March for Rejoin
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Tag Archive for: brexit
The latest Brexit Lie from the Government and the Daily Mail
The Mail is up to its old tricks again with a claim that the EU ordered the UK to remove Crown Marks from pint glasses.
Whilst the EU insists that there is a CE mark on glasses, EU rules do not prevent a Government from placing other marks such as the Crown on items such as glasses as the following 2 news items explain
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/59868823.amp
https://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/Article/2007/05/09/Tories-claim-EU-crown-pint-victory
The Mail article is therefore misleading and factually incorrect
Please help us put a stop to this sort of behaviour by the Mail by complaining to IPSO
Here is the IPSO complaints form – it only takes a few minutes to complain
https://www.ipso.co.uk/complain/complaints-form/
You will need this link to the Mail Story dated 29th May
And quote the headline:
“Cheers Ma’am! Boris Johnson brings back Crown symbol on our pint glasses for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee – 18 years after the EU ordered us to remove them”
Happy complaining!
Russian Interference in British Politics including the EU Membership Referendum
There has been widespread acknowledgement that Putin and his government have been interfering in the democratic processes of various countries for years, including the UK, where our government has acknowledged that the Russians interfered in the Scottish Independence referendum in 2014 and the 2019 general election.
However, when it comes to the 2016 EU referendum, despite strong suspicions, the ‘Russia Report’ indicated that the UK government has made no attempt to investigate these suspicions. This decision is particularly hard to accept given that one of the obvious beneficiaries of Brexit, if not the most obvious, was Russia. This was reflected in comments by the former Russian Ambassador to the UK, Alexander Yakovenko, that the Russians had “crushed the British to the ground” when referring to Brexit.
Given this background, the pro European community has always been concerned about the distinct possibility that Russia had interfered in the EU membership referendum with many pro Europeans being very disappointed that the “Russia Report” failed to address this issue.
With this in mind, I have been of the opinion for some time that the issue of Russian interference in the EU membership referendum needs to be investigated thoroughly and, given the pro Brexit stance of current Government, independently.
Accordingly, immediately following the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, I set up a parliamentary petition calling for a public inquiry into potential Russian interference in British politics with the aim of protecting our democracy and determining the extent of any Russian interference in UK politics including the extent of any undue influence the Russians may have had over our democratic processes and institutions, including Government Ministers and Members of Parliament.
You can view and sign our petition here https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/609388
Our petition quickly reached the 10,000 mark meaning the government had to respond, which eventually they did, and not in a particularly reassuring way, essentially saying that they would not be holding a public inquiry as there was a robust process in place to protect the UK from foreign interference (the full response can be seen below).
There may well be a process in place, but as the House Intelligence and Security Committee found that the Government didn’t bother looking for evidence of Russian interference, one has to ask how effective those processes can be, if indeed they were used to try and detect Russian interference at all!
This is simply not acceptable, which leads one to ask why the Government doesn’t want this issue investigated. Apart from the fact that the government is dominated by anti Europeans who would not want their precious Brexit undermined any further, there is a potential further explanation. The amount of money donated to the Conservative Party and individual Conservative MPs by Russians and Russian owned companies runs into millions, possibly as much as £5,000,000.
That in itself is a concerning figure, especially given the background of some of the individuals who have donated money, which includes making millions from the sale of munitions to the Russian armed forces, some of which are no doubt being used against Ukrainian civilians as I write this!
Bluntly the Government has failed to fully investigate and assess the extent of Russian interference in British politics including the 2016 EU membership referendum and that needs to be corrected.
We will therefore continue to promote our petition with aim of achieving 100,000 signatures and forcing a parliamentary debate in the issue.
You can view and sign our petition here https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/609388
Full text of the Government response:
The UK has a robust process to protect against foreign interference, led by the intelligence and security agencies. There are no plans to alter this approach or initiate a public inquiry.
It is, and always shall be, an absolute priority for the Government to protect the UK’s democratic processes against foreign interference. The Intelligence and Security Agencies produce and contribute to regular assessments of state threats, including potential malign interference. We keep those assessments under constant review and, where necessary, update them in response to new intelligence. As new information emerges, the Government will always consider the most appropriate use of any intelligence received, including whether it might be appropriate to make that intelligence public. Given this long standing approach, there are no plans to initiate a public inquiry into Russian interference.
Interference in democratic processes is an international issue, affecting not only the UK. That is why the UK Government will continue to call out and respond to malign activity, including any attempts to interfere in our democratic processes, alongside our international partners including the Five Eyes countries and NATO.
Protecting and promoting a flourishing democracy is a cross-cutting challenge and requires coordinated action. That is why the Government is bringing forward a package of legislation that delivers ambitious reform. Our National Security legislative proposals will give the intelligence agencies and law enforcement the tools they need to tackle the diversifying and evolving threats we face. Our Online Safety Bill proposes a range of measures that will help protect democratic discourse, such as forcing companies to tackle illegal misinformation and disinformation, and by tackling online abuse. Our Elections Bill contains a range of reforms, including strengthening rules on ineligible foreign campaign spending. All of this legislative work is supported by the cross-government Defending Democracy programme, which brings together expertise and capabilities from across Government departments, the Security and Intelligence Agencies and civil society to ensure UK democracy remains open, vibrant and secure.
You can view and sign our petition here https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/609388
The EU Commissioners
One of the more persistent lies told by the Leave Campaign was that EU was run by unelected bureaucrats, specifically the EU Commissioners.
Our new video explains the role of the EU Commissioners and how they are appointed.
On 23rd June 2016 a crime was committed against the British people.
On 23rd June 2016 a crime was committed against the British people.
The Leave Campaign deliberately set out to mislead and deceive the British People about the EU.
The Leave campaign lied to us about how the EU works, claimed it was undemocratic when in fact it is more democratic than our own government. They lied to us about the EU being corrupt and never having its accounts signed off when in fact they have been signed off for every year it has been in existence, they lied to us about immigration from the EU and freedom of movement, they lied to us about trade.
The list of lies told by the Leave Campaign is almost endless. In fact, the Leave Campaign mislead and lied to us, the British people, so much, that Professor Michael Dougan of Liverpool University concluded that their campaign was ‘dishonesty on an industrial scale’ and that “Leave conducted one of the most dishonest campaigns this country has ever seen”. He went to say that their entire campaign was “at best misrepresentations and at worst outright deception.”
This dishonesty by the Leave Campaign created a huge schism in our country and turned not just friend against friend, but colleague against colleague, and family member against family member.
That schism has still not healed five years later.
If that dishonesty was not bad enough, some months later, it emerged that the leave campaign had also committed multiple serious breaches of both electoral law and data protection law. These revelations lead to the referendum result being challenged in court.
Despite the fact that the Government told the British people that they had no choice but to do as instructed by the Britush People in the referendum, as soon as they were in court, they changed their tune and relied on the devious and underhand legal loophole that the referendum was actually only advisory to avoid the result of the referendum being annulled.
Everyone involved in that court case knew that the 2016 referendum result was seriously flawed, indeed, the Governments own Barrister was recorded openly admitting that in the Supreme Court. Bluntly, Brexit has no legitimacy and never will.
Brexit is a Crime
Five Years On
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
Brexit, Lockdown and Ideology
The first things that springs to mind when thinking about the Tory Party and Brexit is often the European Research Group which has often been referred to as a right-wing party within the Tory party.
The ERG was established in 1993 with the aim of stopping Britain’s further integration into the EU against the background of the Maastricht Treaty and has exercised considerable influence over the Tory party in recent years. This influence is perhaps best demonstrated by Jacob Rees Mogg, Priti Patel and Michael Gove, who are amongst the ERGs more prominent members, and of course are now senior members of Johnson’s government.
Prior to the ERG, another right-wing group that had a considerable influence on the Tory party was the Monday Club. Founded in 1961 as a response to what was perceived by founding members as the Tory party moving too far to the left under MacMillan, the Monday Club adopted controversial stances on issues such as race, colonial independence and immigration and has counted individuals such as Norman Tebbit, Harvey Procter and Neil Hamilton amongst its membership.
As concerning as their stance on the issues of race, colonialism and immigration was, with hindsight, of far greater longer-term concern and consequence is the fact that the Monday Club was a hotbed of libertarianism in the early 1980s. Whilst the Monday Club has long since lost its influence and libertarianism is rarely mentioned or discussed in most political circles, the importance and influence of libertarianism on issues such as Brexit and indeed Lockdown should not be underestimated.
In a nutshell, libertarians believe in small government and do not believe that governments should restrict or constrain the individual in any way, even going so far as calling for so called victimless crimes, including the use of hard drugs, to be legalised.
Whilst such views can be and indeed often are viewed with some amusement by observers, when transferred to other contexts they can easily become most concerning and can have a profound and often adverse effect on government policy. For example, when transferred to the business world, this dislike for rules and regulation manifests itself as opposition to rules and regulations protecting the rights of workers.
On the political left, this opposition is often portrayed as a desire by the rich and greedy to exploit vulnerable workers, something which is fundamentally incorrect as far as libertarians are concerned. Libertarians oppose such rules and regulations, not because they wish to exploit others, but simply because they oppose all such rules and regulations. They believe that the marketplace will regulate itself and that issues such as wage levels, annual leave and other benefits will naturally settle at appropriately fair levels.
The flaws in this belief are numerous, not least that as economic conditions vary the demand for labour will vary. When demand is high, wages will rise along with other employment benefits, but when demand is weak, the opposite will happen causing financial insecurity for individuals making them vulnerable to the exploitation that the political left fears.
Nonetheless it is this fundamental opposition to regulation that drives libertarians, not the desire to exploit. Libertarians are opposed to all regulation which is why we often hear phrases such as ‘bonfires of regulations’ coming out of the right wing of the Tory Party.
When you consider this ideological belief system in the context of the European Union, it is immediately apparent why libertarians dislike the EU so much. The EU, with its regulatory protection, not just for us as employees, but also for us as consumers and for the environment and so on, is the very antithesis of libertarianism.
Libertarianism is the ideological basis of the opposition to the EU on the grounds of over regulation so often voiced by the right wing of the Tory party, which has its roots in the Monday Club. Indeed, many of the more prominent figures on the far right of the current Tory Party would have been impressionable teenage members of the Young Conservatives when the Monday Club was at the height of its influence in the early to mid 1980s when it was ‘the’ place to be seen for those aspiring to a political career within the Tory Party.
If that libertarian influence on Brexit were not bad enough, the influence of libertarianism on our Government’s response to the Covid is even more concerning.
The dislike that right wing libertarians have for rules and regulations explains why the Johnson Government was slow to impose lockdown and instruct people to stay at home a year ago – as libertarians they were ideologically opposed to the imposition of the lockdown rules and opposed to issuing instructions to us to stay in our homes. Doing so was contrary to their core belief system.
Whilst libertarian opposition to the EU and its influence on Brexit caused economic destruction and removed rights, libertarian influence on government policy relating to the pandemic evidenced by that slow lockdown and that failure to instruct us to stay at home caused thousands of British people to needlessly lose their lives.
People in the Remain/Rejoin movement rightly point to the role of nationalism in Brexit and indeed its danger to wider society but we often forget the role libertarianism played and the dangers it represents to wider society.
We need to recognise that role and that danger.
The Need for Reform by Bill Sylvester
In this piece, I am going to suggest that, although the conscienceless Tories and Brexit are problems, they are not the real problem. Yes they need to be sorted, and yes, in the short term, their impact is very damaging, but actually they are symptoms, and their origin is something much more fundamental.
The painful truth is that our system of government is no longer up to the job. Our constitution has turned out to be a gentlemen’s agreement, worthless as soon as one side chooses to ignore it. The seesaw of bilateral politics, based on the pivot of public opinion, can be too easily manipulated by outside forces, be they media, billionaires, ideologists or extremists.
In the US, exactly the same problem allowed Trump to run riot over the institutions of state, to disrupt the tenor of US international relations, and to divide the country more deeply than anything since the Civil War. Biden may now provide a firm hand on the helm, but the political future looks a lot like the past. The Republicans will return, radical swings in policy will continue to waste time, energy and money.
In the UK, our first past the post system has given us a Tory party which has been steered by its own right wing even further to the right. Brexit has been championed by a relatively small number of people, for selfish reasons and through corrupted practices. In the short term, of course we must resist both, but the longer term offers the real potential for change. We have to find a route to a more representative parliament, with something closer to a legally enforceable constitution.
Realistically, the next general election offers three possible outcomes. Unless something extraordinary happens in Scotland, a majority Labour government is the least likely outcome. Another Conservative government, probably with a reduced majority, is the most likely. The third option, a minority or coalition government led by Labour is probably achievable and undoubtedly our best hope.
We need to recognise that there are two distinct lines of attack. On the one hand, we must maintain pressure on the Government and on their handling of Brexit and Covid19. They cannot be given a free ride, even if they continue to ignore all criticism.
Inevitably this is a confrontational approach. For that reason, I think it should be kept separate from the other strand of work which is the creation of a progressive alliance, bringing together all those who accept that we need to overhaul our structures. Many of the opposition parties would already support that aim, as might some Leave-supporting sectors of the electorate.
Such an alliance would need to go into the next election with a shared manifesto and with an electoral pact. The pact speaks for itself, to give the strongest pro-reform party a clear run on a case-by-case basis in each constituency. The shared manifesto would be fairly simple, and time limited. It should include commitments to:
an agreed form of proportional representation
reform of the House of Lords
enactment of the Nolan principles into law
fresh elections under the new system
There may be room to agree other measures, for example on the environment.
As has been said elsewhere and often, the next step is to get motions to the the party conferences which support these or similar aims. There is a separate and continuing need to scrutinise and attack the Government when it goes wrong. But it is worth suggesting that for the reform movement both Brexit and the current Tory government should be treated as irrelevant.
Policy Statement Regarding Labours Position on the Deal
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.
The Wonders of Brexit
The wonders of Brexit coming to a town near you.
After Brexit the United Kingdom is going to be amazing – every morning I’m going to wake up in my Union Jack jimmy-jams to the sound of a squadron of Spitfires racing overhead and leaving a trail of hot buttered crumpets behind them.
I’ll run to the corner shop past all the happy Scottish and English children who are laughing and squealing with excitement and delight as they make a beautiful statue of the Queen out of happy wriggling British Bulldog puppies – with two Corgis for her eyebrows!
Bunting flutters everywhere in the ‘gin clear’ blue sunny sky and the man from the betting shop steps into the street – “guess what! England just won the World Cup & The Ashes & The Queens’s horse the Grand National and here’s the best bit – Boris Johnson put a bet on it for everyone! we’re all MILLIONAIRES!!! hip hip Hurray! “
The Red Arrows and Lancaster bombers fly overhead dropping ‘fish and chips’ on tiny fluffy white parachutes along with lashings of ginger beer to the appreciative gathered crowds below; as I walk into the corner shop to get my morning paper full of good British news “Good morning, how much please?” I say to Mr. Mohammad’s son, “one penny Sir, everything in the whole shop now costs just one penny!” he laughs, “leave it on the counter, I’m off back to Pakistan – we all are!”
Gosh, he’s right! outside in the streets jolly old Nigel Farage is leading a huge crowd of happy smiley Johnny foreigners – Turks, Poles, Romanians, Syrians – there’s even a few English and Scottish people with heavy suntans mixed up in there! Nigel’s playing ‘Rule Britannia’ on a long pipe, rather like the pipe that takes the gas into your oven, and they’re all following and smiling and talking foreign, bless them!
Just then our exalted PM, Boris Johnson flies overhead in a Concorde made of Bank of England gold, powered by Scottish oil – “don’t worry!” he laughs “I’ve cut out all the bits the French, Spanish and Germans made!” and with that he crashes into the ground at 1200 mile/h.
Courtesy Dave Lewis from a post on our Facebook group.
Latest News
- March for Rejoin19th August 2022 - 1:13 pm
The latest Brexit Lie from the Government and the Daily Mail29th May 2022 - 4:05 pm
Russian Interference in British Politics including the EU Membership Referendum6th May 2022 - 6:25 pm
Russian Interference in British Politics12th March 2022 - 8:00 am