Has Mr. Cameron covered himself in glory in his negotiations with the European ‘Bigwigs’? Is it enough to satisfy the Euro-sceptics of the Nation to vote to stay in? Is ‘Project fear’, in full swing?
These are the questions ‘swirling around’ the boardrooms and living rooms of the great UK voting populace.
In the past, I have been proud for Mr. Cameron to do the bidding for the UK on the International stage, but I fear, this time, he has been the architect of his own misfortunes by foolishly setting out beforehand, in great detail, the extent of his requirements from Europe, in order for him to advocate staying in.
When he emerged, so called ‘victorious’, the extent of the ‘negotiating discount’ was all apparent and this was despite these being watered down beforehand, so that the requirements would not ‘stick in the gullet’ of the Eurocrats.
I am not sure if these European Leaders fully appreciate the negative effects on the Euro and the loss of credibility in the ‘European experiment’ that Brexit would create for them, rather than the other way around. Lest we forget, we import far more goods than we export to Europe, so, who will lose out by the procrastination of an ongoing Trade Term Agreement?
For the second largest Economy of Europe to leave would be a damning indictment for them and will be reflected in the value of the Euro. The visceral reluctance of other European Member States to call for a Referendum themselves, for fear of losing, when they have ceded greater sovereignty than at any other time in their history, is very telling and all the more so when Federal Europe gains traction.
It is no wonder that a number of large businesses are in favour of membership since they have the apparatus to cope with all the ‘red tape’ but 85% of new jobs over the last five years, in the UK, were created by small companies who find the European restrictions burdensome and insufferable.
Let’s remind ourselves that 40% of the entire budget for Europe is spent on CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) but yet represents less than 1.5% of the EU’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This is fine for France, where agriculture represents 21% of GDP, but not so good for the UK where it is 5.9% of GDP.
Will Britain survive after a Brexit?
Although ‘Project Fear’ will try and make us believe otherwise, frankly, as we have thrived by not joining the Euro, I think, we will do very nicely outside of Europe particularly where we can expand, at will, our trade with India, China and the US. Amongst the many Euro shackles from which we would disengage are; the Social Contract, the Human Rights Act, supremacy of EU law, indiscriminate immigration with porous borders and goodness knows how many other bureaucratic restrictions that have ‘wafted over’ from Brussels over the last 50 years.
Yes, we did join the EEC in 1973, via the last Referendum, but Europe is a very different place today than it was then and by de-regulation and ‘blue sky thinking’, we are in a very different place as well and what we may lack in manufacturing and agriculture, we certainly have nurtured a World-Class Financial services industry that we must protect and will be safe even after Brexit.
Following Brexit, after a period of renegotiation with the EU, I believe inward Investment to the UK will want to benefit from all the new and beneficial labour laws that will come into force that will be pro-business, pro employment and growth. The UK will effectively become ‘Treasure Island’. It will be good for jobs and will be the envy of our European counterparts who will still be mired in the socialistic morass of their own making.
International Manufacturers will pour their money into start-up businesses in the UK following the example of Nissan, Tata and Honda with their showpiece car plants at Sunderland, Swindon and Coventry. These are some of the most successful businesses in the World and will be all the more so, after Brexit. Why do you think HSBC made the decision to keep their Headquarter base in the UK, three months before a Referendum, instead of delaying the decision afterwards? They are clearly comfortable either way.
We will have tariff-free trading terms with the EU that will be far less onerous than the ones presently with Norway and Switzerland, since neither of these countries is the fifth largest economy in the world. We have greater negotiating power, particularly as the UK is the second largest export market in the world for German goods.
We will be able to enjoy the natural advantage of our caring Capitalistic environment that has been stifled for all these years, under the suffocating, socialistic, undemocratic and unaccountable model of Europe.
If the Euro is to be a competent, sustainable, World currency, it is short of two vital components. Firstly, it needs ‘a lender of the last resort’ since at present it is an ‘orphan’ currency and secondly, the ability to control the tax and spending of the Member States. This can only be arranged under a Federal Europe which the UK will not be a part of, and therefore, a Referendum result for us is to ‘stay in’ will put us in the ‘worst of all worlds’ …. ‘in but out’.
Anyone who thinks that we will be part of the decision making processes, particularly if federal Europe prevails, where we will have one vote out of 28, is delusional! We have always been and will be considered to be part of a small minority of dissenting members, otherwise known as the ‘awkward squad.’ Effectively, we will be like a handbrake on a domestic car, trying to stop a juggernaut ‘careering’ down a hill.
Some ‘Europhiles’ claim that by having Germany in Europe has brought ‘peace in our time’. “Hogwash”, I say. Fear of a nuclear war, combined with an effective NATO agreement, has done this for us. In any event, Germany now controls the Treasuries of the 28 member nations and will be all the more so in a Federal Europe, so why would they want any more? After all, this has been a far more sophisticated and stealth-like process than Hitler, for instance, with his crude attempts to crush and control the armies of Europe in WWII.
At last, we can raise the drawbridge on the immigration problem, protect our borders and make a concerted attempt to create positive and selective migration to the UK and reduce it to the 20-30,000 numbers that were promised by David Cameron in the early stages of his coalition term, rather than the net 336,000 numbers that are presently the case. Let’s model ourselves on Australia and not Europe in this respect. It should be, after all, our decision and we should use this power wisely since we are getting close to full employment and positive migration could be a good thing to keep down wage inflation.
The net £ 7.5 billion that we are spending each year on EEC membership will now be reinvested in a Brexit vote on the infrastructure of the UK instead of being poured into the ‘black hole’ of Europe, never to be seen again.
Greece and Turkey have been rivals for the last two centuries at least and look at them today. The membership of the EEC and the Euro has cost Greece 25% or more of its Economy with the burden of circa 50% unemployment, whilst Turkey has thrived by being outside of Europe with an annual growth of circa 7% and an unemployment rate of 10%, versus the youth unemployment rate across Europe of 50%. Since Europe needs Turkey’s assistance with the migrant problem, they have been conspicuously quiet recently as Mr. Erdogan tightens his grip on the Independent Press as his country morphs into an ‘Authoritarian State’.
Sadly, despite Mr. Cameron’s laudable attempts to keep us in Europe, he has been thwarted by the Europeans and their reluctance to give him some meaningful concessions with which to empower his ‘staying-in’ campaign and they have only themselves to blame if the Referendum result goes ‘pear-shaped.’ Despite the dismissive comments by the PM and Boris Johnson, in respect of a second referendum, after the shock of Brexit and during the discussions about trade agreements, don’t think that the conversation of a second Referendum will not be brought up.
Where are the Referendums of the other European countries, apart from Ireland? With the amount of ceding of sovereign powers that is involved in Europe today and all the more so with a Federal Europe, surely the ‘wider public’ of the EU, is entitled to their say? We know the answer, don’t we? Europe is a ‘top down’ revolution, where the unelected and unaccountable Bureaucrats decide the fate of the 500million population who will never be consulted Democratically, for fear of provoking the wrong result.
Doomsters said, at the time, that failure to join the Euro would make us ‘far worse off’ and we would be left as ‘Little Englanders’ with a tiny, irrelevant currency in World terms. How wrong were they? Remaining ‘Out’ was the best decision we ever have made and once again sanity should prevail in this Referendum when I hope the ‘Great British Public’ will at last ‘grasp the nettle’ by leaving the Euro quagmire to the Europhiles.
Thank goodness our Economy is closer to the American model than that of Europe, as such, we have 50% of the European average unemployment rate and our economy is growing at double the speed.
We proudly stood defiant against the most fearsome and oppressive regime in World War II, despite being totally under resourced and we were victorious as a result.
We think, behave and govern ourselves differently to that of Europe and we should have greater belief in our own ability, since no one will protect our future and control our own destiny better than ourselves. The only way we can do this is by staying out.
Vote ‘Non’!
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