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People do not want to rejoin the EU

October 11, 2026 Post a Comment

I have permission to reproduce charts compiled by Facts4eu, so will now publish relevant ones to add to what I write. I collaborate with them over some of their excellent research.

1. Would you support rejoining on today’s terms, without all our opt-outs?

October 11, 2026 Post a Comment

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 11

The Chancellor should tell us what we are getting for the £66 bn of Reeves tax rises and the £ 97 bn of extra borrowing the government plans for next year.

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 11

In the run up to the budget the Chancellor should explain he inherits plans to spend £145 bn more and borrow £97 bn more in 2027-8 than the 2024 Conservative plans for 2027-8. The bond market is warning against even more.

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 11

If the Labour majority in the Commons want the assisted dying Bill they should tell their government to adopt it, amend it and give it government time for debate.

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 10

@xGeorgeCooper Yes I do support the triple lock, whilst identifying billions of other savings in the state budget.

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 10

The government borrowed £4250 m for 30 years at 5.8% a year this week. That means taxpayers paying £7395 m in interest then having to repay the £4250 m in thirty years time. Labour’s debt build up is becoming unaffordable.

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 10

More powerful Mayors will start with a new tax. The tourist tax will put people off going to places that impose it, hitting jobs and businesses. Misery for every Mayoral postcode? I am glad I live in No Mayors land.

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 10

The government needs to borrow £275 bn this year,new and replacement debt. Borrowing that for 30 years at 5.8% would commit taxpayers to paying a huge interest charges bill of £478 bn over that time. That is an average of £11,960 per taxpayer.

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 9

As the Chancellor looks for a quarter of all regulations to remove he should start with the oil and gas bans, the diesel and petrol car bans, the recent employment legislation and the proposed imposition of more EU laws on our food and farming industry.

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 9

Yesterday in the Lords the government put through more EU regulations for Northern Ireland. No consultation, no assessment of the costs, no ability of Parliament to amend or block. The government should renegotiate the Windsor deal in its Re set talks with the EU.

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 9

Good idea of the Chancellor to cut regulation by 25%. So which rules are going? I will only believe him when he tables the legislation to do it. The government is still increasing regulation. Mind the gap between words and deeds.

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 8

I read that the latest billionaire leaving the UK loses the UK £330 m of annual tax. Ministers regularly announce spending smaller sums than this so shouldn’t they have to make a statement about how they are going to replace such a tax loss?

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 8

What did the Chancellor mean by “launch of a review of the costs review of rail infrastructure”? Does he even read his speech text that they send out? How long will lots more Fingleton reviews take and cost?

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 8

Glad the government is backing down on its expensive and unloved botched reorganisation of local government. They should drop the idea of more regional Mayors in the many places that do not want them. Devolution should start with the decision over what local government to have.

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 8

Yesterday I asked why government policy on gas is to increase world CO 2 and to pay taxes to foreigners instead of to the UK by importing LNG rather than getting out our own gas. The Minister had no answer!

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 7

@Sir_Moanalot_ I made clear I was talking about the Jaguar brand. Try reading what I write to avoid making wrong replies.

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 7

UK government policy is to close all factories making petrol and diesel cars by 2030. That means big job losses. Customers may then buy fewer new cars, with a likely emphasis on cheaper Chinese battery car imports. Lift the ban now to save jobs.

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 7

Today on ... I set out ten government policies that cut economic growth and put up unemployment.

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 7

Do the people who propose abolition of the triple lock for the state pension want to legislate to repeal the contributory basis of the pension and abolish the National Insurance fund which pays for it?

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 7

The Jaguar job losses are worrying but not surprising. The brand has produced no cars this year, refusing to make the diesel and petrol cars people want to buy. It has delayed new and expensive battery cars, unlikely to sell in the numbers of the great Jaguars of the past.

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 6

Is there no public spending the government thinks wasteful that it could cut? The give away to Mauritius? Carbon capture projects? Benefits to some young people with no requirement to look for work? Losses at the nationalised industries?

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 6

Many days to the budget will bring damaging speculation over higher taxes. The last two pre budget run ups undermined confidence and led to the flight of better off people and business investment. Why no government talk about less spending? Why not rule out tax rises?

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 6

The government promises more money for defence. Our soldiers face training cuts with too little money for the current shrunken army. When will the money reinforcements arrive?

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 5

Good to see Ed Miliband defending the Falklands. They are developing their new oil field. Why is he against us doing the same in the UK?

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 5

Yesterday I defended the triple lock and reminded Lords pressing for its abolition that the state pension is not a welfare benefit. It is an entitlement based on National Insurance contributions. The government is right to raise the retirement age as life expectancy rises.

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 5

If the government were serious about growth, better paid jobs and having more tax revenue to spend it would approve new oil and gas fields promptly. They should welcome the investment and lower CO 2 than imports they bring.

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 4

Argentina’s attempt to assert its false claim to the Falklands needs to be resisted. Where is the strong response from Mr Burnham to reassure the islanders the UK will protect them and respect their wishes?

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 4

The Bayeux tapestry shows the Normans subjugating England. In Parliament the great paintings of Trafalgar and Waterloo show British forces liberating Europe from French conquest. Each records the sad deaths caused by forces seeking to impose military rule.

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 4

Yesterday I raised the issue of the Bank of England continuing to sell UK bonds when they are already very weak in the market. Taxpayers and the Treasury have to pay for the Bank’s big losses. Why such self harm? How much higher does the government want its borrowing rate to go?

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 3

Mr Burnham runs both No 10 and No 10 (North). He should publish a schedule of when he is at each. How many staff have to travel to Manchester to help him when he is working there? How many staff work full time in the North and what are their responsibilities?

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 3

Still no news from John Healey on how to pay for the extra defence spending he used to propose. Mr Burnham said yesterday he was upping defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030, only to be corrected later by No 10 ( south). They will delay this crucial decision until next spring!

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 3

The main devolved power regional Mayors will have is the power to impose a new visitor tax. That way they can double up on the loss of jobs and business closures in hospitality caused by the anti business taxes and laws of the Starmer government.

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 3

Mr Burnham refused to rule out more tax rises. There will be damaging speculation for many days until the budget, hitting confidence, putting off investment. More wealthy people and businesses will take their jobs and investments elsewhere.

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 3

As we consider the Bayeux Embroidery we should remember the many killed by this French invasion. English men and women had their lands stolen. Many were put into serfdom by a new Norman governing class.

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 2

Devolving more to Mayors prevents a national strategy to end rough sleeping or to boost growth.Nationalising more puts up public borrowing, making it dearer to buy or build new homes. See ... for why the new policies will fail.

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 2

Mr Burnham’s refusal to rule out tax rises in the budget hits confidence and drives up interest rates, losing us investment and new jobs. Rachel Reeves did that twice. Why do it a third time?

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 2

What first attracted Mr Burnham to nationalisation? Was it the way the Post Office falsely imprisoned managers? The daily loss of £1.3 m at British Steel? The huge delays and cost overruns at HS2? The sewage nationalised water used to tip into rivers without telling us?

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 2

As some of us have warned, bond markets are unhappy with ideas for more state spending, more nationalisation and more taxes on business. The thirty year UK interest rate hit 5.86%, the highest of the advanced world.

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 1

HS2, Network Rail, British Steel and the Post Office are all nationalised and costing taxpayers dearly. We cannot afford more nationalisation.

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 1

This government has made a big increase in money and staff for services on top of big increases made in 2019-24. So why do so many public sector leaders admit their services still have problems? When will they tackle the falls in productivity and quality?

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 1

The UK should not share our nuclear capability with Europe in the vain hope of foreign money to help. That is not the way to pay for our defence. There are plenty of spending cuts to make in the overblown benefits bill and net zero excesses.

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John Redwood@johnredwoodSep 1

John Healey complains about a £4.7 bn black hole in the budget he inherited from Rachel Reeves. It didn't take much finding as it is some of the extra defence money he wanted where they never agreed how to pay for it. He should blame himself.

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John Redwood@johnredwoodAug 31

The Governor of the Bank of England warns of dangers if people had to start selling off AI shares. No mention of the damage he is doing by selling so many bonds to drive up interest rates, sending a big bill to the Treasury for losses.

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John Redwood@johnredwoodAug 31

With diesel at £1.80 or more VAT on it has soared to 30 p a litre on top of the fuel duty. The Chancellor could cut the VAT if he was serious about the cost of living. Instead he rips us off and blames the oil companies.

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John Redwood@johnredwoodAug 31

Oil companies already pay a high windfall tax on top of a special higher rate of corporation tax . The resulting 78% tax rate is destroying jobs and our oil and gas industry. A further tax hike would just accelerate the damage. Why kill the goose that lays the golden eggs?

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John Redwood@johnredwoodAug 30

@vinceandpen No of course I do not support UK membership of the Single market or Schengen. I do welcome the democratic decision of Iceland not to become members of the EU and to realise the threat from surrender of sovereignty.

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John Redwood@johnredwoodAug 30

Congratulations to Iceland for the EU referendum. The EU did huge damage to the UK fishing industry, still not put right under a bad Withdrawal Agreement. Iceland has an important fishing industry which is best managed at home.

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John Redwood@johnredwoodAug 30

@TheFinalAudit The Chancellor can at any time rule out tax rises. How many more do they want? Why allow speculation over so many different ways to damage the economy?

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John Redwood@johnredwoodAug 30

The government shows in its attitudes to wealth, savings and business success it is much more driven by jealousy and spite than the voters. It should mind the gap as it sets about deterring more enterprise and hard work with tax threats.

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John Redwood@johnredwoodAug 30

How many more mean, damaging stories of possible tax rises will the government tolerate or promote? There is a parade of hostility towards success, profit, small business, savings, property ownership, business investment , all things which help growth and jobs.

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About John Redwood

John Redwood won a free place at Kent College, Canterbury, and graduated from Magdalen College Oxford. He is a Distinguished fellow of All Souls, Oxford.

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