GAMBLERS LUCK …… According to William Hill, if last January you had a £5, 3-way bet on: (1) Leicester City winning the Premier League, (2) ‘Leave’ winning the EU referendum, (3) Donald Trump being the next President of the USA; you would now be £15 million richer. Which goes to show that nothing is impossible, however unlikely it might seem. Just believe ……..
The seismic shock of ‘Trumpquake’ continues to reverberate. Many felt that Nigel was taking a big risk last July in supporting Donald Trump, but his gamblers instinct has paid off in spectacular style. UKIP and the Leave EU campaigns had given the ’secret people’ of America the inspiration and courage to stand up to their own political elitists. Whether Nigel receives an official post in Washington, the long term benefit to UKIP (and Britain) of having friendly relations with the President of arguably the world’s most powerful country, cannot be over-stated. A special relationship indeed.
To crown a momentous year on 7th December, Parliament voted by 461 – 89 to trigger Article 50 by 31st March. The hopes of the LibDems and other ’democracy deniers’ for Parliament to overturn the verdict of 23/6, have been crushed. No doubt there will be many twists and turns to come, but the overall direction of travel is now set; we’re leaving the EU.
2016 has been the year of extraordinary things, none of which were foreseen. What will 2017 bring? The type of ‘Brexit’ we’ll get remains unclear and there are many signs of government fudging on key issues. It will leave an empty net in UK politics which UKIP is poised to fill. Now we have a strong leader in Paul Nuttall, whose voice will be heard the length and breadth of the land, it’s game on. Anti-elitist revolution is rising in France and Germany, where general elections are coming up. It’s time to start sticking the ball in our opponents net again. It’s time for UKIP to get back to work.
AFTERMATH ……. The days after 23/6 saw a small rise in the number of reported ‘hate crimes’. The increase was from a very low level and it now appears to have fallen back. Nonetheless the issue continues to be amplified by the BBC and other ’Remain’ supporting media, to build a false narrative that ‘Brexit Britain’ will be an intolerant, even ‘racist’ society. The trial of neo-Nazi Thomas Mair, for the murder of Jo Cox MP, is further grist to their mill, insinuating that it was somehow because of the ‘Leave’ campaign.
A prime example of this was the recent ‘Hate Crime Conference’, organised by Capita and attended at £600 each by elite lawyers, politicised charities, academics and police. It was solemnly reported that modern Britain ‘is a country riven by homophobia and racism‘, and that there was ’a surging growth in hate crime, which has risen by 57% since the EU referendum vote’. This figure (bandied about by the BBC), came from a single press release issued by the National Police Chiefs Council on 27th June. It noted that ’there were no major spikes in tensions’ since the 23rd June, but added that 85 people had logged ’hate crime’ incidents on the police website ’True Vision’; up from 54 in the corresponding period a month earlier (a 57% increase). The statement said; ’this should not be read as a national increase in hate crime of 57%, but an increase in reporting through one mechanism over a four day period’.
Because ’True Vision’ allows anyone to anonymously report a ‘hate crime’ on behalf of anybody, anywhere, but not have to provide any evidence, it isn’t hard to see how the ‘reported incidents’ could be orchestrated by a few professional grievance-mongers, determinedly trawling social media to find something relatively minor which they can ‘take offence’ to. Some of the ‘reported incidents’ were found on further investigation, to have plain criminal intent, nothing to do with the victim’s origins. Unfortunately the absurd wording of the law which enables anyone to take offence on someone else’s behalf, and the vague, ever enlarging definition of what constitutes a ‘hate’ crime, gives these people free licence to waste police time.
Let’s be clear though; even one such attack is an attack too many, and we hope that the police will investigate all such incidents fully. It is political intolerance that’s driving real, rather than imaginary ‘hate crime’. It’s increasing in the UK and it needs to be taken a lot more seriously than it is at present. It isn’t just about a handful of right-wing extremists either. The Far Left (including ‘New’ Labour) bears a responsibility for the growth of political intolerance, having firstly opened Britain‘s doors to uncontrolled migration, then attempted to suppress any responsible discussion of the issue by using inflammatory, emotionally charged rhetoric to demonise their critics. The intolerance of the illiberal left has been seen in the violent riots that occurred in the USA and UK following the election of Donald Trump. Together with the anti-Brexit protesters, there is a worrying trend where many simply refuse to recognise or respect the outcome of a democratic process that isn‘t to their liking. Many are victims of their own propaganda. Anti-semitism is also increasing. Social media gives some people an online version of road rage. Sitting behind the safety of a computer screen, emotionally immature individuals can say things to others they wouldn’t dare say to their face, fuelling an intolerant, incendiary atmosphere.
‘SINGLE MARKET’ MYTHS ..… The ‘Remnants’ and their supporters are desperately clinging onto the importance of Britain ‘being in the EU single market’. It’s a bit like 1975 again; we must stay in the EU because its all about our trade. The BBC and other ‘Remnants’ are making a great deal of this in a last ditch attempt to keep Britain as close as possible to the EU. ’Single Market’ sounds an obviously good thing doesn’t it; about free trade and all that ? Well no it isn‘t.
To start with, there’s no such thing as the EU ’single market’. It‘s called the EU ‘Internal Market’, as defined in Article 26(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU): ’The internal market shall comprise an area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is ensured ….’ The internal market is part of the EU Customs Union as defined in Article 28(1) of the TFEU: ’The Union shall comprise a customs union, which shall cover all trade in goods and which shall involve the prohibition between member states of customs duties on imports and exports, and of all charges having equivalent effect, and the adoption of a common customs tariff in their relations with third countries’.
So while the ‘internal market’ allows free trade between EU member states (but in reality France and Germany still protect certain key industries), it is a subsidiary component of the EU Customs Union. This has 4 main purposes: (1) To enable the EU to build trade barriers against cheaper imports from outside ’Fortress Europe‘, (2) To ensure that all business activity and production within the EU (whether it exports outside the EU or not) is ’harmonised’ by EU regulation, (3) To create a new European ‘demos’ by allowing all EU citizens to live anywhere within the EU (guaranteed by Article 45 of the TFEU), and (4) To ensure that all trade relationships outside the EU are determined by the EU. The purpose of the EU customs union isn‘t free trade at all; it‘s to develop a political union; a superstate called ’Europe’.
The consequences for the UK are: (1) UK consumers are prevented from gaining the benefit of cheaper imported goods, many from third world countries who if they are to develop, desperately need to boost their trade with the UK market, (2) All UK businesses are subject to 100% of the EU’s job destroying regulations, even though 95% of British businesses only trade within the UK and only around 10% of our GDP depends on exports to the EU, (3) Britain has no power to control its borders against in-migration from the EU, and (4) Britain has no power to sign its own trade agreements.
The EU currently has over 100 ‘free trade’ agreements (FTA’s) of various kinds with other countries, allowing access at varying levels to the EU internal market. Only four such agreements (mainly EFTA countries) give rights of residency to all EU citizens. Both Switzerland and Norway’s FTA’s allow ’free movement’ of people from the EU, and although the Swiss voted against this in a referendum nearly two years ago, their government hasn’t done anything about it yet (sound familiar?). They also have to abide by about a quarter of all EU regulations, and make payments to the EU as well.
Mrs May could be plotting a similar type of agreement to keep Britain in the EU in all but name. However the Swiss and Norwegian economies are much more linked and proportionately far more dependent on ‘Europe’ than the UK; Switzerland exports 4x and Norway 2x more per head to the EU than we do. Geopolitically, Switzerland is landlocked by the EU. Most Swiss exports to the EU are hightech manufacturing (which would be subject to EU tariffs), whereas much of Britain’s exports to the EU are ‘services’, many of which still lie outside the EU‘s ‘internal market’ regulations.
It’s important to realise that access to the EU internal market does not depend on being a member of the EU internal market; they are two entirely different things. Six of the EU’s Top 10 trading countries aren’t in the EU; they aren’t members of the EU ‘single market’ either, and they don’t even have a free trade agreement with the EU. They access its internal market under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules, simply by paying a small external tariff. In this way (2012), China sold £290bn worth of goods to the EU; Russia £213bn, the USA £205bn. The goods they sell to the EU have to comply with EU regulations (all exports have to comply with the laws of whatever country they‘re sold to), but EU regulations don’t apply to the goods sold within their own national markets, or those sold to countries not in the EU. They retain full control over their borders.
There is no reason why an independent Britain could not also access the EU ‘internal market’ in this way. The UK is the world’s fifth biggest economy, its largest financial services centre, and the EU’s biggest export market. We buy far more from the EU than they buy from us. So the boot really should be on the other foot: the EU desperately needs agreement with the UK to have continued access to our ‘single market’ once we leave. Free trade is even more in their interests as ours. The EU has no logical reason to impose trade barriers against its biggest and best customer.
We want:
(1) Free Trade in Goods and Services, Not People;
(2) Full Border Controls with the EU;
(3) No More EU Law in Britain;
(4) No More Taxpayers Cash to Brussels.
Anything less will be a sellout of the 17.4 million people who voted to ‘Leave‘.
LAWYERS FOR BRITAIN is a group of lawyers, legal academics, retired judges and constitutional specialists who came together for ‘Leave’ in the referendum. They have been joined by many lawyers who had voted ‘Remain’, but now wish to work constructively to ensure that ‘Brexit’ is secured. www.lawyersforbritain.org. contains very readable summaries in plain English of many of the key legal issues about the EU and ’Brexit’. Another recommended website is http//facts4eu.org, a pro-Brexit, non-party, non-profit organisation, with many news stories you won’t hear on the TV or in the papers.
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Tales From Europe ……..
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Rob Whiteman, Head of the UK Border Agency (2011- 2013), has said the 84,000 illegal entrants caught last year were ‘at best’ around half the number that slipped in illegally. Around 1 million illegal migrants are now estimated to be in the UK. Mr Whiteman said; ‘The UK border is porous beyond our main ports. Britain is incredibly close to Europe, so people will gain entry into the country through little harbours, inlets and airfields which are not covered routinely. If you have the money, I suspect it’s easy to get into the UK. The Border Agency has (only) three cutters ….. Your chances of getting across the Channel are good. In Australia, a great deal of the navy’s time is given over to border protection….’ (Express, Oct. 8th)
Greece ‘Since March, all migrants arriving on the Greek islands should have been stopped from crossing to the Greek mainland and returned to Turkey under a £5bn deal between the EU and Turkey (the UK paid £50mn); but figures reveal that just 748 have been returned. EU officials also believe up to 4000 are unaccounted for and could have slipped into the rest of Europe. The number returned to Turkey included 348 Pakistanis, 68 Algerians, 61 Afghans, 42 Syrians, 26 Bangladeshis, 18 Iranians and 17 Iraqis ……’ (Daily Mail, 9th Dec)
Denmark: ‘600 out of 800 ‘child’ asylum seekers turned out to be adults, when the Danish Immigration Service used medical tests to determine the age of migrants who claimed to be under 18’ ….(Daily Express, Dec. 8th)
‘Germany is spending an average of £10,000 a year on each of the 1.3 million migrants that have come in over the last 18 months ….. According to the German Association of Cities, the spending has left local authorities with a £2.1 billion black hole ……. Earlier this year, the German Finance Ministry said it expects to spend the equivalent of £69 billion over the next 4 years, feeding, housing and training ‘refugees’ as well as helping their home countries to stem the flow …..’ (Daily Mail, 10th Nov)
‘According to charity War Child, it costs the equivalent of about £25,000 a year to feed, clothe and provide educational opportunities for each Syrian refugee in Germany. By contrast, it costs about £2,500 to provide the same help in Lebanon. In other words, we can help 10 times as many people for the same price, if we give help to the scene of an emergency, rather than wait for them to come to us … (Ross Clark, Express Nov.8th)
Has the Archbishop of Canterbury seen the light ? In a speech to the Catholic Institute in Paris, The Most Rev Justin Welby said: ‘In southern Europe particularly, talk of economic success would be met with confusion and anger. Greece is the clearest example of that. It was urged to enter the Eurozone on essentially a false prospectus, with declared debt well below the reality and thus outside the criteria for euro entry. There was a level of collusion by all concerned, who wanted more countries in the Eurozone. By taking on what is essentially a foreign currency, a country loses the ability to service its debt by printing money to inflate its way out of its problems. When the Great Recession arrived in 2008, it was little surprise that Greece could not pay the bill. And because of previous mismanagement and even corruption by an elite, the poor of an entire nation have been put effectively into involuntary bankruptcy. The weight has fallen on those least able to survive ….. What we have seen is the global market system and especially the EU, lends people money to buy things and then strangles their hopes and futures when they cannot repay. What we have now is the biggest debtors prison in European history ……..’
Amen to that.
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Rotten Boroughs ……
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‘As part of a £913mn project by former mayor Boris Johnson, a network of so called cycle super-highways has sprung up across London, restricting road space for vehicles. Other road users are now feeling the impact, with gridlocked streets, bordered by cycle lanes that seem virtually empty outside rush hour. Partly as result, London is now said to be the world’s most congested city, with the average driver spending 101 hours stuck in traffic last year, according to traffic experts INRIX. Average vehicle speeds in central London have fallen to 7.4 mph; slower than a horse drawn carriage in the 18thC …..’ (Daily Mail, 5th Oct).
‘Private consultant run public services have doubled since 2010. …. Serco, Capita and G4S now make a combined total of £3.6bn a year from running public services, with taxpayers money. An estimated £1 in every £6 of taxpayers money spent on public services now goes to these companies …… An increasing number of Councils now have ‘Risk and Reward’ contracts with private consultants, whereby the consultants take a ‘cut’ (typically around 16%) from the money made from service cutbacks identified in their reports ….’ (Jacques Perretti; How Council’s Blow Your Billions, BBC2, 18th Oct)
‘Nearly £1.4mn in compensation was paid out to people working for Poole Council last year; a huge increase on previous years (2014: £9,038; 2013: £23,941). The Council has refused to give details of the payments, despite requests. John O’Connell, Chief Executive of Taxpayers Alliance said: ’Compensation culture costs taxpayers an enormous amount of their hard earned cash, and every penny spent on settlements is money that can’t be spent on services. It’s extremely worrying that the compensation bill has risen so sharply, and even more so that Poole refuses to explain why this is the case … ’ (Daily Echo, 5th Oct)
‘Cameron’s ‘Troubled Families’ initiative began in 2012. Phase 1 targeted 120,000 families at a cost of £448mn …. Phase 2 (still under way), involving another 400,000 households, brings the total cost to £1.3bn …. Councils administering the scheme are given £4000 for every family they ’turn around’ … the definition of ’turned around’ was spelt out in a list of measurements … Councils could choose these ‘success’ criteria as it suited them; for example a family could be deemed ’turned around’ even when members were still involved in crime, still addicted to drugs, still engaging in domestic violence; as long as a family member had come off benefits ……. Borough of Poole selected 240 families for Phase 1, which included some 220 jobless adults. Unemployment was the dominating feature of the problems suffered by this group. Poole claimed huge success, a 100% ’turnaround’ rate (that’s £4000 x 240 to B.o.P, ed.) ….. Yet in truth only 10 of those 220 unemployed had found work’ (Daily Mail, Nov. 26th)
‘Dorset’s ‘super-Council’ consultation is biased, say two former Borough of Poole policy directors. Alan Hughes and John White both worked for the council in the 1990’s as it was being transformed into its current unitary structure; ‘During the previous unitary status bid … every household got information and the opportunity to comment. That isn’t the case this time. People are finding out in bits and pieces what is proposed, or not at all’. Mr Hughes said: ‘What people are seeing … is a questionnaire biased towards reaching a decision which has already been made. Option One, ‘No Change’ isn’t even an option. They want to ensure that people’s views support their decision’…. (Daily Echo, 24th Oct)
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Local UKIP Branch News ……..
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November 17th: 150 braved bad weather and the A349 (Gravel Hill) road closure to hear Gerard Batten MEP on ‘How To Leave the EU’. Gerard was clear that Repeal of the 1972 ECA, would ‘put Britain firmly in the driving seat’ in negotiations on Brexit. See his speech on www.youtube.co/watch?v=YGnAjqvq60g. Thanks too for Steve Unwin’s excellent presentation on the referendum campaign. Signed copies of Gerard’s new book and other donations raised £145 for our branch.
Dorset County Council elections are back on in May 2017. The Mid-Dorset & North Poole wards are: Colehill & Stapehill, Corfe Mullen, Wimborne Minster, Egdon Heath (incl. Bere Regis), Lytchett & Upton, and Wareham. If you are on the electoral role own property, or have a business address in any Dorset District Council, you can stand for any of these seats.
Support continues to grow in spite of UKIP’s troubled autumn, with a 4.6% increase in new members across all Dorset branches in the last quarter.
Ferndown: In a by-election for Dorset CC UKIP’s Lawrence Wilson came 2nd with 831 votes (30.04%), well ahead of the LibDems (301) and Labour (160). UKIP’s share of the vote remained the same as in similar by-elections in Ferndown and West Parley on 1st September, indicating that our support in this area remains solid and the Tories know that UKIP is still breathing down their necks.
Can You Help? Francis Drake needs 32 helpers for the UKIP Spring Conference in Weymouth (see below) to ‘meet and greet’, do stewarding, etc. Contact Francis on 07557-907214 or e: francisgeorgedrake@gmail.com.
EVENTS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sat 4th March, UKIP (SW) Spring Conference, at The Pavilion Theatre, Weymouth, DT4 8ED. Early bookings (by 31st Dec) £20; £25 after. Speakers include: UKIP Leader Paul Nuttall MEP, William Dartmouth MEP, Julia Reid MEP, Stuart Agnew MEP, Roger Helmer MEP, plus Young Independence, Freedom Association, and much, much more !
Gala Dinner, Friday 3rd March, £35, Special Guest: Nigel Farage. Tickets from www.ticketsource. co.uk/ukip.
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SOCIAL EVENTS:
Thursdays 5th Jan; 2nd Feb; 2nd March, 7.30pm: Dorset Branches Social at the Charlton Inn, Charlton Marshall. All supporters and friends welcome. Contact John Baxter 01202-897884
Saturdays 7th Jan; 4th March, 11.00 am, Chat, Coffee or Snack at Corfe Coffee, 137 Wareham Road, Corfe Mullen, BH21 3HH. Contact Dave Evans, 01202-602856
Saturday 11th Feb; UKIP Mid-Dorset & North Poole AGM 2pm, at St Paul’s Church Hall, Culliford Crescent, Canford Heath BH17 9DW. Guest Speaker: Chairman of Young Independence
Saturday 18th Feb: 11am -1pm Coffee or Lunch at The Acorn,
Northmead Drive, Creekmoor, Poole BH17 7XZ – Friends and supporters welcome – large car park and accessible by bus (More Bus 8 or 9)
Don’t forget to check the monthly Dorset Digest (obtainable via e-mail) for up to date bulletins of ‘What’s On’ locally, as well as checking our branch website www.ukipmiddorset.org
Items for next Edition by 28th February to:
John Butler, 20 Nightjar Close, Poole BH17 7YN
e-mail: john.butler@ukipmiddorset.org
All items in this newsletter are personal views only and do not necessarily represent the views of the UK Independence Party Mid-Dorset & North Poole
