‘While it is not what we want (a ‘No Deal’ scenario) ….. we would be able to lower tariffs and bring into effect new trade deals, straight away. There would be the immediate recovery of full legislative and regulatory control, including immigration policy, and a swifter end to our financial contributions to the EU’ (EU Exit Secretary, Dominic Raab, 5th Sept)
In short, the main reasons why 17.4 million Britons voted to Leave the EU. But its not what the government wants. ‘Not What We Want‘; four words that lay bare the Conservatives betrayal. May has indicated that if there is ‘No Deal,’ Parliament will act to keep the current surrender process with the EU continuing. But increasingly she is not what ‘we’ want either; 8 in 10 Conservative voters want her gone, either now or before the next election (Conservative Home Survey).
Leave Means Leave, BIC, 15th October: Following sold-out events in Bolton and Torquay, the ‘Leave Means Leave’ roadshow reached Bournemouth. Greeting them outside the BIC was a micro-mob of around 30 diehard Remainers, some of whom were literally bouncing up and down with self-righteous rage. Seeing the solid ranks of decent Middle England folk waiting patiently to get in, refusing to rise to the provocation of these pro-EU lunatics, anyone can see who are the real purveyors of hatred in Britain today.
A full house of around 2000 heard fine speeches from Conor Burns MP, Sammy Wilson MP (DUP Leader), Brendon Chilton (Labour Leave) as well as UKIPs Nigel Farage MEP, co-president of the campaign. Wilson’s speech was especially strong; his DUP MPs hold the balance of power in May’s government and it was clear from his comments that they are not going to be pushed around for the sake of a ’Fake Brexit’. Nigel received a standing ovation both before and after his speech. He is clearly intent on re-entering the political fray, pledging to ‘do it all over again if I have to’ and that this time ‘there will be no more Mr Nice Guy’. To most in the audience he was the ‘lost messiah’, come just in time to save ‘Brexit‘. Many still seem to regard him as ‘Mr UKIP’.
All good stuff, boosting the public‘s morale, which has been sorely tested of late. But all the fine speeches in the world will not change minds at Westminster. Only a credible electoral threat from an established political party will do that. They will only respond to the prospect of losing political power if they lose their seats. That is how UKIP forced the EU referendum, then went out there and won it.
Nigel’s immediate plans are still unclear but ‘Leave Means Leave’ is an excellent platform for him. As a cross-party movement with identical aims on Brexit to our own, it could benefit UKIP too if we can engage positively with it. If ‘Brexit’ is to be won, now is the vital time when all patriotic forces in Britain must work together to expose the defeatists at Westminster.
Absolutely Criminal … C4 ‘Dispatches’ (8th Oct) lifted the lid on the lack of police action to deal with crime. 27% of all reported crime is now being ‘screened out’; a weasel-phrase for ‘little or no action‘. Warwickshire ‘screened out’ 33% of their reported cases last year, Bedfordshire 40% and West Yorkshire 47%. Some forces are rumoured to have 50% ‘screen-out‘ targets.
Many serious crimes (Burglaries, Criminal Damage, Car Theft, Assault, Vandalism), are increasingly being screened out. 438,000 burglaries were reported last year (only 3% were solved), but forces screening out more than a third included Sussex (50%) and Bedfordshire (57%). West Yorkshire screened out 16% of burglary cases involving violence. 10% of all violent crimes were screened out last year, with Warwickshire reaching 26%. 10% of sexual offences with assault were screened out in West Yorkshire.
Car crime (165,000 reported cases) is being screened out at an overall rate of 60%. Staffordshire screened out 64%, Wiltshire 72% and West Yorkshire (them again!) 81%. Lack of CCTV footage isn’t always the problem; there are cases where clear camera footage of the perpetrator was obtained and still the police did nothing. Retail crime (mainly shoplifting) costs the retailers an estimated £700m a year, many of them small, Asian family run businesses who are least able to bear the brunt of any losses. Shoplifters are well aware of new guidelines which enable them to avoid Court if they steal less than £200. Violent attacks on shop staff have doubled in the last year. Yet West Sussex screened out 48% of their retail theft cases; Hampshire 56% and Bedfordshire 70%.
Opposition politicians like to blame ‘Tory Cuts’ and they do have a point. There are now 20,000 fewer police officers than in 2010 (thanks to Theresa May), while population has increased by 10%. But its also about priorities. Too many police are sitting behind screens, not on the streets deterring or preventing crime. In addition, according to latest Home Office figures, ‘Hate Crime’ complaints to the police are now 1 every 5 minutes (94,098 for 2017/2018, an increase of 17%). With the ever widening definition of ‘hate crime’ and the rising militancy of ‘victim’ groups demanding police protection from free speech, this will rise exponentially. How many of these cases (many of which used to be called ‘wasting police time‘) are being ‘screened out’ ?
Getting Over The Line … It is deeply frustrating that the Irish border issue continues to stand in the way of Britain’s full exit from the EU. The UK government, the EU and their media allies, continue to make a huge meal out of this issue to keep the UK in the EU Customs Union for an indefinite period. Unless the UK leaves the Customs Union, we will not have left the EU in any meaningful sense.
In June one of the UK’s leading think-tanks, Policy Exchange, published a research paper (‘Getting Over The Line’) describing simple, practical measures to keep free trade flowing across the Irish border while allowing the UK to leave the EU Customs Union. Some of these measures are already in place; for example, the UK and Irish Republic have different rates of VAT and Excise Duty on many items (petrol, domestic heating fuel, even Guinness!). But tax is collected by the authorities without the need for ‘hard’ border controls. While individual-scale smuggling denies the Exchequer a few pence here and there, on all significant consignments of goods, digital pre-clearance ensures that trade flows freely between North and South without a ‘hard’ border. It has the support of former Northern Ireland First Minister and Nobel Peace Prize Winner, David Trimble, as well as distinguished economists and academics from both sides of the border. Yet Mrs May and her cabinet are determined to ignore this vital study.
Were there really over 600,000 at the anti-Brexit march in London on 20th October ? Applying analytical software for estimating crowd numbers to the video images of the rally, Jeff Taylor estimates the true figure to be around a quarter of that claim, possibly even less. Find out how on www.theeconomicvoice.com (27th Oct)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tales From Europe ……..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BRUSSELS ….. ’The EU has again blocked the publication of MEP expenses, with euro-judges quashing a 3 year battle by journalists to get the documents published, after the European Parliament previously had refused to hand over any details. The judges ruled that the parliament was right not to publish the documents as it would ‘enable the MEP’s to be individually identified’ (!). MEP’s will still be able to spend their annual C50,000 expenditure allowance without providing any proof of how the money was spent’ (https://order-order.com/2018/09/25)
EUROZONE …. ‘The next Eurozone recession could be even worse as governments and central banks have run out of ammunition to fight a new crisis, credit agency Moody’s has warned. Governments in Italy, Spain and France have failed meaningfully to cut their debts, while the European Central Bank is still printing money under the Quantative Easing Scheme. As a result there will be little room to step in should the economy slump: ‘As time goes on, the room to manoeuvre continues to narrow as longer-term trends such as ageing population exacerbate problems caused by the lack of dynamism in the economy. This will deepen the impact in Europe of the next downturn compared with previous crises….’ (Daily Telegraph, 1st October)
GERMANY … Defence Minister, Ursula von der Leyen has revealed that the structures for a European Defence Force ‘have been activated’ …. She also gave strong hints that the EU would be sending troops from its member states into Africa, where she argued, NATO is not ‘in demand’ ’We must become more European. I see many areas where NATO is not in demand, for example, the whole Africa topic …’ (Kipper Central, 9th Oct)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stories You Won’t Hear on the BBC ……
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Michael Palin in North Korea …. ‘While it’s a fascinating programme to watch, there are many who may not be thrilled to see it. His old bosses at the BBC will surely feel sick that this is a Channel 5 production. Two years ago, Palin suggested BBC meddling in film project had irritated him so much, he wouldn’t work for them again. He slightly backtracks on that today, but the fact he’s now working for C5 tells its own story. He says the way they handled shows like his changed, with more monitoring, more questions asked (like N. Korea ? ed). ‘You have to refer back to the people who commission the shows in a way that didn’t happen when we made say, Around the World in 80 Days in 1989. Back then, we were trusted to just go out and bring back a good show …’ (Mail Weekend, 15th Sept)
BBC ‘Today’ has haemorrhaged listeners since the latest editor took over; down by 800,000 since last year .…’ (Virginia Blackburn, Daily Express, 16th August)
‘Robert Peston’s new late-night ITV politics show is trouncing the BBC’s Newsnight, with an average of 500,000 viewers compared to 344,000 for the BBC’s show’ (Amanda Platell, 29th Sept) (Peston, an ex-Remainer, has praised Leave voters by saying ‘it was the right thing to do‘, whereas Newsnight’s Kirsty Wark has been described by Ms Platell as ‘the most miserable woman on TV‘ ed.)
‘Sir Richard Dearlove, Head of MI6 until 2004, has written to The Times claiming that May’s chief Brexit negotiator Olly Robbins, has been ‘hoodwinking’ the public and that Robbins had ‘serious questions of improper conduct to answer’ negotiating with the EU in a way that could compromise the UK’s future intelligence gathering capabilities. Sir Richard said that Robbins is ‘covertly working’ to chain the UK into EU controlled defence and security projects after Brexit, that could ‘compromise fatally’ the UK’s other bilateral intelligence agreements’ (The Economic Voice, 17th Oct)
Sir Tim Rice has condemned show-biz figures who have attacked Donald Trump: ‘Most actors and showbiz luvvies seem to think that their views matter; absolute cobblers, they don’t. So each time one of them gets up and says ‘F*** Trump it gets 100,000 more votes for President Trump. They’re morons’ (Daily Mail, 15th Sept)
According to a Deltapoll survey, 62% of referendum voters say they have not changed their minds …. Of those who have changed their minds, the largest switch is from Remain to Leave …. that’s 2.4 million ‘Remain’ voters in 2016 who now support Brexit. ‘The public believe themselves to be under siege from the political classes, trying to get them to change their minds. But the message they’re sending back is that they haven’t changed their minds’. A recent poll carried out by ComRes found a similar determination. 52% of voters in Labour constituencies were so determined to see Brexit and so worried about politicians backsliding, that they would consider backing ‘a single issue party committed to leaving the EU as quickly and fully as possible’ (Stephen Pollard, Daily Express, 21st August)
‘The socialist paradise of Venezuela will soon have an inflation rate of 1,000,000%. That’s an astonishing achievement; most Marxist dictators usually managed to keep inflation down to low 1000’s. Meanwhile Venezuela’s people are starving and every so often are murdered or arrested by the foul Corbynista government‘ (Rod Liddle, The Sun, 26th July)
Theresa May awarded her Civil Service ‘Brexit guru’ Olly Robbins, a £20,000 ‘performance’ related bonus last year. Downing Street claimed it had been subject to ‘a robust process’ by an ‘independent’ Committee, but admitted the PM had signed off his perk on top of his £110,000 salary. Said Andrew Bridgen MP: ‘Given the complete capitulation of the UK’s negotiating position overseen by Olly Robbins, it should be the EU paying his bonus, not the British taxpayer’ (The Sun, 20th July)
‘The BBC has taken more than £2 million in EU funding in the past 3 years, but claims the cash under the European Union Framework Programme, to fund its research and development arm …..’ (The List, 9th Oct)
ONS figures released at the start of August show that UK global trade grew by a record £616bn last year, with exports of goods up by 13% and service by 7%. The USA is by far our biggest export market; one fifth of all overseas sales, up by 8% on last year. UK trade with China increased even more significantly, leaping by 20% to £22.3bn .…’ (Daily Express, 16th August)
Chanel will have its head office in London in a vote of confidence in post-Brexit Britain. The luxury goods maker, which took more than £7bn last year, will bring its global business divisions under one roof in the UK, choosing London over Paris, where the business was founded in 1909. A spokesman said: ‘London is the most central location for our markets‘ (City Mail 15th Sept)
‘Lord Wolfson, head of ‘Next’ says claims of a disaster as a result of No Deal are being made by people who ‘are not traders’. He did not believe ’for one second’ the negative forecasts by the Treasury, since they ’make a number of assumptions about what happens at borders that are not right’ … (Daily Express, Oct 15th)
‘Twice as many British voters prefer ‘No Deal’ over Mrs May’s Chequers plan. The survey, by ComRes for The Mirror, showed a strong preference for leaving the EU on WTO rules, over remaining locked to EU rules on goods and services as May’s Chequers plan demands. It shows that 39% think that the PM should accept a ‘No Deal’ and the UK ‘simply leave the EU’ against only 20% who believe she should push ahead for a ‘soft’ Brexit. 51% of Conservative voters want to walk away from the EU with no deal ….‘ (Breitbart News, 16th Sept)
Chloe Schendel-Wilson is a former President of Bournemouth University Students Union. She was a devout Remainer who is now enthused by the opportunities of Brexit: ‘Devastated. Absolutely Heartbroken. I will never forget it, that sombre walk to work on the morning of 24.6.16 and the furious discussions I had with people that day …… I was so convinced that I was right; that something bad would inevitably follow if we went down the Brexit path … In all my pride of being ‘internationalist‘, I hadn’t thought about the fact that preferential treatment for one continent inevitably discriminates against others. Or that higher tariffs are applied to trade from those countries which most need assistance in lifting themselves out of poverty … Nothing has done more to push me away from the Remain side of the argument than those who cannot give their fellow citizens the decency of respecting the validity of their views. I’m an optimist, and I see nothing but opportunities …. to re-engage with our former colonies to become equal partners and hopeful friends … to shape our own identity and to retake our place in the world with neither arrogance nor guilt … there is a bright future ahead for us should we decide to grab it ’ (Brexit Central,14thOct https://brxcen.com/2CNKUtk)
Dangote Industries, a Nigerian company worth £7bn, is to list on the London Stock Exchange ….. Last year British companies invested £42.7bn in Africa, more than any country other than the USA. Yet EU membership has compromised our ability to develop trading relations with African countries. Protectionist policies designed to help European farmers have stifled what would otherwise be Africa’s largest export; agriculture. It is ludicrous that fruit and nuts form only 0.2% of Nigeria’s exports, when the condition for growing them are so good. Tomatoes grow happily outdoors in west Africa, yet we end up buying them from subsidised EU farmers with heated greenhouses. Bizzarely, Nigeria imports tomatoes. What Africa needs is not aid, nor an evacuation route for people in search of a better life, but trade and investment‘ (Ross Clark, Daily Express, 31st Aug)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rotten Boroughs ……..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bournemouth, Poole & Christchurch Council plans to appoint a ‘Branding Officer’ on a salary of up to nearly £40,000 ….. The job calls for ‘a passionate and innovative branding specialist to develop a new brand for the Council’ (Daily Echo, 28th July).
Green Belt: A CPRE survey has found that nearly 10,000 ha of Green Belt land has been removed by Local Councils since 2012. 2017/18 saw the biggest loss of Green Belt land to date, with ten local Councils releasing more than 5,000 ha for development …. At present, there are plans for 460,000 houses to be built on land that is set to be removed from the Green Belt …‘ (Daily Mail, 5th Oct)
Public Toilets: ‘According to figures released under a Freedom of Information request, in 2010 Poole had 29 public toilets and now has 15; Bournemouth had 36 and now has 34; Christchurch had 11 and still has 11.…’ (Daily Echo, 28th August)
Brockenhurst: Plans to display the Royal British Legion’s ‘Silent Soldiers’ to commemorate the centenary of the end of World War One were initially blocked by the Parish Council because the Tommy’s ‘guns’ could ‘offend families’. The Parish Council were forced into a U-turn after a petition attracted nearly 1000 signatures, and will display one ‘silent soldier’ in the village next month (Daily Mail, 29th Sept)
Traffic: ‘Last year there were 2,460,900 more vehicles on England’s roads compared with 2012; an increase of 7.7%. Over the same period, road space increased by just 0.6%’ (Local Government Association). Meanwhile a study by traffic analytics company INRIX, found that last year, drivers wasted an average of 31 hours stuck in rush hour traffic at a cost of £1168 each. This includes wasted fuel and time as well as indirect costs such as higher prices for household goods as firms pass on their rising freight bills to customers ….‘ (Daily Mail, 28th July)
Crumbling Roads: ‘Over the past 12 months, more than 10,300 claims have been made for pavement injuries, but just 1 in 20 are successful ….. Councils routinely cite Section 58 of the Highways Act 1980 to ensure they settle the bare minimum of claims. The legislation states that Councils are not liable if they had not previously been told about the defect, or if the pavement was scheduled for repairs ….’ (Daily Mail, 25th Aug)
BRANCH NEWS …… The UKIP North Dorset Garden Party & BBQ attracted a full crowd of 130 members. We were fortunate to have two distinguished guests; Party Leader Gerard Batten MEP and Education Spokesman, David Kurten AM. Both gave stirring speeches, staying for the whole time chatting informally with everyone. Great work by UKIP North Dorset and Bill and Ann Woodhouse. A beautiful venue, deep in the English countryside reminds us all of what we’re fighting for.
Operation ‘Wakey-Wakey’ Our branch is keeping up the pressure on the ‘Sell-Out Cons’ with a sustained leafleting campaign in Mid-Dorset & North Poole. This autumn we’ve hand-delivered around 5000 leaflets highlighting May’s betrayal of Brexit, targeting mainly Conservative held areas in Creekmoor, Broadstone, Merley, Colehill, Wimborne, Canford Heath and Wareham. We held a successful stall in Poole High Street on 3rd November and found there was strong public support for our message.
Membership is rising again, with five new members for MDNP in the past month. The Branch Website and Twitter are flourishing. We now have 1750 ‘Followers’ with many ’Likes’ and ‘Re-Tweets’. ‘Impressions’ (the number of people looking) has increased sharply; from around 1500 a month at the start of 2018, to an average of over 4000 a month during July, September and August. Around half seem to be people with no obvious political affiliation.
Congratulations to UKIP Councillor Mike Fisher on his award from the Royal British Legion. Mike has been one of the Poppy Appeals’ top collectors over many years in our local area.
‘As an ex-negotiator, I despair. We have gratuitously yielded to the EU negotiating positions as if they were holy writ; let the Irish tail wag the EU dog; committed ourselves to paying vast sums of money and traduced the referendum result. Shameful …‘ (Sir Christopher Meyer, former UK Ambassador to the US, Daily Telegraph, 17th Oct)
Don’t forget to check the monthly Dorset Digest (via e-mail) locally, as well as checking our branch website www.ukipmiddorset.org
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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 1914 – 1918 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Your precious lives were given
That we might live in freedom
