Labour's mess calls for early Brexit

 I feel quite conflicted about the omnishambles that is the British Labour Party.  Not sure if I like this, or not.

On the one hand, the mess in which they find themselves augurs well for the Conservative party.  It would seem that the Labourites are in danger of splitting between the Jeremy Corbyn and his allies in the ‘entryist’ Momentum movement, and the remainder of the party, including the overwhelming majority of the party in Parliament. 

As said, a split or further internecine fighting distracts them from performing the role of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition (though I suppose that Corbyn and the those MPs that do sit in the depleted Shadow Cabinet, do take the extra money that comes with the role).  This itself isn’t good – democracy needs an opposition that can actually oppose and challenge and we all lose out, when we don’t have one. So the ‘brothers’ fighting gives the Conservatives an easy ride to implement policies.  For me, and of course I believe the country, I think it is good that we can get Conservative policies implemented but would prefer that such policies are tested – in the parliamentary sense.

I suppose I can live with that risk, if I had to.  I sense that there is a kind of opposition within the Conservative Party, anyway and maybe they will do the job that Labour are too internally focused to do.

On the other hand, and this really worries me, what happens if new PM, Theresa May, drags her feet on Brexit?  Apart from angering ‘Leavers’ in parliament, this will surely harden opinion in the country, against any Remainers. 

For all those that go on about a second referendum and such, the assumption I believe is that having seen the result, many people who voted Leave will suddenly change and vote Remain.  I know it is moot – we are not having another referendum – but my sense is that Remainers will look at how so many people and organizations are ‘rowing back’ from the Project Fear threats, that they will feel that they were lied to and only voted Remain because of the fear generated and now they see the emptiness of those threats and would vote Leave, if they were given a second chance.

So supposing the PM does drag her feet or has a Brexit outcome that basically puts the country in the same position as it was before the referendum – not being in control of our destiny, having to accept free movement, and so on.  Then the ‘Leavers’ in Parliament might force an election and Theresa May would have to go to the country with a divided Conservative Party and a platform that doesn’t command acceptance with the party’s supporters, in the country.  We would no doubt see Conservative losses, perhaps enough to leave them lacking a parliamentary majority and then we could expect to see UKIP making significant gains in North of England seats, at the expense of a broken Labour Party . 

The upshot? No party with an overall majority and Parliament as divided as the referendum result suggests.  This is not, I would suggest, in our national interest.  One of the things that the Remainers didn’t lie about is that international markets and companies, require stability.  The ‘markets’ know that certainty is elusive but they do look for a platform of one sort or another, around which they can develop their investment strategies.   A divided parliament, as could arise, would be very destabilizing. And, bear in mind, this instability could endure for an extended period of time.  Can you really see Conservative Theresa May sitting down to discuss a coalition with UKIP or with the anti-Corbyn wing of the Labour Party?  Or UKIP sitting down with the Corbynistas or the Anti-Corbyn wing. 

Before Nicola and her stooges jump up and say what about the SNP.  Well at best, you represent less than 10% of the total number of MPs – so hardly meaningful.

I believe that the solution to head-off this catastrophic situation is for Theresa May to fire the starting gun on Brexit, in the very near future – no later than Janury 31, 2017 – she could even commit to the date, as early as the coming days. 

Yes I know that we then have to reach a deal within two years but it’s two years, for heavens sake.  Not two weeks or two months but two years!  And, critically, the duration could be extended, if required (and if approved by all 28 nations) and at the outset we know that in a worst case situation we could utilise World Trade Organization, trade terms if need be. These WTO terms don’t include free movement of people, which takes a lot of the wind out of the sails of the Brexiteer’s opposition.  All those who voted Leave would have their fears of betrayal, assuaged and the internal Conservative opposition would be ‘de-fanged’. 

This would do nothing to resolve Labour’s mess.  I am fast coming to the conclusion that only a split will give those who believe in democratic socialism (the majority of Labour voters) a home, going forward.  The effect of entryism in the Labour Party means that for so very many Labour Party supporters and voters, the only way forward is to breakaway and leave the social justice warriors and Corbynistas to their fate in the political netherworld rather than them dragging the party into the political oblivion that their adherence to the ‘purity of socialism’ will certainly cause.

So over to Theresa!  Save the party, save the country, save the pound and save the economy.

British common sense

What has become of common sense in Britain?  Did it all depart at 04.40 on June 24, 2016, when the BBC’s David Dimbleby announced that Leave had won the European Referendum?

I guess maybe Voltaire was right ‘Common sense is not so common’.

I won’t go into all of the different promises and fears and such that were generated, by both sides, during the campaign, other than to say that Project Fear seem to be very conflicted, post-Brexit.  On the one-hand Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England keeps banging on about the negative monetary impact of Brexit - though one must question the credibility of his statements with barely two weeks of economic data to support them.  On the other hand we have George Osborne, currently still the Chancellor of the Exchequer, now saying that we will ‘thrive”, since we have voted to leave the EU.

Today, Chuka Umunna, a Labour MP, with a voice dripping with disdain for the common man and woman and their democratic rights and exercise thereof, has launched a so called watch-dog  to monitor performance of the Brexit campaign in the implementation of the claims and ‘promises’ that were made by the Leave campaign, during the referendum.

If you know Chuka or any of the other Remainiacs, could you maybe pass on the following?

Leave said that the UK contributed a gross £350 Million a week to the EU.  They went on to say that some of the money, which post-Brexit would no longer be sent to feed the EU  monster, should be spent, instead on the NHS.   Chuka and co. are now saying, “well why aren’t you spending it on the NHS then?”  (I hope that sounded as petulant and foot-stomping as I intended because that is how the Remainiacs sound, to me!)

Let’s consider that. 

Firstly, the United Kingdom is still a full member of the European Union.  Not surprisingly, this means that the EU still requires us to make that weekly contribution.

Secondly, Leave are not the government.  They cannot decide on the spending priorities of the government.

Personally, I am a long way from convinced that throwing ever larger amounts of money into the NHS represents a sensible use of taxpayer funds. I don’t think that the NHS’ problems are monetary but rather they are deep and structural.  Of course Chuka and co. think the solution to every problem is simply to throw someone else’s money – the taxpayer’s – at it.

I started by suggesting that common sense seems to have left the UK.  Perhaps it has just gone on a well-earned rest.  As a Leaver, I certainly think that common sense and decency was displayed in abundance when people voted in the EU referendum.  The people of the UK heard the arguments and decided that, on balance, the UK would, as George Osborne now agrees, prosper outside the EU.  They knew, because they used common sense, that there would be a period, after the vote, when the country would still be in the EU and that the UK  becoming free of the EU and regaining control of its own destiny, would take time.  Chukka and all of the Remaniacs also know this.  They are just trying to make cheap political capital by claiming otherwise and, because they believe that the average voter made the ‘wrong vote’, seeking to overturn the results of the democratic process.  The premise is two fold – Leave won the referendum on false promises and lies and therefore we need a re-run.   

As said the ‘promise’ about the gross £350 million weekly contribution was not false.  The underlying promise was not so much about the money as about who decided how that money was spent – the unelected EU or the democratically elected Westminster government?  That hasn’t changed. When Britain leaves the EU, the British parliament will decide how we spend our national income – all of it.  We won’t be in a position where we have to send a gross £350 million to Brussels, every, single week.  We won’t be in a position where we have to accept the EU deciding where the returned money – something less than 50% of our contribution - is spent. The elected representatives of the British people – the ones that we can kick-out or fire, at an election – will decide.  I appreciate that this doesn’t fit with Chuka and the Remainiacs idea of democracy but there you go. 

Call me a cynic but re-running an election or a referendum because a politician lied or over-promised would leave all democracies in a state of perpetual elections.  Come election-time, voters use common sense and sift through the promises, half-truths and down-right lies and then reach a decision of who they most believe or who is most believable.  Those voters know, absolutely know, that some or much of what they are told by politicians, is simply self-serving and has to be taken with a mountain of salt.

I said earlier on this blog-site that what we now need is a period of calm.  That still stands.  Britain’s political leaders and leading business people need to just quieten down.  They don’t need to be on the air waves saying that the referendum vote should be ignored or somehow re-run until the ‘right’ result is achieved.  Most critically, they need to stop talking down the UK.  I get a strong sense that the Remainiacs are relishing any negative economic news that surfaces and are seeking the fulfilment of their pre-vote prophesies of doom.  This has to stop.  This is impacting not only the UK but also other economies.  I am not talking about the breaking Italian banking crisis, though I am sure that Brexit doesn’t help that situation.  

During the referendum campaign, many Leavers accused Remainiacs of not loving their country and instead preferring the anti-democratic EU, now is the time for Remainiacs to prove them wrong and either accept that Britain can survive outside of the EU, or at least just shut-up.

One particular person who should maintain a period of silence is Mark Carney.  Every time he speaks, the international value of the pound declines.  While that is good for our exporters and those companies with overseas earnings, it runs the risk of stoking inflation in the UK.  So Mr Carney – go on vacation, get a rest but most importantly, shut up.

We chose, we choose

This post is mainly aimed at the people of the UK and the leaders of EU countries.

Firstly though, I have to say wow, just wow!  A referendum result that has made me very, very happy.  Even more happier than the result of the Scottish Independence Referendum.  Of course there will be  some challenges ahead but we are British, we have overcome challenges before and will do so again.

David Cameron, before he resigned (quit?) said that we are not a nation of quitters and we aren't.  We stick with the right path rather than just taking the easy one.

Anyway...

The people of the UK chose to leave the European Union.  More than 33.5 million of us registered a vote and chose, by a margin of 52:48 to leave.  The majority chose to ignore the merchants of fear and chose to decouple us from the failed European Union project.  We never chose to sign-up to ever political union, we originally chose to join a Common Market but the corporatists and socialists of certain European countries want to become submerged in a political union.  That's their choice - though in typical EU fashion,  their people aren't being asked - but we have chosen a different course.  We wish them well.

Go back to the start of the last paragraph.  The people of the UK chose to leave the European Union.  This was a question put to the whole of the UK and a decision reached by the whole of the UK.  The talk of a second Scottish Independence Referendum, coming from Nicola Sturgeon is anti-democratic and is pure mischief making from her.  I really believe that if she was in a party of three or more enjoying a dinner out and one of the party said 'red or white wine'  and she was in the minority, she would immediately call for her democratic rights be respected and for a new Scottish Independence Referendum to be called.  Opportunist doesn't even come close.

Sturgeon is mischief making.  She knows full well that Foreign Affairs is not a devolved responsibility.  This is a power reserved to the Westminster parliament.  All this talk about asking Brussels to consider an application, from a constituent part of the UK, to join the EU is absolute rubbish.  Typical froth from Bute House.  Sturgeon and her minority devolved government should do what they were elected to do - manage the devolved affairs of Scotland.  They have done a very poor job of that so far - hence why they are now a minority government - but that is what they are there for.  Now is the time for Nicola to shut-up and do her job.

She also knows that the EU will have its hands full in the coming time, trying to make sure that the departure of the UK is achieved in a manner that is mutually acceptable and, perhaps much or most of their focus will be on making sure that no other member country dares to let their population make a choice.  Can't let the democratic will of the people get in the way of the EU project!  

Does anyone seriously think that Spain would let the EU consider, for even a single nano-second, allowing a constituent part of a member country to negotiate its own terms of membership of the EU, while it is still part of its home country?

So we in the UK chose to leave the European Union.  The leaders of the other members states now need to realise that we will also choose, when we leave.  We will invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty (never voted for by the British people, by the way), when we choose to do so.  We will act in the interests of the British people (all of them, Nicola).  That may not sound very communitaire but there you are.  We chose to regain our long-held freedoms and we will choose the timing for when we get these back.

Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission can huff and puff all he wants.  One of the first things he needs to learn, post June 23, 2016, is that we chose to no longer pay any heed to his demands.  We will choose, we will not be ordered to do anything by an unelected foreigner.  We had the choice and we chose, freedom from such tyranny.  Angela Merkel, Francois Hollande and Co. please take note.

David Cameron was elected as a member of the mother of parliaments and the Conservative Party chose him to lead it and therefore to be our  Prime Minister.  His first act, after the June 23 result, was to decide that on behalf of the people of the UK, he chose to delay invoking Article 50, until after his successor has been elected, because he believes that this is the best course of action he can choose for our country.

Some of my fellow-countrymen and women are now complaining about the result of the referendum. They say that younger people voted predominately for Remain while older people voted in similar numbers for Leave.  The argument seems to be that somehow the votes of these younger people should count for me because they will have to live with the consequences longer.  The latter point is true.  Though since they will enjoy the benefits of our regained freedom, I don't really see their point. Anyway a decision was requested and an answer was given.  As a nation (listening Nicola??) we chose to Leave. That's it.  No need for further referendums - I know that this is how the EU has solved its inconvenient referendum results, in the past but we are British and we understand democracy.  We have been at it longer than any other nation and so perhaps that's why we know how it works.

To all those that chose to Leave and to put their well-founded faith in the British people, I say a heart-felt thanks.   We have chosen freedom and our path will now diverge from our European friends.  We wish them bonne chance and gutes reise but we are off somewhere else.

It's about being positive and taking control

Regular readers will not be surprised that I am voting to Leave the European Union in Thursday's referendum, however I wanted to share why and maybe persuade any waverers and undecided.

I am afraid I must start off in a negative frame of mind.  I have to look at the Remain Project Fear and ask everyone to consider if they have ever heard anything that is more negative and consistently so.  Threats for extra taxes, swingeing public expenditure cuts, slashed pensions, isolation, economic recession, World War 3, plagues of boils, etc., etc.

OK, I made up the plagues of boils but you get the picture.  Doom and gloom will descend on Friday, if the British people dare to Brexit.

What the Remain camp don't say though is what the future will look like if Britain does the wrong thing and votes to Remain.  What will a future Britain look like, locked within the ever failing European Union? I don't know.  It seems though that neither do the Remainers.  They cannot tell you and throughout this campaign have not even tried to.

Many Remainers seem to think that voting Remain means voting for the status quo - it doesn't.

Voting Remain means a green light for the ever closer union that David Cameron thinks he has an opt-out, from.  Make no mistake, a vote to Remain means that Cameron will have shot his bolt.  When he next meets his 27 counter-parts they will know he can do nothing if they renege on the feeble deal he brought back to the UK.  They know they can pass any deal to bail-out the Euro-crippled countries like Greece (and soon Italy and Spain) and require the prosperous UK to stump-up the money and there is nothing, nada, null, zero that Cameron can do, other than pay-up.  They know that Cameron simply could not do anything.  He couldn't go back to the people of Britain.  He couldn't with tears in his eyes and a tremulous voice, say ' but they cheated, they are not honouring the agreement'.  He will be what he is today - a dead man walking.  He will have no credibility in Brussels nor in Westminster.

Worried about Turkey gaining entry? Tough! If they want in, there is nothing that can be done about it.  Don't believe me?  Look how Turkey have been given billions of Euros and visa-less travel just by threatening to allow the flood of refugees to continue.  They can do this, again and again and Britain will be told to toe the line and pay up. That's the EU way.

But enough negativity.

The Leave campaign have been pushing a positive policy.

• One that is based on faith in the ability of Britain's people 
• One that sees Britain in a global marketplace and not tied into a protectionist customs union 
• One that says the nation that gave democracy to the world is best placed to continue this more than 1,000 year long tradition, if its people are in control of Britain rather than unelected Eurocrats
• One that sees its security continues to be best served by alliances with nations both in and outside the European Union
• One that looks out into the world and sees huge global markets in China and India
• One that recognizes that self-interest will mean that the EU will agree a positive trade deal with the UK, when we Leave.
• One that helps David Cameron fulfill his manifesto pledge by getting net immigration down to the tens of thousands
• One that opens its doors, as it has always done so, to people who can contribute to the needs of the UK
• One that sees a nation can only call itself that if it controls its own borders
• One that recognizes a sovereign nation cannot allow its military to be subsumed into a trans-national defence force and maybe dragged into conflicts against its national interest
• One that, at its core, trusts the people of the UK

On Thursday, if you are currently undecided, you have to make a clear choice - Vote  for the positive Leave position or vote for the doom and gloom fear camp and Remain.  Remember, the leap into the dark is to Vote Remain, Vote Leave is a leap into a brighter, freer future where we, the people, are in control.

Be positive, take control and Vote Leave.