Support for the UK Internal Market Bill?

Being a former association officer in the Conservative Party I am still on their e-mail distribution list. Yesterday I received a message from Alok Sharma, the Business Secretary, asking me to confirm my support for the new law that has been put to Parliament and saying:

“I have introduced our UK Internal Market Bill in Parliament to guarantee free and fair trade spreading economic development across the whole of the UK.

Without this vital piece of legislation businesses across the UK would face unprecedented barriers and costs.

A Welsh lamb farmer would be unable to easily (sic) sell lamb in Scotland as they can do now. A Scotch whisky producer could lose total access to English barley. And a car built in England would be more expensive to buy in Northern Ireland.”

I replied to his e-mail saying that, before I could confirm my support, I needed to understand why, if this was to be the result, the Government had proposed such a measure to the EU and campaigned at the last general election on its merits.

I am not holding my breath until I receive a reply but, should I receive one, to be fair to the Government I will publish it here.

Robin Baker

Conservatives and the ECHR: Lord Finkelstein OBE in conversation with Rt Hon Dominic Grieve QC

The Rt Hon Sir David Lidington KCB CBE, the newly elected CGE Chair, former Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, chairs the launch of the CGE paper - Conservatives and the European Convention on Human Rights. 

Lord Finkelstein OBE, The Times Columnist and Conservative Peer, is in conversation with The Rt Hon Dominic Grieve QC, CGE Vice President & former Attorney General, to discuss the paper.

You can watch the video here: https://www.conservativegroupforeurope.org.uk/conservatives_and_the_echr

Our request to the European Movement UK — Countering the misleading slogan of "let's get Brexit done"

Dear Lord Heseltine,

I am writing to you as acting President of the British European Movement in France, Geoff Ross our President being currently away from Europe.  We have just held a meeting to discuss the current Brexit position, a number of those present having returned from the march in London, and great concern was voiced about the strength of support for the Government’s withdrawal plan on the grounds of Brexit weariness and support for the slogan “let’s get it over and done with”.

Our conclusion was that it is vital for the European Movement to campaign to explain why this slogan is so misleading.  The two main grounds for such a campaign should be:

1. The proposed Withdrawal Agreement states that: “The objective of the Withdrawal Agreement is not to establish a permanent relationship between the Union and the United Kingdom. The provisions of this Protocol are therefore intended to apply only temporarily”.  So, should that Agreement be finalised, all the work on concluding a final agreement will have to start all over again.
2. That, however, is far from all.  The Political Declaration sets our numerous areas of further joint work to be undertaken.  We have listed these areas, there are in all 52 of them, many of them involving areas that are likely to be controversial and also many that require participation at ministerial level.  I do not think it necessary for me to bother you with this list but can readily send it to you should you so wish. 

Some of our members still receive communications from the Conservative Party.  One of these says: “Together, as a country, we’re moving forward.  We’re getting Brexit done – because with Brexit out of the way, we can focus on our priorities like the NHS, police and schools.”  The country needs to understand that this is false; the proposed agreement does the opposite in that it increases the amount of work and the probability of Brexit disputes.  Of course the only way to get Brexit out of the way is the revocation of the UK’s Article 50 declaration.

The campaign that you are leading is greatly appreciated by British expatriates in France and, I am sure, more widely.  You will continue to have our grateful support.

 

Yours sincerely,

Dan Jacobs

Acting President of the British European Movement in France

Roger Boaden on why he can no longer call himself a Conservative

Roger Boaden, a former Conservative party staff member, voting rights campaigner and member of BiE steering committee, has written a great article on why he no longer feels like he belongs in the Conservative party.

You can read it here on Politics.co.uk.

The European Parliament election results

by Robin Baker

The number of votes cast in the European Parliamentary election in the UK together with my assumption as to whether those voters were supports of Brexit of remain were:

Party	% of votes		Pro Brexit	Pro remain	Indeterminate
Brexit	31.6		31.6
Lib Dem	20.3			20.3
Labour	14.1				14.1
Green	12.1			12.1
Conservative	9.1		9.1
SNP	3.6			3.6
Change UK	3.4			3.4
Ukip	3.3		3.3
Plaid Cymru	1			1
Total	98.5		44	40.4

So, based on this assumption it appears that the number of those voting pro-Brexit exceeded the number voting for remain.

But in fact some Labour voters, indeed probably the majority, were actually remain supporters.  If just 38% (that is 5.8% of all voters) were remain supporters and the rest supporters of Brexit, then there were more remain than Brexit voters.

Of course drawing any conclusion form these results is dangerous, among other reasons because of the low poll.  However it seems to be to be very probable that more than half the Labour voters were in favour of remain.  If I am right, then despite all the Farage cheering and boasting, then these results are encouraging for remainers. 

Lessons from nature...

by Robin Baker

One of the advantages of being retired is that one can follow diverse interests.  On 23^rd May I was this watching a wild-life programme on TV5.  It contrasted the behaviour of elephant seals and killer whales.  The male elephant seals spent their lives fighting each other to give the winner the right to mate with the females.  The females fed their pups for two weeks after their birth and then left them to their own devices without even taking them into the sea, so that they could reproduce again.  Many of these you,g did not last very long.

In contrast, the female killer whales care for their calves for at least 2 years.  They feed them and they also train them.  The film showed killer whales hunting and then taking their prey to share with a mother who was feeding her calf and so could not hunt herself.  It also showed a group of them hunting by beaching themselves where there were seals on the beach which they could catch, and teaching the young how to do this.  All their hunting was done in groups which meant that they could feed in a way that have been possible for a whale hunting alone.

Is there, I thought, a lesson in this for the way in which countries benefit from working in groups together or by standing separately alone?

England's local election results

By Robin Baker

The results of the local elections in England on 2^nd May were:

	Councillors		Change	% change
Conservative		3561	-1335	-27%
Labour		2023	-82	-4%
Liberal Democrats		1351	704	109%
Green		265	194	273%
UKIP		31	-145	-82%
Others (mainly independents)		1179	662	128%

Of course local election results are heavily influenced by national political issues, but one must be careful not to misinterpret these figures.  They do not show that anti-Brexit parties came out as winners.  Indeed Conservative and Labour between them won two thirds of the seats.  But they do give a strong signal that the swing in popular political thinking today is away from Brexit.  Bearing in mind the narrowness of the referendum result in 2016, the change in what we now know what Brexit would mean and the appreciation of the lies used by Brexiteers to win the referendum, I do believe that they provide strong evidence in support of a people’s vote.

The Prime Minister’s comment on the result was that they show that people “want us to get on and deliver Brexit”.  That seems to me to be as intelligent and honest as most of her comments on Brexit.

European Parliament political groupings

The European movement Ireland have just published a very handy guide to the political groupings at the European Parliament. Read about it here: https://www.europeanmovement.ie/whos-who-the-political-groups-of-the-european-parliament

Richard Ashworth to head list for Change UK party in South East England

by Robin Baker

Richard Ashworth, who spoke at the BEMF dinner on 23^rd November, announced that he had joined The Independent Group, now Change UK, on 16 April.  Julie Girling, another former Conservative MEP, is also standing for Change UK.  Both these MEPs remain members of the European People's Party group in the European Parliament.

As head of the Party’s list in a constituency where the remain vote was strong, it is very probably that he will be re-elected.  I can still vote in the UK until end November, and so will be delighted to be able to vote for Richard.

“Suddenly, we kinda know what's going on”

Ian Dunt, editor of the excellent Politics.co.uk and their ‘week in review’ newsletter has written a very insightful article about the decision of the European Council to extend, conditionally, Britain's deadline for leaving the or May 22.

Read it here: https://mailchi.mp/politics/week-in-review-suddenly-we-kinda-know-whats-going-on

Richard Ashworth's speech to the European Parliament

On 27th March, Richard Ashworth, Conservative MEP, gave the following speech in the European Parliament:

Madam President, on behalf of a million people on the streets in London, on behalf of six million people who have signed the petition and on behalf of 63% of the British population who did not vote for Brexit, I want to say thank you to President Tusk. I want to say thank you to this House for the support you’re showing and I want to reassure you that Nigel Farage does not speak on behalf of that 63% of the population.

(Applause)

May I add, as a comment, to the European people that, for over 25 years now, no British Prime Minister ever explained to the British people what Europe did, what the benefits are and why it matters. They never defended against the untruths which were spoken and they never took ownership of the decisions that they took in Council. Because of that, the British press ran a 20—year campaign based on populist mistruths, lies and deceit. The consequence of that we see today: Britain as a sad nation divided like never before and a House of Commons in crisis. So let Brexit stand as a cautionary tale to the people of Europe.

To the people of Europe I say this: you are the generation who have lived through the longest period of peace and the greatest level of prosperity ever. Never take it for granted. Value it. Fight for it. Defend it every day.

(Prolonged applause)

You can watch a video of the speech here.