A Liars Charter that gives MPs a Green Light to Lie

/in , /by

Earlier this week it came to light that a false and misleading statement had been made by George Freeman MP concerning tariffs on food products imported into EU from Africa in a report by Full Fact (https://fullfact.org/economy/george-freeman-africa-eu-tariffs/)

Given that the Government response to the Parliamentary petition (https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/561730 ) organised by Joel Baccas calling for MPs misleading the public to be made a criminal offence stated very clearly that such matters were for the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner to deal with, we made a formal complaint to the Commissioner regarding the issue of Freeman’s statement.

Despite the fact that there is absolutely no doubt that the statement made by Freeman is factually inaccurate, the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner has refused to investigate the issue, and looking at the procedures statement for the Commissioner, the Commissioner’s decisions are final and there is no right of or procedure for appeal.

This news of course comes in a week when we have seen that it is not possible for an MP to call out another MP for lying in the chamber of the House of Commons itself. As we have seen in those circumstances the liar walks away and the MP calling out those lies is suspended.

Furthermore, the Standards Committee itself does not investigate complaints about MPs.

Overall, this means there is absolutely no way of holding an MP to account should they mislead the public or lie.

This is not acceptable, especially when you take into account that as we have seen, the ministerial code of conduct is also seriously flawed as the Prime Minister of the day has the final say which is a major problem when the holder of that office is a proven serial liar.

Whilst The Standards Committee itself does not investigate complaints against MPs, part of their role is to review the code of conduct for MPs and make recommendations for changes to it, and they also supervise the work of the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner.

They are therefore one group of people that we need to hold to account on this issue

Please contact them and tell them that the current system is effectively a liars charter as it gives MPs a green light to mislead the public and to lie, and that the system is unacceptable and needs to change.

Their e mail address is standards@parliament.uk

Press Regulation

/in /by

Some mixed news relating to press regulation.

The good news is that our petition has passed the 10,000 mark meaning the government must now respond to it. Thank you to everyone who signed it

The not so good news is that I have received the following e mail relating to the complaint I made about the Express article entitled “Food shop alert as YOUR supermarket bill set to soar due to EU red tape”

Dear Dr Poole,

The Complaints Committee has considered your complaint, the email of 14th June 2021 from IPSO’s Executive notifying you of its view that your complaint did not raise a possible breach of the Code, and your email of 14th June 2021 requesting a review of the Executive’s decision. The Committee agreed the following decision:

The Committee noted that the headline incorporating the term “EU red tape” introduced the article, which at one point contrasted the UK Government’s position of unilaterally delaying the implementation of some of the border checks, with the EU’s recourse to legal action in order to enforce full implementation of the checks.

For this reason, and the reasons already provided by IPSO’s Executive, the Committee decided that your complaint did not raise a possible breach of the Code. As such, it declined to re-open your complaint.

The Committee would like to thank you for giving it the opportunity to consider your concerns.

Best wishes,

This is very disappointing as it effectively allows the Express to falsely blame the price rises on the EU and shows that reform of how the press is regulated is desperately needed. We need a situation where regulation is carried out by individuals who are genuinely independent from the press and politics to ensure that newspapers like the Express cannot get away with what they are doing.

I will be challenging this outcome as soon as I have chance but we do need to continue to press for changes to the way the press is regulated which I would suggest we do in a number of ways.

Firstly, we should keep complaining about articles such as the one I refer to above published by the likes of the Express. This will make it clear to the likes of the Express and indeed IPSO that we are serious about the issue of fair and accurate reporting relating to the EU. Indeed I will be posting details of another Express article we should all complain about – just about the only good thing about IPSO is they do actually make it very easy to complain!

Secondly, we should put pressure on those that advertise in the likes of the Express asking them if they are happy for their organisation or brand to be promoted in publications that regularly mislead their readers and publish false information that is often of a nature that is offensive. We saw that this tactic can be effective with the recent launch of GB news when several leading brands pulled their advertising.

Thirdly, we should consider demonstrating outside the offices of publications such as the Express and the Mail, and indeed IPSO itself. Again, this will let them know we are watching what they do and that we are serious about putting a stop to it.

Fourthly we should press through political channels for the regulatory regime to be improved, indeed the petition starts this process. We should write to MPs about this, especially MPs we think would be sympathetic to the issue and attempt to place motions onto the agenda of party conferences.

We are of course open to other ideas so please do let us know if you have any.

Brexit Is A Crime

Five Years On

/in , /by

On the day that Cameron announced the referendum I remember thinking very clearly “Good – the media will get to grips with the likes of Farage and rip them apart over the lies they are telling about the EU”.


Within minutes it was also very obvious that Farage and Co were going to continue lying as he tweeted the false claim about the cost of the EU i.e. the 350 million a week figure that ended up being emblazoned on the side of that infamous red bus.


Sadly, the media never got to grips with that dishonesty, partly because some publications were participating in it themselves, and certainly in the case of the BBC, partly because they abdicated themselves from their responsibility to call out the politicians who were lying, something that the BBC are still refusing to do to this day.

We all know the end result of those lies. Several months later it also came to light that the Leave Campaign had committed multiple serious breaches of both electoral and data protection laws, something which had the referendum been mandatory, would have been more than enough to cause the result of the referendum to be annulled.

Those lies and that law breaking have always been the driving force for me. Lying and law breaking have no place in democracy. None. The issue of our EU membership, whilst very very close to my heart, is secondary to protecting our democracy.

That is why I for one will never give up the fight to restore this country to its rightful place as the heart of the EU. It is the right thing to do. It is the democratic thing to do.

On a personal level I feel the loss of our rights as EU citizens tremendously as for most of the last 20 years, I have either lived or worked in Spain, or worked in an environment where I encountered people from other EU countries on a daily basis, many of whom became close friends.

I had plans to retire to Spain, I had hoped to spend a least couple of years in the next decade or so working in either Barcelona or Prague, and I was looking forward to many many more visits to my many friends in other parts of the EU, where, as I had become used to doing, I would call them on a Wednesday or Thursday, and fly over to Berlin, Ibiza, Prague or somewhere else to stay the weekend with them at short notice.

Of course, all that is now gone, taken away by dishonest leavers for reasons that still, after 5 years, have never been shown to and form of grounding in reality.

That is another reason why I will never give up the fight.

I will admit that I do get quite frustrated with the Remain/Rejoin campaign at times. Indeed, those frustrations are partly the reason why I stopped writing my blog on a regular basis few months ago.

If I could ask just one thing of any Rejoiner who reads this, it would be this – please stop chasing the Remain/Rejoin Unicorns in our version of the sunlit uplands and start being realistic.

If I was pushed and I had to choose one specific issue where this needs to happen it would be the expectation that in a few years’ time we can just walk up to a future Prime Minister and ask for another referendum. That is simply not going to happen without a considerable amount of work from us.

I say that for one simple reason. Research that I conducted earlier in the year (I am a qualified and trained academic researcher) indicates that a substantial proportion of the electorate believes that the 2016 referendum result was fair and legitimate.

Many voters are simply unaware of the extent of the lies told by the Leave campaign. Many voters are simply unaware that the leave campaign committed multiple breaches of the law. That includes many active Rejoin supporters. For example, the data I have indicates that around one third of our own supporters are not aware that the Leave Campaign broke electoral law.

In fact, after seeing the initial results of that research, I am now of the opinion that the main reason why the campaign for a further referendum failed in 2019 was because the Remain campaign failed to convince the electorate that there was a genuine need for another referendum.

If we are to Rejoin within a reasonable timescale this is an issue that we must address, and we must address it first.

We must convince the electorate as a whole that there is a need for a further referendum. We cannot do that simply by arguing that EU membership is good for the UK. We might know it is, but that argument is very easy to counter with the claim that the British people voted to leave, and therefore very easy to ignore. We need a far stronger argument.

The only argument that could secure us a further referendum in the shorter term is to convince the wider electorate that the actions of the Leave Campaign were so bad that Brexit itself lacks legitimacy and that a further referendum is the only fair and democratic way to proceed. No other argument will persuade the electorate or stand up to a serious challenge.

This is the reason why I continue to challenge the legitimacy of Brexit, and why we have recently launched our Brexit Is A Crime campaign.

That is not say that I do not accept that Brexit has happened. It has happened. In fact I accepted Brexit was inevitable on 12th December as soon as the results started to indicate Johnson had won the General Election.  That is why I started this Campaign before midnight on that terrible evening.

But just because Brexit has happened does not mean that I or anyone else should accept that Brexit is legitimate. It is not.

Brexit is a crime, and I would ask anyone who reads this to challenge the legitimacy of Brexit on the grounds of the dishonesty and illegal activity of the Leave Campaign.

If we are consistent with that simple message and sustain it over a period of time, we will convince the electorate that another referendum is needed.  

         

I appreciate that this in many ways is a downbeat message. But don’t despair -there is still hope.

I am writing this on the morning of Friday June 18th – just an hour or two after waking up to the news that Johnson and his dishonest band of English Nationalists (I refuse to call them Tories anymore – they are not) have been defeated in the Amersham and Chesham by election.   

They CAN AND WILL be beaten.

We CAN AND WILL prevail

Complaint to IPSO about the Express

/in , /by

I have just received a response to my complaint to IPSO about the Daily Express article that wrongly placed the blame for supermarket price rises on the EU (I have placed their e-mail at the end of this post).

IPSO appears to have totally ignored the main thrust of my complaint which was that the prices rises have only arisen as a result of Brexit and that therefore it was both inaccurate and misleading for the Express to infer that the price rises were caused by the EU as they did.

I have therefore asked for the matter to be referred to their complaints committee for review on those grounds and would urge anyone else who has received the e-mail to do the same.

You can do so by simply replying to their e-mail asking them to do so.

My Reply to IPSO

Dear Molly,

Sorry but this is not acceptable and I wish this matter to be referred to the Complaints Committee.

The headline in the Express clearly stated that ‘EU Red Tape’ was responsible for the price rises.

Whilst the changes could be characterised as red tape as you describe in your e-mail, to portray the EU as being responsible for the price rises, or indeed that red tape, in the way that the headline and story infers was both factually inaccurate and misleading as the additional red tape is only being encountered because of Brexit and would not have been encountered had the UK remained in the EU, something which is not reflected in the article in anyway.

The cause of the price rises reported in the story is therefore not the EU as claimed by the Express but rather Brexit itself. To attempt to lay the blame at the door of the EU is therefore both misleading and inaccurate.

It is this misleading and inaccurate placing of blame on the EU for those additional costs and that red tape that I and other are complaining about, not the use of the words ‘red tape’.

Kind Regards

Adam Poole

E Mail from IPSO

I write further to our earlier email regarding your complaint about an article headlined “Food shop alert as YOUR supermarket bill set to soar due to EU red tape” published by the express.co.uk on 2 June 2021.

The Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) has received a number of complaints about this article. In order to be able to respond in a timely manner, we have prepared a response which addresses the various concerns raised by these complaints.

When IPSO receives a complaint, the Executive staff review it first to decide whether the complaint falls within our remit, and whether it raises a possible breach of the Editors’ Code of Practice. The Executive has now completed an assessment of these complaints.

The majority of complainants said the article breached Clause 1 (Accuracy) of the Editors’ Code because they believed the article and headline suggested supermarket price rises are due to “EU red tape”, whereas they believed the higher prices are a result of Brexit. They also said the article implied that these rules were new, rather than existing rules the UK benefited from when it was in the EU. Several complainants suggested the article was inaccurate because import tariffs imposed by the UK are the reason for the increase in supermarket prices.

The article outlined the link between the UK’s predicted higher food prices and the changes to the UK’s trading circumstances, including through comments from the chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, who was quoted as saying “We will likely see these costs filter through in the second half of this year, and with the additional Brexit red-tape this autumn”. It also referred to “Boris Johnson’s new Brexit trade deal” and the “reintroduced customs checks on the trade of many products between the bloc and Britain”. It did not appear to be in dispute that new regulations would apply to the movement of goods; the publication was entitled to characterise regulations as “red tape”, and this provided adequate support to the headline. As such, we did not identify grounds to investigate a breach of Clause 1 on this point.

Some complainants believed that the article was inaccurate because it presented the EU as doing something “underhand or unfair”. The Editors’ Code of Practice makes clear the press has the right to be partisan, to give its own opinion and to campaign, as long as it takes care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information, and to distinguish between comment, conjecture and fact. The article included critical commentary from several individuals about the changes and the decisions by the EU, including comments by the Brexit Minister Lord Frost describing them as “unsustainable”, and another comment describing it as “obscene and a disgrace that bureaucrats in Brussels are thinking there is something potentially illegal or wrong with M&S lasagne.” We understand that some complainants disagreed with these opinions, but the publication was entitled to report these critical comments, which were distinguished as such; this did not constitute grounds to investigate a possible breach of Clause 1.

A few complainants also said the article breached Clause 12 (Discrimination) because they considered it blamed Europeans for price rises instead of the UK Government, and stirred up anti-European feelings. Clause 12 is designed to protect specific individuals mentioned by the press from discrimination based on their race, colour, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation or any physical or mental illness or disability. It does not apply to groups or categories of people. Concerns that the article discriminated against Europeans in general did not relate to an individual. This meant that the terms of this Clause were not engaged..

A few complainants also said the article breached Clause 13 (Financial journalism) because they believed it suggested British people are financially disadvantaged due to new EU policy; despite the EU regulations pre-existing before Brexit. Clause 13 relates to journalists not using for their own, or other’s profit, financial information they receive in advance of its general publication. As complaints did not relate to this, the terms of the Clause were not engaged.

You are entitled to request that the Executive’s decision to reject your complaint be reviewed by IPSO’s Complaints Committee. To do so you will need to write to us in the next seven days, setting out the reasons why you believe the decision should be reviewed. Please note that we are unable to accept requests for review made seven days after the date of this email.

We would like to thank you for giving us the opportunity to consider and respond to the points you have raised.

Best wishes,

Molly Richards

Blue and Gold Photo Competition

/in , /by

Sunday May 9th is Europe day.

Help us celebrate Europe day and our European culture by taking a picture of an EU Flag on Europe Day and entering it into our Blue and Gold Photo competition.

The picture could be of yourself, your family or your friends (please gain their consent) with an EU flag, or of an EU flag in a special or unusual place. It really is up to you as long as the picture is taken in May this year on or before Europe Day i.e. between 1st and 9th May, is not photoshopped and includes an EU flag

Prizes are available for the best picture, for the picture taken in the most special place and for the picture taken in the most unusal place. Runner up prizes will also be awarded.

Portrait of Steve Bray by Cathy Kingcome – an A2 sized print is the prize for the best photo

Prizes include a limited edition A2 sized print of Cathy Kingcome’s painting of Steve Bray, Amazon Vouchers, Pro EU Books, CD’s, Badges and Stickers which have been donated by the following sponsors. Please visit their websites and support them.

Ben Chambers of Sixteen Million Rising has kindly donated a copy of the SMR “You Write the Sings CD” – the track list is shown below

The Sixteen Million Rising “Write Your Own Song” CD – The prize for the strangest location

Please visit the Sixteen Million Rising Shop to see Ben’s full range of products

Mike Cashman of ViewDelta Press

Mike Cashamn explains the prize for the most original or interesting location – Sovereign Tea

Mike’s full product range can be found on Amazon – simply search for “Viewdelta”

Oliver Gray who has his own Website

All photographs submitted by midday on the 11th May will be entered into the competition.

3 finalists will be selected by a panel of judges including Adam Poole of Campaign to Rejoin the EU, Jenna Efkay of Remain Resources and Peter Corr of UK Rejoin the EU.

Winners for each category will then be selected by means of a vote amongst the members of the Campaign to Rejoin the EU Facebook Group and UK Rejoin the EU FaceBook Group. These votes will take place prior to the end of May 2021.

A link to the entry form will be placed here on May 1st – in the meantime click here to go to our Facebook event. If you click going or interested you will get a reminder to enter the competition

Happy New Year

/in , /by

I wanted to wish everyone a happy new year and give you a few thoughts on a sad night for us all

After 4 and a half years of fighting today the leavers finally get their sunny uplands…

But no amount of rose tinting of the spectacles that they wear can hide the fact that Brexit is bad news for this country. Despite Johnson and his deal, there will be no unicorns.

Whilst the cliff edge disaster of no deal has been avoided there is much in the deal, or rather not in the deal, that is bad news for our once great country. For example, over 70% of our GDP comes from services which are not covered in the deal. So, whilst we might not see the cliff edge drop, we will see a slow decline over time.

But the EU is not just about trade and there are many other aspects of Brexit that will cause British people to lose out and that will impoverish this nation, such as the loss of the right to live, love and work on OUR continent.

But no matter what, we know Brexit has no legitimacy.

We know the Leave narrative was false and misleading with the likes of Johnson, Gove and Farage telling lie after lie.

We know the Leave campaign broke Electoral law and Data Protection Laws.

We know that the May Government admitted in court that the referendum was seriously flawed.

We know that the May Government relied on legal loopholes to continue the Brexit Process.

These are also reasons why we know that we are in the right.

These are also reasons why we know we will eventually prevail.

The Leave Campaign lost the moment they broke the law.

The Leave Campaign lost the moment they started lying.

Yes, the last few days have been difficult for us with the actions of Starmer and the Labour Party, and there will be difficult days ahead, especially as the UK itself may break up as a result of this tragedy.

But from here on in there is only one direction to go – and that direction is Rejoin.

The UK WILL retake its rightful place at the heart of the EU

Policy Statement Regarding Labours Position on the Deal

/in /by

The issue of what Labour should do over the deal is very contentious throughout the rejoin movement and causing controversy not just within the ranks of labour supporters. Whilst some see labour supporting the deal as a practical issue to avoid no deal, others see it as Starmer legitimising brexit and betraying the remain movement. Please be in no doubt that feelings are running very high on this issue.

However we must reiterate that our overall Campaign policy is that we are here to set the agenda and not follow the agenda of others. That applies across the board including to Starmer.

It is our intention to push all parties to reject the legitimacy of Brexit and support rejoining unequivocally. We are therefore very concerned about Starmer’s actions regarding the deal and of the opinion that Labour should abstain to avoid any impression of giving legitimacy to Brexit.

Furthermore, arguments that Starmer needs to consider the red wall voters do not hold any water with us. We are of the opinion that what is needed from Starmer is leadership rather than following the crowd on the issue, and that he should take a clear stance and then deal with the fallout.

Polical parties – a call to arms

/in , /by

I find this graphic very interesting as it shows where remian and leave support sits in terms of political parties. Whilst things have changed since 2016, with for example, only 19% of those who voted Remain in 2016 voting Tory last December, it does show two things very clearly.

Firstly, this shows that any Campaign to Rejoin the EU has to be cross party in nature otherwise we simply will not have the support needed to win a further referendum. This has considerable implications for what we can and cannot support as a Campaign. Anything we do support has to have broad support within the Rejoin community, meaning we must stay very focused on our primary goals and objectives that will directly help us to achieve them.

Secondly, this shows that within the support base for every party, even those considered to be pro European, there is an element that is against our EU membership. Such people will be active within all those parties trying to stop that party supporting our cause. The practical implications for us of that are that we must be active in promoting our cause, building our support within each party, and trying to get rejoin onto the agenda of all political parties.

So one of the first practical steps anyone in this group can take along the long road back to EU membership is to consider joining the party which most closely matches your views, becoming active in that party, standing for positions of influence within that party and maybe even standing for election.

A second practical step would be to join us in one of our political sub groups on Facebook which we have established to foster the pro European debate within the political parties and to help us get Rejojn and associated issues onto the agenda of each party by, for example, putting motions forward to party conferences. This would be especially important if you are already a member of a political party and know how that party works. If you hold a position of influence within that party even better.

So if you support a particular political party please help us by joining one of our Facebook political party sub-groups listed below. Links to them can be found in this post

Green Rejoin EU Group
Labour – Rejoin EU Group
Lib Dem Rejoin
Conservatives Rejoin the EU
Ailymuno Plaid Cymru Rejoin the EU
SNP Rejoin the EU
Alliance Party Rejoin the EU
SDLP Rejoin the EU

For some of these groups we are actively looking for people to join us in running and promoting them – please get in touch if you want to help. Also if the polictal party you support is not listed please get in touch and we will set up a group for you.

I know many people want to see a new single issue political party established. I will address that subject in another blog post in the next few days.

Happy Christmas!

/in , /by

Well here we are at Christmas 2020.

I know from looking over comments in the group and on our page that many people are feeling quite down at the moment. That is perfectly understandable given what is going on in the country. Between an inept, dishonest and incompetent government, Brexit and the worst pandemic in a century things are pretty bad.

I wish I could wave a magic wand and make things better but I can’t. There is however cause for optimism with the pandemic. We have several vaccines that do appear to work quite well and despite the best efforts of our government, we are fortunate enough to live in a country that can afford to pay for the vaccine.

Brexit is a different matter. Whatever happens with regards to a deal, what I can say is this. On 1st January there is only one way to for us to go. Upwards.

We know we are right and we know the EU is right for the UK.

What’s more we did not and have not resorted to any of the deceitful, devious or undemocratic methods of the leave campaign. We can hold our heads up high. The Leave Campaign cannot.

Over the next couple of weeks we will start to move some of our ideas forward and we will be asking for volunteers to help with that. We will also be asking you, our members, for your ideas to help with the campaign. So instead of feeling down, please think about what you could do to help out with our upcoming challenges, and start thinking about what ideas you have that may help us to prevail.

I can’t promise it will be an easy fight, but given that right is on our side, we will win. It is only a matter of time until the UK is back at the heart of the EU.

2021 will be the start of our fightback!

I wish you all a peaceful and happy Christmas.

One Year On

/in , /by

A year ago just after the depressing news of Johnson’s win I was scrolling through Facebook when i came across a meme that said the campaign to rejoin the EU starts now.

I thought yes why not? Why should we just roll over and accept what has just happened? And why shouldn’t we start to campaign to rejoin now?

So, I started a little Facebook group expecting to end up with around 80 to 100 members and here we are a year later with around 21,500 members in this group alone…

Initially we expanded very quickly and started developing ideas for our campaign. For example, we came up with the idea for our #IAmEuropean campaign for the 2021 census, we started planning regional social meet ups, and alwo some form of pro EU summer festival.

But as we moved into February and March, far more pressing concerns about covid brought most of our plans to a grinding halt, and it is fair to say it has been a difficult and often frustrating year where many of our ideas have had to be put on the back burner.

However, over the last year we have achieved much and have spent a lot of time developing our infrastructure to the point where we now have a variety of different sub groups and pages on Facebook, various twitter and Instagram accounts and a website. We have built a presence and we are starting to influence.

We have developed our four-point plan to move towards our ultimate goal of rejoining the EU and are working towards each one. These four points are:

  1. To challenge the legitimacy of Brexit
  2. To promote the benefits of EU membership.
  3. To place rejoining the EU onto the agenda of the main political parties
  4. To develop, grow and maintain our Rejoin Movement and our European identity

For many people what is going on at present is very difficult with the shadow of no deal hanging over us and our country in just a few short days time, but we have to keep our hope and our belief that we will right this wrong, and that the UK will retake its rightful place at the heart of the EU.

We face a difficult journey and, for that journey to be successful, we need to move on from the events of the past, including the mistakes. What has happened has happened and we cannot change the past. Fighting amongst ourselves will not solve anything, and neither will trying to place blame onto one group of people or another. Both must stop and stop now.

We need to recognise that we are a diverse movement that has support from all sections of the UK population and amongst British people who live in other countries – all ages, all ethnicities, all religions, all geographic regions, and all political views etc etc support our goals, and we need to bridge those divides and work together to achieve our goals if we are to succeed.

Whatever does happen on the 31st December, we cannot sink any lower, and we start the journey to rejoining on 1st January.

The time for talking will stop and the time for action will begin and each and everyone of us needs to ask ourselves what we can do to help because there is a lot that needs doing.

Thank you for being part of this journey over the last 12 months. Covid still hangs over us, but as the threat recedes due to the wonderful efforts of our NHS and the Scientific community, hopefully the next 12 months will be a little easier for us than the last, and we will be able to advance our cause.

I hope you will join me in thanking the team of volunteers that runs our organisation, including the people that run this group. At times it has been a lot of hard work and it has not always been an easy or straightforward task.

We will prevail. Here’s to the next 12 months…