By the time you read this, events will have kind of
overtaken it but please do read on.
Today, Tuesday 17 January, 2017, UK Prime Minister,
Theresa May will lay out the framework for Britain’s exit from the European
Union – Brexit.
It’s entirely possible that her speech will have had a
bit of a re-write in the last couple of days, to take account of comments by
soon to be US President Trump and by the lead EU negotiator, Michel Barnier.
President Trump has indicated a desire for the USA to
conclude a free trade treaty with the UK, as soon as possible. So no more ‘back of the queue’ from the
Britain-hating Obama
M. Barnier has apparently recognised the importance of
the City of London to the European Union’s financial system. ‘Apparently’ because having said this in an
interview with the ‘remain’ leaning Guardian newspaper, he then sought to
backtrack. Whatever! Barnier’s position will become clearer over
time though I suspect the recent comments are closer to reality than his
politically inspired backtracking.
Both though show that Brexit doesn’t presage the doom-laden
future that the ‘remainers’ and global ‘experts’ predicted. Indeed, even the Bank of England Governor now
seems to recognise that the immediately greater risk from Brexit is to the EU
rather than Britain. On the same track,
the IMF, headed by convicted criminal, Christine Lagarde, have rowed back on
their gloomy predictions for the UK economy and are now upgrading their growth
predictions for the UK economy. Also
they and other so called experts have come to recognise that the UK was the
strongest economy in the world, during
2016. And yes, Remainers, that includes
6 months of the ‘dark Brexit winter’ that started on June 23rd,
2016!
Anyway, to Theresa May’s speech and my hopes for it.
Ted Yarborough, writing for the Daily Globe, has
succinctly outlined the five key points that Theresa May needs to ensure are
met. These are:
1. UK
having complete sovereignty over its borders and free movement of people to
end.
2. UK to
have free trade with the EU outside of the Single Market and Customs Union
3. European
courts and European Law to have no jurisdiction in the UK
4. Future
contributions to the UK are up for negotiation
5. Open
borders, with the Republic of Ireland to remain.
Ted covers these issues very well and so I won’t
repeat his arguments. I would add the
following though.
On the day that the UK invokes Article 50 of the
Lisbon Treaty, signalling its intent to leave the European Union, the UK should
actually leave the EU, that very day.
Okay, I know that that will freak out some people and
the ‘Remainers’ will have all sorts of ‘conniption fits’ but stay with me a
moment.
Such a move will require emergency UK legislation – I
am thinking of a simple one paragraph law that states that as of this date,
existing EU law that is on the UK Statute book will remain in effect, even
though Britain is no longer a member of the European Union until such time as
it is repealed.
That gets us over the immediate legal ‘hump’.
Why leave the same day?
Well, firstly, bureaucrats have an awful habit of
dragging things out. The recently-resigned
UK ambassador to the European Union, Sir Ivan Rogers, had indicated he thought
it would take 10 years to conclude a treaty.
That would be a nice ‘little earner’ for Eurocrats and lawyers and a
great chance to pad-out the pension pot.
Incidentally, why does any country have an ambassador to the European
Union? It isn’t as if it is a country!
Secondly, nothing concentrates the mind of those
conducting the negotiations more, than having a deadline. On the converse, an open-ended timeline – say
ten years – means that talks will drag on and on and progress is bound to be
glacial. Indeed, one would suspect that
this is a ploy of the ‘Remainers’ - drag
it out so that the British people lose interest and then quietly drop the whole
exercise. And, in the interim, the EU’s
freedom of movement policy continues to swamp the UK with migrants for which
the UK does not have the resources. There
is currently much talk in the UK media, of a crisis in the NHS. Apart from those people called ‘health
tourists’ who travel to the UK, take advantage of free at point of delivery
healthcare and then head home to their own country, without paying for the
service they received, the UK NHS simply wasn’t designed for such numbers as it
is now being called upon to serve. UK’s
immigrant population jumped from 3.8 million to 8.4 million, in the last 10
years or so. Such growth is
unsustainable. Just think about that
increase.
Thirdly, a repeat of the second – nothing concentrates
the mind more than the cash tap being turned off. Yes, on the day we invoke Article 50, we
cease contributions to the EU. Why on
earth would we pay a membership fee for a club for which we have ended
membership? Both ‘Leavers’ and
‘Remainers’ seem to agree that the net contribution
is £8.5 billion a year. Other than
providing a welcome reduction in government spending, this will focus the
Eurocrats in speeding towards a treaty.
The UK is the third largest contributor to the EU budget. We account for more than 12% of the
total. Whatever the outcome of the
negotiations, this would suggest that the much needed cuts to the bloated EU
spending will have to be made. Better
late than never, I suppose.
Another reason is that leaving immediately will ‘lance
the boil’ in the UK. This will provide a
‘crossing the Rubicon’ moment and will allow Britain’s politicians to move on
from the result and to focus on the way forward. To focus on how Britain can
benefit from the opportunities presented by Brexit. How Britain can roll back the role of the State
in the life of Britons by repealing the more petty and intrusive EU inspired
legislation. (If I were in charge, my
mantra would be repeal unless you can show how a law or regulation benefits the
UK people and show the cost-benefit case for your assertion. And this would apply to all such
legislation!)
Finally, leaving immediately allows the UK to press on
and conclude free trade treaties with other countries. In the interim, WTO rules would apply but we
can take advantage of the apparent desire of trading partners to conclude
agreements.
So, hopefully, Theresa May has already thought of this
or reads the above and tells the EU that we
will leave the organisation by the self-imposed March 31, 2017 deadline.
Leave now – why wait?
Leave the Single Market
Leave the Customs Union
Leave the corrupt and undemocratic European Union.
