The decision by Keir Starmer to charge inheritance tax will affect a number of farmers who are, in the vernacular, asset rich, but cash poor. For example, a farm with an asset value of £8 million but average profits of £19 000 pa will face a tax bill of £1.2 million on the death of its owner. This is yet another example of a Government looking round desperately for cash to drive recovery, although the actual amounts gained are relatively small.
Many farmers were duped by the Brexit sales pitch in 2016. It is at the root of the problem. The Conservative Government’s promised replacement for the Common Agricultural Policy was very poor in comparison with what we had in the EU. Today, the far right and Deform UK are to hijack the farmer’s protests, instead of admitting that it is THEY who the root cause of farmers’ problems, having sold them the lies of “BSE” (Brexit Surrealistic Exaggerations).
Dr Charlie Clutterbuck writes on the Brexit mistake for food, farming, land and labour. Here’s an extract from our White Paper on the topic.
If we were to admit that the Brexit elephant is at the heart of our problems and apply to Rejoin EU, we would not need to be doing this, nor punish other groups through measures which don’t help Britain grow.
Sorry (not sorry) but those pushing the farming hysteria need an absolute fcking reality check. The very same group who ignored strong warnings about the devastating impact brexit would have on farming, and who voted time and again for the actual political party that signed international deals that undercut UK farmers, undermined our food and environmental safety standards, are now reaping what they sowed.
And aided by the right wing media pumping out misinformation/disinformation fed by the tories and the millionaire agricultural land investing tax dodgers, they’re gaslighting everyone into blaming Labour for their current difficulties. I simply refuse to wring hands for people who are blaming others for a crisis of their own making (in that voting has consequences). Labour’s October inheritance tax measures are not responsible for the last eight years’ worth of farming difficulties.
Yes, things are very, very hard for farmers- as Remainers told them it would be if they voted for Brexit (and the tories), and urgent measures have to be done to help them. But get a fucking grip. Don’t let those who made policy these last 14 years play you into blaming a party which only took power before Summer Recess.
I’m fully aware commercial farmers work extremely hard to produce their harvests for domestic and overseas consumption. And every nation needs to be able to feed itself as much as possible. I am very supportive of farmers who farm ethically and sustainably. I’m very supportive of vocational, family business, small farmers. But I’m not prepared to swallow this narrative that this is all Labour’s fault and farmers are Labour’s victims. No, many farmers played a hand in this situation, and need to acknowledge it.
Analysis from Farmers’ Weekly: 7 years after Brexit, farmers count the cost: Increased red tape, a worsening economic situation, damaging free-trade deals, a trail of broken promises – it seems that farmers and those working in the ancillary industries are far from satisfied with Brexit.
That is the inevitable conclusion from a new survey by Farmers Weekly into how the agricultural sector now perceives Brexit, seven years on from the historic referendum of 23 June, 2016.
Keir Starmer seems to be “confused” about the case to join the EU anew, stating that there is no such case. I thought I would put him out of his misery on the topic, so we have written this proposal. It is far from complete, so please add your contributions via e-mail to reboot@brexitrage.com. I will incorporate and credit you in the final work. Ending Brexit is not a magic bullet solution to Britain’s problem but the impacts will be wide ranging and felt right across the STEEPLE factors (Sociological, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Political, Legal and Ethical). We must join EU anew as part of a strategy to Reboot Britain after 14 years of managed decline.
TITLE : Reboot Britain– Join EU Anew
Exec summary to be written once the main body and all the detail is complete. And a structure applied to the document for overview and detail.The final document will be presented as a WORD / PDF download with a petition attached for supporters’ signatures.
Our primary audiences will be politicians of all persuasions, mainstream media, community leaders and influencers across the entire spectrum. We will need people to reach these people as part of a mass communication strategy.
The economic opportunities
Brexit is costing us £100 BILLION every year with a 4.5% drag on our resilience. Remember Michael Gove’s claim of frictionless trade? Well that so-called ‘non-friction’ is costing us £40 BILLION every year in lost revenue. For comparison, Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage’s much vaunted £350 million per week for the NHS that we supposedly saved from our EU membership only grosses up to £18.2 BILLION per annum. As far as I can tell, we never actually spent this money on the NHS anyway and the 40 mythical hospitals never materialised. In 2020 the UK made an estimated gross contribution to the EU (after the rebate) of £17.0 billion. The UK also received £4.5 billion of public sector receipts from the EU, so the UK’s net public sector contribution to the EU was an estimated £12.5 billion. So, we are bleeding something like £140 bn to save £13 bn. For the avoidance of doubt and for those Brexiteers who Rishi Sunak suggested have issues with mathematics, 140 is quite a lot more than 13.
The word BILLION is also an eye watering number. To put this into context it means that each citizen is £2000 worse off due to Brexit.
And some 300 000 jobs have been lost from the City of London alone. This alone ought to be a wake up call to Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves. I cannot detect whether they are frightened of someone or something (CAN’T do it) or whether Labour’s vacillation is ideologically based (WON’T do it). Either way, it’s certainly not in the interests of the country. We are expected to be £311 billion worse off by 2035.
Brexit has also made the cost-of-living crisis more severe in the UK. City Hall analysis shows that 30% of the 25% increase in food prices between December 2019 and March 2023 could be attributed to the effects of Brexit. Other research from the London School of Economics (LSE) confirms this by showing that Brexit added an average of £250 to household food bills over the two years to the end of 2021, costing UK consumers a total of £6 billion.
GVA (Gross Value Added) analysis : Source Sky News.
Go Compare
Given the eye watering cost of Brexit and lost opportunities measured in multi-billions, some comparisons are helpful. £140 billion could pay the annual wages bill for ALL NHS staff … TWICE at £71.1 billion !! Or we could nationalise water with some spare change left (£90 billion). Or fix social care at a mere £7 billion ! Repairing schools a snip at £11.4 billion and upgrading defence £50 billion. Our police force costs £23.5 billion per year. £140 billion could go a long way towards fixing broken Brexit Britain. Rachel Reeves is just fiddling whilst Brexit Britain burns … WHY, WHY, WHY?
The social opportunities
But, it’s not just about the money, money, money … If Starmer / Reeves choose to ignore the numbers, they cannot ignore the ugly face of Brexit inspired fascism which is sweeping the nation as I write. Farage / Robinson / Braverman et al’s Provisional English Defence League have moved beyond rioting towards terrorism by trying to burn people alive in a hotel under the guise of ‘taking back control’. Claiming to be patriots whilst looting shops, smashing up property and threatening to kill people is an odd way to be patriotic. This is justification enough to end Brexit inspired racism and Reboot Britain, never mind anything else. It also comes with an economic cost. In 2011, the riots were estimated to have cost Britain between £200 million and 500 million in damages, lost trade and policing, a hit to monthly U.K. GDP of roughly 0.15% The WSJ also estimated that riots damage the economy through loss of confidence and so on.
Hate crimes have seen a consistent rise since 2014. Farage used racism as a weapon to swing the 2016 Brexit referendum, some analysts belive by up to 12%. The referendum vote was followed by an increase in race and religious hate crime of 15-25% in England and Wales. The recent reaction to the tragic events in Southport by far right thugs is itself a demonstration of just how much Farage, Tice, Braverman, Anderson, Oakeshott, Badenoch, Robinson, Jenrick, Patel et al. have emboldened overt racist behaviour by a small section of society. Brexit is the fuel for these fires. People demonstrated that they no longer fear racist behaviour and, in some cases, it is seen as a badge of honour, just like in the 1970s.
Source Gov.uk crime statistics England and Wales.
In 2020, a set if predictions were made about social impacts of Brexit. All have come to pass in one way or another. Potential impacts included: loss of rights, economic and public services impacts, increase in hate crime, immigration and labour market impacts, and the potential for further dilution of equalities rights and protections. Of course, undoing social illnesses is not as quick as economic ones and, in some cases, these changes are not easily reversible.
The Scottish Government also reported that the impact of Brexit on consumers would be gendered because women are the main managers of family budgets and the shock-absorbers of poverty. In contrast to Nigel Farage’s 2016 ‘brochure’ Brexit benefits have turned out to be “for the few and NOT the many. Since there is so much focus on immigration due to Braverman’s moving of the “Overton window” on this matter, it is worth repeating the fact that immigration can be fixed. Watch our two minute explainer film on the matter:
Just two minutes – Keir Starmer, take note.
The Irish question
A piece on NI to be written.
Fixing the NHS / Social care / Farming etc.
We continue to be critically short of skilled people in social care, the NHS, farming, hospitality, science, engineering and many other professions. Some 330 000 shortages in fact. And the Farage loving Brexiteers have not stepped up to the plate to pick crops and wipe ar..es in care homes, let alone train as doctors, space scientists, computer programmers and so on. In my own area of Kent, they now complain that the faces of people coming here are darker … they are just never satisfied with their Brexit, all of which was predicted for them so painfully. But the number of people I encounter on a daily basis who say such things is much reduced. Only Nigel Farage, Suella Braverman, Badenoch et al continue to promulgate the myth that migration is a blight on our society, followed by a few people with feeble minds.
A healthier Britain
As a direct result of leaving the EU, healthcare has suffered due to loss of EU NHS staff. Waiting lists are appalling. This is having an effect on our health in general. Patients can’t be sure of getting essential meds. Amidst worldwide shortages UK govt. has made this much worse by cutting supply chains.
We are what we eat and Brexit red tape has also restricted our supplies of healthy, low-carb food (essential for diabetics, for example). On top of that Brexit has made our food much more expensive. People can’t afford to eat properly, which can have a detrimental effect on health. We’re seeing many more cases of malnutrition since Brexit. When people suffer sickness the economy gets sick too because workers are off sick.
The Tory government is to blame for mismanagement and underfunding of the NHS and also appalling response to the pandemic, causing long term sickness for those with Long Covid. Rejoining the EU would certainly help us to alleviate some of these issues.
This section would benefit from some data links.
Science
The Royal Society of Chemistry recently reported that Brexit continues to cause significant damage to UK businesses. They recommend a UK wide National Chemicals Agency. This kind of call for a ‘sticking plaster’ rather than reaching for a cure is replicated across many industries and sectors, in the great British “make, do and mend” tradition. I would rather emulate the Japanese with a “right first time” approach. In other words, rather than “death by a 1000 ameliorations”, the best option is to put an end to Brexit.
The only good Brexit is a dead Brexit …
Furthermore, science and many other sectors face critical skill shortages. See the FT article on care workers for example. Science is not practised on a country by country basis. It requires the finest minds from across the world. The RSC reported that there are still obstacles to attraction and retention of talented people.
Source : FT.
Food security
Even the Brexity BBC Radio 4 reported on the fact that we lack resilience in our food supply. Our decision to Brexit has magnified the problem. I even suggested that BBC Farming Today be renamed Brexit Today as they speak of little else on every programme whilst the nation slumbers.
Source : The Independent.
More to be added here.
The will of the people
I’d hazard an informed guess that the 2024 General Election result was a reversal of the 2019 one, where Boris did not win, but Corbyn and the false promise of ‘getting Brexit done’ lost Labour the election. In 2024, the Tories undoubtedly lost, but did Labour really win, with a resounding success for the Lib Dems and a significant protest vote by the Reform party aka ‘none of the above’? Recent Statista analysis shows that views on the Brexit vote continue to be negative, especially with younger people. If Starmer continues to ignore these findings, he could find himself in the 2019 position in 2029. Labour MPs continue to float the myth that we can rejoin in 2032. Well guys, you may not get that far …
Barriers to Rejoin
This section needs expansion re Labour, Tories, Lib Dems, Leave Voters and of course the EU.
The key barriers to success are the UK parties, especially Labour and Conservatives, then there is the EU itself and of course the 67 million people of Britain. Dealing with these one by one:
Remainers are the best asset that Nigel Farage and Richard Tice. They are meek, unassuming and make few demands on the political system. Here is a quote from an older gentleman that does not believe we can rejoin without decades of repentance:
The issue then is arrogant British exceptionalism that both sides seem to possess. Because the major stumbling block for Britain Is .. Will the EU ever trust the British again? Not the baby boomer generation I suspect.
Of course, what is needed are more than calm words. We are now at the point where 2/3 of the UK population believe that we must rejoin. Given the numbers of young people who wish to rejoin and the certainty that people of my generation who still believe in Brexit will literally expire in the coming years, this represents an irrevocable shift in public attitudes towards Europe and EU membership. This is an overarching majority and politicians do not hold grudges where there are opportunities to be seized. What is now needed at a macro level would be some guarantees and at a micro level further education and mass Brexorcisms of the soft Brexiteer population, see objective four of our Reboot Britain strategies and our book which offers a practical guide to the gentle art of Brexorcism.
Our five strategies to Reboot Britain.
The price of freedom
The few remaining Brexiteers claim that Brexit was not about making us wealthier and that you cannot put a price on freedom. Well, you can …
The freedom NOT to waste £4.7 billion of YOUR taxes on Brexit border checks.
The freedom NOT to lose 4.5% GDP EVERY year from Brexit.
More to be added here.
The longest journey
The longest journey begins with the first step. In other words, it’s all about strategic intent rather than the destination. People waste a lot of energy discussing the end point of the Rejoin journey. What matters is the beginning of the process and this simply requires the completion of an application for to join the EU anew. Since markets are perfect, this act of intent would have immediate benefits. The financial sector would stop bleeding key staff to Europe. The car industry would be assured of continuity of operations since rules of origin laws would no longer apply once re rejoin. The pharmaceutical, high tech, finance sectors and so on would immediately realise that there is no need to continue the slow drift away from Brexit Britain. Shared industrial standards would bring many benefits e.g. to construction and the chemical industry. Since markets are perfect, all of this would mean a fairly instantaneous uplift to our fortunes. And so on …
So, it does not matter so much when we complete the rejoining process. What matters is when we begin …
Routes to Renaissance
Remoaners also keep talking of the need for a referendum. No referendum is needed, nor is it the best or only route to achieve the goal. There is incontrovertible evidence that Brexit is a socio-economic, environmental and political disaster. I pay my taxes for Government to make complex decisions on my behalf. The Brexit referendum was declared unlawful by The Supreme Court if it had been anything but advisory. It is a mistake to repeat a broken process and our best choice is to let Government do their job. If however we felt compelled to do so due to faux reasoning about democracy, we should conduct it in EXACTLY the same way as we did before, i.e. with a simple yes/no question and the same criteria for the decision. No need for the super majority demanded by some Remoaners – if 52:48 was good enough in 2016, it’s good enough now. but with a proper campaign so that people could understand the decision being presented to them, without misinformation or disinformation. The best option will be to let Parliament do the job we pay them for.
People also say that another referendum will open up the toxic debate in families. That may be true for some. Yet the Brexit question will otherwise plague the nation of several more generations without dealing with the unfinished business of Brexit. We must pop the boil of Brexit, otherwise it will continue oozing toxic puss for many decades to come without resolution. Britain will otherwise continue to be a basket case re grown up attitudes to politics. The referendum revealed the need for fundamental reforms to our democracy and governance.
An unfinished symphony
This proposal needs many refinements. For example, sections on legal, ethical and environmental benefits of joining the EU anew. A Pros and Cons grid as a summary would also be great. And more on European perspectives. The final document will be organised as a WORD document with appendices for detail to preserve the benefits of summary highlights and granular detail. Please mail me your contributions via reboot@brexitrage.com.
Eventually, we’ll need mass media spreading of the proposal and targeted letter writing to MPs and influencers. Other ideas include a book, films, petition, media pieces and so on. Your thoughts are welcome. If you find this useful, send us a tip on Paypal so that we can keep the website running and cover our basic costs of maintaining our work.
Useful resources
These videos are well worth your time: For an independent viewpoint, visit Post Factum.
The wonderful work of Rob Groves – subscribe to his channel.
Michael Lambert’s work is well worth your time – subscribe and learn.
Still to be integrated
Seamless borders. Ease of doing business with one of the world’s biggest markets that is RIGHT on our door step! Ease of collaboration and partnership with an enormous range of the world’s most advanced companies. Shared access to similar grant/research funding. Access to a mobile, highly skilled, multi-lingual workforce….. Cross border skills exchange/training. Shared industrial standards. Shared values.
To reopen barriers chosen by a brainwashed electorate! Viz: single market trade and free movement of goods; ability to live, work or study in any EU country; free access to emergency health care; common standards for health and environment; access to funding and investment.
My partner of 11 years & future wife (had to cancel wedding due to a no fault eviction notice) is an EU citizen- our travel is curtailed & restricted due to my EU passport being taken from me without my consent.
With thanks to Jane Berry, Richard Moore, Greg Newman, Wendy Nowak, Michael Lambert, Political X, Max Robespierre, Rob Groves, Robert Holman, Denis Buckley, Ian S Forrester KC, Terry Knott, Alison Murray, Adrian Ekins-Daukes, John Stephens, Andrew Hessleden.
I know that Brexiteers have short memories, some because they have died since 2016, but Michael Gove promised us frictionless trade, only sunny uplands with no downsides from Brexit. It seems that Gove lied. Brexit has moved Britain from frictionless trade to rough trade. Please spend 20 minutes watching Michael Lambert’s report on the matter at the end of this article – it’s well worth your time. Some highlights follow:
Rough Trade
Veterinary checks at the border are expected to add 0.2% to inflation, plus of course delays and shortages of perishable goods such as meat and veg. BBC Tory cheerleader Amol Rajan tried to make light of this on the Today programme on Monday 20 May, yet of course, it’s all totally unnecessary. In any case, 0.2% from one single issue in an instant hit is rather a lot really, certainly a lot more than the 0.08% over 10 years expected to accrue from Kemi Badenoch’s overblown CPTPP trade deal !!
Then there is the impact on haulage companies. Ciaran the Euro Courier reports on the insane practices being used at Sevington:
There is no water at the purpose built facility, apart from a tap in the toilets, no food and no option to leave the facility to get food and drink. You may be stuck there for days, especially if you arrive late in the day as the facility only operates 12 hours a day in a 24/7 logistics business. This makes onwards journeys much more dangerous for the driver and, of course, other motorists.
The inspection process compares (poorly) with prison. It is designed to be intimidating. No one speaks to you. This is nothing like the process at Calais. It is designed to be intimidating. No wonder many drivers don’t come back.
This will impact our food security despite the many mitigations, cover ups and pieces of gaslighting that will be employed to distract us. Even the fucking Torygraph and The Sun have reported that Brexit border checks will cost us £4.7 BILLION. Try measuring that in nurses, carers and fruit pickers !! To avoid upsetting their readers, the Son are now calling it BREX !!
Greenbelt …. Kent – The Lorry Park of England.
Did you vote to waste £4.7 BILLION of YOUR money on this?
All the while, the whole HMRC process is meaningless in terms of what it intends to achieve. There is 22 miles between the Sevington facility and the port of Dover. You are free to pick up migrants, contraband and additional goods if you so wish. Brexit is pointless. A tragic comedy of errors.
Pop will
Well worth your time. The work of Michael Lambert.
Most people now realise that Brexit was a mistake. Make sure politicians hear you loud and clear in the run up to the GE, especially Labour. Write to them today. It matters not whether they respond or whether you like them or not.
After World War II there was a necessary focus on food security in Britain, informed by ration books and virtual bankruptcy of the country. But we forget quite quickly and the National Farmers Union reported that self-sufficiency levels in fruit & vegetables fell steadily since the mid-1980s, from 78% to 64%. Britain imports 46% of its food and this may explain why our Government has delayed Brexit border checks five times since 2020 for fear of food shortages and, ultimately, food fighters. Our lack of resilience is not a sustainable position, particularly for a nation that is now isolated from the safety of belonging to the biggest trading bloc in the world. We also operate in a world where food and water will become precious assets into the 21st Century due to global warming.
True & Fair is a minor party, passionate about local issues affecting our rural countryside communities. The countryside is the backbone of our economy and we recognise it has been left out in the cold after Brexit with no deal and no way forward, the True & Fair Party plans to change that.
You are invited to join our Parliamentary Candidate for East Wiltshire, Pete Force-Jones and True & Fair Party Leader, Gina Miller on Wednesday, the 30th of August, at 10 am where we will announce the beginning of our journey to improve the countryside, and get a better deal after years of inaction and being let down by the major parties.
This is your opportunity to let us know how we can best represent you and your businesses; we are here to listen. We will be announcing our countryside policy at the town hall event. Join the True and Fair party – we deserve better, not more of the same.
When
August 30, 2023 at 10:00 am – 12.00 noon
Where
Marlborough Town Hall The Court House 5 High Street Wiltshire, England SN8 1AA United Kingdom
Some of my Remoaner friends keep telling me there are no Brexit Freedoms. They are not looking hard enough. I have come up with a long list of Brexit Freedoms to counterbalance the cost of Brexit, currently standing at an eye watering £128 BILLION, and predicted to outweigh the cost of COVID multiple times into the future. So, doomsayers, prepare for a shock !!
Pints
For years I have been compelled to go into English pubs and say in a weakened voice “Can I have 564 ml of Champagne please?” No longer. I can now stride in proud and say “Stout Yeoman, I want a pint of foaming English brown beer in a straight glass”. And it has a little crown on the side. As I drink the hoppy infusion, I am reminded of are Queen and Prince Andrew. It just gets better and better … Soon, we’ll be able to have English Lions back on our eggs … HM Government state that imperial units like pounds and ounces are widely valued in the UK and are a core part of many people’s British identity. I don’t know anyone of my own age that can count in stones, pounds and ounces. My sense is that this is a LIE.
We now have the Brexit fifty pence piece back, although I confess I have not seen one of late. But it signifies the fact that we now have the Pound back as our currency. I did speak with a woman who told me that her dad said that we no longer had the Pound before Brexit. Did you notice that? Buy one of the rare 50 pence pieces on e-bay and support our work to Re-Boot Britain. Outrageous prices!! 🙂
Buy our new book on Amazon – click the image.
Brexit freedoms o’ fish
Scottish Salmon fishermen report on Farming Today that Europeans still want our salmon, although exports have been hit to EU countries due to Brexit. Since Scottish Salmon is a major Scottish export, salmon fishermen are able to hire entire containers to ship their goods to Europe, reducing the mountain of Brexit paperwork and other costs in their segment of the fishing industry. Sadly this benefit does not exist for other fish varieties and the predicted decline in fishing continues, as predicted by the Remainiacs. And let’s remember this is Scottish Salmon. Once Scotland have their independence, they will take this benefit with them. Scottish Salmon and Whisky are major exports from Scotland.
Against the backdrop of the BBC’s nationalistic drive to back Brexit on Farming Today, The Food and Drink Federation showed that Scotland’s whisky and salmon exports were down by 11% and 6.4% respectively since 2019, with the UK’s total exports of food and drink was down by £2.7 billion (-15.9%) in the first three quarters of 2021 – with £2.4bn (-23.7%) directly from a drop in sales to the EU. It’s not necessarily true that the salmon are swimming against the tide.
Cod only knows …
Helpful comparisons …
Irish unification
The current troubles with Edwin Poots and the DUP draw Irish unification ever closer. The DUP seek to throw away 30 years of relative peace on the island of Ireland by asking the Government to break international law on the Northern Ireland Protocol, a bill which they signed up to. I cannot comprehend the nuclear levels of two faced stupidity being brought to bear on the people of Ireland by the DUP. It seems that plans are underway for a cross-border administration in the wake of the breakdown of the Stormont Government. Meanwhile trade between Ireland and Northern Ireland is UP after Brexit with trade between NI and mainland Britain DOWN. Our Brexit scenarios predict that this will continue to a point where the vast majority of people see the economic advantages of a united Ireland outweigh the religious and political forces that divide the island.
Blue tape
Brexit is reckoned to SAVE £1 BILLION in cutting red tape. It is not specified where this will happen, but we presume it will be in a bonfire on worker protections, food, environmental and other regulations, making our products less safe and opening up Victorian levels of exploitation and climate damage. At the same time, The FT says that Brexit has ADDED £7 BILLION of red tape. We only have to ask lorry drivers, farmers, fishermen et al. Taking Back Control never specified who would gain that control and plainly it was the Government through moral hazard and a return to Victorian England. In case of doubt, £7 bn is more than £1 bn.
Boris Johnson claims that the speed of our vaccination programme was due to Brexit Freedoms. Sadly it is not true. The BBC reported that we have been able to authorise the supply of this vaccine using provisions under European law. Johnson simply acted first in a desperate move to buy up the vaccine and starve the rest of the world from supplies, like the little boy in the playground who kept all the sweets and then realised that nobody wanted to play with him. By the way, the British vaccine was developed by Turkish and German scientists. I’m surprised that Brexiteers want such a “foreign invasion”.
Brexit freedoms : Rich pickings
Undoubtedly Brexit has caused an exodus of foreign workers, in part due to red tape and associated costs, but, in the main because, England has once again become a racist country under Brexit. Arguably, we did not need Brexit Freedoms to “take back control” of the fields, lorry parks, bus stations etc. I await the queues of Brexit voting OAPs to pick for Britain, drive for Britain, stack shelves for Britain and so on. So far, we have been underwhelmed with applications from “Dad’s Brexit Army”. Meanwhile illegal migration proceeds, due to our Government’s attempts to kill people who flee from terror.
Left outside alone to die by Priti Patel and Suella Braverman.
Sovereignty
The Government claim that the Brexit Freedoms of sovereignty are many and various in their 105 page document. I can only find wind. Grab your bag of Brexit Sovrinty here.
Undoubtedly the showstopper in Brexit Freedoms has been the blue passport. We will pay £30 per family and hours of queuing to benefit from this Brexit Freedom, but clearly it’s worth it. In case of doubt we were always able to have blue passports, even if they were made in France. The Government paper on this is simply FAKE NEWS:
LIES, LIES, LIES. To support our work on the truth about Brexit, click on the lies above.
Funding the NHS
The Government document claims that £57 BILLION is to be given to the NHS. They were promised £18.2 BILLION EVERY YEAR. You do not need a calculator to realise that the £57 billion is actually smaller than £18.2 billion every year. Go compare.
State control
France recently decided to make EDF Energy subsidise energy price hikes. So energy consumers in France will get a 4% price hike whilst UK consumers will experience a 54% price hike. And France is in the EU. How then were France able to do this if they are “controlled by an EU superstate”? See Social Care for more details on our lies about the need to raise national insurance. How was Viktor Orban able to buy his vaccines from Russia whilst being part of the EU? The EU superstate argument is vacuous.
Tampon freedom
We are now free of the Tampon Tax!! Women may rest safe in the knowledge that the VAT man is not taking a percentage of their periodic blood losses. Except that even this is a LIE-Let me explain. The trouble with so-called “tampon freedom” is that this arrangement was made in 2016, whilst we were a member of the EU. We have NOT been prevented from removing tax on tampons by our EU membership. UPDATE : the 5% tampon tax was only reduced by 1%. Brexit is literally bleeding Britain to death …
LIE Lets.
Amidst the other Brexit Freedoms that The Government paper puts forward that we could not do as members of EU are:
Giving up smoking – really?
Adding more arsenic into children’s food.
Healthy eating – who knew that the EU were stopping this?
Ending the throw away culture – Britain leads the world in throw away culture.
Faster HGV licence approval by reducing the difficulty of HGV tests, so more dangerous OAP lorry drivers on the roads.
Simpler, better railways – this means not doing the Northern leg of HS2.
Pints of French champagne.
Use of the 105 page document for redecoration of 10 Downing Street when Boris Johnson leaves.
In case you are unaware occasionally we parody the immense stupidity and lies from populist newspapers. Here is today’s edition as we get ready for the Brexit wars. This includes some fact checking below, just in case you are unable to separate Brexit fact from fiction.
Click on the Maul to read our political satire Private Eyelines.
Boris Johnson has suggested that Parliament will not have time to approve a Brexit deal. So, when he said “Take Back Control”, he meant for himself rather than Parliament or the People. In the words of Johnny Rotten:
Ever got the feeling you’ve been cheated?
Farmers fear that the turkeys they are rearing will be too big for Christmas. Some (turkeys, not farmers) have in fact been put on diets.
Johnson has summoned up more jingoistic rhetoric about war with his announcement of more money for our military. This amounts to more distraction from COVID and Brexit. And like most of Johnson’s announcements, it’s not quite what it seems …
Common sense reflection.
Minister for the 18th Century, Jacob Rees-Mogg did quote Caractacus on Parliament the other day, but did not make an explicit connection between Rolf Harris and his song The Court of King Caractacus. Unfortunately many other people did. Jake deleted his tweet so you cannot reply to him.
In the ultimate irony, it seems that “forins” will be manning the border posts if Brexit proceeds. They very thing that Brexiteers wanted will not come to pass and they will have their blue passports inspected by Romanians and Indians. Oh, the joy on their faces!
A book on Brexit has been released. Entitled “The Benefits of Brexit“. The book contains 234 BLANK pages. Some Brexiteers are outraged, having bought the book to find it devoid of inspiration. Here’s my review:
Click image to read our books on Brexit. They have words and pictures.
If you want a good book on how to have difficult conversations about Brexit around the Slimfast Christmas Turkey, please find our books on Brexorcism on Amazon.
Here is a roundup of Brexit news in case you are bored with COVID apathy. Remember COVID is a crisis. Brexit a disaster in slow motion. Brexit will make the bigger impact on our country in the long run. The toxic combination of Corona + Brexit = a Britastrophe. We must pull back from a Do or Die Brexit. Your ditch awaits Mr Johnson.
Down on the farm
I watched with dismay, as Parliament voted to lower our food standards. This opens the door to hormone fed beef, chlorinated chicken and a host of other dodgy practices. In case you think this doesn’t matter, US cases of food poisoning are some 10 times higher than our country.
I have mixed feelings about the farmers. I helped Liz Webster, PPC for Swindon, gain the only TV coverage for the Lib Dems in the entire South West in 2017. Liz organised the farmers marches. I attended the last event to be told that they did not wish to mention Brexit, as the issue was toxic. Instead they protest to save themselves. Parochial self-interest is a hardy perennial problem of Remain. There is a hierarchy of problems here with Brexit at the apex. In other words, stopping Brexit leads to solutions to other issues such as food standards, EU citizens rights and so on. But people would rather form into silos (sic), allowing our Government to operate “divide and rule” politics. Oh well, the farmers have been composted and we all lose.
Die Another Day
We’ve had “Do or Die” and “Die in a Ditch” from Boris Johnson, so we may as well have “Die Another Day” or “Live and Let Die”. Brexit negotiations remain deadlocked. Johnson is trapped by the ERG on one side, funded by Russia and wanting No Deal, which nobody voted for. He is also confounded by the EU, who must satisfy the four freedoms and protect their enterprise. It is always unwise to capitulate to bullies. The EU cannot give Britain a better deal for less money, as it will threaten the cohesion of the other 27 member states. I covered this point in the post Brexit Choices.
Why then are the negotiations deadlocked? Quite simply the “mechanics” of Brexit remain unresolvable. By moving one part of the puzzle to resolve one issue, the other parts become entangled. It’s what we call a “Wicked Problem” in consulting circles. Wicked problem do not lend themselves to simple solutions as Boris Johnson would like to believe. As reported last year, changing the leader or applying more “bluster” does not alter the underlying problems that exist with Brexit.
The Golf Club analogy
BOJONA-20
The latest instalment of industrial scale lies and gaslighting comes from yesterday’s COVID announcements. With £40 Billion worth of tax rises now inevitable, let’s examine some COVID facts that Boris Johnson must have missed whilst chasing a violinist …
Scientists advised the Government to install circuit breakers to stop Corona contagion on September 21, 2020. Ignored.
Keir Starmer has just asked the Prime Minister to follow the science and install a 2-3 week circuit breaker across the UK. I predict he will either be ignored or blamed for the deaths already baked in by Johnson’s lack of action from mid-September, when he was talking about “Getting Christmas Done”. This is a repeat performance from February, when Johnson was more concerned with bonging bells, shaking hands and minting 50 pence coins than running the country.
670 NHS deaths during the first wave due to inaction. 30 000 unnecessary deaths overall
Test and Trace is still not working, despite Matt Hancock promising to get it up and running many months ago. Without measurement, there can be no management of COVID and the idea of “Controlling the Virus” is at best fanciful, at worst dangerous.
Still pursuing Cummings eugenics aka herd immunity model
In case you think that the idea of unnecessary deaths are a feature of Brexit, please read what Wendy Novak has to say on the matter at Brexit : A matter of life or death.
And Johnson now does not want to appear in front of the public, having hired Allegra Stratton to handle “comms” so he can move on to pursue more important matters.
The lesson for us all is neatly summed up by James O’Brien:
The four key lessons of the first lockdown: 1) Going in late makes everything worse. 2) Coming out early makes everything worse. 3) Not using it to get proper Test, Track & Trace in place makes everything worse. 4) Unclear messaging makes everything worse.
We need help to build our website for Scottish independence and free ourselves from Tory lies about Scotland’s need for self-determination after the catastrophe of Brexit. Find our page on Scotland here. We need a fully developed set of proposals that deal with the economy, social affairs, environment, relationships with what remains of Britain, the politics and so on. Recent myths that have emerged include:
Scotland cannot finance itself
Rubbish. Scotland is self sufficient in sustainable energy alone. Scotland outperforms all the other UK nations in terms of international exports. In contrast, England’s international trade deficit in goods is massive.
Scotland would lose the pound, have no currency or be financially unstable
Rubbish. Scotland already has its own currency and decisions about currency can be made at the most advantageous time to the Scottish people. Plenty of small countries have their own currencies and exist perfectly well on the high seas of a global financial world. To see financial instability in a strong economy one only has to look to Kwasi Kwarteng’s ‘mini budget’ and the impact on Britain’s fortunes! It is bad leadership and financial management that leads to such problems.
This is what trickle down economics looks like ….
Scotland would lose the Royal Family
Rubbish. The royals own a lot of land in Scotland. It’s possible to share our royal family if you concerned about such things. It’s a non-issue if you are a unionist. You can have your Royal Family and eat it too.
Scotland does not have the economy to prosper
Rubbish : Lots of small countries thrive around the world. Scotland is a net exporter. As a member of the single market, Scotland stands to gain from what I call “The Best of Both”.
Scotland would suffer from a land border with England
Rubbish. To quote a well used Brexiteer phrase “They (England) need us (Scotland) more than we need them”. Check the figures re the balance of trade between Scotland and GB. In brief Scotland exports £17,455 per head per year, while the UK exports £8,626.
Why then are the Tories making a big deal of spinning lies about Scotland?
I think it’s simple to understand. In 2019 You Gov reported that Tory voters said that they were happy to see Scotland and Northern Ireland as ‘collateral damage’ of Brexit. Perhaps they have realised how wrong they were in the wake of Brexit Carnage. Even the Torygraph is now reporting that project fear was right all along.
If you are able to help us build the case for an independent Scotland, please get in touch via reboot@brexitrage.com
From Don Adamson in Yorkshire. Brexorcist First Class, campaigner, writer and impressario:
This week’s quotes: “ Brexit re-enactment society: historical re-enactments are popular in Britain … fans of the genre should go the House of Lords … scrutinising the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) bill … lawmakers know the bill is dangerous, wasteful and one of the silliest pieces of legislation ever to come before Parliament … Parliament is again galloping towards an avoidable blunder … it is like lighting a fire in a library and handing the librarians a photocopier and a marker pen to save what they can … ministers do not know how many laws are in scope … hands the executive broad powers to make laws with no idea as to how the power might be used …
Treasury fears it could lose billions in tax challenges … an almighty time sink … for the vanity of those for whom the battle to leave the EU was the highlight of their careers … parliament is imprisoned by the shrill politics of Brexit … some of the most damaging features of the Brexit process … a sane country would never allow itself to be put in this vice … familiar mix of terror and irresponsibility … blithe optimism smothers debate …
Labour is wary of opposing Brexit … terrible mistake … a clear majority of Brits believe that to Leave the EU was a mistake … Brexit causes politicians to lose their judgement … The Old Bailey focuses mainly on murder, rape and terrorism cases … the majority of terrorism cases involved people on the far right of British politics. A minority involves Islamic terrorist cases …
Thick Lizzie addressed a reception at the Japanese Embassy … the feet shuffling mood hovered between embarrassment and cringe coated pain … Thick Lizzie assumes publishers would flock to offer her big bucks for her memoirs … interest varied between minimal and zero … must be hurtful … Johnson is clocking up millions for his memoirs and after dinner speeches … while persuading Richy Scumbag to fund lawyers to help Johnson pretend that he did not lie to Parliament over Partygate …
Brexit is choking the arts and the government is doing nothing about it … touring orchestras and music sales – British culture and arts are a huge success story … Brexit means struggling with tough opposition from abroad … rivals get better tax breaks … children’s TV is suffering … movies of all kinds, music, live theatre, dance, audio books and video games … the world loves British cultural exports but Brexit makes it far harder to sell them … games firms give £7B a year to the economy … music exports are worth £3.5B … creative industries contribute £116B to the economy … yet is one of the worst hit by Brexit … government is totally indifferent … British government promised to make up any shortfall but has not done so … huge problem for the industry … harder and more expensive … a ruinously expensive waste of time … hurt an industry where Britain has huge advantages … You have to be something of a strange breed to want to be an MP in the first place …
Daily Telegraph runs pieces overtly critical of Brexit and Johnson … Johnson can only count on Daily Mail and Sunday Mail for blind loyalty … Michael Gove admitted ‘I ask myself if Brexit was the right thing to do ‘ … Gove’s loyalty lasts only so long as it suits his interests … wants to distance himself from the Brexit recriminations after the next election … frankly hilarious death spiral the governments poll numbers have been taking for months …
Thick Lizzie continues to peddle her ‘it was all the fault of communist currency traders’ … ‘le grande illusion’ encapsulates Brexit … Johnson’s audacity … ‘that is what Louis XVI did and he got the guillotine … Redevelopment at Teesside Freeport is Europe’s largest and most risky Brownfield project… highly toxic land and riverbed is churned up at breakneck speed …
Environment Secretary Therese Coffey has little interest in protecting the environment … toxic waste is taken from remediated areas and piles driven into contaminated land … ‘business partners’ make tens of millions … Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy … it was in the days of Nigel Lawson and Peter Walker that this vital industry last enjoyed civil servants with genuine energy expertise … the timing of these disruptions could not be worse … a new defence export advocate to promote arms sales … given the job to a Tory peer … under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office … there are more health professionals of Ghanaian origin working for the NHS than in Ghana … Brexit is not a complete disaster, it is an incomplete disaster … Brexit does not need fixing stormed Lord Frost to the Daily Mail …
Brexit is not a complete disaster, it is an incomplete disaster
