Newsletter 49

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May 1, 2018 Comments Off on Newsletter 49 John Butler

The events of the last 18 months would have killed off less resilient parties than UKIP, particularly those where everything is dictated from the ‘top down‘. What our recent crisis has shown is the strength of UKIP‘s grassroots; in the extraordinary efforts that so many made to attend the EGM in Birmingham to vote out Henry Bolton, and in the unprecedented branch response to the short term funding crisis, which generated nearly three times the revenue needed.

New leader Gerard Batten is doing an excellent job of repairing the damage, so it’s a crucial time for us when all UKIP branches need to rally round. Having been in it from the very start, we can say with complete confidence that Gerard is 100% UKIP. He is a calm, disciplined, methodical character with an unrivalled knowledge of the EU and Brexit. Already he has made some telling appearances in the media. He is exactly the right person at the right time. The crunch time for Brexit at Westminster is fast approaching, with Conservative MP’s facing in all different directions. If full exit is not delivered, UKIP is the only party that can salvage the situation. Our party’s future could not be in better hands.

Behind The Wire, the captive nations of Europe are stirring. The EU’s leaders believed their political crisis was over when the technocrat-puppet Emmanuel Macron, narrowly won France’s Presidential election last year, but they were wrong. Everywhere across Europe ordinary citizens are taking inspiration from UKIP’s success and deciding they have had enough. Macron‘s popularity has been short-lived as he attempts to get the bloated French state rail (SNCF) to accept EU ‘internal market’ rules. Good luck with that one.

Meanwhile in Germany, Angela Merkel has been sworn in for a 4th term as German Chancellor, six months after suffering huge election losses to the AfD (Alternative for Germany). This forced her into the most unholy of alliances with Martin Schultz’s Socialists. Merkel only narrowly won a vote of confidence in parliament after securing the coalition deal. The vote was won with a majority of just 9 and she failed to win the support of 35 of her own party’s MP’s. Alexander Mitsch of her CDU party said: ‘That was close and it’s a bad omen. This coalition has got off to a bad start and it will not last ….’

As for the AfD, they are certainly not neo-Nazis, or whatever else you might hear from our propagandist media. They are ordinary German citizens, much like UKIP, who are fed up with the political direction of travel and want their country back. Their 13% of the vote is similar to UKIP’s vote in 2015, but Germany’s PR system ensures that they are fairly represented with 94 MPs. It isn’t hard to see why they are being singled out for systematic vilification and misrepresentation. If a UKIP-style party gains popularity in Germany, it’s ‘game over’ for the entire EU project.

We’re Ignoring EU …. In Central and Eastern Europe the anti-EU tide is rising fast. In Hungary, Victor Orban’s ’Fidesz’ party won March’s general election with a landslide two-thirds majority, on a platform of firm border controls, no migrant ‘quotas’ and opposition to the euro. The situation is similar in the Czech Republic, where the anti-EU Milos Zeman recently won the Presidential election and has threatened to hold a referendum on ’Czech-xit’. This follows last October’s general election victory of the Czech ’Donald Trump’ Andrej Babic and ANO (‘YES’), opposed to the Euro and mass migration. In Austria, the anti-EU People’s Party and the anti-establishment Freedom Party, who won the general election last November, have formed a coalition to put Austria in the vanguard of European resistance to mass migration from the Muslim world.

Poland’s governing ’Law and Justice Party’ (also opposed to the euro and migrant quotas) remains locked in a bitter dispute with Brussels over the future of Poland’s legal system. This isn’t about making Poland’s courts ’independent’ of state control; its whether their legal system continues to reflect traditionally Catholic values, or follows the aggressive secularism propagated by the EU (which we in Britain are all too familiar with). Understandably this is causing huge resentment in Poland. Speaking recently to mark the 100th anniversary of Poland’s Independence, President Andrzej Duda, compared EU membership to ‘an occupation’ ‘We don’t decide for ourselves any more. Somewhere far away, in far away capitals, they make decisions for us. They take the money we earn through our work and in reality we work on behalf of others. It is worth defending independence and sovereignty at any price’.

In echoes of former Habsburg days, the governments of Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Austria are now working together (the ‘Visegrad Group’) to challenge the Franco-German led drive towards a centralised euro-state.

Italy’s General Election in March was won by the anti-EU ‘5 Star’ party, with 32.6% of the vote. Together with euro-sceptic parties ‘Liga Nord’ and Silvio Berlusconi’s ’Forza Italia’, parties opposing the EU gained a record 70% of the total vote. Matteo Salvini, Leader of ‘Liga’ spoke for the general mood: ‘The euro is and remains, a failure. It is clear that the system of monetary union is destined to end and therefore we wish to prepare for that moment. It’s NO to Berlin, NO to Brussels; Italians are going to decide for Italy from now on ….’

BrexitWatch …… So far the negotiations seem to be a one-way street. The EU makes demands which the UK concedes. The open-ended ‘transition period’ beyond March 2019, when we cease to be a member of the EU but still remain subject to its laws and regulations, will leave the UK in the worst of all possible worlds. As one example, UK Fishing Waters will remain in the CFP, until at least 31st December 2020, giving the EU 21 months to destroy what little remains of our fishing industry. Will our fishing industry be sacrificed to the EU just to ‘do a deal’, the same as it was in 1973 ?

Other aspects of Mrs May’s agreement with Brussels on 19th March are of concern. Our borders will remain open to unlimited migration from the EU, until at least 31st December 2020, yet there seems to be no recognition by the EU that we will regain full control of our borders after this date. We seem to have won a concession from the EU allowing us to make trade deals in the ‘transition period’ after March 2019, but this may be worth less than it seems. Many MP’s (including some of Mrs May’s Cabinet), want the UK to continue to obey EU ‘single market’ rules (‘regulatory alignment’) or even worse, remain in the EU Customs Union. We will then have no power to make our own trade deals; indeed there will be very little point in leaving the EU at all.

On Ireland, all that is required is for Mrs May to support forcefully, the 1923 Common Travel Area Agreement between the Irish Republic and the UK (ratified in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement), which allows the free trade of goods and services and persons across the Irish border. The Republic benefits considerably as the UK is its main export market. The continuation of this trade does not need ‘regulatory alignment’ between North and South, and modern technology has developed simple systems for the electronic pre-clearance of exported goods. If the EU continues to refuse to accept the current free trade agreement, they can trade with the UK under WTO rules post-March 2019 and introduce their controls on the Republic’s side of the border if they wish. See how well that goes down in the Republic …..

In her Munich speech (17th Feb) Mrs May pledged the UK’s full co-operation with the EU on Security, Justice, and Home Affairs, and gave her support to the proposed new EU Treaty on Police and Criminal Justice. This will build the European Police State and it is clear that Mrs May wants the UK to be part of it. We will continue to be a member of Europol and UK citizens continue to be subject to the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) and the European Investigation Order (EIO). Unlike an extradition treaty, these instruments by-pass the need to provide any evidence to a UK court and allow UK citizens to be ‘rendered’ without trial to foreign countries where judicial integrity, legal procedures and prison standards are often worse than in the UK. This is not what 17.4 million people voted for.

Gods’ Law …. Unlike the obscure mumblings of his predecessor, the current Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, does sometimes talk common sense. Speaking before the publication of his new book ‘Re-imagining Britain’, Welby said that Sharia law should never become part of the British legal system, as Islamic rules are incompatible with Britain’s laws, which have developed over 500 years on the principles of a Judaeo-Christian culture: ‘The problem is re-imagining Britain through values applied in action, can only work where the narrative of the country is coherent and embracing ….. Sharia law, which has a powerful and ancient cultural narrative of its own ….. cannot form part of another narrative. Accepting it in part, means accepting its values around the nature of the human person, attitudes to outsiders, the revelation of God, and a basis for life in ‘law‘, rather than ‘grace‘, the formative word of Christian culture ….’ (Daily Mail, 24th Feb)

EUSFUL IDIOTS (No.2) ..… PADDY ASHDOWN
‘I will forgive no-one who does not respect the sovereign voice of the British people once it has spoken, whether it is a majority of 1% or 20%. When the British people have spoken, you do what they command. Either you believe in democracy or you don’t ..…’ (Lord Ashdown, as exit polls predicted a ‘Remain’ win, 23rd June 2016)

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Out of the EU; Into the World ……
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‘The UK economy ended 2017 on a record high …. More than £141bn was added to the value of the country’s biggest firms amid a boom in exports, a rise in market confidence and a surge in stock market flotations. The FTSE index of the UK’s largest firms rose to a record 7687.77. It is the second year running that the market has ended at a new peak, defying the gloom-mongers who predicted the UK would sink after the Brexit vote. The market has risen almost 8% since the start of 2017’……

’The FTSE 250 index which includes many smaller, UK focused companies, also finished on a high, adding £52bn to its value. The number of companies floating on the London Stock Exchange reached a 3-year high of 106, surpassing all rival European exchanges. The market was boosted by a rise in the number of foreign firms choosing to list in London, with 20 North American businesses choosing the City as the place to trade their shares. Nikhil Rathi, Chief Executive of the LSE said: ’Despite the debates about Brexit, London’s highly global, deep and liquid capital markets continue to be the ideal partner for funding the world’s growth….’ (Daily Mail, 31st December)

‘Department for Work and Pension figures show that people in work peaked at 75.3% in the 3 months from May – July 2017, the highest rate since records began in the early 1970s, defying Project Fear claims that Brexit would result in a ‘jobs bloodbath’. The number of people in work is also at a record high of 32.14 million and unemployment is at its lowest rate since 1975, at 4.3%. The total unemployed has fallen by over 1 million since 2010…’ (Daily Express, 6th April).

‘Productivity in the UK is growing at its fastest for more than a decade. In yet another sign that the UK continues to defy the ‘gloom-mongers’, the Office for National Statistics said output per-hour rose by 1.7% in the final 6 months of 2017; the strongest half-year performance since 2005. The figures came just a week after the ONS revealed that business investment and exports hit a record high in 2017‘ (Daily Mail, 7th April)

‘Overseas investment in British firms hit an all-time high in 2016 and shows no sign of abating .… data from Dealogic suggests that 2018 is off to a cracking start, with the UK accounting for almost 10% of all global bids …’ (Alex Brummer, Mail City Editor, 9th April)

‘A top Frankfurt banking lobbyist has admitted the German city will never replace London as a global financial hub after the boss of Goldman Sachs had hinted otherwise. Hubertus Vath of Frankfurt Main Finance said: ’I don’t think Frankfurt is going to take over from London as the world’s leading financial centre. We think we shouldn’t do damage to London as a financial centre because this eco-system is unique and benefits all of Europe …’ (Daily Mail, Oct 21st)

Speaking at an event on 28th March, the outgoing Australian High Commissioner to the UK, Alexander Downer, said: ‘for us in the outside world, Britain would become at least in economic terms, irrelevant to international diplomacy’ if it remained in the EU Customs Union’. He continued: ‘I have been surprised that there is any debate at all about whether Britain should remain in the customs union. Imagine a great country like this having its trade policy determined by bureaucrats and politicians in Brussels without the British government or the British people having any say whatsoever …. From Australia’s perspective we would willingly give away any tariff protection and provide improved access to our services market as well as create a better environment for British investors ….‘ (Daily Mail, 31st March)

‘Brexit means the UK will get a ‘better or larger’ trade deal with Canada, says Canada’s PM Justin Trudeau. He said he would be happy to open trade talks with Britain ‘the day after’ Brexit. He also said Ireland and Canada could cash in by encouraging people to relocate …..’ (Daily Telegraph, 12th April)

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Stories You Won’t Hear on the BBC ……
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‘One claim about Brexit is that since the 2016 vote, the NHS has suffered a recruitment crisis as EU staff have left in droves. This is repeated ad nauseam …… Now Brexit may or may not be good for NHS, only time will tell. But on this point we can check, because it’s a clear fact. The NHS’s own statistics show that the overall number of EU citizens working in the NHS has actually grown since the Brexit vote. While its true that about 10,000 have left, over the same period 13,000 have come here to work, making a net increase of 3,000 ….’ (Dr Max Pemberton, Daily Mail, 31st March)

‘The number of skilled non-EU workers is capped, with the Home Office arguing the restriction is ‘in the national interest’. It comes amid a row after 100 visas for Indian doctors were refused …..’ (Teletext News, 29th April)

A ‘Brexit’ debate that was scheduled to be held at the BIC on 20th March was postponed after the organisers failed to find anyone to sit alongside odious former Blair spin-doctor, Alistair Campbell, for ’Remain‘. So our own Gerard Batten MEP and the sterling Kate Hoey MP will have to wait until June at the earliest, to give this man what he richly deserves.

The BBC is quick to accuse any parties it doesn’t like of ‘populism’, but never uses it to describe parties or politicians of the Left, such as Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, much admired by our Labour leader. Yet according to the OED, the term originated in the USA in the 1890’s as a label to describe certain politicians advocating crude forms of state ownership, reckless state spending and punitive taxation. So why isn’t Jeremy Corbyn a ‘populist’ ? Inflammatory speeches to the Glastonbury mob; promising students free higher education without any idea of how to fund it; pandering to the basest human emotions of envy and hatred. Are these not the hallmarks of ’populist’ politics ?

‘Brexit’ will allow the UK government to sign contracts worth £billions with UK farmers, instead of being forced to buy food imports from the EU …. Currently Ministers are barred by EU rules from choosing domestic suppliers over foreign producers, but after Brexit, the government can use the buying power of the public purse to properly support UK farmers. Speaking at the NFU Conference in Birmingham, Environment Secretary Michael Gove said: ’Changing how the government procures food can help drive the change we all want to see; we can use public money to reward British farmers and food producers who grow healthy food in a sustainable fashion …’ (Daily Mail, 23rd Feb)

‘Between 2008 and 2016, the BBC paid over £136,000 in compensation to families ‘hounded’ by TV Licencing officials. The ‘goodwill’ payments were given to people wrongly prosecuted, bombarded with menacing letters or intimidated by collection staff … (Daily Mail, Oct. 1st)

‘Since 2001, National Debt has increased nearly 6x, from £317bn to £1.8 trillion. Debt interest payments have totalled £520bn over that period, or about £21,000 per household. This year, the Government is due to spend another £41.5bn servicing the national debt; nearly as much as it spends on defence and more than the entire transport budget……’ (source: ONS, 18th Nov)

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Rotten Boroughs ……..
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You needed a torch to go out at night this winter in most of Bournemouth and Poole, such is the feeble lighting of our urban streets. Poole has replaced 9000 perfectly good streetlights with new supposedly ‘eco-friendly’ installations (how much metal and concrete is used in their construction ?). The new lights seem less powerful, and are often far too high above the road (even above the tree canopy), so that very little light reaches the ground. This creates pools of darkness at road level, making it much harder for motorists to see pedestrians about to step off the kerb, or cyclists with no lights. It’s now far worse than having no streetlights at all. At least then, drivers ‘night vision’ could adjust to complete darkness and compensate accordingly.

Adequate streetlighting is even more vital with our road surfaces in such an appalling state. It’s sometimes said that ‘We used to drive on the Left of the road; now we drive on what‘s left of the road’. There are some horrific potholes on major routes such as Herbert Avenue and Seaview Road. The Local Government Association estimate that there were 700,000 potholes on UK roads last year alone, each one costing £69 to repair. There is an estimated £12bn deficit in Local Council’s budget to fix our roads. An estimated 50 cyclists a year are killed or seriously injured because of potholes. In 2017 alone, Local Councils paid out £3.5mn in compensation to road users for damage caused from sub-standard road surfaces. But they are finding ever more sneaky ways to avoid compensation payments.

A bright idea ? Road surfacing company MacRebur has developed recycled plastic for road surfacing. The idea came from a visit to India, where locals were seen collecting waste plastic from rubbish dumps, packing it into potholes in the road, then setting it alight. The resultant liquid plastic set, fitting the potholes perfectly !

BRANCH NEWS …….…

Friday 23rd February: Ken & Shula’s Coffee Morning with Cakes and Tabletop Gifts, raised £60.55 for branch funds and was enjoyed by all, so our thanks to them. Their next Coffee Morning will be on Friday 22nd June so please support this event.

Wimborne Market, 24th March; Our UKIP stall was a success. Many of the public were pleased to see that UKIP was still around and were generally supportive. A lot of UKIP literature was taken, plus some leaflets on the EU Customs Union and ’Single Market’ produced by ’Lawyers for Britain’. Most popular though were the free hessian shopping bags (’Brexit Means Exit’) provided by Julia Reid MEP via the EFD group. We gave away 100 of these bags in little under 2 hours. One very nice man from Germany took three and commented; ’I am envious of you; many people want to leave EU but the German media is not open to alternative views’

Local Elections: Although the application for judicial review by Christchurch Borough has thrown a spanner in the works, it is as well to start preparing for the likelihood of unitary Council elections in May 2019. If you are willing to stand for UKIP in our area, please contact the Branch Chairman (01202-602427).

strong>BOOK REVIEW … ‘An Inconvenient Death – How The Establishment Covered Up The David Kelly Affair’ by Miles Goslett (Head of Zeus, £16.99)

You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to be deeply sceptical about the official verdict that Dr David Kelly ‘committed suicide’ in July 2003. In this compelling book, Daily Mail and Evening Standard journalist Miles Goslett lays bare the omissions, inconsistencies and implausabilities in the government’s account of what happened on the night of July 17th/18th 2003. He adds new findings of his own which strengthen further the case for a fully independent coroners inquest to be held. The truly worrying thing is that there are almost certainly senior figures in the Civil Service and at Westminster who do know exactly what happened to Dr Kelly, and for reasons unknown are prepared to go to extraordinary lengths to prevent the public from finding out about it. Don’t go for a walk in the woods …..

UKIP Daily (www.ukipdaily.com) is written by UKIP members for the members, and contains essential daily news, analysis and information.

Don’t forget to check the monthly Dorset Digest (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 30th June 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