4 parties share a platform to make the case to leave the EU

Some readers of this site will be pleased to know that Conservative, Labour and Democratic Unionist party MPs joined with UKIP MEPs to make common cause this afternoon for leave. BBC cameras and various journalists were present. The conference was entitled “The Good life after Brexit”. The common platform included Liam Fox, David Davis, Bernard Jenkin, Nigel Farage, Graham Stringer, Ian Paisley and myself.

I am grateful to David Campbell Bannerman MEP for organising the event and giving us such a good introduction to the case for leaving.

48 Comments

  1. Maureen Turner
    February 10, 2016

    This is exactly what we wanted to see all Party support for Brexit. The more it can be seen we are all working for the same goal the better our chances to return a Leave vote.
    This has cheered me up no end.

    1. oldtimer
      February 10, 2016

      Me too!

      1. Know-Dice
        February 11, 2016

        And me 🙂

      2. Jerry
        February 11, 2016

        Might I add a (belated) “Me too”. I’ve said it only last week, this is a non party political issue, I would also like to see Brexit seeking business people present too.

        One point though, why is it “the BBC”, rather than UK broadcaster media, all to common for one person to use such a phrase as shorthand for the entire UK broadcasting media industry for it to then descend into a pro/anti BBC slanging match! On the other hand if it was only the BBC present the real question is why was it only the BBC, some might not like how the BBC broadcast the meeting (be it buried at 1am on BBC-P, a 20 second clip each hour on the News channel or edited highlights on the Daily/Weekly Politics programmes) but if other broadcasters have not bothered to turn up then they will not be covering the meeting what so ever (and as some keep reminding us, not everyone chooses to get their news and politics coverage from the BBC…

        Reply I was only told the BBC were there

    2. Atlas
      February 11, 2016

      Good !

  2. The Active Citizen
    February 10, 2016

    And guess what? Absolutely no mention of this event anywhere. I was looking out for it in the media as I knew it was happening, even though it wasn’t advertised.

    However, delighted you were there and were one of the speakers, JR. Maybe we’ll see a big splash about it on the BBC after midnight….

    1. alan jutson
      February 11, 2016

      TAC

      If anyone finds a video/youtube link, can they reference it on this site, so we can all share with those who still have doubts about out.

    2. nigel
      February 11, 2016

      Nothing in the Telegraph today. Who is responsible for PR?

      1. David Price
        February 11, 2016

        10:48 on 10th Feb

        http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/eureferendum/12148307/Britain-can-enjoy-the-good-life-after-Brexit.html

        just not on or linked on the front page.

        I share the delight that cross party progress is being made.

        1. forthurst
          February 11, 2016

          Bannerman’s DT article was published before the Meeting.

          If the meeting was called with such a line-up without ensuring that at least an independent video recording of the event was made, that would be disgracefully bad organisation, not least because the BBC is perfectly capable of clipping speeches to further its own anti-English pro-globalist agenda.

    3. George Lloyd
      February 11, 2016

      Congratulations, it is great to see some MP’s resisting the pressures of their leaders in a decision that should be above party politics.

  3. agricola
    February 10, 2016

    Like the 39 bus, a long time coming, but when they do it is seven in convoy. Joking apart I am very pleased it has happened, the CMD farce has been allowed to run for too long. It now looks more like the people versus vested interests led by CMD. Gather in all the elements of opposition to continued EU membership, and meet on a common platform for the edification of the electorate. Remember the Chinese saying in effect ,one stick is easily broken , but ten bound together are a totally different proposition.

  4. waiterb
    February 10, 2016

    What a great team.

  5. Bob
    February 10, 2016

    Nothing on the BBC 6 o’clock news about it, but they did have a focus group of people who were completely clueless about the actual issues and were saying things like “we mustn’t allow ourselves to be isolated” and “prices will rise if we leave”. The skeptics in the group could only mention immigration as their concern.

    No attempt was made by the chap hosting the group to explore the issues in any depth, and he called for a show of cards which showed a narrow margin for “remain”.
    The BBC is not going to allow proper examination of the real issues and David Cameron is doing his level best to stifle Tories, so we’ve got our work cut out for us.

    1. Horatio McSherry
      February 11, 2016

      I was unfortunate enough to catch that part of the programme. I wasn’t going to stick on the channel until I heard the host say the BBC had been “helped” to select balanced group of people. I noticed the “remainers” were all looked quite respectable and were quite eloquent, however, the one “outer” they kept going to for quotes seemed the stereotypical uneducated tabloid reader.

      Perhaps that’s what they needed the help for?

  6. Margaret
    February 10, 2016

    wow !

  7. CHRISTOPHER HOUSTON
    February 10, 2016

    Good.
    I think this is the very last opportunity realistically to leave the EU with minimum damage if at all, to the interests all concerned. We will, rather than shall, leave the EU somewhere along the line come what may.

    Better for all concerned including weak EU nation economies and quite unstable regimes, yes regimes, that an organised and thoughtful and necessarily prolonged withdrawal takes place. We want none of the knee-jerk Lamontesque panic when the chickens come home to roost.

  8. Cheshire Girl
    February 10, 2016

    Hopefully we will see something of that on the TV. I look forward to it.

  9. turboterrier
    February 10, 2016

    It will be interesting to see how they report this wonderful event.

    The train has finally left the station and has got steam up and now perhaps the public will get what they deserved more open facts presented as John has been doing for ages,

    Our economy has become less dependent on the EU, brilliant what a bonus for the leave campaign and what an opportunity for the UK companies to get out there and create and expand their markets.

    The wheels are slowly but surely coming off for the EU and Dave and his stay supporters. I think it will be the death knell if we do win to leave, as other members will see the futility of remaining in Union as we the UK move to greater things.

    Hopefully all the last week sentries by John can be collated into a booklet for general distribution to the public in a basic FAQ format.

  10. Bert Young
    February 10, 2016

    Very good news !. It’s time for a co-ordinated push for !Out”; the forces that think alike and want the same result have to work together . Any differences must be out aside for the common goal of achieving “Brexit”.

  11. Denis Cooper
    February 10, 2016

    Good, well done all of you.

  12. bluedog
    February 10, 2016

    Excellent news, Dr JR. Disunity is death.

    An unintended consequence of the EU is a complete realignment of British politics with British patriots on the one side and EU lackeys on the other side. It’s taken time but we can now see the framework of a group that will provide the leadership of an independent Britain after Brexit.

    It goes without saying that the running dogs of the EU are on the wrong side of history.

  13. Anonymous
    February 10, 2016

    There is no need for a single leader or single ‘party’ for the Out lobby.

    This is not an election or presidential contest.

  14. alan jutson
    February 10, 2016

    Excellent news.

    Let us hope it will make the main media outlets, with a team like that it should !

  15. Leslie Singleton
    February 10, 2016

    This reader is as you say very pleased

  16. Pericles Xanthippou
    February 10, 2016

    That’s more like it, men! There’s no I in team.

    ΠΞ

    1. CAROLINE HOWELL
      February 12, 2016

      well done all ….. exactly right this is not a party vote it is a British Patriotic vote

  17. James Matthews
    February 10, 2016

    I hereby confirm that I am pleased.

  18. Timaction
    February 10, 2016

    Good. Patriots one and all!!

  19. oldtimer
    February 10, 2016

    I hope someone has videoed this and will post it on YouTube.

  20. matthu
    February 10, 2016

    This is worth a re-broadcast:

    If I wanted Britain to fail …To follow, not lead; to decline, not prosper; to despair, not dream. I would start with sovereignty. First I’d cede all law making to the unelected EU bureaucrats in Brussels. In return for this I would pay £55 million a day for the privilege, cover more than my fair share of any budgetary over-runs without question and without audit. I’d police myself ruthlessly to ensure that I comply with all EU laws and pay vast fines if I break rules whilst other members continue to flaunt the rules with impunity. I’d give up any remaining judicial authority that I have and look to the European Court of Justice to arbitrate in all our affairs. I’d show the world how selfless I am by keeping our borders open to (many migrants ed) who have accepted Frau Merkel’s open invitation to come and live in Europe.

    If I wanted Britain to fail … I’d ban any mention of Christianity in our schools. (Words left out ed) I would also ban crucifixes so that no offence would be given to our burgeoning Muslim population. I’d ensure young children are taught about the benefits of diverse sexual orientation and encourage them to explore and experiment with their sexuality. I would focus science education on AGW and ensure that they were aware that we never had named storms before 2015 and worse weather would come unless they changed their lifestyles. I’d ensure that more and more children take out large loans to take University courses in subjects that add no value but provides an opportunity to extensively expose them to the thinking of the liberal intellectuals who have pervaded all our institutions.

    If I wanted Britain to fail … I would encourage the EU to create countless new regulations and make the old ones more draconian. They would be so complicated that only bureaucrats, lawyers and lobbyists could understand them. That way small businesses with big ideas wouldn’t stand a chance – I’d give generous tax breaks to Google, Apple, Facebook, Goldman Sachs and others to ensure they help spread the right message, restrict the bloggosphere and reward the favoured elites. I’d force manufacturers to shut down production of successful British brands such as the Landrover Discovery and high performance Dyson vacuum cleaners for failing to meet EU safety and environmental regulations. Meanwhile I’ll allow German manufacturers like VW and Bosch to mislead the British public with exaggerated claims for their products without penalty.

    If I wanted Britain to fail … I’d be the only country in Europe to enshrine impossible CO2 reduction targets in law. I’d take more than my share of the greenhouse emissions reduction targets and give others countries a free ride because of it. I’d make everyone feel guilty for using the energy that heats their homes, fuels their cars, runs their businesses, and powers the economy. I’d make cheap energy like gas and coal expensive, so that expensive energy like wind and solar would seem cheap. I would all-but-outlaw Britain’s most abundant sources of energy. I’d shut down our existing nuclear and coal and make shale gas so difficult and costly it wouldn’t be worth doing. I’d turn a blind eye to Germany building new coal fired electricity generating stations. I would transform the environmental agenda from a document of conservation to an economic suicide pact. I would concede entire industries to our global economic rivals by imposing regulations that cost billions. I would celebrate those who preach environmental austerity in public while indulging a lavish lifestyle in private.

    If I wanted Britain to fail … For every concern, I’d invent a crisis; and for every crisis, I’d invent a bogeyman. I’d encourage the EU to expand into the Russian sphere of influence. I’d run down our own defences but support the creation of a European Army to stare down Putin. I’d bomb the allies of Assad even though they are the only ones fighting IS on the ground. I’d try and get Turkey into the EU so that we might have more workers willing to accept very low pay to come to the UK to prop up the Ponzi scheme that is our economy for a little longer. I’d bestow £11 billion a year in foreign aid ensuring it goes on reducing carbon footprints and into the hands of the local elites – I’d seek to bring about regime change where strong leaders do not share my world view on human rights.

    If I wanted Britain to fail … I’d make it almost impossible for farmers to farm, fishermen to fish, miners to mine, builders to build and driller to drill. And because I don’t believe in free markets, I’d invent false ones. I’d devise fictitious products—like carbon credits—and trade them on imaginary markets. I’d raise prices and disguise this as a subsidy to prop up uneconomic green industries. I’d convince people that this would create jobs and be good for the economy. I’d make it easier to stop industry than start it – easier to kill jobs than create them I’d make it impossible to fire the lazy or incompetent. I’d completely open our borders and incentivise economic migrants with the promise of generous benefits and free health care paid for by ever increasing taxes levied on the few. I’d ensure that I could buy the votes by making beneficiaries of the handouts and plethora of public sector jobs greater in number than those actually creating real value. I’d put my like thinking cronies in highly paid executive positions of publicly funded charities and NGO’s. I’d encourage them to lobby the government to do my bidding.

    If I wanted Britain to fail … I would prey on the goodness and decency of the ordinary people. I would only need the BBC, the MSM, schools and the civil service to convince them that leaving the EU would be to enter a dystopian world where there would be no jobs, no security, migrant camps, no future – a Britain unable to determine its destiny or be successful in a terrifying world of uncertainty and change.

    If I wanted Britain to fail … I suppose I wouldn’t change a thing. Cameron is doing an excellent job.

    Adapted from the words of Ryan Houck H/t Jo Nova

    1. stred
      February 11, 2016

      Matthu. I hope this piece is spread on the internet.

      Re. The good news from JR, up to now there has been no mention whatsoever on BBC , Ch4 or Sky of the event. Only RT had any coverage of the debate in the HoC about the joke negotiated by Eural. While the Daily Politics decided to cover the debate about free range chickens rather than mention Brexit.

      Would it be possible for the Out side to raise a legal challenge to force the BBC to honour their charter and stop acting as an agent for the EU and their supporters?

  21. Ken Moore
    February 10, 2016

    Indeed excellent news, I await further information with interest.

  22. Lindsay McDougall
    February 11, 2016

    This is where the case for Brexit can be won, by giving an accurate picture of life outside the EU. European Courts must not be superior to UK courts except in very narrowly defined matters to do with goods produced for sale within the EU. Sovereignty means that we would co-operate when we want to, without compulsion.

    Best is a clean exit and the setting up of a UK-EU trade deal similar to CETA, the Canada Europe Trade Accord negotiated in 2014. External tariffs in that deal are low, just a few percent, and most will disappear within 7 years. We are a very long way from the post WW2 situation, when the original Six formed a Customs Union with a 70% external tariff.

    Having got a free trade deal, we would reinstate some measures of co-operation with the EU – those that would be of mutual benefit. But those measures of co-operation would be reversible, not cast in stone in treaties.

    1. Denis Cooper
      February 11, 2016

      I wonder if you have a link for that original 70% external tariff?

      1. Lindsay McDougall
        February 14, 2016

        From the Encyclopedia Brittanica website on the European Community:
        The elimination of internal tariffs within the original Six took place between January 1959 and July 1968. Simultaneously external tariffs were harmonised to create the common external tariff.

        The 70% rate must have been something I heard of in a news item in the second half of the 1950s, before the Six’s external tariffs were harmonised. This was during MacMillan’s first term, when envy of the success of the Six was building up.

        France and Italy were the most protectionist countries of the Six at that time. It would take some time to track down the history of the tariffs of individual countries in the 1950s.

  23. bluedog
    February 11, 2016

    May one be so bold as to suggest some ideas on branding, Dr JR? It would seem important to adopt the Union flag as the emblem of a British nationalist movement. Equally important would be to associate opposition politicians such as PM Cameron with the EU flag as an identifier, thus denying him the shelter of appearing British. After all, Cameron’s loyalty is clearly with the EU and he can scarcely object to the EU flag, or the EU anthem being played , on his appearances.

    1. Iain Moore
      February 11, 2016

      “adopt the Union flag as the emblem”

      No it would confirm a stereotype , the argument for leaving the EU must be made on the basis of principles, principles that are valid for all countries. Wrapping ourselves in the Union flag would be seen as a substitute because we are lacking an argument.

      I was somewhat embarrassed to see a Conservative MP wearing a Union flag jacket in the first GO conference.

  24. Iain Moore
    February 11, 2016

    On Question Time last week the Labour MP on the panel floated the question that claimed they never heard about what Brexit was offering after we leave the EU. Paul Nuttal of UKIP attempted to answer the question, but was not allowed to by David Dimbleby. The Labour MP having been encouraged by this then proceeded to ask the question again , and again Paul Nuttal was refused the chance to answer it.

    You put on a cross party conference to enlarge on the good life post Brexit, the BBC was there, but failed to report on it.

    Do I see a pattern developing here?

  25. a-tracy
    February 11, 2016

    You need to embrace new media, blog, twitter, facebook, instagram, google+, you need each specialist to create debating blog posts on their speciality, like this excellent piece about EU Military being led by a Germany/France axis and pooled in central Europe, we’re always going to be on the fringe with little say and outmanoeuvred and British people don’t like that.

    We need to look at what the SNP got right in their superb campaigning, without the threats and anti-EU rhetoric that so damaged them and their relations with the rest of the UK since. Your campaign needs to be positive throughout, write the articles so that the women of this Country can be involved, get Priti more involved and Kate Hoey if you can she’s an economics graduate and the Labour party have never used her skills fully.

    Reply I am happy writing these pieces and speaking – others can help by getting them out in various formats and media.

    1. David Price
      February 11, 2016

      Very good to hear about this, more please.

      When you do subsequent cross-party sessions such as this I suggest you have someone recording it for Youtube regardless of whether the BBC or whoever else is there or not. You cannot let the BBC or the MSM have editorial control over your message.

  26. Tom William
    February 11, 2016

    I can’t find any reference to this meeting other than a pre meeting announcement. Who did (not) cover it?

    Reply I was told BBC, Guardian and several others were there. I gave a quote to the Express on top of the talk.

  27. Vanessa
    February 11, 2016

    If this event was organised by David Bannerman then you will read a critique on this meeting over on EUReferendum dot com. He does not do his research and, like most politicians, has no clue as to how Britain would leave with all our trade etc. in tack. This is why politicians should NOT be involved with the LEAVE CAMPAIGN they do not do any research and they have not read the treaties – if they have then they are lying.

    A bit similar to when they took us in with all the lies we were told about sovereignty in 1975. If they knew the truth (and they MUST have done) then they lied to the British public.

    Reply David has researched it thoroughly and written a book on the subject.

  28. Yosarion
    February 11, 2016

    About time to , the fight is against an ever greater EU that wants power over you at any cost to democracy. All that see through this charade should put political differences aside and fight the enemy to the front.
    The politics can start a fresh when we have are democracy back in Westminster.

  29. A.Sedgwick
    February 11, 2016

    Excellent.

  30. Qubus
    February 11, 2016

    Can anyone provide a link please?

  31. Amanda
    February 11, 2016

    Excellent news.

  32. PaulDirac
    February 11, 2016

    Great move, I just stopped my Email subscription to Vote leave as they refuse to join this united front.

    A very interesting and poignant news item:
    Turkey is threatening to open the immigration gates wide and flood Europe with all those who chose to go, this is in “retaliation” for the EU not paying Turkey the 3 billion Euros they were promised as a bribe.

    Turkey has turned into an official “persuasion by threat” nation, that aside, it means that any time the EU does something they don’t like – they will be able to use this threat and probably get what they want.

    With some help from Mutti Merkel, the EU has turned itself into a shameful slave to Turkey, a state of 85 million Muslims, which has a per capita GDP on par with Albania.

    If Turkey is able to “persuade” the EU to give its citizens some form of residential access, there is no telling what will happen,

Comments are closed.