Charles Radley is mounting a campaign to persuade some MPs to change to a pro-EU party (e.g. Lib-Dem, Green, SNP, Plaid Cymru). First we are targeting those Labour constituencies where the MP is known to be pro-EU and where a pro-EU party came second in 2024. But we plan to do much more in terms of lobbying MPs across Britain with books and other resources. Can you help? Please fill in the questionnaire at this Google forms link so we can organise our campaigning most effectively. Thanks !
The people have spoken – 100 000 people want a debate on Rejoining the EU. But the Government have already responded, stating that Brexit is done. It’s not f…king good enough. Only 11% of British people now want to carry on with Brexit. When the facts change, we must change! Please send this press release to journalists and anyone that will listen. Text version and image below for use in e-mails and on social media. Or just share this article.
Sir Keir Starmer has not yet granted a meaningful debate about Rejoining the EU, following a democratic mandate by 100 000 citizens of Britain, via an OFFICIAL Government petition.
The system requires 100 000 signatures to trigger a mass debate. We have faithfully followed the rules, but no debate has been offered thus far. Instead Starmer has hardened Brexit by demonising ALL migrants, whether legally here or not, and opted out of global standards on AI. These are the actions of a Cabinet consumed by “Farageosis Nervosa” and “Trumpius Maximus”, virulent neurological conditions which can only be cured by “mass Brexorcism”.
“It’s yet another Brexit Betrayal. Even people who voted for Brexit in my area are disgusted at Starmer’s denial of democracy. It’s bad karma for Starmer if we can’t support the rule of law.”
Peter Cook, Brexorcist in Chief, Reboot Britain.
Cook edited a book Rejoin EU: Reboot Britain, together with 60 people across UK and Europe, including former Labour MEPs, a KC and subject experts across many fields. Reboot Britain offers a clear guide to opportunities afforded and threats avoided by embalming Brexit in formaldehyde before burial at sea. No one should assume that breaking Brexit before Brexit breaks Britain is the single magic bullet solution to all Britain’s problems. But the positive impact of returning the UK to the heart of Europe will be wide ranging and felt right across the socio-economic, political, technological, environmental and ethical landscape. Without our European allies, Britain risks being isolated in an increasingly dangerous world. The threat posed by the four horsemen of the “populypse” (populist apocalypse): Trump, Musk, Farage, Putin brings Brexit Britain’s unsplendid isolation into sharp relief.
“Only 11% of those who voted for Brexit now want to ‘Carry on Brexit’. What a carry on!”
Peter Bone, Pensioner, Chelmsford.
We demand a full public debate on Rejoining the EU, not a late-night sub-committee hearing or 15 minutes before afternoon tea in the House of Lords.
“Britain deserves better than Brexit now that we know what Brexit really means.”
Last week was a bit of a bumper ride. I attended the UK in a Changing Europe (UKICE) event in London on Tuesday, then Stella Creasy’s Labour For Europe event on Thursday. I also spoke with James O’Brien on Brexit Day 31 January !! We have also started some musical and activist projects. Settle in for a long read ….
Before we begin, We are supporting Robert McMaster’s petition to force a debate about Rejoining in Parliament. The petition had stalled at 69 000 signatures with virtually no activity. In just three days we restarted the flywheel, adding 13 000 to the total and more since. Please sign and share, then send copies of our book to MPs and influencers. 60% author discount copies for those who don’t wish to use Amazon via e-mail reboot@brexitrage.com
Watch our latest videos on the project:
UKICE event highlights
UK in a Changing Europe hosted an event with Sir John Curtice, Prof Anand Menon, Prof Catherine Barnard and Sarah Hall, hosted by the BBC’s Jo Coburn. Labour stayed away from the event which surprised me. Catherine Barnard began by confirming our own view that the problem with Brexit is political paralysis and suggested that lawyers would be happy to sort the ‘wiring’ out if the politicians ever developed backbones (my words, not hers). John Curtice explained why Labour are reluctant to move the Overton window to bring Brexit back into view, stating that a referendum would consume a lot of political energy. Our settled view is that if Labour don’t confront the Brexit elephant in the room, there will be no substantial growth and therefore no second term. Anand Menon suggested that there would not be sufficient time for any Rejoin benefits to flow through. I believe that this is based on the liberal elitist assumption that a referendum is needed and therefore a lot of time would be needed to orchestrate such a decision. Also, the strategic intent to rejoin would be sufficient to boost confidence in business and markets, so I beg to differ with courtesy Anand. Views like this from academics, prominent Remain figures such as Jon Danzig and ‘peaceful warriors’ play straight into Labour’s hands when they say that that nobody wants to go back through the arguments over rejoining. Yet we all know the polling data. Yes, people don’t want to go back through a lengthy national soul searching process again, but this assumes that one is needed. From my own research, I find that the vast majority of people would not be that troubled if Brexit were made to go away quickly and without fuss. We say, let Parliament do the job they are paid to do. A referendum may only be needed as a confirmatory step, and then a simple, short process with fully fact checked information. See Reboot Britain for the reasons we say this.
On the other side of the debate, I find that some Remainers unwittingly reinforce and mirror the views of Remoaners, some of whom have pathologised victimhood, as articulated by this view from one of our co-authors Paul Cawthorne:
Curtice importantly confirmed our view that the time is now to campaign for rejoin. The entire session is below on video. Although I took comfort from Catherine Barnard and John Curtice’s remarks, overall the tone of the debate was one of ‘learned helplessness’, perhaps informed by fears and fantasies about what the far right might do if Labour were to take decisive action to stem the flow of blood from Brexit rather than apply more bandages. Leadership is needed from Labour rather than followership aka management by driving through the rear view mirror. My question to the panel can be found at 1.05.47 ish onwards. I gave books to Jo Coburn and John Curtice and our 1:1 conversations were candid about the need for leadership rather than handing the country to Farage and his wolves.
Stella Creasy’s Labour In Europe Event
Undoubtedly Labour have not stooped to the depths of depravity that 14 years of Tory rule have delivered in terms of divide and conquer politics, austerity on steroids and victimisation of vulnerable people via Brexit on crack cocaine. So the Tories should have been an easy ‘support act’ for Labour to follow. Labour’s first moves in power have however been somewhat awkward, as brilliantly parodied by Larry and Paul. That said, we must not underestimate the difficult of turning a super tanker round mid ocean after 14 years of degradation with some people still on deck trying to lock the ship onto icebergs.
In Labour’s search for “growth by 1000 ameliorations” whilst ignoring the Brexit elephant in the room, they will find it difficult, dare we say impossible to deliver the levels of growth required to win a 2nd term in office. By the end of the evening, Stella Creasy seemed a little rattled by an audience of remainers for ‘going on about Brexit’. Possibly in a moment of sheer frustration, she brought up the bogey man of rule by Elon Musk if we did not ‘get over it’. She seemed somewhat irritated by the encounter and took me to task over my suggestion that Keir Starmer needed more confidence to take tough decisions. This was the essence of my question to Stella:
I stood for Parliament in 2024 against Labour. I say against but my candidacy was solely to split the Tory vote in a safe seat. I recommended that people vote for Labour at all Hustings events, something that political candidates don’t do. Having spoken with Labour MPs and MEPs I am told that Labour’s strategy will be to consider rejoining in 2032. When I explain to them that (a) all the Brexit damage will be complete by then (b) much of it will be irreversible like some chemical reactions and (c) since there is no appetite to discuss Brexit in 2024, no one will be able to connect their lived experience with Brexit as a contributory cause in 2032, Labour MPs agree with me that the idea of rejoining later is disingenuous at best. At the hustings Naushabah Khan (Labour) stated that Brexit did not come up on the doorstep in defence of Labour’s position. I agreed, stating that all the front of mind issues that did come up on the doorstep (Cost of Living, NHS, social care etc.) had at least one foot in Brexit as a contributory factor. I used the Brexit iceberg to illustrate my point. Nashabah did not challenge my analysis. The Conservatives and Labour passively colluded to move Brexit out of the Overton window in favour of its offspring.
Brexit is the turd that won’t flush whether we pretend we can’t smell it or not.
Brexit Iceberg
Our internal sources tell us that Keir Starmer is naturally cautious and need a lot of support to make bold decisions. By fearing Farage, Starmer is “managing by driving through the rear view mirror” rather than leading. And when he says we won’t rejoin in his lifetime, he means his political lifetime. It may come soon without a little more risk taking. Perhaps this week’s incremental moves in Brussels are a kind of “national focus group” to test reactions. If nobody blinks, he moves another inch and so on. The right wing media and the Farage extremists have all cried “surrender” just because he went to Brussels at all … if that’s the reaction to an entirely trivial set of proposals, he may as well be hung for a sheep than a lamb. See sunk costs in the book.
I came away a little disheartened by the tone of the event which appeared to be telling us that ‘mum and dad knows best’. Although I would rather have open heart surgery without an anaesthetic than vote Reform UK, I came away with a strong understanding as to why others would. The more that people in Labour tried to defend the indefensible, the more toxic the comments became via the online chat. In hindsight, I think this dialogue may have been better handled in a real life event than on ZOOM, where feedback can go unheard and views build up like a pressure cooker. I was pleased however to see that my MP was brave enough to share my reactions to the event on social media and Nigel Farage is incandescent that Starmer signed a paper in the same building that Edward Heath used many years ago. Nigel really cares about the people of Britain of course but seems trapped by the iconography …
My MP Naushabah Khan
Rejoin EU
Brexorcists in Chief
On Friday I had a dialogue with James O’Brien about the last Remaining Brexiteers. There are not many people flying the flag for Brexit now, some 11% in fact. They mostly now fall into two categories: The people who still believe that the EU is an unelected superstate and who vote for Nigel Farage (himself elected to the EU as an MEP!!) and the racists / xenophobes. Gone are the people who voted for Brexit to stick it to Cameron, the ones who believed in the £350 million on the bus, Mogg’s lies about cheap food and shoes and so on. Are we to die on a hill for these people with Keir Starmer? Here’s the interview with James:
Click to listen to LBC
We also wrote a new song in partnership with Paul Cawthorne in Italy. Brexit’s in the air is a rewrite of the Wet Wet Wet song – the band title is “Slightly Red” to reflect Labour’s current positioning. Don’t just graze on the website, download the track and support our work.
Click to download on Bandcamp
Farage: Make Shit Happen
Finally, we rewrote a Sham 69 song around the story of Nigel Farage’s nephew, convicted for upskirting in the Co-Op in Orpington. How bizarre.
Keep on keeping on
Keep sending hard copies of the Rejoin EU book to MPs, influencers etc. …
No, not occupy Greenland !! The real Project 2025 is to Rejoin the EU. Our new book is out. Order your copies on Amazon. To get multiple discount copies at author discount of just £3.50 plus P&P, please mail me via reboot@brexitrage.com The main uses of the book are to:
Send physical copies to MPs, journalists and influencers in UK and Europe. A physical copy is a coffee table item and much more likely to be read than a digital copy of the book.
Place in cafes, libraries, universities (e.g. politics / history courses), pubs, clubs, book clubs and other social settings to change minds about Brexit and Europe.
Use it for the basis of talks to communities to Brexorcise groups.
Here is the press release. Feel free to use it on social media.
Sir Keir Starmer has stated that there is no case to Rejoin the EU. We disagree and 60 of us wrote this book to explain why the case for applying to Rejoin the EU is overwhelming and urgent. This will help as part of a strategy to Reboot Britain and begin the path towards sustainable growth.
Although ending Brexit and applying to Rejoin the EU is not a one size fits all magic bullet solution to Britain’s problems, the impacts will be wide ranging and felt right across the STEEPLE factors. (Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Political, Legal and Ethical). Contrary to what some might say, Brexit is far from done. However, we are done for if we refuse to confront the Brexit elephant in the room. It is not so much that we must Rejoin the EU, but that we cannot afford not to do it.
Please send the book to MPs, influencers, journalists, friends, family and those few who still think that Brexit was a good idea, poorly executed. It will begin the Brexorcism conversation anew, now that 2/3 of the population accept that Brexit was a mistake.
Featuring contributions from Dr Charlie Clutterbuck (Author, Bittersweet Brexit), Michael Hindley (former MEP), Ian Forrester KC, Wendy Nowak, Mark Sampson (Iron Man Records), Helga Perry, Terence Knott (President Amicale Europe Pays de Fayence), Paul Cawthorne, Julie Ward (former MEP), David Powell, Sue Bird, Adrian Ekins-Daukes (former EU Commission diplomat), Paul Weller, Irina Fridman, John Falch, Kevin McDonald, Judith Spencer and Andrew Hessleden.
You may also enjoy our other publications : “Reboot Britain” – a book on the gentle art and discipline of Brexorcism and “Private Eyelines” – a book on Brexit satire which busts the myths of Brexit using the power of humour mixed with facts.
The Tory MP Kevin Hollinrake is moaning about giving worker’s rights. I suggested that he stop whingeing as he’d got his Brexit. Then “Dave Gilmour” entered the fray. No, not the brilliant Pink Floyd guitarist and singer/songwriter but Dave, cynic, affiliate at Mundo Cognito Ltd, author of “Privacy Architecture – guided by TOGAF®” according to his LinkedIn profile. The online conversation that ensued was comedy gold. Dave claims that he does not need any benefits or problems solved by Brexit and then goes on to pretend that he voted Remain.
Hollinrake’s original post.
Another prick in the mall.
Comfortably Numb.
Wish EU were here.
Angry Dave needs to chill.
Paul got no reply from Dave. Too busy promoting his new album I guess.
When you lose the argument, go for the gut. Very Trumpesque.
Dave makes a false claim that he voted to Remain but lets himself down with his grammar … “get over it”, “embittered losers” and so on are the ‘grammatical ornaments’ of Brexit extremists. I await the trial.
This rather reinforces the poverty of trying to influence people online. Brexorcism is a face to face discipline as I explain in Reboot Britain.
Don’t be like Dave. He just made a fool of himself in front of all his LinkedIn contacts.
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.
A letter to my new MP Naushabah Khan. I supported her candidacy in the General Elections, helping to split the Tory vote three ways. Even more pleasing I got a reply on her 2nd day in office. This validates my decision to stand and, of course, my strategy to ‘do no harm’ to Labour during my campaign, in spite my key difference over Brexit. Write your own letter to your MP. Feel free to use mine as a template.
The next five years
Morning Naushabah,
Firstly, congratulations on your appointment – fully deserved !!
My campaign was instructive in so far as it revealed something that I already knew … just how little Rehman Chishti bothers to deal with local issues unless it was multi-faith or Saudi arms ‘consultancy’ – coughs a bit …. But turning to the positives here …
I wonder if you will reverse this lack of consultation by installing ‘citizens’ assemblies’ here in Gillingham and Rainham? I know you are much more plugged into local issues than Mr Chishti, but I detected a distinct lack of public consultation from my hundreds of miles cycling round the constituency and in cafes / bars and fb groups in recent times. There is disquiet about a number of current initiatives where local consultation would lead to better solutions.
And, of course, you will expect me to ask you to put an end to Brexit as a priority and not in 2032 as Tristan Osbourne has mentioned a few times. Nobody will know what Brexit is by then and the damage will be complete, much of it irreversible. Nigel F will exploit a slow drift towards Rejoin in 2029 anyway if he is still around. Keir need not have boxed himself in on Brexit. It would have been enough to say that Brexit isn’t working, but there we are. And slow death by a thousand sector by sector ameliorations (what I call logical incrementalism in Reboot Britain) is also not an answer. Mr S seems puzzled by the question of a business case for Brexit. I am not and will be writing one in the coming week. In common with 2019, people loaned their votes to Labour in order to remove the terrible Tories. I doubt that will happen a second time and I realise how unfair this is, given the scale of things that need improving, but that’s politics as they say !
On a note of help, you can rely on my assistance in every way to improve the high street and other areas in which I can provide help. I’m also a skilled campaigner having received more votes than I deserved and having been told by many people that although they wished to vote for me, would I mind if they voted Labour to ‘carry the ming vase across the ice rink’. I did not mind and actively encouraged it.
You probably figured out at the hustings that I am supremely talented as a ‘critical friend’. I am presently bogged down in getting repairs made to my property due to criminal damage and knife crime by Reform UK acolytes, but once I have raised funds to pay for their criminal activities, I will be ready to assist in making Gillingham and Rainham a better place.
This from Paul Cawthorne in Italy, an economist, international consultant and long-term member of Reboot Britain. Image by Patricia Paton, Editor Bylines Scotland, from the related article Hard Labour, which you shoud read in conjunction with this piece.
Labour’s current “Make Brexit Work” policy is seriously flawed and, at best, will have no positive or negative impacts on their immediate electoral prospects. Labour is going to win power because the Tories are imploding after 14 damaging years (including Brexit) and Labour are now more trusted on all the key bread-and-butter issues (the NHS, the economy etc). Labour will win the general election despite, not because of, its unnecessary “no rejoining” red lines. If Starmer left the door open to rejoining the single market and customs union he would still be winning the election by a large margin.
Key factors
1. Poor advice based on outdated (2019) focus groups and internal polling data.
2. Overestimation of the enduring support for a hard Tory Brexit in the so-called Red Wall. Confirmed by John Curtice.
3. Underestimation of the the impact of Brexit’s evident failure on public opinion. See also The Sun’s reaction to the £5 Billion wasted on border checks just yesterday.
4. Underestimation of the impact of demographic changes on the electorate.
5. Overblown fear of the reaction of Tory tabloids to any perceived watering down of Brexit. See The Sun yesterday and the Telegraph.
6. Misplaced belief that “Make Brexit Work” will be a convincing winning 3-word slogan in 2024.
7. Nostalgic belief that Labour is still essentially a “working class” party and needs to prioritise at all costs the views and prejudices of these traditional “core supporters”.
The run up to an election is a critical time to influence politicians. Make sure you tell your Labour MP or candidate that your support is conditional on a change on policy.
Share relevant articles that accord with Paul’s analysis.
Expect better. Remainers are all too often on the back foot.
Postscript
I ambushed Keir Starmer this morning (23.05.24) at Gillingham Football ground with a message about Brexit and Rejoining the EU. It went down rather well with Labour activists. A few locals scowled as is normal in the area when Brexit is mentioned. My message was short as there are always just a few seconds to make your point in such circumstances : “Brexit is a game of two halves. Let’s make sure Mr Starmer is not on the losing side in the Euros”.
The Labour Party knocked on my door at the weekend. An extremely pleasant man began the canvassing by introducing himself and then asked me if I had any local issues that were troubling me. I replied with one word : BREXIT. I also apologised later on for telling him things he probably did not want to hear. He seemed fine with that and our conversation was cordial. Some of the hoops we jumped through are here for the record.
I began by explaining that I was finding it hard to vote for a Brexit party and revealed that I knew some senior Labour people who had told me that they would commence Rejoining in 2032. I explained that nobody would know what Brexit was by then and, in any case, the damage wreaked by Brexit would be mostly complete and much of it irreversible. I went through my usual argument that growth was for the birds, with a 4.5% resilience knock from Brexit, akin to trying to swim the English Channel with a 4.5 kg block of concrete around one’s neck.
Brexit resilence concrete
He listened carefully and then tried a few gentle pieces of pushback:
“Well the Conservatives won’t reverse Brexit” … I replied that I was not so sure, citing the fact that there was evidence of incremental movement to undo some of the worst elements of Johnson’s Brexit deal via the Windsor framework and our rejoining the Horizon science scheme. I went to point out that David Cameron had not come back to politics for a game of tennis and that one scenario would see Cameron pivoting towards the centre leaving the ERG loons in a boat on the Channel. I pointed him towards our articles Tectonic Plates and Cameron.
He went on to say “But the Tories will pivot towards the far right” … Again, I had to disagree, citing my appearance on James ‘O Brien, where I said that the votes were in the centre and that whilst it may appear that the far right are in ascendancy, this was only due to the loudest voices on MSM, such as Braverman and was not supported by the numbers. He nodded. I went on to say that Labour now have a major PR problem, having decided to partner with someone who supports sex pests and who relishes the thought of drowning children in the English Channel.
He found it very hard to argue against this recent development with Nathalie Elf Thick, but did ask me “What was Keir Starmer supposed to do?” … I replied that he should have simply thanked her for her kind offer and politely declined. Elphicke’s arrival in Labour offers them few advantages but also may cause them significant problems. I have wondered if she has actually been sent in under a false flag. We shall see. It seems rather fishy that the Tories instantly denounced her. Smells like a double bluff to me.
My canvasser’s parting shot was that he’d put me down as a floating voter, after I said that I may even have to hold my nose and vote Tory if Labour would not change its position on Brexit. I explained that Brexit was at the heart of many of the things he was hoping I might talk about (cost of living, NHS, migration etc.) and showed him my Brexit iceberg in the window of my house. It was a bit like doing a slightly nerdy keynote address with a poster in my window instead of a PowerPoint visual !!
The Brexit Iceberg.
I am hoping that he’ll report all of this back up the channels to Labour strategists. I was really impressed at our dialogue and how well he listened and constructively challenged me.
On the other hand, I heard from one of our group that Labour are banning posts on their Facebook groups that mention words like Erasmus, Horizon, ULEZ, Brexit etc. Labour are just as bad as the Tories in terms of censorship. I’m pleased to say that this has not extended to my local fb group, although the levels of misinformation are beyond comparison in the group. Some examples are below:
There are still industrial levels of misinformation out there. Don’t be like Steve.
Never give your voting intention away as you lose power to influence policy by doing so. I am still contemplating standing a candidate for the Rejoin party or possibly a cat again.
This is the opening prelude to a new book on Brexit and Rejoining the EU. Aptly titled “The Chronicles of Brexit”, combining the notion of the fantasy world of Narnia together with the chronic condition of political paralysis.
Brexit didn’t happen
I still hear Remainers telling me that Brexit is done. They have fallen prey to the kool aid put forward by the Brexiteers, that Brexit was a project and not a process. A project has a finite end point such as building the Channel Tunnel whereas a process continues. As I write in 2024, Brexit continues to wreak a slow chronic infusion of damage socially, economically, politically, environmentally, technologically and legally. We hardly need to rehearse the impacts here, from the gradual departure of businesses, industries and brains from UK plc, the rating of Britain as a ‘problem child’ regarding inward investment, to the unsavoury sights and smells of shit in our rivers and the jubilation by a few residual racists at the joy of drowning migrants. This is Brexit Britain. It’s nothing to be proud of.
Many of the chronic impacts predicted in these chronicles have come to pass since I wrote the original articles collected in this book. Worst of all, we are still dogged by the parliamentary paralysis that made Brexit possible. Keir Starmer continues to spout the vacuous football chant ‘make Brexit work’ to charm people with feeble minds, when all the data suggests that he could carve out a leadership position and win an election comfortably by stating that ‘Brexit isn’t working’. The Lib Dems continue to suggest that we could rejoin the EU ‘when the time is right’. Of course, that time will never come … Only the Scottish National Party (SNP) are brave enough to lead on the need for independence from Brexit Albion.
Brexit’s Breaking Britain
Images by James Rowland.
A little while back, I designed a t-shirt with a picture of Hannibal Lecter and the slogan ‘Brexit consumes all its children’ with a list : Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss, Sunak, Starmer. I predict that Starmer will also be consumed by the offspring of Brexit, perhaps with some fava beans and a nice Chianti … the offspring of Brexit include the cost of living, ramped up concerns about immigration, a broken NHS, business failures and so on. Of course I was hammered by my left-wing colleagues on Twitter, who have gotten into such a stir with Tory fascism that they are now manically possessed by the idea that we must get Starmer in, then we can talk about Brexit. I hope they are right but fear they are not. See Scottish Bylines as to why I say this.
Even 18th century retro-Latin imperialist adventure capitalist Jacob Rees-Mogg bragged that we will get nothing back from Brexit for 50 years … I am impatient as a ‘Brexit fundamentalist’ (The only good Brexit is a dead Brexit) not for myself at my advanced age, but for future generations. And the softly-softly approaches used by some of the central Remain organisations have largely assisted us in getting a ‘boiled frog Brexit’; so slow that we (the frogs) hardly notice the chronic decline (death by gradual boiling). This makes any approach to undoing Brexit especially difficult, as it requires a large majority of people to have their lived experiences changed by Brexit realities, which will only be visible in slow motion and in small doses.
My labour chums tell me “shh, we’ll consider rejoining in 2032”. This misses two important points. Nobody will remember what Brexit was by then and, in any case, much of the damage wreaked by Brexit will be complete and much of it irreversible by 2032. It is at best a dream, at worst a weapon of mass deception to get elected. But I cannot vote for a Brexit party in a General Election even if that means allowing a Tory back in. There is always hope and I hope you will want to read the book and act upon its advice and guidance.
To place a discount pre-order for The Brexit Chronicles in hard copy inc P&P, please PayPal £15.00 as a gift via Paypal using the link below.
We also have one remaining signed copy of our Brexit satire book Private Eyelines at a discount of £20.00 all inclusive compared with £34.99 plus P&P on Amazon.
