One of the most bizarre features of the few Remain supporters who come daily to this site to rubbish anything good the U.K. does or could do with its freedoms is their refusal to analyse the impact of past EU laws and policies. They neither want us to change any of them, nor admit this big panoply of law has been guiding and controlling us in so many ways.As during the referendum itself the pro EU side always played down the ambitious scope of economic, social and political union and the extent of EU power already achieved in its pursuit.
This week they have been in denial that the energy system we have followed came from the EU and was based around the twin objectives of cutting our domestic supply of coal,oil and gas to help net zero policies whilst making us more dependent on imports by encouraging many more interconnectors, pipes and cables. They ignore the recent speech of Mrs Von Der Leyden, EU Commission President, widely condemning the current EU legal and regulatory framework for energy and calling for urgent and radical change. I agree with her and want the U.K. to get on with its own national changes to the common EU regime we currently follow. We can serve our own interests and help the EU by working to restore national self sufficiency.
In all the debates I undertook over staying or leaving the EU I never once was able to debate the EU vision of Union unless it was with someone from the continent. The refusal to admit the truth about ever closer Union took away the argument that European countries would best be governed together. That may well make sense for Belgium, Netherlands and Austria, and for France and Germany, given their histories.If their voters want it I wish them well with it. It never seemed likely or attractive to many U.K. people given our past which is I guess why the Remain contributors here still try to pretend the EU was just some glorified trade arrangement for independent states!
September 21, 2022
“just some glorified trade arrangement for independent states!”
That was Ted Heath’s line, back in the day. Were we sold a pup!
September 21, 2022
Ted Heath himself know this to be a lie at the time he joined. He did this without even asking the public for a referendum. What an appalling man he was but the Tories had so many dire PMs Major, Cameron, May, Boris, Truss(?) we shall soon see.
September 21, 2022
Is she even going to sell of Channel 4?
September 21, 2022
That was just a line, like the review of HS2 before the last election….we just don’t believe them
September 21, 2022
Why would anyone believe them they have lied and lied and lied all my life. But the only real alternative Labour/SNP is clearly even worse!
September 21, 2022
The only way to get true change to leave the EU is get rid of those people (a total clear out) who wanted remain.
Your party has overwhelmingly failed in this regard and put a remainer back as PM.
Did your party learn nothing from national economic disaster Major who cause economic meltdown in loss of jobs, homes and businesses to the nation to join EU currency, Coward Cameron who ran away rather than leave the EU or Traitor May who has put in place every obstacle possible to prevent truly leaving the EU and implemented close alignment and N.Ireland protocol to get back in?
September 21, 2022
Christopher Bookerâs book, âThe Great Deceptionâ explains, and backs up, how the EU was always going to be the United States of Europe. From its conception in the the 1940âs. But it was sold as a trading bloc because it was known that the concept would not be liked. The FCO 30/1048 (a secret document) clearly states that the British in particular would not accept US of Europe and were lied to for 30 years.
The evidence is there if you look for it.
September 21, 2022
”the truth is out there”
September 21, 2022
@Sharon A Trading Block with embasies and ambassadors? A Trading Block that this week is in full attendance at the UNited Nations. Then again is so are its Individual States. The US has only one delegation
September 21, 2022
It’s in the first line of the Treaty of Rome 1957. We were lied to by fanatics and one J Major took us into the EU without permission of even parliament as he rail-roaded the Maastricht Treaty through on a 3 line whip.
September 21, 2022
+ many – it shows the outright deceit and dishonesty of many of our politicians. Such dishonest people shouldn’t even be serving in Parliament. When will they acknowledge the country belongs to us, not privileged politicians!
September 21, 2022
+1 and now we are clearly being lied too on the levels and costs of open door immigration, net zero, the manifesto tax promises, the vaccine safety and effectiveness, the pointless & damaging lock down, the efficacy of masks, the NI settlement, the point of HS2, over EV cars, bikes, walking saving CO2 (they clearly do not really), the dire NHS, the causes of the current absurd energy costs (the net zero religion), the causes of inflation (manifesto ratter Sunak)âŠ
September 21, 2022
Defrauded in fact and without even a referendum. Heath was well aware of this as were many/most MPs at the time.
September 21, 2022
In an interview with the BBC (obviously recorded late in his life) and broadcast about seven years ago, Edward Heath complacently and with quite a smile on his face agreed that he had lied to the UK about the real implications and intentions of joining the Common Market.
We were sold a whole litter of pups!
September 21, 2022
I often wonder how he, never having had a bigger job than PM was able to afford to take part in the world’s second most expensive sport of ocean yacht racing.
September 21, 2022
We have been lied too for the past 40 years.
Now we are in a mess with power supplies entirely due to the actions of parliament. It’s no good blaming Brussels for our situation when MPs had numerous photo ops dynamiting perfectly good coal fired plants.
The only thing we are world leaders in is self destruction and that follows nicely with WEF guidance.
Own it.
September 21, 2022
@Ian Wragg +1
September 21, 2022
Tweet from RUSI this morning:
“The EU is diluting sanctions against Russian coal.The EU’s description of coal as an essential good,much like food and fertilizer,is a win for Russia’s efforts to erode the sanctions regime and is getting fierce pushback in Poland and the Baltic States.”
It would take a heart of stone not to laugh!
Around 10 days ago I also noticed Belarus announced that it was going to route it’s fertilizer exports(it is a major producer/exporter,particularly of potash) via Murmansk instead of via the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda.This will deprive both the port and Lithuanian railways of a very significant source of their revenue.
September 21, 2022
The UK cannot change European Union rules.
Only the member countries can do that.
I’d have thought that Sir John wouldn’t make so elementary a mistake?
Reply We can change any Eu rule we like applying to the Uk
September 21, 2022
Good morning.
But it was parliament and our MP’s that tried to reverse the referendum of 2016 and, did all they can to deliver BINO and leave us with the pigs breakfast we have now. All designed I argue to keep us closely aligned with the EU. And whilst this current attitude persists we will never be allowed to diverge from the EU and form policies that better suit us.
For example :
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-62967084
The political class and the Establishment need to let go. There is no need for an organisation of this sort as there are already sufficient structures (Embassies) in place. So why is this being created ? Like the ECSC, then EEC it is, I suspect, a political structure created as cover for something else – EU Lite ! The fact that so many notable Europhiles are so enamored by this, and the fact that the French President is keen to get this going tells me all I want to know – ie I want nothing to do with it.
As we here stated a long time ago. The future is in the Far East !
September 21, 2022
It looks like yet another attempt to create a ring of nations outside the EU, but which would be very closely associated ….. and therefore influenced (ie controlled) by it.
We should have nothing to do with it. But the anti-British Establishment will be desperate to get on board and I doubt if Truss has the nous or inclination to decline the invitation.
September 21, 2022
I have to laugh – you cannot join the inner sanctum, or you refuse to, however you are encouraged to join via colonization.
September 21, 2022
I hope that Truss seizes the moment to restore the Commonwealth as a mutual help society. There are huge advantages to doing so, not least countering increasing Chinese hegemony as well as providing alternatives to the EU and US for creating allied groups.
September 21, 2022
Much truth in this. We are still following an generally bonkers EU type of big state & over regulation agenda.
September 21, 2022
Mark, perhaps France should let go instead of trying to be the boss of the EU. Leave the Heads of the EU, their EU presidents elected to represent their Country in the Union to meet with those Heads of Countries outside of the EU; otherwise, it is them that are doubling up on administration, cost and meetings. When we meet with the USA, we don’t meet with all the Leaders, their most significant member States.
September 21, 2022
Have we left the EU – it doesn’t feel any different
We’re about to join the European Politiical Community, we’re still in the European Council ECHRs, and most of the EU institutions, NI is still in the EU, we have a ‘level playing field’ clause in the EU/UK Trade & Coop Agreement, the French still fish in our waters, we follow the EU transport & energy plan…and we still adopt free movement by any other means
NO we haven’t left and parliament and the main political parties haven’t honoured the terms of the referendum nor the wishes of the majority of the people
September 21, 2022
@Mark B. If the report in the media is to believed, the worry particularily with everything else that needs urgent attention is why it is even being considered. Is this more ego in motion instead of duty to the electorate, the people that pay the wages.
A bit more focus by those in the employ of the taxpayer and not wondering off into ‘La La Land’ would make this country incredibly wealthy.
September 21, 2022
Why is it being created? Same as why the EU has grown so much – big jobs for failed politicians who could not get a job cleaning the streets outside of their bubble.
September 21, 2022
“The future is in the Far East”
Indeed it is.That’s why Russia has turned it’s back on Europe in a move that is probably as permanent as permanent can ever be.A Japanese CEO attending the Vladivostok Far Eastern Economic Forum two weeks ago was asked why he was there,he said:”I’m a business man,not a politician;Russia is our nearest neighbour and there is business to be done…Vladivostok is the capital of East Asia.”
I see Rosatom is musing about building a fixed nuclear power plant in the far east province and the second of a planned five floating NPPs is under construction which will power up the East Siberian coastal infrastructure and the new mining developments in the hinterland (output earmarked for Asia) that are planned.
My Japanese correspondent reports that :”Japan could face electricity shortages this winter if a cold snap hits in December.The problem is made worse by Japan’s ageing fleet of thermal power plants.Around 30% of Japan’s thermal plants are already more than 40 years old.”
(Japanese imports of Russian LNG in August +211%,Chinese imports of Russian LNG in August +270%.)
September 21, 2022
It occurs to me that Remain supporters are akin to shell-shocked soldiers wandering aimlessly and unaware in no-man’s land and one would have to have a heart of stone not to laugh.
Meanwhile, as a direct result of Brexit, we are denied the opportunity of being bullied and threatened by the European Commission through denial of entitlement to funds in the way Hungary now is with Poland about to join in. Remoaners must be in tears at that.
September 21, 2022
@formula57: We are STILL being “bullied and threatened” by the EU, especially over Northern Ireland. I see that Sir John has published a Tweet about this saying: “The President of the USA needs to understand that the NI Protocol is undermining the Good Friday Agreement that he and the U.K. support. He should help us restore GB to NI trade and respect the UK’s internal market.”. NO and NO!!
Firstly, it was the IRA who called the Belfast Agreement the “Good Friday Agreement” in order to give it some spurious religious significance. It is the BELFAST AGREEMENT and that’s what it should be called. And secondly, the Britain-hating Biden should be told to BUTT OUT as Northern Ireland is as British as Alaska is American – we don’t interfere with how they riun Alaska and they must SHUT UP about how we run Northern Ireland.
Biden would probably counter that the US is one of the guarantors of the Belfast Agreement, but our response should be “that was then, this is now – thank you for your help at the time but that time has passed and your involvement is no longer required or welcome”. Nothing lasts for ever, and the need or desire for US involvement no longer exists. So now MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS. Alternatively, move all your military bases to Ireland, as they are no longer welcome here. Oh no, you can’t can you, as Ireland won’t have them!
September 21, 2022
The United States of America succeeds as a single nation because the people of each state had little history and were willing to combine into a single nation.
The European Union will ultimately fail as the populations of many countries identify more with their country than a European super-state. As the Eurocrates push towards greater union the people will realise they prefer their national freedoms and centuries of historical self-rule.
September 21, 2022
Lizz Truss on energy says she wants to give businesses time to adjust. How will they do this then Liz? How do you expect them to compete with countries with energy costs at 1/4 of ours, far less red tape, far lower taxes and lower labour costs please do tell us Liz? It is the bonkers net zero policy that need to go dear.
Or perhaps by âadjustmentâ does she just mean close down?
September 21, 2022
Now we have Sulfuric acid shortages too – the resource crisis that could stifle green tech & threaten food security
Professor Mark Maslin (UCL Geography) and Dr Simon Day (UCL Institute for Risk & Disaster Reduction) highlight how sulfur, a fossil fuel waste product, is an important industrial chemical and that the shift to renewable energy could affect its supply. This on top of energy shortages, food grade CO2 shortages…
Well done the net zero loons!
September 21, 2022
And soon theyâll be locking up NZ dissentersâŠthey already stop any dissent or counter argument at university and civil service
September 21, 2022
S is the fifth most abundant element on Earth, widely available from sulfide (eg, pyrite), and sulfate minerals (eg, gypsum). Obviously it is easier to get it from gas or oil, but saying that we now are short of S is OTT.
What about your chemistry A-level, LL?
September 21, 2022
LL. Sulfur is also part of the recipe for gunpowder. How will.modern youth learn to make it as we did?
September 21, 2022
Thanks LL for drawing attention to Prof Mark Maslin. There is a 56 mn (40 mn +questions from the audience) presentation from him as part of âTalks at Googleâ on networthpost.org called âClimate Changeâ where he also addresses Population and Development.
September 21, 2022
Lifelogic
I posted a link all about that last night well worth the read.
September 21, 2022
That is one of the purposes of mass immigration, to create a populace that largely DOESN’T identify with their country or its history.
September 21, 2022
Pete, the USA seems more divided, though with its different racial strands Native Americans, Latino Americans, Irish Americans, Italian Americans and African Americans. The States may have a short history, it’s different strands bought their old cultures and seem to cling on to an history that a lot of them have never personally experienced; you never seem to hear of British Americans though! All of Americaâs Founding Fathers would have, at some point, considered themselves British. And the top five surnames in the 2010 US census were Smith, Johnson, Williams, Brown and Jones.
I was watching Zuby on Dewsberry’s show last night, he is obviously a very intelligent, thoughtful man, when I looked him up, I wasn’t at all surprised with his impressive 1st from Oxford in computer science. It is men like this that need to be policy advisors not just kids straight out of uni.
September 21, 2022
Don’t sweat the small stuff fella
September 21, 2022
+1
Well, while we are looking over here we wonât be looking over there?
Swedish election
Italian election
Ukraine
Freezing our extremities off
InflationâŠ.and many more of which I have no clue.
There are great political advantages in making us âwatch the wallâ.
September 21, 2022
Agree – None of those topics on the BBC, neither is Leicester
September 21, 2022
Heartiest laugh of last week was supplied by President Lukashenko of Belarus who posted a short videoclip of himself chopping logs into firewood.Followed up with the caption:
“We will not let Europe freeze this winter.”
Priceless!
September 21, 2022
Ah ha!
There is a meeting of the “European Political Community”in Prague in October.
Truss is âdebatingâ ( lol lol) whether we should attend!
This is Macronâs baby. A â new spaceâ for co-operation!
Watch the wall and count the bloody bricks!
September 21, 2022
and what, pray, is the Agenda and who are key speakers?
September 21, 2022
The EU, the Council for Europe and the European Political Community
By the end of this month the UK will be members of two of these organisations and has a special trade & cooperation agreement with the third
Are we more or less sovereign following the referendum
September 21, 2022
That would not be line dem remainer Truss would it?
September 21, 2022
This post ignores the enthusiasm of British Prime Ministers for Net Zero.
Cameron let the cat out of the bag when he said he wanted to be âthe heir to Blairâ. In other words pursue centrist policies which enormously benefit the leader following them. Johnson was a huge fan of COP26 measures and other globalist climate ideas.
The EU were along for the ride but they were only part of the picture. Chancers and careerists look beyond the EU for benefactors.
September 21, 2022
Indeed but nearly all of the UK’s MPs, government, the BBC propaganda outfit and the state sector went along with it all. Even now very little had been done to change direction. May, Boris and Truss still stick to the total and evil insanity of net zero. We still suffer the insanities of the Climate Change Committee. They still push EV cars when they cause produce far more CO2 (in the manufacture and charging) than keeping your old ICU car running and CO2 is not a problem anyway.
What on earth are PayPal doing in trying to shut down Toby Young’s Free Speech union and the thedailysceptic site? Surely this is an appalling misuse of their power. The use of banking systems, the large social media companies and major search engines to try to censor and kill free speech in the way is appalling. Not even giving any reasons or justifications.
September 21, 2022
Paypal? – what on earth have they got to do with anything except creaming off profit from money transactions?
September 21, 2022
LL,
‘Even now very little had been done to change direction.’
Precisely. Nobody champions the nation state. We have had years to take action but nothing happens. Sensible ideas are kicked into the long grass and blame shifted onto various organisations and individuals.
Remain are not actually in government (although various people did vote Remain at the time but say they have changed their mind).
Nobody will grasp the nettle. If we had someone like Viktor Orban in charge things would be very different.
Anyway, the blame game won’t wash any more – Remain, The Treasury, the BBC are not in office. A reckoning is fast approaching.
September 21, 2022
Peter
Never mind having a VO
We have a SJR and for the life of me cannot see why enough in the house couldn’t see he was and is the man for the crisis.
September 21, 2022
LL,
‘Even now very little had been done to change direction.’
Precisely. We left years ago, but any sensible ideas are kicked into the long grass or excuses are found for not pursuing them.
Remain did not form a government (though various PMs and ministers did vote Remain but claimed that had put it behind them).
We are not acting like an independent nation state. Nobody grasped the nettle and acted in the country’s interest. If someone like Viktor Orban was on charge we would have the issues sorted by now.
Nobody believes the blame game anymore. Neither Remain, the BBC, not the Treasury are in charge of running the country. A reckoning is fast approaching.
September 21, 2022
Persistent Remainers remind me of the Jacobites, forever pining for the King over the water despite the fact that (a) he wouldn’t be coming back again; (b) the vast majority rejected him and would not accept restoration and (c) he represented a largely unsuccessful dynasty which, at its worst point, caused a civil war.
The Jacobites refused to see the reality, preferring instead their romantic idea. Remainers are the same. The tragedy is that so many are in the anti-British Establishment and have used their completely undeserved and largely unaccountable power to try and thwart the Will of the people.
September 21, 2022
@Donna – even more gauling the Taxpayer pays
September 21, 2022
Galling.
September 21, 2022
A good analogy
September 21, 2022
Hear hear
September 21, 2022
âChanging EU rulesâ
NO not Changing EU rules but scrap EU rules completely, then make rules that are suited to the U.K. itâs not rocket science
September 21, 2022
@Mick
My often repeated mantra, Laws, Rules and Regulations in a Democracy are created, ammended and repealed by the People throgh their elected representatives. That is simply what a Democray is and is for. In that correlation EU dictates are not valid if we are that a ‘Democracy’ So all we need to do is ignore them.
September 21, 2022
Agree – stop the EU rules….and stop sending billions every month to the EU
September 21, 2022
“Europeâs nations should be guided towards the superstate without their people understanding what is happening. This can be accomplished by successive steps, each disguised as having an economic purpose but which will irreversibly lead to federation”
……The words of Jean Monnet, founding father of the EU project, over half a century ago……
September 21, 2022
I always judge people on their overall opinions, not the occasional barmy one. I have noticed that certain EU sycophants NEVER EVER criticise the EU. EVER. If I find they cannot criticise the EU then their opinions are worthless. It isn’t natural, or healthy, whereas Brexiters are ready to put the blame wherever they think it lies, be it the UK government, the EU, International organisations, or wherever. That is the more honest approach and the reason why Brexit will succeed (so long as our politicians engage their brains and start working for the UK). If you can’t recognise the problem you will never find a solution.
September 21, 2022
Shirley M.. so why has there always got to be blame.. why not instead look for the good and give praise. The EU like the UK has so many good qualities about them that people who see the glass half full overlook the bad sides. Am only saying if you look out the same window all of the time you’re only going to see the same things.
September 21, 2022
So we should ignore the damage being done to the UK by our anti-democratic idiotic politicians and praise them for destroying our economy, our way of life, and everything else? As I said earlier, if you don’t identify the problem there can be no solution. If you don’t see a problem with the way the country is being run, then I have a bridge to sell you.
September 21, 2022
+1
September 21, 2022
Really? I read plenty of opinions from Brexiteers blaming the EU for decisions that were actually taken in Westminster.
For example, to relate to a current topic, VAT on domestic fuel was introduced as the result of a decision taken in Westminster by a Conservative government in the early 1990s (and at a higher rate than the current 5%), it was not imposed on the UK by the EU.
It was also the decision of a Conservative government in the early 1990s not to veto (a power they had and chose not to use) the situation whereby once VAT was imposed on a product or service, that it had to be retained.
The Conservative UK government had complete control over those decisions at the time. Nothing was imposed on them by any other organisation or entity.
September 21, 2022
Other than the requirements of the Climate Change Act and the pressure of the EU to develop green policies on member states.
September 22, 2022
VAT on domestic fuel was introduced in March 1993 (despite a pledge in the 1992 Conservative manifesto not to expand the scope of VAT). The Climate Change Act came into law 2008.
The introduction of VAT on domestic fuel can in no way be blamed on an act of Parliament which came in to existence 15 years after the decision was taken.
September 21, 2022
Earth to Redwood, Earth to Redwood, the UK left the EU almost three years ago, there is no such thing as âRemainâ any more. If Brexit is going badly, and it is, itâs all down to the UK, nothing to do with the EU
September 21, 2022
Lenton, no, we didn’t don’t forget the withdrawal transition period.
PM Boris Johnson signs the Withdrawal Agreement: 24 January 2020 gov.uk
A transition period until the end of 2020 while the UK and EU negotiate additional arrangements. The current rules on trade, travel and business for the UK and EU continue to apply during the transition period. New rules take effect on 1 January 2021.
Then there was the divorce payment which was pretty much the old membership fee, which is reducing severely at the end of this year.
September 21, 2022
‘nothing to do with the EU’ – thanks for that I had a good laugh worthy of Martin in Cardiff.
September 21, 2022
That is true, the remain side never argued for the EU the way for example president macron would, they were in denial of the federal political union objective of the EU which is fundamental. Set against that, there was a good argument that the U.K. pre-Brexit had a pretty good fudge, with a number of important opt-outs, not in the euro and therefore not liable to be sucked fully into political and economic union. It will be interesting to see whether the few remaining non-euro states are now on the hook for bailouts and transfers.
It is certainly the case that Brexit has been disruptive both for individuals and for businesses. It has also resulted in a deterioration of relations with important allied countries like France. To make it worthwhile we will need to see bold and radical steps by the govt to take advantage of it. Otherwise the juice will not have been worth the squeeze.
September 21, 2022
We only left in January 2021 after a year of covid disruption. The divorce payment reduces significantly from September 2022. The VAT we get back from rest of world imports that we used to pay 80% to the EU should be used to transform UK worldwide exports, we need to train more sales people!
Sir Ollie Robbins should NOT have received a knighthood and been rewarded for his catastrophic failure and humiliation of the UK. There are others like Benn still put on EU committees now by this government; why John, why?
September 21, 2022
So sorry Richard1, but France is not a truely Allied to Great Britain. I am now in my late seventies and I have witnessed their constant hatred. Smile to your face as they need our tourists but stab us in the back when they can.
They have more time for the country we saved them from during the war.
September 21, 2022
France’s strategy is one to avoid being beaten by Germany yet again. Close alignment with them and others was hoped to secure a better future. Attitude towards England, (ok then UK) is one of hating the nation who demonstrated inadequacy – how many times?
September 21, 2022
Re your last paragraph, Sir John. It was Ted Heath who took us into what he pretended was a Common Market. He and European politicians were not open and honest with their own electorates, not disclosing the grand plan of ever closer union and subservience to a European superstate.
September 21, 2022
I have wondered whether this is a reason why fracking isn’t happening in the UK. If the UK had a low cost supply of natural gas, used for the benefit of the UK population, that would mean an advantage to it being outside the EU.
As we know, our relationship with the EU has to be about a “level playing field”, and no advantage to it leaving the EU must be seen. How else could the population be persuaded to rejoin?
In reality, a little more gas by means of fracking will just be sold on world markets to the highest bidder, and the benefit to British citizens will just be marginal.
September 21, 2022
Even if all the gas was sold overseas the country would benefit from the earnings, or perhaps you don’t think there’s any need for that.
September 21, 2022
“In reality, a little more gas by means of fracking will just be sold on world markets to the highest bidder, and the benefit to British citizens will just be marginal.”
Is this true? I read that in the US, the cost of gas is around a tenth of the world price due in no small part to the advent of fracking. Why can this not apply in the Uk? And if we have excess gas we can supply to the EU to help confound the Russian aggression
September 21, 2022
USA shale gas direct to USA market & consumer, any surplus to the International markets
UK shale gas direct to International markets – Its all down to government policy
September 21, 2022
If US gas production falls to the point where it is no longer sufficient to meet domestic demand and fill the export route by pipeline and as LNG then there will be scope for arbitrage between the markets. LNG plants will bid for gas so long as export is profitable, which will force up domestic prices rapidly. Only when domestic prices are at a premium to the cost of ship borne LNG from nearby sources such as Trinidad and Peru will some capacity be switched to imports. The resulting shock to the US economy would be severe. Biden’s policies to limit new drilling could take them there quite rapidly. They were there before in 2003-5, when fracking had yet to take off. They were fortunate that global supply was more forgiving, but their gas market prices were the highest of the major global hubs.
Of course the loss of US exports would be catastrophic not only to the US but also its current customers for LNG. We really do need to encourage our friends to produce more gas.
September 21, 2022
In reality gas produced in the UK will stay in the UK so long as we don’t produce a surplus. We have limited export capacity dating from when we did have a small surplus, and unless we achieved a real bonanza of supply, we are not going to add to it.
As to the idea that our gas is at some mythical world price, consider what happened to gas prices for delivery in July this year in the UK and the other end of the interconnector to the Netherlands. The Dutch TTF prices ended up almost twice the UK NBP ones. See this chart
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5fb178cd62c85a8bd58c75e3f70768456b338f26298814c4c2197691c97c4048.jpg
Gas markets are local, not global.
September 21, 2022
The EU sits complacently dependent on Chinese manufacture, Russian oil and American military force. It is powerless. It is subject to blackmail by the Russians, military weakness from everyone and hopelessly inefficient government. And it is poor too. Soon, I think, it will be dismembered as Poland was in the 18th century. This Twentieth Century Socialist model is not fit for the twenty first century.
We are.
September 21, 2022
and they were very cross to lose our money, all the while we were a silent, ignored funder.
September 21, 2022
The Polish Liberum Veto certainly has contemporary echoes!
September 21, 2022
Energy rationing is coming whatever happens now. High inflation too. Price caps cannot remove gas shortages.
Remainers have done all the damage they wanted to and I’m afraid to say that the most powerful of them were Tories. They have wrecked the country.
My guess is that the British people will be given their chance to rejoin the EU after much suffering… and probably will.
September 21, 2022
@No Longer Anonymous
UK Energy shortages are due to the UK Government leaving our gas in the ground and preferring to import as it saves on World CO2(or so Boris said). You missed what Sir John said it has nothing to do with EU membership.
September 21, 2022
But in reality each successive UK Government allowed further control over our former independence. There was no real study or communication to the people about how entrenched we were getting signing up to. That is why the feeling gradually boiled up after realisation that absorption was taking over and soon it would be pointless having a government here at all.
September 21, 2022
Fully agree â its time we tear up all our treaties and agreements and start again
September 21, 2022
The risk assessment of relying on a completely mad dictator for gas, oil etc was completely missed by UK, EU.. only Trump got it; and the Germans laughed at him. They are not laughing now, nor is anyone at Putin’s repeated threats to use nuclear weapons over Ukraine.
Renewables aren’t ready yet and nuclear another 10-15 years away for base load, even if we start now.
Frack baby frack, drill, mine in N Sea at PACE, whilst relying on expensive friendly LNG.
Or if it is the End of Days, does any of it matter however governments screw up.
September 21, 2022
I’ll bet you that Lizz doesn’t frack…the tories just haven’t got the bottle any more to put the people first
September 21, 2022
âEven Mrs Thatcher ducked radical NHS reform. Liz Truss must be braver
For decades the health serviceâs funding model has been untouchable, but soon it will be untenableâ
Philip Johnston in the Telegraph today.
She certainly did and she ducked many other things & made many other errors – The daft as a brush John Major as Chancellor being the main one but also destroying many good schools and failing to cut the state back sufficiently. A dire, grossly unfair competition, state monopoly NHS is idiotic and fails millions and kills hundred of thousands.
September 21, 2022
Lifelogic, they could simply increase funding for the NHS by putting charging mechanisms in doctors’ surgeries and hospitals to bill the EHIC/GHIC cards, the travel insurance for foreign visitors (just look how Spain does it, I know a young lady who went out to Spain with neither EHIC nor travel insurance they wouldn’t treat her until her Dad made a payment on his credit card!), and the foreign aid budget for those we treat with none of the above so reducing the amount of aid we have to provide to meet our international obligations elsewhere.
The UK Global Health Insurance Card ( GHIC ) lets you get state healthcare in Europe at a reduced cost or sometimes for free and European citizens to get reciprocal care from the UK, except we don’t seem to bill back. Our doctors and nurses seem reluctant to do this, yet want more money in pay and conditions for themselves from the remaining UK taxpayers.
September 21, 2022
Iâd be happy if they started by making hospital Consultant Doctors and GP Doctors âemployeesâ of the NHS and not self-employed or companies
September 21, 2022
That is exactly the problem that has reduced GP surgeries to being run by a triage fire-breathing dragon, in protection of Doctors from actually seeing anybody while partners enjoy ÂŁ120k+. The nurse practioners do the work and face the disgruntled patients, who by being on the Doctor’s panel/roll whatever it is are funding the GP’s lifestyle. Surgeries seem to survive, but at a low service level, by finding Registrars who move on pretty quickly until they find a place where they might perform and be able to satisfy their conscience.
September 21, 2022
With the NHS, we could take a leaf from the Australian model. If doctors don’t see their patients, they do not get paid!
September 21, 2022
âOne of the most bizarre features of the few Remain supporters who come daily to this site to rubbish anything good the U.K. does or could do with its freedoms is their refusal to analyse the impact of past EU laws and policies.â
An even more bizarre feature of Remain supporters is their willingness to accept directives, laws and policies made by people we do not elect and cannot remove. EU membership is truly a leap into the unknown.
September 21, 2022
@Original Richard +1
Democraccy or Dictatorship
September 21, 2022
I suppose there is money in it?
Shilling I mean.
September 21, 2022
You seem to have forgotten that the EU internal Energy Market was based on the privatisation model of the UK and Sweden! Particularly, the breakup of the vertically integrated system into separate generation, transmission and distribution sectors. Unlike the UK, Sweden and the rest of the EU governments kept a grip on there strategic energy infrastructure by maintaining ownership of the dominant parts of it; particularly France. Knowing the best way to regulate such important assets is from the inside, with all the others that are trying to rig the market into an oligopoly.
Reply Is that why half of French nuclear generating stations have been shut and they have been importing from the U.K. this summer?
September 21, 2022
reply to reply ….interconnects are not wanted ‘to balance peaks and troughs ‘ but purely to disguise abject failure in much of the EU, and increasingly so UK. EU foolish enough to rely on the main industrialised country as long as Russia agrees to provide energy, and UK stupid enough to dismiss nuclear power for 30 years, while getting upset about running out of coal and letting the Arabs buy profitable parts of UK in exchange for oil.
September 21, 2022
So why did I read a couple of days ago that Governments across Europe that grid operators may be forced to shut down power this winter to avoid a total system collapse?
According to Bloomberg, Europe is having to prepare for the energy squeeze worsens each week. “On Wednesday, France’s Reseau de Transport d’Electricite said it will probably have to cut consumption several times in the winter to avoid rolling blackouts, and Finland has ramped up warning about outages. Also on Wednesday, the European Commission proposed a regulation calling on governments to cut overall electricity usage by 10%, as well as a 5% mandatory reduction during peak hours.”
September 21, 2022
Breaking things up which should not be broken up, for example separating the ownership of the trains from that of the track in our railways, was done at the command of the EU, as part of its anti monopoly rules. Even Cal Mac’s ferries in the Western Isles were attacked by the EU.
September 21, 2022
Have a look at the “main table” in https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1086796/ET_5.6_JUN_22.xlsx
You will see that the UK has remained a net importer from France; just! The bit that is a worry, is the size of the import from France in Quarters 1 & 2 in 2021. Will those GWh still be available in Quarters 1 & 2 in 2023 and at what price? Notice the import into England from Scotland (where the wind does blow). Meanwhile Brussels is saying the two months of EU gas storage it now has is for use by the EU member states solidarity agreement.
September 21, 2022
The internal energy market was designed in much the same way as the Soviet bloc used to create interdependence and centralised control. See ENTSO-E and ENTSO-G.
September 21, 2022
Whilst it is true that CAGW/Net Zero was an EU aim, there is no doubt that the Remainer/communists in the UK used EU directives to the maximum to destroy our energy security and independence by cancelling/restricting nuclear, restricting North Sea drilling permits, banning fracking and blowing up power stations.
Even the EU have declared nuclear and gas as âgreenâ.
And today they are still pursuing CAGW/Net Zero wind turbines, which as I write are providing 2.62 GW out of an installed capacity of 27 GW (better than yesterday which went below 1 GW), despite having no plan at all for grid stability and long-term storage when the wind doesnât blow, let alone how to produce the âexcessâ electrical energy required.
There is no plan for nuclear other than an aim for 8 reactors to be built between 2043 and 2050, 8 years after the 2035 electricity decarbonisation date.
This is national recklessness.
Has the Government asked its favourite university, Imperial College London, to model the excess deaths in winter caused by expensive, intermittent and unpredictable blackouts of electricity and gas?
September 21, 2022
On a different note, having seen the budget ‘leaks’ this morning, I can only think that not one of these announcements is going to help most of the middle or lower income sectors who are the worst hit. Stamp duty doesn’t help when fuel prices mean people won’t move houses and inflation means the smart don’t run up more debts. Corporation tax will help business owners, but at best helps employees keep their heads above water. NI savings are limited aid. Scrapping city bonuses? The people who are being hit don’t receive them in the first place!
Transfer of tax allowances within families (a potential ÂŁ1200 pound pay rise for the lowest paid), dropping VAT from fuel (saves homeowners money, or if the companies keep that 20% it reduces the need for loans), improved infrastructure to create jobs and reinvestment, dropping or revising IR35 (better flow and supply of labour), ensuring the government procurement process includes the value of the multiplier effect provided by UK firms when purchasing (reinvestment in UK firms keeps people employed)…. the list of possible changes goes on and on, but I suspect we will see none of it.
September 21, 2022
Good morning Sir John
Thank you once again for the excellent reasoned item.
To me it goes to the point of Democracy, do we have Government for the people by the People – Democracy. Or an unelected unaccountable Commission as a de-facto ruler.
Is it Government via the People that makes things âillegalâ when needed or is it bureaucrats that start from the position everything is âillegalâ unless they themselves or their own deem it âlegalâ. One needs âhuman rightsâ to make things seem warm cuddly, while a Democracy doesnât â it just gets on with life.
That is also where the Blair/Brown cabal let democracy down â devolution didnât push democracy and government down to were it works County/Shire level. It just created multi tiered power bases that do nothing.
In a way that brings us back to what is the EU? On the World stage it acts as if it is a Country. It has embassies, gets to go to the UN and G7 meetings. In the mean time some of its individual States/Countries also play on the World stage as if they are independent entities, many bites out oft the same cherry. Someone is taking the âmichaelâ out of World structures.
September 21, 2022
You wonât find a more committed Brexiteer than me. But I didnât vote Leave because of âthe big panoply of lawâ, I voted Leave because the EU is intrinsically undemocratic no because Freedom of Movement is (to some extent) desirable but is inherently impractical.
So, as devilâs advocate – and a point Remainers often make – can you provide examples of this âpanoply of lawâ that has been to our detriment. Personally, I like clean beaches – to name but one area of good EU regulation.
September 21, 2022
Mike
What is not often told about this ‘panoply’ of EU law, is that it was all passed via Statutory Instruments and NOT via Parliament. This was deliberate so that no scrutiny could be made of what we were signing up to. The bigger sin is though, we could, if we so wanted to, change this and amend or at least slow down its advance.
Sweden signed up to adopt the EURO. To this day they still use the Swedish Krona. All against EU rules and Treaty Agreements.
September 22, 2022
Beaches are harder to keep clean since open borders. Adding millions to the population has greatly increased the load on the sewers, which Bazalgette did not engineer for the rest of the world. No amount of regulation – and we have the Regulator and the Environment Agency – can stop all that extra volume of dirty water and sewage going into the main drains and overflowing. Either back up into people’s houses, or, as the companies prefer, out into the rivers and seas. Don’t forget the extra runoff from rain into the main drains which used to fall on grass and soak away, but now falls on concrete and tarmac with nowhere but the drains to go.
An additional factor now is the difficulty in getting hold of the chemicals to treat the sewage. In this new situation, water companies are allowed to get written agreement from the EA to discharge untreated. The reason for the difficulty is disruption in supply chains since the response to the pandemic. Nothing to do with Brexit, though the remainiacs are pretending it is.
Another factor you should consider is that before 2016 we only had about 900 monitors to alert us to the discharge of sewage. Now we have thousands. So before 2016, only people like me who went in the sea in all weathers and seasons knew about the problem; now, all those newly fashionable “wild swimmers” with smartphones are informed. Again, nothing to do with Brexit. And nothing to do with climate change.
September 21, 2022
How can this be I ask myself – we have ‘taken back control’ but now I read here that we havn’t – not yet anyway – so much to be done and the politicians ie.the Tories with 80 majority in the House are struggling to come to terms with the new situation. Truss is going to have a go with her Maggie Thatcher style approach but it’s not going to work ’cause she is out of step with what else is going on around – it’s just a different time and copying game changers of the past will be a waste of time – she should at least try to be her own person. The new hardliners approach might have got her somewhere if Trump was still there but he’s not – so friendless she will embark on a new tack all alone. Of course she could always make friends with the other rightwing oddballs out there like ErdoÄan and Bolsonaro not to forget Orban. Yucks!
September 21, 2022
Well said Sir John, as the ever closer union is never debated not discussed but it is the EU main reason to exist and the crucial hidden agenda.
September 21, 2022
Why have we not had decisions to immediately authorise and encourage onshore gas, coal and oil production? There has been plenty of time, there’s no need for further studies.
The only conclusion is Truss like all government continues to be afraid of opposition from the EU, and from eco-fanatics etc., or she does not wish believe in the benefits to our country herself.
September 21, 2022
I fear that this government will not act on energy, will not increase or allow drilling or fracking…..probably waiting for instructions from the EU
September 21, 2022
The British people voted to cede from the EU. That vote MUST be honoured with all that entails. When the Irish voted to cede from the U.K. their expressed wish was honoured as was that of the six Protestant counties of the north to remain an integral part of the U.K. should Scotland vote to cede from the U.K., their expressed desire will be honoured.
Similarly it it imperative that the expressed will of the people of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson are honoured whether they vote to remain in The Ukraine or return to their ancient homeland of Russia.
To do anything less would be a denial of Democracy upon which the west was founded.
September 21, 2022
Lynn
With respect to the Republic of Ireland, Ulster and Scotland, ignoring the North Sea oil none of them were ever major contributors to the UK economy, certainly not in the way the UK was a major contributor to the EU’s coffers đ
It was not us that was hard to let go, it was our ca$h.
September 22, 2022
The North Sea oilfields are in the Shetland area, and Shetland has stated that it will not join Scotland should it cede. So the oilfields are NOT Scottish.
I donât give a fig about whether constituent parts are financially viable or not. The will of the people, clearly expressed is Sovereign in any democracy. Russia is a Christian Democracy – a detail many miss, so fixated by the mantra CarthÄgĆ dÄlenda est are they.
September 21, 2022
I am rereading my old copy of Dieter Helmâs âEnergy, the State and the Market: British Energy Policy since 1979â. The book is from 2003 so is limited to Mrs Tâs years, and the rush for gas. Funnily, there is not much pressure from the EU in those years, years during which a certain Redwood was very close to power. But getting old one forgets, doesnât one?
Reply We ran our own energy policy in the 80 s. Eu control came later.
September 21, 2022
Sir JR
As is was outlined to you yesterday we could have led our own policy for the past two years and have done nothing. So just blaming the EU is just not correct
Reply Glad you agree the EU policy was damaging.Yes we could have changed it last year.
September 21, 2022
So before 2020 it’s the EUs fault.
Thanks bill.
September 22, 2022
Peter 2
You make your own conclusions
September 21, 2022
The Catch 22 is that our policies just happen to be exactly the same policies of the EU, and always will beâŠ.coincidence or what
September 21, 2022
TCW has published an article based upon a report by William Kininmonth former head of the Australian Climate Centre highlighted by Andrew Montford questioning the whole global warming myth.
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2022/09/21/does-this-explode-the-great-global-warming-myth/
Is it not time for all countries to really question the whole process in light of the trillions it is costing and for what?
September 21, 2022
+1
September 21, 2022
Sir John,
I well remember ‘Sir’ Nick Clegg’s arrogant assertion during the refendum campaign that the prediction of an EU army was “a dangerous fantasy.” Well now it looks like it’s going to be a dangerous reality. What no-one had predicted at the time is that this EU army would be led by Germany.
September 21, 2022
The EU strategy envisions the creation of an EU rapid deployment force of up to 5,000 soldiers
https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-leader-approve-defense-military-plan/
September 21, 2022
It is entirely irelevant what the EU’s attitude is and has been to energy and Net Zero. We have been free to do our own thing since 2016 yet successive Conservative governments have gone along with the predominately Remainer Civil Service, actively worked to make us more dependent on the EU for energy via interconnectors.
Add to that the ludicrous 2050 Net Zero target that was pursued by the Johnson government at the behest of his wife, and we are in the mess we are in. Hopefully that will now be quietly dropped, or at least put back to 2060 or later.
With the Ukrainian war likely to be more prolonged and increasingly bloody, we must increase our defence spending and reverse manpower cuts in the military immediately, and become self sufficient in energy as soon as humanly possible.
Fracking can be restarted and expanded very quickly, the first SMRs can be in operation within five years as can at least the new Hinkley Point reactors. Then we have new licences for the North Sea which will take some time to bring additional oil and gas ashore.
Yes, it is too little and too late but with effort, we can improve our situation and independence quite dramatically.
Reply We had to follow EU laws and policies until 2020.
September 22, 2022
The parliaments and government chose to agree and follow EU laws and policies since 2016.
September 21, 2022
Off topic, there is a major flaw in this article today:
https://conservativehome.com/2022/09/21/a-us-uk-trade-deal-was-never-a-likely-prospect-or-what-leave-voters-wanted/
“A UK/US trade deal was never a likely prospect â or what Leave voters wanted.”
The flaw being that it does not say how little any such deal would be worth to us.
It seems almost impossible to get this across against the prevailing media story.
Here is a letter that I sent to the editor of the Belfast News Letter this morning:
“You report that Liz Truss “has conceded that there is little prospect of an early trade deal with the US”.
In which case she is following the same course as the EU, which started negotiations for a free trade deal in 2013 but abandoned them in 2019, recording on its website:
“Nevertheless, transatlantic trade continues to enjoy one of the lowest average tariffs (under 3%) in the world, governed by World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.”
And the reality is that we too have little to gain through a special trade deal with the US, with a 2019 report by the Department for International Trade projecting that such a deal might enhance our GDP by a trivial 0.1 percent.
This really is a red herring, repeatedly thrust to the fore by EU supporters in their attempts to prevent us from permanently discontinuing the EU checks which the protocol requires to be applied to the wrong flow of goods – imports coming into Northern Ireland – and instead transferring those EU checks to the correct flow of goods – exports crossing the land border into the Irish Republic.”
References:
https://policy.trade.ec.europa.eu/eu-trade-relationships-country-and-region/countries-and-regions/united-states_en
“Despite the US being the EUâs largest trading partner, there is no dedicated free trade agreement between the EU and the US. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations were launched in 2013, but ended without conclusion at the end of 2016. They were formally closed in 2019 after being considered obsolete. Nevertheless, transatlantic trade continues to enjoy one of the lowest average tariffs (under 3%) in the world, governed by World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.”
For the projected economic benefit to the UK of a special trade deal with the US I take the numbers on page 33 here:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/869592/UK_US_FTA_negotiations.pdf
“A trade agreement with the US could increase UK GDP in the long run by around 0.07% (within a range of between 0.02% and 0.15%) or 0.16% (between 0.05% and 0.36%) under scenario 1 and scenario 2 respectively.”
I take the average of those two midpoints, 0.07 and 0.16, to get the rounded average projected benefit of 0.1% of GDP cited in the text of the letter.
September 21, 2022
But why Sir John, have the majority in parliament consistently failed to see where we were headed with the policies being folllowed? Where was the critical thinking, where was the independence of mind?
I do not remember any speaking out, or if they were, their voices were drowned out. Even I with rudimentary knowledge, knew we were headed for serious problems and when renovating the house in 2000 ensured we had a wood burner that not only heated the room but also radiators and hot water cylinder.
Yes, the EU was a serious problem and that is why I and so many others campaigned to leave.
September 21, 2022
O.K. I admit I did not recognise that ‘the energy system we have followed came from the E.U.’.
In fact I still think that Boris Johnson followed his own ‘Carbon Neutral’ policies, when he was supposed to ‘get brexit done’.
Anyway, Truss seems to be moving in the right direction on some issues but is she moving fast enough on ALL outstanding issues?
Like getting the whole UK out of the EU (Northern Ireland Protocol and what about fish), defending OUR borders against invasion – by illegal immigrants – get out of the E.C.H.R.
She apparently IS encouraging energy production from our own fossil fuels and helping our industries by lower fuel prices but has she done anything to encourage nuclear energy?
Also what, if anything, is being done about a sensible agricultural policy to produce as much as possible of our own food?
September 21, 2022
Sir JR
“Glorified trade arrangement”
This is like you talking about a free trade agreement with the US? When leaving the EU.
September 21, 2022
Punk rockers raised protest against many things, yet during the Queenâs Silver Jubilee they carried banners reading âQueen Rules OKâ.
In contrast, Remainers want EU Rules above our sovereign right and keep protesting: annoyed at achieving zero effect.
Remainers grouse but now they should duck. The putrid stench of many stagnant EU regulations will soon be flushed out of our way over their heads.
September 21, 2022
I’m just fed up with this country being told what to do by the USA and France. How about we grow some?
September 21, 2022
Sorry to post so late. REmainers are also execrably bad at criticizing new EU policies (well, not so much policies as stuff decided by the EU Commission). My experience is that they don’t even know what the EU is doing. THey don’t know who the personalities are either. They are probably unaware of growing voices against the EU Commission’s moves to More Europe.
September 22, 2022
The end result of “ever closer union” has not been defined in the European project, leaving a spectrum of representatives (MEPs) to strive towards federalisation and others towards more intergovernmental cooperation. That is why I’ve often used the term of a “hybrid” construction between the two. Various crises and geopolitical developments appear to lead to more integration (closer union). The current UK would not fit well in this construction (in my opinion). No need to speculate 30 or 40 years into the future.
A closer and more trustworthy and reliable cooperation between the two unions would be real progress. With the current UK government I don’t see that happening.
September 22, 2022
The problem Peter, is the vagueness of that very important phrase.
Was it deliberate or accidental.
Some on the political spectrum thought it meant a centrally controlled federal superstate with nation member states subsumed.
Others thought it meant closer co-operation of members to their mutual benefit but with sovereignty still within the nation states.
I believe this phrase is the single most destructive concept in the EU and was behind the reason the UK left.
And maybe other members might follow.
PS
I hope the EU will be a success for whosoever remains as enthusiastic members.
September 23, 2022
@Peter2
This important phrase (âDETERMINED to lay the foundations of an ever-closer union among the peoples of Europeâ) has been in all European Treaties from the start (e.g. the very first statement in the 1957 Treaty of Rome).
It has always expressed a very strong wish (after the ruins caused by WWII).
As such, it is necessarily somewhat vague, although few people would have taken it to mean increasing the frequency of Eurovision Song Festivals.
Maybe Britain misinterpreted the phrase when it sought to become an EU member. Maybe a strong association with the EU while remaining outside the EU would have been better?
September 24, 2022
They didn’t mention an army, embassies, 5 Presidents, huge law making powers, 27 members a currency and a central bank either Peter.
Nor a desire to create the United States of Europe.