘blasts’, ‘shuts down’, ‘rebukes’, ‘angry’, ‘furious outburst’, and ‘slams’ her.
It is a very toxic atmosphere. Is this sort of thing acceptable? If any of those Ministers then go back and treat their Senior Civil Servants the same way, should they do something wrong? How many times has Hoyle told Badenhoc personally not to do what she did? Was this the first time? If it was multiple times, couldn’t he say this is the third time, Minister, I have had to rebuke you for this failure in the procedure? You will see me in my chambers in x. Then privately sort this out, and if a public apology is required, she could make a fulsome one the next day with an apology for what she actually did wrong and that she accepts that.
Suppose a Senior Manager is felt to disrespect a Minister for answering back. Are they then allowed to go full-on shouting and humiliating the SM in front of everyone else in the office? Let’s have the expected standards and not make excuses about this because it’s how it has always been done. Either it is acceptable for all or none.
May 11, 2023
Of course there are always ways and means. Playing the joint endeavour with our friends card, is a win-win for those who wish to keep us shackled.
Our enemies are already inside the house, a bit pointless turning the key in the lock now.
May 11, 2023
Sir John: âWe no longer pay annual contributions to the EUâ
Mark+B: âWe are still paying into the EUâ
So, whoâs right?
May 11, 2023
Still paying? Of course there was the ÂŁ39 billion we agreed to let them have. Surely that is being paid gradually rather than as a lump sum all at once … ? Remember the time when the offer was around ÂŁ 20 billion and the reply from the EU podium was that we had not made “sufficient progress” … I’m sure there are other payments still likely on the cards too, not least the fines for our past sins, those payments for past infractions. We’re not alone though on the latter, there’s always an ongoing list of monies levied on many member states. Is there any wonder!
May 11, 2023
Lump sum all at once.
May 12, 2023
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/51110096
How much does the UK owe, it is going down this year; see the chart.
In the first five years, 2021- 2025 a lot of the payments will be for things that the UK committed to while it was a member of the EU, but had not yet funded.
Most of the money paid in later years will be contributions towards funding the pensions of EU staff. It’s rather a big payment so imagine if we’d have stayed in we’d have had all that pension funding increase to pay too.
May 11, 2023
Is it a 21st Century world? It certainly doesn’t feel like it.
May 11, 2023
Weâre in the 20th Century âŠand the year is 1984
May 11, 2023
Mark the EU should now start to concentrate on wealth wealth fund Ireland to get them to pay their share of 2% GDP for Nato peacekeeping and their contribution to the UK for the protection of their air space, and sea coast.
May 11, 2023
As the nato.int website shows, the Republic of Ireland is not part of NATO.
So UK out the EU should not pay a penny to Brussels, but RoI should pay for NATO.
And as ukdefencejournal.org.uk 19/06/2022 says âDo British fighter jets âprotectâ Irish airspace? Noâ.
As the author George Allison writes âMany believe that the UK is protecting Irish airspace or that British jets patrol Irish skies. Thatâs not true, the UK is not responsible for Irish air defence. The UK is protecting its own airspace and Ireland benefits from that. Of course itâs not actually that simple, so letâs get into itâ.
I would recommend our bravado-laden contributor to read the full article.
May 11, 2023
The RoI is no longer an entity in charge of its own affairs, if the EU is part of NATO, and it is, that should include the RoI. Maybe then they, and you, would learn what Sovereignty is.
The U.K. should be out of NATO.
May 12, 2023
Lynn
Please read what you write before you publish this nonsense EU part of NATO
May 13, 2023
I donât think I have any lesson of sovereignty to receive from somebody as ŃŃŃĐŸŃĐœĐ» as you.
Four EU countries are not in NATO, Austria, Cyprus, Ireland and Malta.
And on what basis do you advocate that the UK should be out of NATO? I really want to know whether it is a mason-, carder-, bumble- or honey bee you have in your bonnet.
May 11, 2023
I was referring to a piece in the Irish Times, https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2023/05/08/who-protects-irish-skies-the-secret-air-defence-deal-that-dates-back-to-the-cold-war/
I strongly feel all these Countries, Germany included should pay up their 2% to NATO either for protection or for peacekeeping spending, this should have been tied up when they got their independence, I donât know how they get away with it. I am sick of carrying the can for them.
13 Apr 2023 â A 2021 Irish government Commission on the Defence Forces damningly concluded that Ireland cannot âmeaningfully defendâ its own territory.
May 11, 2023
Here we go again – the EU is not part of NATO – however some individual EU countries are NATO members. RAF jets do not normally fly in Irish airspace only when there is talk between the governments and because of a safety or security risk etc. Although Ireland is not z NATO member it has a longtime understanding on the use of it’s airports for use by NATO aircraft particularly Shannon airport for use by the US- It’s a long story
May 12, 2023
Here we go again, you say. You have never spoken to me about this before? Steve.
Why should Ireland not have to contribute to NATO protection? Seriously?
If Scotland achieves its Independence, does that mean it can opt out of its 2% NATO contribution that it pays now? Northern Ireland, Wales?
It is very unfair that nations expect the protection of NATO but don’t contribute to it, don’t you think? If they want to be neutral then they should have to pay the 2% for peacekeeping missions. They then get to keep 2% and let the Brits, France, and the many other EU nations that contribute their 2% do all the work for them. It’s like expecting someone else to always pay for the food and drinks in a restaurant when you’re out in a big group.
May 11, 2023
@Mark+B – how else could the ‘Blob’ be expected to get us back under the control of their unelected master in the EU
May 11, 2023
From the beginning I opposed the very concept of continuing to pay the EU for ‘past commitments’. There is NO SUCH THING as a continuing obligation towards a club once you leave it. The fact that the Tories signed up to this is all the proof you need that they are cretins and cowards who intended to betray the benefits of Brexit from the start.
As to the issue of retained EU laws, Sunak’s decision to let these continue, rather than abolish them as promised, proves that he is a closet Remainer traitor. The claim that it is too difficult to vet all the remaining EU legislation before the end of the year is a deceitful TRICK that exposes the bheart of the problem with our left-wing civil service and government. The point is this: their default is that there SHOULD BE regulations. So of course they want to carefully read all the regulations before deciding if we can or should scrap them, because their presumption is that they should REMAIN unless proven to be unnecessary. But we should be looking at this in the completely OPPOSITE way. We should be starting from the default that there SHOULD NOT be any regulation, and therefore our presumption would be that ALL the EU laws can be SCRAPPED unless it can be proven to be necessary.
The key question should simply be: what was there BEFORE the EU legislation? Our position is that we want to automatically return to the position BEFORE we joined the EU. So either there was no legislation, in which case we just scrap the EU regulations, or there was a UK law, in which case we simply dust that off and put that in place of the EU one. All this can be done very quickly if we proceed in this way. But the government won’t do this. Because their are closet EU QUISLINGS. And that is why I hate them and will not votre for them.
May 11, 2023
The most important thing about Brexit was to stop mass migration. That has increased. The Conservatives will be wiped out at the next election for that one reason.
May 11, 2023
To be replaced by Labour who will then really open up the borders ie importation rather than immigration. The aim of the Left is simple. It is change this nation beyond reversal by importing different people and different cultures. The Tories were once against this but then gave way out of pure self-interest
I am convinced your average voter has the intelligence and nous of an amoeba
May 11, 2023
@Javelin, I think they’ll be wiped out for other reasons too, though immigration will be high on the list.
I saw today the German government agreed to give another âŹ1bn to their regional governments to help pay towards the rising immigrant “integration” costs. Despite this, a government advisory group there is proposing they allow immigration of so-called “climate refugees”, i.e. people from any country that suffers environmental stress (which is in their reckoning, due to climate change). Currently that could mean anyone in drought-ridden Africa or flood-prone East Asia.
Back to your point, I hope the Tories are utterly destroyed as a political force. They need to be completely wiped out and forgotten, in order to leave room for a genuine conservative alternative. Meanwhile we’ll have to suffer at least one term of Lib-Lab destruction.
May 11, 2023
Well yes but so many other reasons too. The vast tax increases and waste, the mad socialist energy agenda even more lunacy passed by the house yesterday, the appalling & damaging lockdowns, the war on motorists, landlords and the self employed, the currency debasement by Sunak’s money printing, the net harm vaccines even coerced onto the young for no reason (deaths about 350 a day, the back tracking on Brexit, the vast government waste, the huge over regulation, the failure to get houses build, the slow and incompetent planning system, the vastly declining living standards, the appalling and often useless (or worse) NHS, Police, Social Services, LEAs, road management…
The only possible reason to vote Tory is the others are even worse (or like reform have no chance of power).
The PM promised to put EU laws through the shredder he was clearly lying once again. Just as he lied over the dire Windsor agreement. So 90% will stay he is not a Brexiteer nor is he competent.
Then we have the foolish Archbishop of Cant. doing a King Charles and talking total drivel about illegal migration and “morality”. They should both keep out of politics (so as not to alienate their respective flocks) especially as they both have such moronic views.
May 11, 2023
It was one of the main reasons for winning over the Red Wall. They’ve experienced what it has done and even they knew Corbyn and MacDonald would be a double act made in hell for their towns and cities. If they plod back to Labour I suppose it will be in the mindset of ‘better the devil you know’ and at least the Labour party do a better line in bread and circuses.
May 11, 2023
Fishy is reneging in all his promises. Now he has the job he’s following his masters orders and that’s nothing to do with the electorate or what’s best for Britain
The man’s a shysters same as his sidekick Chicom Hunt.
May 11, 2023
@Ian+wragg +1
The man of integrity along with the rest of the inner cabal – they couldnât even get thier Party(the Conservative Party) that helped them into office to Vote them into positions of leadership. Like everyone else it sounds to me like âBlobâ manipulation to ensure a quiet life until they get their true master back, the unelected unaccountable EU Commission. Why does the UK Civil Service believe they are mini-me’s of the EU Commission all power and no accountability or responsibility?
May 11, 2023
Today we are generating 0.48gw from wind and Importing over 20% of our electricity
If this is what passes for an Energy Policy then God help us.
May 11, 2023
â It seems to square with news leaks that the current Business Secretary wishes to dilute the legislation, turning it into a device to keep most EU laws instead of initiating the proper review we need. â
The business secretary? Earlier reports were blaming recalcitrant civil servants.
The plot thickens.
May 11, 2023
Yes, there is so much attention on the Boat People that no one seems very concerned about the huge numbers of “legal” migration arriving here. We should of course be able to police our borders but it’s not the ECHR allowing these levels of legal migration in, it’s this Government.
Over 500,000 people Net in the year to June 2022 and it will probably be more this year. That’s ten times the number of Boat People. So twice the population of Swindon arriving each year. Is it any wonder that housing, education and health care are stressed?
May 11, 2023
@Javelin – I think you missed a step. If the UK Parliament and the UK Government was in control as intended and voted for with Brexit the mass migration would have been simply stopped. We all voted for puppets who’s strings are pulled in Foreign domains, we are the idiots for not seeing that coming
May 11, 2023
Rwanda, Rwanda, Rwanda âŠ.In the next general election manifesto, the Tories will proclaim that they have a plan to send illegal immigrants to Rwanda, (they just need to modify the law a little bit)
May 11, 2023
Their was an Oxford Professor of Demographics on the Independent Republic of Mike Graham yesterday.
The Professor stated that if the current status quo of immigration continues, we will see a population of 83 million by 2040 and just under 100 million by 2060.
He also stated with the rise of AI and more automation, we will eventually be in the stage of importing unemployment into the UK.
How on earth this Government doesn’t get a grip on this situation is really beyond me. They clearly could not care less from the ivory tower of Westminster.
May 11, 2023
We are importing unemployment now!
May 11, 2023
A thousand a week ….that we know about
May 11, 2023
One of very many Tory Consocialist failures.
Allister Heath today is (very depressingly) probably correct.
Russiaâs collapse has handed China a once-in-a millennium opportunity
The world is now in terrible danger of a major war, as Beijingâs global power reaches its peak.
Yes another base rate interest increase and bank margins and fees are now larger too. So higher rents, higher mortgages, higher net zero energy bills, far higher taxes, lower personal allowances, higher food bills, ULEZ charges⊠then from what is left you are expected to buy a new EV car, extra insulation and a heat pump for perhaps £80k+, things that then costs far more to run and maintain and depreciate more rapidly.
May 11, 2023
Russia has not collapsed, indeed the reverse. They have slain 2 Ukrainian armies so far and are about to decimate the third (cripples and women press-ganged).
May 11, 2023
I donât doubt the Business Secretaryâs good intentions, but she is not strong enough to stand up to the Civil Servants. Mogg should not have resigned. He was well placed to push this through and no future Government could have reversed it.
May 11, 2023
He didnât resign, he was sacked because he delivered nothing as Brexit minister
May 11, 2023
Some of us gained the impression that he was sacked because he had never seen eye to eye with The Snake, even to the extent of labelling him a socialist in jest (or not, as the case may be). JRM was notable as a backbencher for coming up with “Politics should not be about making people’s lives difficult” – no wonder he would never have been a good fit with the current serpentine Cabinet.
May 11, 2023
I stand corrected. It does make JRâs case for remaining on the inside.
May 11, 2023
@Lynn Atkinson Based on performance and doctrine followed I would be more inclined to suggest it is Her direct boss that is saying do it my way or take the highway. The PM is the management head of the Civil Service( and the rest of the ‘Blob’) it is his refusal to ‘manage’ that is everyone else’s stumbling block
May 11, 2023
Lynn
Mogg as minister was a failure
May 11, 2023
Here we go again! Brexiter says âwe must get rid of EU lawsâ. Brexiter fails to name even one that he wants to get rid of.
Reply I have often set out lists of them. Today I want to see the end of the emissions trading regime which means more imports and more world CO 2
May 11, 2023
Well surely Carlo you shouldn’t need to be spoon fed on every little detail should you?
Are you not capable of looking for yourself, these things have been set out many times over many years, only infants need repetition of things.
May 11, 2023
I’d also like to work more than 48 hours a week please, without having to sign a load of unnecessary paperwork.
May 11, 2023
Every one of them Carlo, we want to decontaminate our selves. The eu needs put in its place, we need people like ME to throw out all to do with the european trash.
May 11, 2023
hear hear
May 11, 2023
@Carlo – With respect your thinking fails, in a democracy all laws rule and regulation are created amended and repealed by a Government elected by the people. EU Laws belong to a foreign land, the UKâs democratically elected legislator, its people have no say in how and when they are implemented, changed or repealed. The UK Parliament has sole responsibility as to how you or anyone else acts in the UKâs domain. If not the UK is not the democracy we aspire to enable.
May 11, 2023
Yet another scenario where we have elected people that will do everything and anything to keep us tied to the EU rules and policies. They ignore the peoples vote and keep alive for many the desire that we will return.
Have they never stopped to think that to rejoin will be a completely different package and there will be no more negotiations once we are in? There will be the euro, no more trading deals outside Europe for starters.
The EU will have changed and by the time that happens there will be more poorer nations joining and we will be ordered to pay more in than ever before.
Government and its agencies are riddled with many who cannot face change, make decisions and stand on their own two feet and want to work in an environment where the can blame others.
Again we are badly let down by the quality of the people who are supposed to be working for us, inexperienced and incompetent with no vision and direction.
May 11, 2023
Wherever we look Sunak backs down. He, and therefore the rest of the government lack backbone. They do not run the country,,the blob does.
No doubt it will capitulate to the Lords on the migration bill. You are trying to maintain a dying flame.
May 11, 2023
No wonder the globalist movement are taking over this country.
Decisions like this is like music to their ears.
The perception that we are a weak government and nation and just what they are looking for to enforce their message of build back better is getting deeper and deeper into the very heart and soul of this country.
The transition of what we have been allowed to become over a relatively short time is pitiful.
May 11, 2023
Removing EU laws which are against the UKâs interests is an important priority.
Might Boris Johnson as PM have pursued that need more effectively than the current bozo?
The taxpayer is now liable to pay ÂŁ245,000 for his defence fees incurred to prove he was not lying.
Truth is free.
May 11, 2023
Boris Johnson had 3 years with a majority of 80. He had his chance and squandered it. I really wonder why the likes of JRM are complaining.
May 11, 2023
Boris appointed JRM to do it and was letting him get on with it.
May 11, 2023
And he didnât get on with it. He spent his whole time as a Minister doing media interviews. Did no hard graft at all. If he had put a shift in, plenty of laws would have been changed. None were, as we now find out
May 11, 2023
His difficulty was getting the civil servants to do any work, let alone turn up. He too was accused of bullying for suggesting politely they come in to work.
May 12, 2023
Belinda:
Jacob Rees-Mogg usually operates efficiently. He is also a fine broadcaster, delivering valuable information via GB news.
âGraftâ is the acquisition of gain in dishonest or questionable ways: Not his.
His way is to lead others by spurring action rather than merely working âhardâ.
It takes more than one person serving the UK to remedy all unwanted EU laws.
Too many Civil Servants at home are not working well for our home country.
Some do, yet others may graft.
May 11, 2023
I think we can add this issue to the very long list of “promises” made by the Not-a-Conservative-Government in 2019 which they have deliberately and cynically broken.
The Cabinet is now largely made up of former Remainers – many of whom, like Hunt, tried to prevent Brexit. So of course they are now trying to get and keep us closely aligned. Blaming Civil Servants is just too convenient.
Deliver Brexit? Impose a BRINO which keeps us stuck to the EU
Leave as One United Kingdom? Detach Northern Ireland and transfer its governance to the EU
Control legal immigration? Triple it.
Control the borders? Dismantle them.
Level up? Wreck the economy
And they know that even if they are voted out of Office, the other branch/es of the Westminster Uni-Party will continue to implement the Globalists’ Agenda. Starmer even announced that he would choose Davos over Westminster since that’s where things get done and “our” Parliament is just theatre.
May 11, 2023
Very accurate summary
May 11, 2023
Sir JR
We do know that anything that has EU written on it doesn’t carry favour with you.
But the planned wholesale erasing of EU laws without a thorough investigation serves no purpose and is detrimental to our trade with the EU ..
Labour lost the election on its policies and leader not Brexit.
May 11, 2023
Its policy was to scupper Brexit. That is a dead cert election losing policy.
May 12, 2023
Lynn
Prove it
May 11, 2023
Two thoughts:
1 If I’m a leave voter in NI, I feel cheated. Whether or not this legislation is enacted, I lose and my Referendum vote was pointless. Perhaps solve that issue first.
2 Highlight the problem areas with existing EU laws, then resolve them. Working Time Directive, for example, is a daft scheme. You start to look fanatical in clearing out the stables, and leave yourself open to attack from Libdems who want to turn the whole thing over.
May 11, 2023
I’m with you on both points and the order in which you put them.
There maybe a glimmer of hope, as yesterday during the Northern Ireland questions:
https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2023-05-10/debates/79CF4ED3-CFF5-47D4-9105-735A05081EA9/OralAnswersToQuestions#contribution-AC0E3CEA-CBAD-4E88-9517-AF38A5DE6341
Chris Heaton-Harris made an oblique reference to the government possibly doing things:
“… that can exemplify and amplify how we can solve the problem … ”
The specific problem raised by Sir Jeffrey Donaldson being the imposition of EU law on all production in the province rather than on just the small fraction intended for export to the EU.
But that is how it has to be, in the absence of export controls to filter out any unsuitable items heading for the border and so into the EU Single Market; if the government really wants to solve the problem then the first step should be for Kemi Badenoch to lay an Order under Section 12 of the Export Control Act 2002.
May 11, 2023
I am so sorry about getting Reclaim and Reform muddled up.
It was a genuine mistake.
I didnât even remember that there was another party other than Ticeâs.
Sorry.
May 11, 2023
both are pointless and make Labour govt or left wing coalition more likley, insofar as they have any impact at all.
May 11, 2023
Thank you.
Youâve cheered me up a bit.
And you are spot on!
May 11, 2023
Iâd still prefer to be stabbed in the front than in the back
May 11, 2023
Well yes.
We have been well and truly stitched up like kippers.
May 11, 2023
What saddens me is the missed opportunities
May 11, 2023
Another bullet in the Conservative foot. They really do have a death wish ………………
May 11, 2023
@Old Albion – The gangrene set in ages ago when the reneged on the purpose of being Conservative and a Sovereign Government
May 11, 2023
The very best thing parliament could do is devote itself to repealing most of the thousands of statutes for the next few years. Almost all of them are counter productive and useless. In fact the only thing we really need is the common law- do no harm to others. Everything else simply distorts life for the benefit of one party or another but then that is the entire purpose of politics isn’t it?
May 11, 2023
I believe many people will see the EU Retained Law Bill betrayal as the final straw. The MPâs steering the Consocialist Party towards the next election really do appear to have an extraordinary death wish.
May 11, 2023
Indeed the leadership of the party does.
May 11, 2023
The EU is encouraging its members to seize and close meat and dairy farms. Inevitably the reduction in supply will increase the price of meat and dairy products, perhaps to the point where the common folk are forced onto the diet of insects which the WEF advocates. Our politicians haven’t yet dared to implement the same policies in this country, but isn’t it true that if the products are exposed to global markets we will be unable to prevent a similar outcome here?
May 11, 2023
Southern Ireland is being made to give up a third of its farming – an agrarian nation!
May 11, 2023
Weird comment – this is a site about English politics. I am pretty sure that few people on here worry much about the Irish, they seem more than capable of looking after themselves.
May 11, 2023
This IS about English politics. If the EU prevents countries like Ireland and the Netherlands from producing food then the resulting shortage will affect us as well because we are part of the same regional market (no, not the ‘Single Market’).
May 11, 2023
The situation we now find ourselves in, where Brexit has hardly made any progress since 2016 is entirely the fault of the three Conservative governments we have has. (I exclude the May administration for obvious reasons).
It was obvious to anyone who follows politics, that the Civil Service and big business were going to use everything in their armoury to render Brexit ineffective. Three PMs could and should have been prepared for this and dealt with it.
Yes, we had the pandemic, but the cabinet failed to get any kind of grip to get things done when they had the chance.
Boris should have appointed a Brexiteer Deputy PM whose sole job should have been to implement Brexit measures.
It was never necessary for government to completely grind to a halt and concentrate on “saving the NHS,” a policy which also failed, resulting in an even more expensive but ultimately a worse and less effective health service.
Sunak has only one, slim shot at winning the next election. Allowing that idiot Bailey to increase interest rates even further when inflation will surely fall substantially over the next few months will make the election campaign even more difficult to win.
May 11, 2023
Sunak knows he will not win an election. He does not care. By becoming PM of the U.K. he has won.
May 11, 2023
Rishi Sunak is Theresa May, we get all the right noises, but he does the blob’s work.
May 11, 2023
Cry harder. A large majority of the public agrees that Brexit has been a disaster, and in particular, that we are worse off. Many people cannot afford to pay their bills, and yet the Brexiters are still focussed on things that are irrelevant to the general public.
May 11, 2023
Brexit isnât a disaster, the subsequent UK/EU Withdrawal Agreement & Northern Ireland Protocol and the handling of its negotiations and backroom deals that have been the disaster â The disaster wasnât the peoples choice but the politicians incompetence
May 11, 2023
Well said Glen! The slime are still within, we must never accept the traitors, we must fight every corner
May 11, 2023
Brexit has not yet been allowed to happen. We are even still paying VAT, the Commission’s Tax. We are worse off because of
1 Net Zero. A country’s prosperity depends on cheap, secure, and reliable energy. We had that once, built an Empire on it and an Industrial Revolution, but are now too poor to look after our own people or pay for proper defence and policing. Our manufacturing has more or less gone and our farming is being impoverished. Artificially expensive energy is one of the drivers of inflation and bankruptcy in other areas.
2 The response to the Pandemic. The economy was shut down for two years, double digit inflation was created through QE, and many people still have not returned to work. There are 5 million on out of work benefits.
3 Overtaxation. No country can prosper when overtaxed. No-one wants to invest in a country prone to erratic state theft. Energy companies are now taxed at 75%.
4 The response to the response to the Pandemic. The Bank has lurched suddenly from QE to QT, with continual interest rate rises to go with the overtaxation. These interest rate rises are hurting all sectors, as is the overtaxation.
5 Years of being in the EU have enervated the ruling class and destroyed much of our fishing, farming, orchards, and manufacture. We were told, never mind any of that, we have our Services. But the EU didn’t let our Services into their Single Market. On top of that we had to take their surplus population, giving them benefits of various kinds including housing, health, and education. This drove down wages and conditions, and discouraged investment and innovation. The House of Lords worked out the cost some years ago at ÂŁ7 billion p.a. It would be much more now.
We suffered all this as a country at the hands of the EU so that 6% of our business could export there. Our biggest and most important trading partner is America and we do not have any trading agreement with them at all, let alone one which compels the whole country to comply with thousands of laws emanating from Washington and designed to favour them rather than us.
May 11, 2023
Excellent post, Rose
May 11, 2023
Brexit disaster: That’s because those people you speak of may not, understandably, have the time nor the inclination to seek out the facts or rationally consider individual issues affecting our daily lives and real reasons for increases in the cost of living whether it be Brexit related, government failure, external issues and all the rest. We are encouraged & blatantly led to blame everything on Brexit when it plainly isn’t and that’s where our leaders, the media and disingenuous others, are failing too in poor communication, lack of clarity and the seemingly inability, or reluctance, to in effect fight our corner.
May 11, 2023
Our esteemed host has today identified the EU’s emissions trading regime as an instance of EU law that ought to be scrapped forthwith. Let’s all join in with one of our own.
I nominate GDPR, which has burdened business both small and large with little tangible benefit for those who are deemed to fear misuse of their data. That wretched mandatory cookie acceptance banner ought to be sent to the dustbin with considerable alacrity.
May 11, 2023
The Ports Directive is still there even though it passed in 2019, and nobody wanted it as it did not apply to the UK market. Why? The consultation closed over a year ago.
May 11, 2023
I mentioned getting rid of GDPR in a previous article so I fully support your stand.
May 11, 2023
Agree GDPR is a joke and a huge cost to business
May 11, 2023
OFF TOPIC.
from BBC website.
Billions of pounds’ worth of green energy projects are on hold because they cannot plug into the UK’s electricity system, BBC research shows. Some new solar and wind sites are waiting up to 10 to 15 years to be connected because of a lack of capacity in the system – known as the “grid”.
Renewable energy companies worry it could threaten UK climate targets.
National Grid, which manages the system, acknowledges the problem but says fundamental reform is needed.
The UK currently has a 2035 target for 100% of its electricity to be produced without carbon emissions.
not exactly joined up, is it! boom boom.
May 11, 2023
Mention of Jacob Rees Mogg and the dashboard reminds me – where is he? – havn’t heard a peep recently – somebody should check that Speakers Bed in case he has gone for a stretch – all according to J R-M form
May 11, 2023
You can’t miss him, he’s on GB News every night 8-9pm
May 11, 2023
As your colleague Jacob Rees-Mogg MP wrote: ‘Regrettably the Prime Minister has shredded his own promise rather than EU laws.’ You remember that in Mr Sunak’s 2022 Tory leadership campaign he pledged to ‘review or repeal’ EU laws within his first 100 days in No 10 – a deadline that passed in February. Unsurprisingly, another pledge made only to elicit votes – something with which the broader electorate have become accustomed.
May 11, 2023
Someone called ‘Jeffers’ popped up yesterday to tell Rose, “these bills are being frustrated because wiser older people in this country know only too well the dreadful mistake we have made with brexit and the aftermath â they also know the tremendous effort that is going to be needed to get us back on track â all sensible people know that our future lies with Europe so no point in throwing everything out when a lot of the legalities etc are going to be needed again sometime â probably in another say ten twenty years.”
May 11, 2023
a-tracy
These people clearly do not understand what the EU is about and macro-economics.
The EU is a Federal State in the making.
Asia will soon overtake the EU in all areas. Look at EV’s. China is leading the way with S.Korea not far behind. Vietnam is growing economically as so are all the other Indo-Pacific nations. Plus. The majority of the worlds population and eventual wealth will be East of Suez. Europe, and especially the overly protected market of the EU is slowly dying. And people like, Jeffers who you mention want us to be permanently shackled to that corpse.
May 11, 2023
100%. Mark B
May 11, 2023
Why do we have to fight our own government, the one we put in place in 2019, on just about every subject that now arises.
There ars two roadblocks in the case of residual EU law. The first is the House of Lords, an anachronism left over from the middle ages and the corrupt thinking of too many retiring Prime Ministers. Yes we may well need a revising chamber to mark the work of Commons, maybe 100 max and on rotation , of no specific political leaning, just competence at the given task. A competent PM should be able to put some stick about and leave no doubt at the result of any obstruction.
The second is the civil service best described as scribes, highly political, indifferent to presense at their desks, and grotesquely over rated and rewarded at their assigned tasks. The evidence for this last remark is scattered throughout the last few parliaments with a stream of financial incompetence. The answer is to brief a firm of lawyers with what is required and give them three months to define, by government requirements, what is to be retained and what is to be shredded. Jacob Rees-Mogg has already collated the task so it should not be difficult for competent lawyers. It was the response to the Covid vaccine and it worked. Task JRM to define the purpose of the scribes, where and in what numbers they do it, responsibilities to government, and penalties of hire and fire, clearly written for those who fail or obstruct.
As yesterday I strongly suspect that this government U Turn is a preparation of the ground for an anti Brexit closer relationship with the EU, and as such is the end of Conservatism in control of the Tory Party.
May 11, 2023
But it’s good to keep dynamically aligned EU laws, that’s what gives Northern Ireland its unique advantage.
https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2023-05-10/debates/79CF4ED3-CFF5-47D4-9105-735A05081EA9/OralAnswersToQuestions#contribution-48433E34-9F19-4350-BBDA-5C41424430EC
Kevin Brennan:
“Given the hugely advantageous position Northern Ireland now finds itself in, as was outlined by the Prime Minister when the Windsor accord was announced … ”
Chris Heaton-Harris:
“The hon. Gentleman speaks many a wise word … ”
https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2023-05-10/debates/79CF4ED3-CFF5-47D4-9105-735A05081EA9/OralAnswersToQuestions#contribution-494B10B7-D6EE-47B7-9681-A7BD31BC1E7A
Bob Blackman:
“I thank my hon. Friend for that answer. Does he agree that the Windsor framework potentially gives the people of Northern Ireland the opportunity to trade with the Republic, as well as the rest of the United Kingdom?”
Mr Baker:
“I do agree, Mr Speaker. The Windsor framework represents an extraordinary opportunity for Northern Ireland for the long term. Not only will Northern Ireland have privileged access to the EU and UK markets but it will be under UK services regulation and will have access to our free trade agreements, such as our accession to the comprehensive and progressive agreement for trans-Pacific partnership. That is an extraordinary opportunityâwe should make the most of it.”
May 11, 2023
Total Balderdash, anybody who believes that poppycock is a fool. Protect Northern Ireland and that protects the United Kingdom. Finish!!
May 11, 2023
I assume the Civil Service, the Lords, and assorted MPs of all parties want to retain EU laws so it will be easier to rejoin the SM.
May 11, 2023
Off this topic, an interesting piece here:
https://euobserver.com/opinion/157001
“The geopolitics of a post-growth EU”
They are of course quite mad.
May 11, 2023
Thatâs an âopinionâ, maybe as valid as any of yours, donât you think?
euobserver.com is an online newspaper as mailonline. Why do you think one is more relevant than the other?
May 11, 2023
?????
May 11, 2023
Isnât the text in euobserver an opinion from a Dutch Green member, not essentially dissimilar to the opinionated comments you regularly send to the Maidenhead Advertiser or the Irish Times? Or are you as a UK (former?) UKIP member the only holder of Wisdom?
May 12, 2023
Here’s another such opinion today, you might like this one as well:
https://euobserver.com/growth-week/157026#
“Olivia Lazard: ‘Degrowth needs a strong geopolitical and geo-economic proposition'”
May 11, 2023
Isnât the EU Observer funded by slavery? Should it not shut down by its own lights?
May 11, 2023
Our UK Parliament loves to talk, no more so than this Conservative Government. That’s the problem all talk no action.
Looking at the situation of Law, then add in Rules and Regulations, our so-called Democratically Elected Parliament is there as the UKâs Legislator. As soon as its asked to carry out that function they let it be known âNot Me Guvâ or as stated in the Media yesterday by a Government Minister the Civil Service âwonât let themâ.
The conclusion is the UK Parliament is not fit for purpose and should be diss-bandied.
Or may be the Electorate should be voting for those wishing to take up Civil Service posts, because in the main with a few well regarded exceptions, MPâs are a waste of space and money.
May 11, 2023
You’d have a lot more money to spend on the NHS if you actually billed people without NI numbers appropriately, do what the Spanish do, only treat them in private hospitals that can bill the medical insurance or GHIC card up to the amount of cover they have. I had a friend holiday in Spain without travel insurance; they wouldn’t treat her unless her family paid ÂŁ1500 up front!
It wouldn’t take long to work out which NHS hospitals are mainly affected by this, i.e. A&E in London, to put in a billing desk on reception to handle patients without National Insurance records in the Spine.
It is also frequently said that the extra ÂŁ400m per week on the NHS wasn’t from the savings from Brexit; it was taken from other funds that are suffering reductions. Our Council and local MPs all claimed the local council lost half a billion pounds of funding since 2010, I checked, and they seem to have had a ‘real’ uplift even with inflation of 8% so who knows what is true anymore.
May 11, 2023
Sir John, the praise for success and the blame for failure is with parliament, specifically the Commons which has the power to over-rule the Lords and to replace the intransigent of Whitehall (AKA The Blob). Whichever way the 2016 Brexit vote went, the outcome should have been respected, especially in the Commons: the proper functioning of democracy requires losers’ consent. But the failure of that respect has been most evident in the Commons.
May 11, 2023
The blob are hoping and expecting to see a Labour or better still lib-lab govt at the next election. If so brexit will be done for.
I recently attended an event held by a left wing publication. The star was a well known former BBC interviewer, now in the media elsewhere. A good speaker and a charming chap. Talking about Brexit he said he had initially been disappointed that Starmer wasnât immediately saying heâd have another referendum and reverse brexit. But now he understood and appreciated the Labour plan. That is, as far as possible, to avoid brexit as an issue, then if (probably when) they get into power, to do âsector by sectorâ deals with the EU. The crucial part, said this speaker, was to agree âdynamic alignmentâ. So the way that would work would the Labour govt would go to the EU and say can we have a deal eg on pharma? Yes, the EU would say hereâs the rule book, write it into your law, and agree that whatever changes we make get replicated automatically by you. You can see how this goes. Once youâve done a dozen or so such deals we are de facto back in the single market. Meanwhile, nothing will be done to progress CPTPP and other non-eu free trade deals. Itâs a short jump from there after a few years to re-join.
So no wonder the blob doesnât want the retained eu law bill going through, the more divergence there is the harder the secret Labour EU plan will be to implement.
Sunak has to tread a very careful line. We saw what happened when truss jumped in with both feet. She made a Labour govt a real prospect. If ERM types like JRM really want to keep Brexit and try to make a go of it, they would do best to recognise the hand they left Sunak in the opinion polls after the truss debacle and see that he is the Conservativesâ (and indeed Brexitâs) only chance.
May 11, 2023
Badenoch is turning out to be yet another disappointment.
Another remainer in Brexiteer clothing, it seems – not an uncommon ruse these days judging from the comments of the party associations during the boundary change re-selection processes.
May 11, 2023
It could be Badenoch is picking her battles, knowing she can’t win them all.âAnd that it’s better to remain in Cabinet rather than cede her position to a Remainer.
May 11, 2023
@Ralph Corderoy So true the PM has replaced all Brexiteers so far with remainers
May 11, 2023
Hasnât won any, carry on li,E this and she may as well make way for a Remainer.
May 11, 2023
She is not able to do what she want to as she is surely being prevented from doing this by Sunak and obstrĂčctive Civil Servants.
May 11, 2023
Then if she asks them to do so she will probably be fired for bullying! This they call democracy it seems.
May 11, 2023
@XY – and where is her boss, the PM in this scenario? As with all his ministers they do as he instructs
May 11, 2023
Oh and btw, the word on the street is that the businesses who originally campaigned against these EU laws are now in favour of retaining them…
Since they have absorbed the cost of conforming, they don’t want new entrants into their markets to avoid those costs. Another attempt to preserve the status quo in business rather than promote competition.
Clearly this is unhealthy, but with so many “consultancy” roles (and future non-exec directorships which don’t need to be declared)… MPs are effectively being bribed in ways that are legal (in that they conform to the current rules, however poor those rules may be).
May 11, 2023
The Conservative Party has for the most part reneged on every election promise. Brexit as some call it has yet to happen, the reduced State has yet to happen. The NHS is now a law unto itself. Now laws rules and regulations made by higher powers cannot be amended, or repealed because the servants(the collective âBlobâ) of the UKâs higher power wont allow it
We have been lumbered with a sound-bite Government. If its wasnât for the force of Law behind their only thinking âmore taxâ they would not be doing anything.
It would be simple to remove all laws that have not been created, cannot be amended and cannot be repealed by the UKâs Parliament/legislator from the UK Statute. They(Parliament) could even put in place that should the need arise it would be possible to retrospectively replace such Dictates.
Parliament has to start being honest with those that voted for them, gave them their authority and pay their wages, that the purpose of Parliament under the control of the âBlobâ is to manipulate a return to EU Control. There is no other logical reasoning behind all this prevarication
May 11, 2023
Hi john
How is it one person can do as they wish for their own personal choice
and go against what was a democratic vote,
we need you john to tell the prime minister to get on with the job of freeing up the country from EU laws holding us back
if some of the laws are good for the country then we can keep them
Or do we still want to keep on using the EU
As a excuse when the government has made a mistake
May 11, 2023
Dear Mr. Redwood,
‘I hope the Prime Minister tells the Business Secretary if she does want to dilute this to think again.’
He is much more likely to have instructed her to water it down in the first place! I don’t think Brexiteers give much credence to his assertion that ‘I was proud to vote for Brexit and now as Prime Minister I’m keen to make sure we deliver the benefits of it.’
You will recall No.10 had to issue a statement in February of this year saying ‘the PM was not aware Michael Gove was attending a ‘secret’ summit on how to improve ties with the EU.’ Indeed, you yourself said ‘Instead of talking of sell-out at private conferences the UK establishment needs to complete Brexit and use its freedoms.’
Other well-known and proud Brexiteers present at the shindig were David Lammy, Peter Mandelson and Theresa May’s Brexit negotiator Olly Robbins.
Looks like the sell-out continues with the EU Retained Law Bill.
May 11, 2023
@Alan Paul Joyce unfortuantly I think you will find its the other way around, it is the PM demanding as the sole arbiter of how Government is managed, that all his ministers recognise it is the Civil Service that is calling the shots on how to run the Country. Think about it he could have stopped all this in its tracks even as Chancellor, but refused. As PM he has total control and is in the position to manage everything he demands the taxpayer shells out for and he simply just refuses. He is a very week man, he dare not stand formally for the position of leader of the Conservative Party. The way he gained the leadership suggests it was the Civil Servive that appointed him, because the Party was denied a say
May 11, 2023
Off topic, the Belfast News Letter has printed a letter I sent in:
https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/opinion/letters/letter-uk-government-must-explain-nonsense-plan-around-not-for-eu-labels-on-goods-such-as-milk-butter-meat-fish-and-vegetables-4137695
“UK government must explain nonsense plan around ‘not for EU’ labels on goods such as milk, butter, meat, fish and vegetables”
Apparently the latest development in the “sledgehammer to crack a nut” approach demanded by the EU, and foolishly conceded by the UK government for the sake of a near worthless trade deal, is that all milk, butter, meat, fish and vegetables on sale in shops across the whole of the UK must be labelled “not for EU”.
So perhaps the government could tell us how the tiny volumes of those UK goods taken across the land border into the Irish Republic, supposedly imperilling the sanctity of the precious EU single market, compare to the total volumes produced and sold in the UK, and explain why they have agreed to this nonsense.
Surely “not for EU” should be the default position, and those internally traded goods should not require any such special labelling, while the trickle of goods across the border should be regulated through a system of export licences.”
May 11, 2023
Denis there are other accesses to the EU besides through the NI land border but I see as usual along with the DUP you have only NI on the brain – so am sure that goods in the EU can also be labelled “not for the UK” – So what’s the problem?
May 11, 2023
According to the EU and the Irish government the problem is that there can be no checks on goods crossing that particular access to the EU, the open Irish land border. In fact according to certain Irish politicians the whole of Northern Ireland has to be treated as if it was the border.
For example, Labour leader Brendan Howlin in October 2019:
https://www.rte.ie/news/2019/0930/1079268-reaction-non-paper/
“No matter where you locate check sites – they amount to a hard border.”
And the Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney two years before that:
https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/opinion/columnists/ben-lowry-unionist-choice-on-deal-is-not-as-said-between-the-unpalatable-and-the-disastrous-as-it-is-between-two-disasters-4050686
“I reported on an articulation of this Irish intransigence in November 2017, just before the UK capitulated to Irish demands in the backstops of December that year. Simon Coveney told an audience in Belfast that the Irish government would not accept checks even if they took place at a farmyard in Ballymena, because it would still be border infrastructure and âwe will not stand for itâ.”
Maybe you’d care to check out the location of Ballymena and come back and justify the Irish position.
May 11, 2023
As far as this Tory government is concerned, the Windsor Framework is done and dusted, fait accompli, job done âŠand theyâre happy with the result – What the EU wants the EU gets
May 11, 2023
I do not find the dashboard. Could you help me?
Stefano
May 11, 2023
Stefano – It’s probably with JR-M in the Speakers Bed
May 12, 2023
Lynn: All 4000 of them? A first easy step should have been to check exactly how many of these EU laws the UK had opposed when originally proposed by the EU Commission, discussed by EU Parliament and accepted (or not) by EU Council. It should not have been difficult to keep a tally of which EU laws had been imposed on the UK against the will of the UK MEPs. The original blanket cancellation of all EU laws by the daft MoS for Brexit Opportunities was just that: daft. But it pleased the little minds of (some) Brexiters.
Stefano, the dashboard is available from gov.uk 22 June 2022 âRetained EU law dashboardâ. First document is an interactive one: once up, choose âREUL Explorerâ, âDepartment nameâ to see in what state (unchanged, amended, repealed, replaced, expired) the various laws relevant to that department are. Clicking on âpage 3â in right column (might) give details on how a particular law has been changed.
May 11, 2023
It’s the un-elected Government, the Globalists, the blob, they want to bring the UK to its knees so the UK becomes back under control, Sovereignty to them is a really bad thing. We need to get rid of the Conservatives and Labour in government who have overseen the managed decline of the UK. We need a PR system so that smaller parties can get in control. Yes Liberals and Greens God help us. The power of the people needs assertion. We need MPs to represent their electorate not their party. There are a lot of angry voters out there hence the low turn out at the local elections.
Liz Truss at the Despatch box said “I am a fighter” next day she resigns, who are these powerful people who can sack a Prime Minister while the Governor at the bank of England and the MPC continue to fail but cannot be held to account?
May 11, 2023
SirJ, I have conservative tendency, I adopt and support policies of capitalist economics, market forces, democracy, sovereignty, UK first, low tax low state, secure borders, zero social engineering, repeal every EU law âŠ.could you suggest a party that I could support
May 11, 2023
The REUL bill is/was simply throwing the baby out with the bathwater for ideological reasons rather than sensible, practical ones.
People who think a law should be scrapped based on its origin rather than its effect and purpose shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near such decisions.
May 11, 2023
At that time all EU law became UK law, so it isnât who initiated it, rather should they remain âŠits quite simple, 4,000 thousandâish laws where identified as being irrelevant or inappropriate to the UK and therefore were to be removed âŠbut NOT now under Sunak
May 11, 2023
No they weren’t, they were identified as having arisen as a consequence of the UK’s membership of the EU, and that was the only basis for deciding to get rid of them. No thought beyond “EU bad”, no analysis beyond the source, no attempt to understand the impact.
Ideological legislating at its worst.
May 11, 2023
We voted against them in the EU and were outvoted!
May 11, 2023
So why are they keeping the lot …..after the civil servants review and determination that they’re okay
May 12, 2023
They are not. Look at my message to Stefano (6-8 comments above this one) and do some homework. You might learn things.
May 11, 2023
PP: I believe that is what most people would want as it would be chaotic wouldn’t it to scrap everything en masse, but it seems that it’s all become too difficult to do. It’s all, as usual, last minute, no foresight with no future planning having been done – or at least that’s how it appears to the public, looking at it simplistically. It demands time, resources, good organisation, knowledgeable people to work determinedly & no doubt under pressure, expert guidance. Capable or not? If it’s not going to be done then we need to have some truthful explanations from the PM and tell it like it is and why. Stop treating people like idiots.
May 11, 2023
They started the review of EU laws transposed to UK laws back in 2016, and the exercise of retained EU law from the WA 2019 ….they’ve had enough time
May 11, 2023
Time to send in the ‘letters’ to Sir Graham Brady to initiate an internal vote of no confidence in Rishi Sunak. He can’t complain about Boris Johnson and even more crucially (at the election) Keir Starmer lying or saying he will do one thing and actually doing the opposite. He has done that on taxation and now on EU regulations. Not only is Sunak electorally useless but he is also cynical and can’t be relied on politically (and nor can Kemi Badenoch who should have resigned rather than backtrack over this if she is genuinely ‘right-wing’).
Yes, there are thousands of regulations but there are many times as many (supposedly clever)civil servants – if replacing most E.U.laws is beyond them they are not up to their jobs. We should cut public expenditure by permanently getting rid of such civil servants and temporarily contract out to cheap academics (not expensive lawyers) from somewhere in the world this project of drafting the workable elimination of EU laws.
May 11, 2023
@Geoffrey Berg +1
May 11, 2023
BBC Bully Robinson said to JRM this am that we needed EU regulation because wihout it we would have fires as at Grenfell. On the contrary, it was unscrutinised, undebated EU regulation which compelled these skyscrapers to be clad with inflammable material in the first place. The original cladding on the Grenfell Tower, put there in 1974 under British Standards, was super safe firewise, though not of course good enough for the CO2 cult..
May 11, 2023
@rose – the Grenfell cladding was never appoved for use in the UK in that situation. However, it was a EU produced product and lower standards attached.
May 11, 2023
As per usual – the EU should be paying reparations!
May 12, 2023
And for diesel. If we were American, they would be. Several huge class actions against the Commission.
May 11, 2023
We have our own considerations to legislate for and some of them must relate to our important trading and dealing with the EU ; this means that a serious review is necessary of the laws we previously signed up to . I am surprised that such a review has not already happened . Our leadership changes have not helped in this delay and we must now give it a front line priority .
May 11, 2023
It seems we will be rid of the remainer tory control once again after the next general election. Either labour gets in and wreaks havoc for five years, or Sunak scrapes home and then he can be discarded.
The ambitions for true Brexit can still be achieved as a sovereign government can make its own decisions. Even if a labour one tricks its way into linking up with the failing EU. It just means it comes later than sooner.
May 11, 2023
The problem is Andrew that the havoc doesn’t just last five years re the 2005 doctors’ contract, the notice of the waspi pension being hushed up when first decided by Blair instead of asking the BBC to bang a big drum on its public service remit : BBC ‘Our mission is “to act in the public interest, serving all audiences through the provision of impartial, high-quality and distinctive output and services which inform, educate and entertain”.
Then the privatisation of many of the dental services. Their anti-English decisions such as making only English students pay for their tuition and giving the other parts of our United Kingdom a let off from the graduate tax, often after graduation sitting side-by-side an English graduate worker in England earning nearly 10% more income in the same job! (Yes, I know this was made worse by the backstabbing Osborne, I’d like to know if Blair and Osborne’s kids have student loans and are paying a graduate tax on ÂŁ30k worth of loans, I bet they don’t!)
May 11, 2023
Why are you surprised that a weak Business Secretary, probably led by the nose by Civil Servants, wants to dilute the bill to get rid of EU laws? It is the story of Brexit, voted for by the people but with MPs, Lords, Civil Servants & the Establishment all trying to stop it.
Where is the PM in this? Does he believe in Brexit or not? If he does the BS needs a good kick up the backside, as do the3 Civil Servants!
May 11, 2023
@Keith from Leeds – my best guess is that the PM an arch remain-er in style has demanded she accepts the rule of the unelected, unaccountable Civil Service because that is what he does. If a Cabinet member started to demand as in just manage their department, they would be joining Raab on the back benches. So is she week or is it her boss?
May 11, 2023
Sir John Failure to fulfil this promise will cost many votes at the GE. It will leave
the door ajar for a future government to take us back into the EU. The local election results
illustrate that many Conservatives are sitting on their hands hoping and begging that your
80 seat majority is not wasted. This issue together with lowering taxes, cutting the tremendous
waste in the NHS and other public services, a radical solution to immigration both legal and illegal
and a revisit to the disgraceful Windsor Framework are just some of the issues that will define the future
of the party and the country.
May 11, 2023
From Blackrock today – ‘Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee must decide “what price it is willing to pay” to damage the UK economy – what he dubbed creating “growth weakness” – to bring inflation down.’
Or more correctly. what price it is this Conservative Government willing to pay – to damage the UK economy. The PM and the cabinet are the paid for ‘managers’ of UK PLC, that includes their management of the BoE and the MPC
May 11, 2023
Thwarting any majority vote is an act against democracy. It seems we have too many enemies of democracy who are forcing their EU preferences onto the people. Not acceptable & any CS who refuses to enact the briefs as given. Should have the dismissal process actioned against them. We must protect democracy above everything else.
May 11, 2023
Is anyone really surprised by this?
‘Brexiteer’ Sunak talks the talk but is another that doesn’t follow through with what he says.
I agree with comments echoed by the ‘Red Wall’ Conservative MPs. Get your house on order, carry out the wishes of the majority, or face election peril!
STOP BEING THE LIBERAL DEMOCRATS LITE!
The majority did not vote for a Liberal Government, so why do we have one?
May 11, 2023
As I mentioned yesterday I thought the ÂŁ13bn we would stop paying the EU ought to go into a sovereign fund. This was said to be unwise but I also mentioned that otherwise it would be frittered away.
Could Sir John specify what improvements have been made to the NHS by spending an extra ÂŁ13bn a year there. Is there any evidence on how it is being spent and how much better the service has become.
May 11, 2023
NHS England has published a one-year cancer survival index which looks at survival rates in 2020 compared to 2005. The index also breaks down the figures by types of cancer and where patients live. The index shows the overall first-year survival rate has risen 9% to 74.6%.13 Apr 2023 source: gov.uk
Our NHS Long Term Plan aims to save thousands more lives each year by dramatically improving how we diagnose and treat cancer â our ambition is that by 2028, an extra 55,000 people each year will survive for five years or more following their cancer diagnosis. source NHSlongtermplan
How many GP appointments are unnecessary?
More than 51 million unnecessary GP visits occur each year, including 5.2 million for blocked noses and 40,000 for dandruff.13 Jul 2012
In the past ten years I’d be interested to know if this has improved? Did the covid lockdown and online appointments make this happen less. How many appointments with doctors for dandruff have their been? Weren’t any of those serious with necessary treatment?
May 11, 2023
To stop dandruff wash your hair far less often that usually works well.
May 11, 2023
@The Prangwizard – If all the taxpayer money this Conservative Government just gives away without attaching accountability or responsibility too, was instead used to invest to receive a share, a dividend, direct interest in the UK would be one of the Worlds riches Countries. I am reminded here that Norway has the Worlds largest Sovereign fund, the difference between that Government and ours they invest for a future ours is a wrecking ball out for destruction of us all.
May 11, 2023
You should read about the history of Norwayâs Oil Fund and compare that to what successive UK Governments have done with the money from the North Sea oil and gas.
eandt.theiet.org 20/01/2021 âNorth Sea oil: A tale of two countriesâ.
May 11, 2023
Yes, the projected spend on the NHS has increased by more than on the side of the bus, but it is disingenuous at best to claim that this money has come from savings by not paying into the EU when we all know that what we have lost in trade is far more than we paid to be members. What always surprises me, but shouldn’t, is that people are gullible enough to believe that. But then, they think that the Tories are acting in the interests of the people not just themselves.
And yet again you repeat the lie that EU law was imposed on the UK when you know that we had a veto.
If you cannot be trusted to tell the truth, why should we trust you on anything? (Don’t bother answering, anyone with a brain knows we can’t.)
Reply Importing more goods from the EU did not deliver Uk tax revenue!
May 11, 2023
If anyone wishes to know more about why democracy is being over-ridden in this way, I can recommend former Congressional aide Marc Moranoâs book, âThe Great Reset: global elites and the permanent lockdownâ (or the video summary of it, âFinally: The Ultimate Summary of The Great Reset – and a Call to Actionâ, curated by Ivor Cummins on his youtube channel). It details the sinister push to use continuous worldwide crises to control our lives via massively increased bureaucracy, statism and fear, all accelerated by the duplicitous manipulation of the recent pandemic.
May 11, 2023
When Brexit payments arise, the figures seem stuck in the past. We never hear about what we would be paying this year, including the contributions from untaxed prostitution and drug trades. How much would that estimate be? Additionally, the contribution of saved tax from imports from the rest of the world is not accurately reported. What would that estimate be in current terms +, of course, the fines for estimated under-declarations? There are also extra pension contributions to consider, not just for past pensioners but for new ones if we had remained in the EU for the last six years.
I have read reports today made by A Campbell in the Guardian quoting Mark Carney, “The UK economy fell from being 90% of the size of Germany’s economy in 2016 to 70% in 2022′ John, could you ask someone to fact-check this because I’ve read reports that says this figure is incorrect.
“The BoE today upgrading its growth forecast by the biggest amount on record, almost as though this couldn’t come out until after the local elections. Growth will be ‘materially stronger’ than they previously thought, with the economy now expected to expand over the next two years rather than shrink. That is a pretty serious mistake. The economy is now expected to return to its pre-pandemic size by the end of this year.” source Telegraph.
Reply Yes the German comparison is wrong. Since Brexit the two economies have grown a similar amount
May 11, 2023
So why are your government letting Campbells comment ride in the Guardian, I also wonder why the Guardian arenât fact-checking they seem very keen on that for everything else.
We also need to factor in what we would have to be contributing to the covid recovery fund because of the size of our Country and economy weâd have been expected to have paid in loads more. The remain spokespeople only ever cherry pick plum years it is echoed with really bad journalism and they shouldnât be allowed to get away with it.
May 11, 2023
You are quite right a-tracy to remind us of the estimated levy on prostitution and crime. Another scam by the EU considering most of it came over from them in “free movement”. No-one is ever going to tot up what crime and prostitution from the EU has cost us.
May 11, 2023
I remember when Cameron went on a european tour to ask for a reduced budget and came back with an extra EU bill, a tax for prostitution and crime
May 11, 2023
âGrowthâ we have surely had a large decline in GDP per cap in real terms for many years.
May 11, 2023
I see this as a sinister development. Any further blocks to our achieving total Brexit can only be seen as treacherous.
We’ve waited 7 years to be free but we’re not there yet and I fear that it will continue to be the status for another seven years. I do not trust Downing Street to do their duty and fulfil true Brexit as I feel they are too influenced by the anti-democracy Europhiles within Cabinet, the HoC and in Number 10 itself.
May 11, 2023
+1
May 11, 2023
The Ukrainian counteroffensive has started in Kherson. Pray for Russia!đđ»
May 11, 2023
?????
May 11, 2023
So “…the current Business Secretary wishes to dilute the legislation, turning it into a device to keep most EU laws instead of initiating the proper review we need”, and the current Culture Secretary a few days ago declined to affirm the BBC licence tax will go, rather she would take a hard look at it (i.e. it is retained), and now the absurdly named Levelling up Secretary will not abolish England’s “unfair” leasehold system this year as previously promised and with an election next year this measure is likely lost.
Is this a pattern I see before me? Why does this rotten government not clear out and let us be betrayed instead by those who have told us fewer lies?
May 11, 2023
It would help if you made it harder for the Civil Servants reviewing the laws to retain them than to keep them. So for all the regulations they want to retain, make them explain:
a) Their purpose and the problems they were intending to solve.
b) If this purpose still applies.
c) Evidence of the impact the laws have had on resolving the problem. Would this have happened anyway had they not been introduced in the first place?
d) What is the cost of newcomers to the market to comply with the regulations?
e) Has technology moved on since its introduction making them obsolete?
f) A complete cost-benefit analysis of the administrative costs to firms or government bodies complying with the rules, compared to the benefit the law brings.
g) What common law and other legal mechanisms provide similar protection if the rules get scrapped?
h) What are the alternatives to having laws to achieve the same thing?
i) Publish the complete analysis on the dashboard. It should include the assumptions and detailed workings of any statistics and the models used.
Only with this information can there be a serious debate about how we can reform the regulations for the future.
May 12, 2023
Great idea but they will never have the time (now at home) to assess and deal with it. Reading their Guardian papers takes up their whole morning these days.
May 11, 2023
Can we have someone who is not afraid / frit of leading our country out of the EU and civil service clutches and leading us to the “Promised land” ?
basic stuff voted for in 2016.
May 12, 2023
Just a late view from abroad about this sunset for 4000 EU regulations, drawing fewer reaction.
As the UK does not yet know of all these 4000 what the details and impacts are, it means that this sunset clause is based on a “belief”.
A Brexit belief.
Part of a Brexit religion.
Just like Brexit itself, the coming 5 or 10 years will show how this works out in reality.
I wish no harm on the UK and it’s good that you are outside the EU, but for one, I’m not much of a believer in the benefits of your religion.
May 12, 2023
Brexit is not a religion but sovereignty and a country’s basic right to self determination under U.N. Charter.
May 13, 2023
@ukretired123: I’m referring not to Brexit itself but to the way it appears to be implemented.
(much more radical than the Brexit campaigns before the referendum)
May 12, 2023
Peter, is it not an absurd position for a country to be in, a so called independent country, to have thousands of laws on its books and not to know what they are? Laws from a foreign power, too, drawn up without scrutiny or debate, and imposed blind on 28 countries of some considerable variety in culture, history, wealth and size.
May 13, 2023
Yes rose, you have a point there. Still I would be more careful than an across the board sunset clause would suggest. Why not start with those measures of which the party in power remembers it was against and had proper scrutiny and impact assessment in parliament, even if this makes the process take longer.
May 12, 2023
It’s pathetic that a Mandarin in the Civil Service who is on long term sickness is responsible for the 4000 EU laws being held up. Ye God’s!
May 12, 2023
Why don’t you hand over all the laws related to product standards back to the British Standards Institute (BSI)? Before we joined the EU, firms wishing to adopt BSI standards could do so to help them sell their products, and those that wanted to do something else could choose not to.
The BSI has a world-renowned reputation and can undertake this job much more effectively than the Civil Service.
Firms wishing to export to the EU can adopt EU standards. Firms wanting to sell in the UK market or export to other countries can adopt British Standards. No more laws!
May 13, 2023
As had been said as early as 27 March 2017 (thomsonreuters.com âMore than 50,000 EU laws introduced in the UK over last 25 years highlights scale of challenge facing lawmakers following Brexitâ) : âIntense lobbying from interest groups that may suffer or benefit from the abolition of certain EU laws in the UK is likely to become a major feature of this processâ. âSo-called âEU red tapeâ has been central to the Brexit debate. Judging by the relationship of existing non-EU European countries with the EU it is, however, unlikely we will be seeing a âbonfire of these regulationsââ (Daniel Greenberg, legislative expert author of Craies on Legislation).
Isnât it what is happening now?
As for âto have thousands of laws on its books and not to know what they areâ, are you really unable to read, rose?