The government is wilfully wrong in saying we lost 4% or 8% of GDP through Brexit. The graphs and charts of our GDP versus France, Germany and Italy show that is nonsense. The government is hopelessly misled in thinking its growth strategy will spring into life if we re set with the EU.
How will paying even more for energy once in the EU carbon trading and emissions scheme help? It is ultra dear energy that is deindustrialising us at pace.
How will imposing a carbon border tax on imports from non EU help? That makes business inputs dearer and squeezes consumer spending power.
How will adopting more EU rules make us more prosperous? Their rules add costs and impose bans and limitations on business activity.
How does bringing in lots of low paid and no paid young people to the UK boost per head incomes?
How does paying ten times as much for student support to help EU students much more than UK ones help us? Why stop supporting UK students to go to non EU universities?
How does giving away so much of our fish for so many years do anything but damage to our coastal communities and fishing grounds?
If aligning with EU laws makes you richer why is Northern Ireland worse off than GB, as NI does align?
Why did the UK growth rate plunge in the Uk’s first twenty years in the EEC, and fall further when we joined the single market in 1992?
Given how stretched our budgets are, why will paying more money to the EU help? Won’t that put up taxes or put up borrowings more, with higher interest rates as a result?
How does seeking more EU trade help GDP, when we run a large deficit with the EU and imports subtract from GDP? We run a surplus on non EU trade which is growing faster.
The EU re set could undermine or prevent our trade deals with the TPP, US and other large overseas economies. Why risk it?
People voted for UK MPs to decide our laws and run our government, answerable to the UK voters. Making us accept EU laws we cannot change or influence undermines democracy.
May 3, 2026
Exactly.
“People voted for UK MPs to decide our laws and run our government, answerable to the UK voters. Making us accept EU laws we cannot change or influence undermines democracy.”
The EU is hugely anti-democratic but then almost everything Blair and Brown did was anti-democratic and the Tories for 14 years undid non of it and even built on it. See the David Starkey videos on this.
May 3, 2026
The BBC had a long interview with the John ERM Major on Friday. In the full interview version he says he would never have joined the EURO and only joined the ERM to fight inflation and was about to come out before it we were force out. He then whitters on about how poor his mother was and blames this on inflation. He also needless to say pushes the usual climate alarmist lies about the polar ice and extreme weather events and his garden daffodils.
Then he complains that he did not get the credit for for this ERM fighting of inflation! You can tackle inflation far more effectively than by joining the recessionary ERM fiasco. Does he really think anyone will believe any of this patent drivel. His moronic ERM fiasco cost billions, repossessed thousands of houses, closed vast numbers of businesses, cause many suicides and broke many marriages… But then it was Thatcher who appointed such a dope the Chancellor and allowed him to join the ERM against wiser advice from JR and her economic advisor.
Needless to say the three guests on Newsnight (not the full interview) all thought Major was largely right! An absurdly soft interview too.
Reply Yes, it was shadowing the ERM, DM that created the inflation he complains about!
May 3, 2026
The ERM pushed mortgage interest rates up to 17%+ (and thus pushed up rents too) and destroy many businesses and jobs not sure how this would have help people like his ever so poor mother very much.
ERM Economic and Social Impact:-
High Interest Rates: In a desperate attempt to stay in the ERM, the government raised interest rates from 10% to 12%, and then to 15% in one day, adding massive pressure to businesses and homeowners.
Recession and Job Loss: By September 1992, unemployment was at 10%, with over 36,000 bankruptcies and 25,000 company liquidations occurring in the first nine months.
Housing Crisis: The crisis saw over 68,000 property repossessions and 205,000 instances of mortgage arrears.
But John Major complains he did not get the political “credit”!
May 3, 2026
Indeed but surely Major joined with the clear intention of joining the EURO (which he now denies and suggest he joined just to “reduce” inflation).
May 3, 2026
I’m afraid Spitting Image was far, far too kind to the appalling John Major.
May 3, 2026
@Lifelogic – yes and the UK Parliament refused. It preferred sitting on its hands and taking the money
May 3, 2026
Following the US “Secretary for War” Hegseth’s failure to bomb the Ayatollahs into submission, Trump has – predictably – tried to shift the blame to Europe and NATO for their “horrible failure” to support his war
The truth is that the IRGC managed to successfully strike at least 17 U.S. military installations and bases across seven countries in the region, causing serious damage and many American (non-fatal) casualties. They achieved this using precision targeting information provided by the Russians
Hegseth blustered and refused to answer questions from Senators last week, about why he has not supplied Ukraine with paid for Patriot air defence missiles and other military aid. It cannot be a coincidence that, emboldened, Putin last week ordered a massive daylight drone assault involving hundreds of Shaheds on Ukraine cities. Hegseth also refused to explain why the $15bn of Senate approved funds have not yet been delivered to Kyiv “we will get back to you on that one”
Following yet another 90 minute “very good” telecon with the war criminal Putin, the Donald apparently agreed with Putin that Ukraine has been militarily defeated (it has not) and has, as ordered, begun to dismantle the American NATO presence in Europe by withdrawing the first tranche of 5000 US troops from Germany
Trump’s real-estate envoys Witkopf and Kushner have undertaken jollies to Moscow no less than seven times. Insultingly, they have refused to visit Zelensky in Kyiv even once. It’s long past time we discover where Trump’s loyalties really lie.
May 3, 2026
The Iran war is not lost. The US and Israel could take out the infrastructure any time but want to avoid this because the the population would suffer more than the IRGC. The blockade is causing huge financial loss and the Iranian oil production has little storage left. Trump is rightly insisting on a deal to end the possibility of a nuclear bomb. The Russians have been offering to remove the enriched uranium and reprocess it for energy. The talks may lead to this and the Iranians cooperating with full inspection. The remaining missiles may be used against the Gulf States and there is a type of MAD standoff.
The Ukrainian war, according to BBC and Spectator articles has also reached a nightmarish drone warfare equilibrium with neither side making much progress but taking casualties like WWi. Trump is putting pressure on Zekensky and his golden toilets regime to accept the loss of Russian speaking regions. Only the EU and it’s friends in the UK blob are fueling this disastrous war using borrowed money. It has no strategic implications for UK security. It’s notable that the EU Commission has put sanctions on authors and politicians who have pointed out the history which lead to this war whereby they are confined to their home without access to their money. The Commissioner who has been trying to censor the US Internet providers has been banned from the US. Yet the British government is still set on joining this dictatorship.
May 3, 2026
People voted for UK MPs to decide our laws and run our government, answerable to the UK voters. Making us accept EU laws we cannot change or influence undermines democracy.
Hopefully it’s not going to happen, after this coming Thursday liebour will be obliterated from our town halls up and down the country which will trigger the squeaming twitching liebour Mps to get rid of Starmer, and his response will be if you want me out I’ll call a General Election , so be it so we can send all these manifesto deniers home to find proper jobs and let the big boys/girls run the country
May 3, 2026
@Mick – yes and the UK Parliament refused. It preferred sitting on its hands and taking the money. Follow the logic do we need just another local council, we should just disband parliament and save money
May 3, 2026
It has nothing to do with common sense and everything to do with ideology. Westminster in general together with the civil Serpents were aghast at the vote to leave the EU. For ten years the uniparty has done all it can to thwart our leaving.
Day by day they realign us with EU rules the latest being tumble dryers.
We get preferential tariffs from our second largest trading partner but Starmrr is willing to sacrifice that to remain part of his beloved EU.
Trump is correct in describing it as a protectionist cartel and we should have no part of it.
May 3, 2026
Spot on, nothing to do with economic growth, security – in all forms. But how to rid us of this ideology driven government without either economic crash and/or social unrest? We need to consider the street demonstrations response to the Poll Tax
May 3, 2026
“Eu re set will damage our growth”. What growth is that? UK GDP per capita has experienced virtually no growth since Brown’s 2008 banking crash. Probably negative for most people in real terms now with inflation, higher taxes, much higher interest rates and rents and public serices getting worse & worse each year.
May 3, 2026
Spending well over £1 trilion doing net harms (with Net Zero, Net harm Covid Vaccines and Lockdowns, benefits that encourage people to not work, market rigging all over the place, paying for hotels and benefits for low skilled & huge net cost immigrants and having energy that is the most expensive in the World… ) is hardly likely to encourage growth or investment.
Note for Gov. Ministers is usually better to spend money doing beneficial things rather than harmful ones if you want encourage growth!
Better still just leave the money with the taxpayers who nearly always spent or invest it far more sensibly than governments do.
May 3, 2026
A question that is never asked is why did Starmer give fishing rights away forv12 years when the EU never even asked for it.
May 3, 2026
He hates the UK or is just deluded perhaps? Or perhaps he was promised a job or something in return? Another other suggestions?
May 3, 2026
I wouldn’t put it that way – it is a vile deception at the highest level. They’re not just spreading untruths, they are deceiving parliament!
So when is something going to be done about this treachery?
The government must be made to backup their imagined numbers with real data – where di it come from and why are they spreading dishonest rumours.
May 3, 2026
Steve Bullion — agreed 100%
May 3, 2026
The only growth and jobs this Government is interested in improving is growth in taxpayer-funded jobs for the Prize Pigs of the Labour Government Variety – particularly potential jobs in International Institutions – ready for when they are kicked out of Office
Their determination to rejoin the EU is ideological. But since they don’t dare admit that they are overturning the Referendum for ideological reasons, they are using fantasy economic arguments. Which is exactly how we got into the EEC/EU in the first place …. a denial of the real intention and fantasy economics.
May 3, 2026
Exactly.
May 3, 2026
Well according to bbc.com (23/06/2023), then PWC (23/06/2024) then Ulster University Economic Policy Centre (04/12/2024) NI‘s GDP grew by 1.9% while the rest of Britain’s only grew by 1.2% these last few years.
And a more recent one: 08/12/2025 Irishtimes.com ‘Northern Ireland economy underperforming Republic but exceeding UK growth rate’.
May 3, 2026
Ireland benefits from a 12.5% corporation tax rate, which attracts large businesses to reside there. This is a far larger benefit than the residual benefit or handicap of being in the EU.
The UK would benefit far more by good government than by being in the EU.
May 3, 2026
hefner my friend, you’re bringing facts to the table. Never welcome among Brexiters
May 3, 2026
Keeping telling lies, and you then believe the lie yourself. Then the leadership sets an example to their followers, then the religious freak show that is the Parliament, its pure Socialism, rule by a Politburo for the benefit of only those in the Politburo starts becoming the reality of a new future for the few.
May 3, 2026
For those with short memories, Starmer campaigned to remain in the EU. After the vote to leave before anything was settled he then campaigned for what he called the People’s Vote, a 2nd Referendum. He ‘hates’ it when people disagrees with him, to him those that want a free sovereign democracy, sometimes called the Brexiteers he labels them as extremists the people that the country should rise up against.
From the get go even though less than 22% of the electorate wanted him or his party, he has had a ‘Plan’, a plan to force the UK back under the unelected unaccountable EU’s yoke. Every other utterance, wrecking the economy, causing division between the USA and the UK was all part of the ‘Plan’ the plan to force the UK back under the EU yoke.
The man is illusional, and it is the rest of us that pay the price, his price on many level’s just to help his ego
May 3, 2026
the man is delusional
May 3, 2026
“The government is wilfully wrong in saying we lost 4% or 8% of GDP through Brexit.”
Correct, Lord John. All lies based upon false modelling. Just as the biggest lie ever told that we have a climate emergency caused by burning fossil fuels is entirely based upon false modelling. The government department, The Met Office, whose employees sign the Official Secrets Act, is not fit for the purpose of analysing climate change when 80% of its recording stations are classes 4 and 5 with 2 and 5 degrees of accuracy respectively and when one third of its recording stations do not even exist. The IPCC’s Working Group 1 (“The Science”) report Table 12 in Chapter 12 shows no signals for climate change (droughts, precipitation, storms) other than some mild warming which UAH satellite data shows to be 0.16 degrees C per decade. Climate history shows temperature and CO2 levels far higher than today and with no correlation between CO2 and temperature except for the last 450,000 years when both have been exceptionally low and here the Vostok ice core data shows CO2 following temperature not vice versa. Thermalisation shows the IPCC’s back radiation model to be entirely false and as a result CO2 is simply a trace gas with minor greenhouse gas effects. Water vapour which absorbs the planet’s IR radiation over a much wider range of frequencies than CO2 and is 10 to 100 times more abundant in the atmosphere than CO2 is by far the most important green house gas and does almost all the job of warming the planet at the surface and radiating away the energy to space. The necessity for decarbonisation – Net Zero – is simply a device to sabotage our energy, economy and national security. The real goal is electrification as this brings control over individual people’s heating and transport as well as communications. In fact, increasing CO2 benefits all life on the planet.
May 3, 2026
Lord-J you’re spot on today
May 3, 2026
All good points M’Lord, all argued over many years now and completely ignored by the “mainstream” media.
Logic and good sense make no difference to these people’s thinking. For our senior Civil Servants, Brussels is a second, very well paid, career opportunity. For many UK politicians the EU is a refuge from the terrifying need to stand up, make hard decisins and be accountable for them. So much easier to be able to blame someone else when things go wrong – as they will do so.