europe – Page 2 – Write to Speak

A Brexit Compromise?

Having been a fan of pragmatism my whole life, I have always believed that compromise is a sign of strength. Even so, even after an exhausting 2 years of thinking, debating and campaigning around Brexit issues, I continue to be totally resolute in arguing to remain in the EU, right in the heart of Europe. I believe this is where our interests will continue to be best served, whatever our background, whatever our place of birth, whatever the state of our bank balance.

Why, I was asked the other day, would I not be satisfied with a soft remain, in the customs union or something like a Norway-ish option or something on the lines of Jeremy Corbyn’s recent letter?

Well the short answer is I am totally sceptical of the Leave Establishment. The long answer is I do not believe they will ever accept such compromises in practice going forward, even if they decide to support such a thing in parliament because they see it as a way of avoiding a referendum where there is a chance the public will demonstrate the will of the people is not so much the will of the people anymore. They will want to continue to pursue their anti-Europe instincts.

The Brexit Glitterati such as Farage and other Ukip and ex Ukip people and the right of the Tory party have used their Euroscepticism to give themselves a platform for personal power. In the case of the UKIP MEPS for example, they have used their positions in the European Parliament to undermine and represent British citizens in the worst possible way, not attending committees and debates which are there to develop and improve EU laws and policies for the benefit of citizens across the continent and accepting their pay and expenses for zero public service in return.

Instead of speaking on the subject being debated in the European Parliament, they have frequently used these opportunities to grandstand with diatribes and rants against EU leaders, MEPS and Commissioners and by extension the people of those countries. YouTube is full of these pointless and negative speeches only designed to please Farage & Co fans and backers. They are laughing at everyone taking tax payers money in order to just shout a lot about foreigners and immigration to keep their supporters happy. Even if reports are true and Farage and his friends have rejected the current form of UKIP which has lurched to the far right, they will attempt to keep the same negative tactics in any new re-imagination of UKIP.

My greatest distaste is reserved for the right of the Tory party, those Eurosceptics who claim so vehemently to have hated every single second of the UK being part and helping to build one of the biggest most successful trading blocs in the world over 40 years whilst at the same time being huge beneficiaries from it at a personal level. The level of hypocrisy amongst these kinds of politicians should nauseate every sensible thinking citizen of the UK. In the main these people have been huge winners in a multitude of ways thanks to the power of the City of London which has grown in strength and vigour precisely because of our EU membership and the Single Market. These MPs have chosen to use their Euroscepticism as a whip to beat leaders and PMs. The threat to a split Tory party comes directly from this minority of people, it always has. On the face of it they only seem to care to use their threats of 48 Letters to destabilise their leaders in order to push an anti-EU agenda, which, given the passion they claim begs the question why they haven’t the faintest idea how to implement it. Note that when it comes to it though, they suddenly find a new-found affection for “Tory unity”. They have no confidence in their own party of government until they have confidence in it sufficiently to dodge a general election threat.

All these Brexit players have been far more interested in shouting from a distance, indulging in a kind of professional controversialist game-playing in order to build their own power. Most of the Brexit architects have resigned or slunk away from any responsible position in trying to deliver the thing they claim is closest to their hearts. I ask myself if I should be supporting a compromise and then I think carefully about these politicians who have driven us to this chaos. I ask you all this question. Do you think these people are going to give up the very addiction that gives them their sense of power? They may well be persuaded to support some form of deal by Mrs. May. They are far from stupid. They understand perfectly that no-deal is a seriously damaging outcome. They want the threat of it used to get the EU into giving them something without having to give anything back in return. When the penny drops that won’t happen to their satisfaction, they will find some fudge to support Mrs. May.

But then very quickly, will they not see a softened Brexit as simply an opportunity to continue to play their games? The in-depth negotiations for some years which will follow any version of Brexit will be an opportunity for them to start pushing again with their attention-seeking agenda. They will continue the internal party conflict they have thrived on and Labour will also continue to struggle with their own internal divisions over this. These splits are not going to disappear or be healed by any kind of compromise Brexit. The Eurosceptics will continue to pull away or pull apart and resist anything which even smells of moving closer again to the EU27. It’s just a slightly different platform for them to shout from. In the end if we agree to some form of pointless Brexit, we will have conceded ground which is totally contrary to the interests of every man woman and child of this country for what in return? For Brexiters to simply see it as a chance to keep pulling and pulling us further back from our closest neighbours and making us give more and more of our personal rights and protections up as consumers, as citizens, as workers.

Do I trust these people? Do I want to support a fudge?

No I don’t and No Thankyou. .

Too much sugar is bad for me and its bad for you too.

@redalphababe

SUPPORTING A PEOPLES VOTE

As the dramas unfold in parliament, it is clear there is no agreement amongst our parliamentarians on the deal that Mrs May has come back with which has taken 2.5 years to negotiate and no agreement as to how to resolve the impasse. It is an appalling deal. We will have had our voice and vote removed completely when we should be in the heart of Europe continuing to shape it with our partners.

You cannot have the benefits without the membership fee. You cannot shape the EU without the membership card to get you in. You cannot have the SM and CU without embracing the four freedoms. You cannot have the exact same benefits of EU membership, SM or CU without being members. The other option, No-Deal, contrary to public opinion does not mean we remain as we are just not in the EU, it means we literally fall out of every single treaty and framework agreement with no arrangements going forward. All the systems and regulatory and business-related apparatus that we rely on to manage our complex economy and public services and way of life will have to be rebuilt or remade in some form. Either way, May’s deal of the blind future or no-deal of complete chaos, it will not be the end of Brexit. Either option will lead to many years of arguing and negotiating and distraction when we could just be getting on with growing our economy and shaping our futures at the top table with our friends.

It is time for us all to accept that the problem with Brexit is Brexit. After 40 years of membership, our systems of trade, of movement and, in our private lives, our mix of cross EU relationships and families which have grown and developed are all inextricably linked. Is that a bad thing given the enormous benefit we have seen to peace and the improvements in the protections of citizens in many areas and the fantastic opportunities that Freedom of Movement has given us and of course genuine frictionless trade with access to FTA agreements across the world beyond the EU? Leaving is like trying to take the ice out of the ice cream so in the end it just leaves a melted lukewarm mess in your bowl. It will leave our bank balances lower, our futures more uncertain, our public services desperately damaged especially the NHS which will become extremely vulnerable to becoming a two-tier system of more health insurance vs a public service struggling to make the budgets work and find enough staff. The NHS is already struggling in these areas. Brexit will make it worse.

I agree with Chris Matheson, in his thoughtful column on the issue of Brexit recently and the dangers of no-deal and I am very glad he is not prepared to compromise by agreeing to Mrs. May’s bad solution. There is another way. We can choose to change our minds and remain. There is only one way we can legitimately and fairly break this impasse. We need to have a referendum and test the May proposition properly, a proposition which Parliament by the looks of it cannot agree on and examine the costs and the consequences and the so-called benefits to our lives. Then we need to re-examine our EU membership by the same standard. Then we need to decide whether May’s deal is what we really and truly want.

@redalphababe

Saving the Nation from WHAT?

The Great Deal that will Save the Nation from the Pesky Foreigners has been revealed

How proud is the cry from Mrs May and her Government?

“Free movement will end once and for all” proclaims the slick advert.

Forgive me for not falling over myself in the rush to proclaim this a great victory although there doesn’t seem to be much enthusiasm in general to be fair. What a mean-minded piece of triumphalism. Slow handclap to the people of this great nation who have continued to support the removal of freedoms and rights on the say so of 17,410,742 people out of a total population of 66 million. This is the most amazing case of the tyranny of the minority I have ever seen. This figure equates to a percentage of 26.37% of the population imposing their desires on 73.27% of the public. I don’t know about you, but these figures make me angry and have continued to make me angry since that day in June 2016 when the Leave campaign cheated to get over the line and fear and suspicion of the “other” won out.

But we didn’t vote leave because of immigration, I hear you say. Well Mrs. May believes you did because she has been clear from the start, she wants to stop freedom of movement and reduce immigration and it’s the very first thing her tawdry advert proclaims.

Tell me again.

Why have you given up your rights to easily live, study, love, work or retire in any one of our beautiful European member states? Why have you given up the benefit of pooling resources with our closest neighbours and partners? We cannot take part in the myriad of schemes and initiatives that bring back targeted assistance to the regions struggling the most. We must reinvent a whole list of agencies for ourselves that we have been an equal party to developing over 40 years. Every aspect of our lives is connected to the structures around the EU. Not even the remain community knew the half of it and leave politicians certainly had no idea. I mean, Raab only just realised Dover is an important port!

Why have you voted for the 3 million EU27 amongst us and your fellow citizens in the EU to be relegated from being equals within their communities to second class citizens? How are you going to resolve the challenges we face? Is it not better to work together, for example, to deal with the multinational corporations arranging their tax affairs to the detriment of their tax paying customers’ nations? You all sit there moaning about this company and that company not paying tax, this is exactly the kind of thing our representatives in the EU work on together with our partners and we can carry on working together to come up with some solutions that are fair to the citizens and the businesses alike. We can only do that as a bloc.

What about climate change? Remember that? With a White House which currently declines to place importance on environmental issues it is more vital than ever that as a group we stand together in Europe, sharing our science and research in this area, no borders no obstacles, seeking political consensus that will help us find solutions to deliver the planet to our children in better condition than when we found it.

How are we to tackle the big problems coming in the more distant future – the demographic time bomb of an ageing population, automation reducing the amount of skilled well-paid work available. These are problems best faced together, working out ways to make our industries work for our citizens rather than the other way around.

How will being a third country increase your wages? How will it reduce your living costs? How will it build you new homes or take the homeless off the street? Why are Germany able to magically export massive amounts to China whilst being members and why is Denmark seemingly not hampered in running a generous progressive welfare system by being in the EU. Nationalised Industries such as trains and utility companies are all over the EU.

All these things have been offered as reasons to give up our membership. Funny that, nothing about our membership is stopping us doing any of it. NOTHING. Yet every day we ask the same key question and get no logical reply.

graphic via @BrimhamG

What are you getting back for throwing away your EU citizenship and that of 3 other people who did not want to? It had best be something really good. What are you saving the nation from?

Politicians who continue to enable Brexit and cannot answer this question convincingly, well it had best be something extremely good. When the people have figured out the truth as the consequences start to bite, the Parliament of 2018 will not be forgiven.

Its time for you all to spell out the consequences of Brexit to your constituents and remind them we don’t have to do this. We can choose to REMAIN and keep our rights as citizens of the EU.

Its time for you to offer informed consent

#peoplesvote with #optiontoremain #finalsayforall

@redalphababe

Righting the Wronged!

Over the last two years I have had many conversations with good people who are at the front of the queue for the Big Brexit Chaos Bonanza. Their stories are all different. They are young, old, married, single, parents, grandparents. They are nurses, musicians, warehouse operatives, civil servants, cleaners, carers, students. They live across the UK and the EU. They like literature, popular culture, sport, cooking, eating, watching the Proms, Strictly and the GBBO. They like burgers and the theatre and pop music. They run businesses, they work for someone else, they hold down 2 jobs, they travel across the continent as consultants or as tradespeople or as carers.

Here is what they all have in common. They were deliberately denied a say on a question which affects their lives and their status. #the5million. I don’t think many of us thought too hard about that. Even now there is recognisable shock when my friend Nicky tells people how she was not allowed to vote because she has lived outside the UK for more than 15 years. They are even more shocked when she points out that losing our EU citizenship, for her, will result in losing a right to vote for an MEP in the Netherlands and she may even lose her right to vote in her local elections. She will have no political voice at all.

At the same time 16-17 year olds were also denied a say, young people who were perfectly grown up enough to have an opinion of their own are the ones who will live with the consequences of this referendum outcome for the longest time. Incidentally these are the same kids we are all relying on to pay for our pensions and old age care. I hope you were all careful what you wished for when you decided where to put that cross on the ballot paper.

Brextremists are very fond of saying it is undemocratic to campaign to stop Brexit because it was the “greatest democratic exercise in the history of the UK”. Well I have news for you – your democratic exercise was pretty stinky as democratic exercises go. It was flawed in a multitude of ways. Not only did leave campaigns (yes plural) cheat, not only was there lying and empty promises by them but fundamentally a huge group of people who would be affected by the decision were ignored as if they did not matter, as if they were objects to sort out later whether to keep or throw away, only measurable in pounds and euros and usefulness to those with British passports.

Brexiters, you deliberately stopped all EU27 citizens in the UK, regardless of how long they have been members of our communities up and down the country, from having a voice. the people immediately affected by the outcome were ignored. You stopped British citizens in the EU and elsewhere who had been overseas for more than 15 years from voting and many of the ballot papers to those who qualified did not arrive. You stopped 16-17year olds from having a voice even though you deemed Scottish youth to be capable of casting a vote only a year before in the indyref. You tried to tell them they would be okay – everything will work out, of course you don’t want them to leave, of course they would be protected. At best you guessed, at worst you blatantly lied about your intentions. The fact remains you have kept these people in limbo for 2 years and overnight millions will have a different status and will have to “register” to go back to their home that they never moved out of. Millions across the EU have been given no guidance or support by the British government and are relying on the countries of their residence to help them secure their status. What did Mrs May say when asked in the house of commons? “I hope they’ll be okay”. If this does not pull you up short on this subject I don’t know what will.

This Brexit is nauseating enough. The economic consequences over the short and medium and long term are ridiculously damaging and in themselves should ensure a rejection by a sensible parliament of Brexit – yes, I know we are way short of a sensible parliament. But the disenfranchisement of so many of our friends, our families, our neighbours underpins my greatest disgust, fills my head with anger and determination to fight.

On Saturday I will be marching for a Peoples Vote, for an opportunity for a new vote to examine all the consequences we now know will result from the so-called work the government have been doing for 2 years. A new vote requires a new franchise. I will be arguing that not only should we have the opportunity to examine the deal, not only should we be able to keep remain as an option, but there is no doubt in my head the franchise should include the voices of the #5million and the 16-17 year olds who will carry the biggest burden of Brexit.

It will be an opportunity for us to Right all the Wrongs of June 2016 and we must fight for all of that.

#brexitispersonal

#finalsayforall

@redalphababe

Illegal Activities by the Leave Campaigns in 2016

Text of letter I sent to various letters pages in Newspapers and version of a similar letter written to my local MP

I note today there have been comments from David Lammy on social media, highlighting a recent news story that the Met Police have decided not to investigate Leave Campaigns which broke electoral law citing political sensitivities. Also, this week it has been reported that Jon Thompson, the head of HM Revenue and Customs, has revealed that police have investigated two death threats he received after setting out the potential cost to businesses of post-Brexit customs options.

Additionally, in recent months there have been comments from senior politicians who seem to think we should put aside our democratic rights to campaign for what is best for the country or be cowed into silence through fear of violence from an extreme minority who think democracy stopped one day in June 2016.

I find it appalling that our institutions and public servants are being stopped from doing their jobs due to fear of the minority who are trying to impose a harmful and damaging Brexit on us. We are not some tin pot republic run by despots riddled with corruption. This tyranny of silence on those who speak to truth is extremely damaging and in the long term will only feed into further mistrust of governments and institutions as the people will say “why didn’t you tell us we would have our economy damaged and our rights removed? Why did you all tell us we would be better off? Why didn’t you tell us that people cheated to get the result they wanted in 2016”.

Regardless of how anybody voted, if laws have been broken during the EU referendum campaign and if there has been improper foreign interference helping Leave groups, this should be properly investigated and the full facts should be laid out starkly to the British public Additionally parliamentarians have a duty to speak out when the policies pursued by government in their opinion will harm the people they represent.

I have written to our local MP Chris Matheson and hope he and his colleagues will reflect on these matters and will stand up for transparency and raise the matter of the illegal activity during the EU referendum in parliament. The Met Police should hold an investigation with no political interference and the results should be given to the public and looked at carefully in Parliament. I would urge everybody no matter where they live to raise these concerns with their local MPs as these principles affect each and every one of us

@redalphababe

Voices of the Beehive

In a small room above a pub a group of people gathered together to talk about how Brexit touches and will continue to touch the very minutiae of their lives. The event was a Beehive run by my wonderful friend Nicky and her foundation Final Say for All, a crowdfunded group who’s stated aims are to keep the UK in the EU and to give a voice to the groups of people who were completely ignored during the referendum.

Her Beehive project seeks to gather testimonies on video to be shared to a wider audience. People stand up and speak about how their lives are being impacted whether it is because they are EU27 citizens in the UK or whether they are British people living in the EU or whether their livelihood or career is endangered or whether they feel a personal violation at having their European Citizenship removed against their will. If they agree the speakers are recorded but this is not mandatory to be able to take part.

After the London march in June, many of us were unhappy that the 5 million were not to be represented in the formal speeches at all. I marched with FSFA that day. We were a big group and a pub had been booked for us all to go and have a drink together afterwards. So, at the last minute some people were asked by Nicky to stand up and speak about why Brexit is Personal. This led to several others being moved to get up and tell their personal stories and it was all filmed. The pub we were in was the Beehive in Vauxhall and so the Beehives were born.

Nicky opened with her personal experiences. She is a British national who was disenfranchised during the referendum because she has lived outside the UK but in the EU for many years. She lives in the Netherlands. In fact, not only was she disenfranchised in a vote that seriously impacts her life, but she has not got a vote at all in British general elections either as the vote for life was removed from British citizens overseas some years ago. If we go ahead and leave the EU she will not be able to vote for an MEP and there is a question mark over whether she will even get a vote in the local elections – as is the right of all EU citizens wherever they are resident in the EU. For the British in the EU, their disenfranchisement will be complete. This seems to me a completely unhealthy step backwards for our democracy.

Her quandary does not stop there. She cares for her husband, a Dutch national who is disabled and she also has elderly parents in the UK who need her help. In the post Brexit world, she will be finding these two demands on her time difficult to manage together. Her freedom of movement will have been removed. It is doubtful her parents could move to the Netherlands or her husband could move to the UK. Nicky delivers her story very calmly, but you can feel the sense of intense emotion just below the surface.

Tim then spoke very movingly from the point of view of Northern Ireland. His direct experiences of growing up and living in Northern Ireland, of the bombings and the conflict and the people he knew who died or were damaged forever by the bloodiness of the divisions there, give him a perspective on the EU that everybody should listen to and actually hear. The Good Friday Agreement was made possible by people talking together and the EU and our EU citizenship made it possible for the groups on different sides to find a way to work and live together and shun the violence. This was only 20 years ago. The pain of the conflict is still fresh in the memory of many people. Tim’s intensity brought a tear to everybody’s eye.

A couple who didn’t feel confident enough to stand up and speak for the camera nevertheless shared with the group what they had gone through since the referendum. Out of a fear their status was under threat, they had applied for the Permanent right to Reside, a ridiculously bureaucratic procedure that demanded a filing cabinet full of evidence from their many years in the UK and they wanted to get their daughter a British passport to protect her rights to come back as she is due to study abroad for a spell under the Erasmus scheme. Although they started with the practical issues, their personal feelings started to spill out.

They quickly got onto the issue of how it makes them feel, how the atmosphere towards them in the community changed and here we get to the nitty gritty leave voters don’t want to take responsibility for. EU27 citizens in the UK are angry and have been hugely hurt by the fact that their neighbours and even their families and friends did not for a moment consider what the real impacts would be on their lives. Not only that, but this issue continues to be ignored and dismissed as if they are second class citizens, an afterthought. People point to the various proclamations of government that they will be protected but how can we trust politicians on this one issue when they have shown themselves so demonstrably willing to lie and row back on every promise ever made both pre and post referendum. Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. Don’t forget there has not been a single piece of legislation voted through the house of commons which protects the rights of the EU27 citizens or the British in the EU to date.

I could sense the relief in the room at finally being in a forum where these issues could be fully discussed without somebody trying to shut down the debate with platitudes by saying “it will all be okay” or “what about my rights too”. I am afraid this goes on in some Remain circles a little too. The fact is there are 5 million people around the EU and their families who are now uncertain about their status. How would you feel if you had lived happily in your house for 5, 10, 20, 60 even 80 years and your neighbours voted in such a way that overnight you had to actually ask for permission to stay or return home having been away travelling? I urge each of you to walk for a moment in the shoes of the people whose lives have been plagued with uncertainty for over 2 years. I think this would change your outlook and your perspective.

There was a kind of round table discussion in the room at this point and several people made some interesting and thoughtful points. What came out was the shock felt as people learned things they simply had not realised about the details of the impact of brexit.

It was my turn. I was feeling rather nervous. It’s been some time since I had to get up and speak before a room full of people, but I wanted to do it having opted out in London. I had things to say. Of course, anybody who knows me well will know I always have things to say so I tried not to ramble on for too long.

As I started to speak, somewhere deep inside me the anger that has driven my intense opposition to

Brexit flared brightly and drove my words and probably drove me to do rather too much arm waving – my latino dna showing itself. I found myself speaking about my family history, a history of immigration of course, about the beautiful EU Citizenship umbrella that made sense of the different fragments of my identity. I spoke about the intolerable interference of Brexit on our lives, on decisions made by families in good faith in the context of our citizenship rights. I spoke about the outrage and offence I feel on behalf of honest and hard-working people like my father whenever foreign people are measured as economic units, whenever they are spoken of as if they are a problem to be fixed but never depicted with a sense of the positive, vibrant, colourful and beautiful loving contributions they bring to our cultures and our communities.

The meeting was rounded off with a few brief words from Nicky’s husband about his family history and their connections to the resistance in WWII to Nazi occupation. This was a very intense and emotional moment for us all. This reminded me of one of the most important reasons why the European Project came into being and absolutely must continue to thrive. 70 years of peace in Europe have been brought about by the EU, surely a thing that we take for granted but which in fact has improved the lives of millions beyond recognition across the continent. Dimitri is an artist and musician and played us a wonderful and uplifiting song he wrote about the campaign to end the meeting.

From a personal point of view, I felt intense relief after I had spoken, I was emotional by the end of my contribution, and it was liberating to speak of these things aloud. I would urge people who have stories to share about why Brexit is Personal to them to go to a Beehive if they possibly can and get talking, it’s an intense experience but a worthwhile one. Leavers may learn a thing or two if they go and watch, campaigners will get some valuable insights which they will be able to use on street stalls. These videos will be an important resource as we all bear witness to the effect of this horrible EU Referendum result in the lives of ordinary people.

#brexitispersonal

@redalphababe

You can follow @FinalSayForAll and their events on twitter or look at their website for more information on the Final Say for All foundation and their aims and activities www.finalsayforall.eu

The Defiance of the People

The caffeine desire was strong in me having had a late night at a Peoples Vote event in Chester. We walked through Lime Street Station heading for the nearest cafe that would satisfy my coffee void but it took us a long time to get anywhere that morning. Dressed in our Peoples Votes T Shirts, carrying banners and flags and stickers, the people of Liverpool looked at us and wanted to talk to us that day. A group of Italian students and their teacher took photos of us and with us. The teacher explained to the teenagers that we didn’t want to leave the European Union. We got a beautiful cheer from them.

People of all ages, both sexes, different accents, wished us well and begged us for the vibrant Bollocks to Brexit stickers which encapsulate so perfectly the strong emotion that most of us feel when we think of how our European Citizenship is being taken away from us against our will – this I believe is at the heart of virtually every campaigner, every so-called citizen of nowhere. An elderly English couple stopped us for stickers which they wore with glee and wanted to chat about their feelings. A wonderful couple full of warmth and intelligence. They were baffled and angry at government and opposition alike. Brexit was insane they said. The people had been lied to, the people are still being lied to.

I heard stories that day from families who marched because they were filled with doubt about their future status. With EU27 spouses what would happen? Why were they being treated as the whipping boys for British discontent with issues which were all in the purview of domestic Governments to fix? This is of course an inconvenient truth for politicians and none will address this question. The government’s own investigation into the impact of immigration recently has clearly debunked the myths that were trotted out during the EU referendum. The pernicious lies about immigration and about Freedom of Movement have gone on for years. A steady flow of headlines filled with hate and prejudice on the shelves of newspaper stands day after day spreading their toxic damage, spilling over in recent years onto our social media timelines and of course deliberately used on Facebook to trigger people into voting leave.

Other people walked because of their continuing anger and worry that Brexit is a shambles which is damaging the country and damaging everybody’s lives. They see the pathetic farce that passes for government negotiations and see clearly that the Emperor is stark bollock naked.

Others have businesses and jobs which depend on the Single Market and simply have no idea if they will be able to continue with their lives as they know them after Brexit day. Politicians do not have their jobs at risk on Brexit day. Can the rest of us all say exactly the same? Really, are we sure about that?

Overwhelmingly the mood I saw on Sunday was defiance. It was a word that popped in my head as people came to speak to us and stayed with me all day. It was Defiance with a smile on it’s Face. We marched and chanted as loud as we could with sweet, beautiful defiance.

We saw it in the faces of the passers by who came up and spoke to us or just begged for stickers. Liverpool was a sea of Bollocks to Brexit stickers on Sunday. We got a couple of hecklers along the route and in the street, but I would say 90% of the people we came across that day were either with us already or extremely interested in what we had to say. The Defiance of the People on Sunday was a beautiful peaceful openhearted but nevertheless deeply entrenched defiance. It takes a very deep well of belief to make thousands of ordinary British citizens give up their Sunday to walk through a city and shout and chant and wave banners. People are seeing the shambles, the broken promises, the loss of British influence in the world, hearing the sound of jobs dripping away, thinking about the bonkers technical notices preparing us for no deal and they are saying very clearly STOP, WAIT, WE WANT TO LOOK AGAIN, WE WANT TO THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE BRINGING TO US.

A warning to Labour and Conservatives alike, you have a massive fight on your hands. You can either accept that we have a right to examine the consequences of any final Brexit proposition and have a say on that with an option to remain or you can subject this country you claim to love so much to years of marginal governments and the wrath of the voters when they discover we are right and the Brexit unicorns, whether they are blue or red, are simply a figment of the imagination of ambitious self-serving political players.

If this chimes with you come and be DEFIANT with us on the 20^th October and tell London, the Government and Opposition that we will not be quietened and we demand a Peoples Vote.

The Defiance of the People will win the day.

#peoplesvote #finalsayforall.

@redalphababe

Face up to the Truth about Freedom of Movement.

Those of you who voted Leave because of immigration I have news for you. Everything we have been saying to you for more than 2 years about immigration is correct. Ask the Migration Advisory Committee who have brought some inconvenient facts out into the open. They were assigned the job of designing an immigration system outside EU membership. In so doing they made a thorough examination of the impact of EU immigration in the areas of concern. I have laid those out below point by point in a handy table for you to cut out and keep.

In short, if you saw the Breaking Point Poster revealed by the leave campaign and Nigel Farage and when its clear and unsavoury message sat in your head, burning the fire of resentment and righteousness inside you, making you look at the foreigners around you with new suspicion or as a group of people who are taking the proverbial, well I am sorry to tell you once again the poster was wrong. You are still wrong if you believe that immigration or FOM has a single thing to do with any of the things that made you unhappy. You are still wrong if you think throwing away your (and everybody else’s) EU citizenship and your rights to FOM will make any of these things better.

If you are fed up of static or low wages, or expensive housing or big queues in the doctor’s surgery, or the lack of growth in the economy, well stop worrying about where your neighbours were born and start looking at our government, who makes the policies which help to address every single one of these things. You will not be any better off as if by magic on Brexit day – whatever the kind of Brexit foisted on you. All you will have achieved is the creation of upset and hostility towards a group of people who have just lived their lives, just like you. Going to work, paying their taxes, looking after their children, loving their neighbours, running their businesses, looking after old people, looking after sick people, supporting the environment, offsetting the impact of our ageing population on services.

So now we have this “FOM has damaged us” nonsense debunked by the Governments own findings, can we have a proper conversation about our EU membership please and the genuine benefits of being EU members? Can HM Opposition finally stop upholding these immigration myths at every twist and turn? Can we now properly assess the real and full consequences of the outcome of government’s Brexit policy on ALL OUR LIVES PLEASE.

Time for a #peoplesvote with an option to remain.

@redalphababe

	IMPACT	REPORT COMMENT
Employment	Little or none	“we found that migrants have no or little impact on the overall employment and unemployment outcomes of the UK born workforce”
Wages	Little or none	“migration is not a major determinate of the wages of UK born workers. We found some evidence suggesting that lower-skilled workers face a negative impact while higher-skilled workers benefit, however the magnitude of the impacts are generally small.”
Self-Employment	No Meaningful evidence	“We do not conclude what, if any, impact immigration has had on the economic prospects of the self-employed but do present some descriptive statistics taken from Self-Assessment and National Insurance Number registration datasets. These show that self-employed EEA nationals have lower declared profits than UK nationals on average, likely reflecting differences in the type and duration of work undertaken”
Productivity	Positive Probably	“the studies we commissioned point towards immigration having a positive impact on productivity, but the results are subject to significant uncertainty.”
Innovation	Positive	“high-skilled immigrants make a positive contribution to the levels of innovation in the receiving country”. Innovation is hugely important to an economy like our because this is what drives new industries, technologies and skilled jobs.
Training	Positive	“no evidence that migration has had a negative impact on the training of the UK-born workforce. Moreover, there is some evidence to suggest that skilled migrants have a positive impact on the quantity of training available to the UK-born workforce. Any potential impact on the quality of training provided is unknown”
Services Prices	Downward pressure	“We found some evidence that migration, particularly from New Member States (NMS) and non-EEA, has reduced prices of personal services”
House Prices	Upward Pressure	“Our analysis suggests that migration has increased house prices. The impacts of migration on house prices cannot, however, be seen in isolation from other government policies. The evidence points towards a higher impact of migration in areas with more restrictive planning policies in which it is harder for the housing stock to increase in line with demand”
Contribution to public purse	Positive	“Our commissioned research found that EEA migrants pay more in taxes than they receive in benefits.”
Health and Social Care	Positive	“contribute much more to the health service and the provision of social care in financial resources and through work than they consume in services.”
Education	Positive	“no evidence that migration has reduced parental choice in schools or the educational attainment of UK-born children. On average, children with English as an additional language outperform native English speakers.”
Social Housing	None to slightly negative	“Given there is little building of new social housing this is inevitably at the expense of other potential tenants.”
Community – crime	No impact	“migration does not impact crime “
Community – well being	Varies – no real evidence	” no evidence that migration has reduced the average level of subjective well-being in the UK.”

Pride comes before a fall

The current relationship between the UK and the EU27

Think Carly Simon for the tune

You were partner in our EU project
But you acted like you were always on top
You wore your hat of red white and blue
Your tie in an Oxford Knot
You had one eye on the mirror
And watched yourself gavotte
And the world dreamed that they’d be your partner
They’d be your partner, and

You’re so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You’re so vain,
I’ll bet you think this song is about you
Don’t you?
Don’t you?

So we worked together for these long years
And we developed all the rules
You said we made a pretty team
But your press treated us like fools.
Now you’re throwing away the things you love
And one of them is sense.
You have new dreams, but they’re clouds in your coffee
Clouds in your coffee

You’re so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You’re so vain, you’re so vain
I’ll bet…

@redalphababe

Painting Brexit By Numbers

A Handy Guide
Zero, cero, zéro, null, nada, zip, zilch. This is the number of plans that the Brexit designers and implementors had before the referendum, after and even now with only 229 days to Brexit day at the time of writing. 40 years of thinking and they came up with … ONE BIG FAT ZERO. There was and is no plan. Chequers agreement was the “almost” plan, a dead hatchling – it was a plan they all agreed to but none of them wanted and was full of things they knew the EU can’t actually agree to.

ONE hour is the amount of time MPs are allowed to view the secret Brexit Impact assessment document entitled EU Exit Analysis — Cross Whitehall Briefing, dated January 2018 which sets out the cost of Brexit under different scenarios. There is great security around the document, MPs are not allowed to take any electronic devices in. Part of it was leaked early this year and here are the much-publicised numbers for the regional assessments.

	DROP IN GDP
REGION	EEA MEMBERSHIP	FREE TRADE AGREEMENT	WTO (NO DEAL)
London	<1%	5.0%	8.0%
South West	1.0%	2.0%	5.0%
Yorkshire/Humber	1.5%	4.5%	7.0%
South East	1.5%	5.0%	7.0%
East of England	1.5%	5.0%	8.0%
East Midlands	1.5%	5.0%	8.0%
Scotland	2.5%	6.0%	9.0%
Wales	1.5%	5.0%	9.0%
North West	2.5%	8.0%	12.0%
Northern Ireland	2.5%	8.0%	12.0%
West Midlands	2.5%	8.0%	13.0%
North East	3.5%	11.0%	16.0%

As the sharp-eyed without Brexit Beer Goggles amongst us can see, the regions which voted most heavily to leave are amongst the ones with most to lose under all scenarios, the regions in fact who have had the greatest benefit from EU funding and EU membership. I wonder will those regions be helped in our glorious new isolated world? Well Tory track record on helping regions is not great as any of us who lived through the 80s will attest. I will just leave that thought dangling.

TWO. That’s the number of days it took for Leave promises to start melting away, like an ill thought out unicorn shaped ice sculpture at a fancy Mediterranean wedding that doesn’t even make it to the speeches in one piece. For many of us, its continuous dribbles and drips of absurdity have created a kind of hideous Chinese Water Torture we wake to every morning. It’s also the number of years it has taken for the “sunny uplands” to have been abandoned and instead an enticing era of “adequate food” has been conjured up for our delectation. Even Leave proponents now admit Brexit will cause us damage. A certain Mr Rees Mogg even surmised in an interview it could take 50 years of pain to get to his great vision of nirvana.

FIVE WAS Britain’s rank in the list of the world’s largest economies. Phillip Hammond confirmed a slide to 6 in his budget speech November 2017. As confirmed recently by Mark Carney of the bank of England we have moved from being the fastest growing economy pre referendum in the G7 to the slowest. The best estimate is that the prospect of Brexit especially the version of it favoured by the ERG fanatics has knocked 2% off what our growth rate would have been without Brexit.

Our recovery after the 2008 banking crisis was painfully slow thanks to a government strategy that concentrated too much on cutting costs, encouragement of investment in property which does not create jobs and not enough on growth strategies and investing in job creating industries. Brexit knocked us back just at the point we in the business community had painstakingly pushed that elusive ball of growth back up to the top of the hill – and we haven’t even left yet.

TWENTY TWO is the number of months since Mr Fox tried to emulate his animal namesakes and cunningly declared we would use our EU27 citizens as negotiating fodder. There are many more questions than there are answers. Some have already voted with their feet to end uncertainty and taken up opportunities in the EU27. A German friend who has now decided to take UK naturalisation to secure emotional and actual investment here, told me he was very angry. He could have looked to America or Canada for bigger opportunities in his field but FOM fortunately brought him to us. By voting leave you told these talented young Europeans we don’t want them and we don’t like them. Spare me your cries of “but I didn’t mean those kinds of immigrants”. One day they are our equals the next day they will have to ask permission to remain in their homes. No wonder the NHS reports chronic unprecedented staff shortages and difficulty in replacing those leaving.

The British in the EU have even less information. What will happen with their access to healthcare, pensions, voting rights, the right to move back to the UK with non-British or non-EU spouses or children or parents? What about the right to move to another EU country in the 27, will they be landlocked? Will their UK qualifications in their respective fields be valid in the country they are in? Will being outside the single market for services and the digital single market have consequences on their cross EU work? Tell me how people can make significant plans for their family lives if there is a big dark wall of mystery surrounding their rights and status? Answers on a postcard please.

FIFTY EIGHT is the number of Sector Analysis reports that David Davies claimed had been prepared. I just couldn’t resist reminding you all of this bizarre and mendacious display from our prominent politicians. At first, it was a big secret, for Brexit Department eyes only. After some pressure in December 2017 Mr. Davies finally admitted they were a figment of his department’s imagination. Mr Davies stopped short of blaming the dog for shredding his homework. In these bizarre times, it seems that just ignoring being caught out in a whopping big lie is effective in getting away with it. But why should I be surprised? Are these not the same people who came up with the genius scheme of painting lies and false promises on the side of a bus?

ONE HUNDRED is the number of constituencies who voted Leave and have now switched their support to Remain in a recent comprehensive analysis of polling data by Focaldata. Most other leave voting areas have now narrowed the gap.

ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND are the minimumestimates of the crowd at the March for the People’s Vote in June. It is thought the numbers were much greater than that but regardless, I was proud to be there in the sea of blue and gold stars, a swell of people determined to bring common sense back to our lives and put an end to this bizarre act of national self harm.

FOUR HUNDRED AND FORTY NINE THOUSAND AND SEVENTY NINE POUNDS was the overspend found by the Electoral Commission to have been committed by Vote Leave. Vote Leave broke the Law and has been fined and BeLeave also broke the law and Darren Grimes has been fined accordingly for his part. The overspend would have bought a lot of clicks on Facebook in the last two weeks of their campaign which is when they spent a large amount of budget. The DCMS Select Committee published the Facebook ads placed on Facebook by the Leave campaigns through AIQ in the EU referendum. 45% of them were spreading an anti immigration message. The ads are a mix of scurrilous dog whistles, lies and distortions. Some of them do not even have the campaign’s branding so people wouldn’t have known who was serving the ad or indeed that it was an ad.

Most of us remainers didn’t see the majority of those ads because they were carefully targeted to get a certain portion of the vote out or to collect accounts who would be good targets for such propaganda. Additionally, it turns out the campaigning by Vote Leave continued during the days after the murder of Jo Cox by a far right supporting man, when all campaigning was supposed to be suspended as a mark of respect.

This whole murky world surrounding Vote Leave, Be Leave and other campaigns, relationships with Cambridge Analytica, links to Russia etc calls into question the validity of the final result given the slim margin. The excellent and heroic Carole Cadwalladr has chipped away at this illegal activity for 2 years bringing us the truth little by little. I would recommend a review of her extensive writing on this complex subject.

SIX HUNDRED AND SEVEN THOUSAND AND NINETY TWO is the number of people who have signed the Independent petition for a final say as of writing. You can watch the new signatures ticking in. The petition was only started on the 24^th July.

THREE MILLION & ONE POINT THREE MILLION. These people all come at the top of my list of Brexit concerns having people close to my heart in both situations. None of the 3 million EU27 citizens were given a vote and many Brits living in the EU were also disenfranchised. If you voted leave YOU have affected the lives of these people. They have been left in limbo for 2 years with little idea of how their lives will be affected. Worse still they have been unashamedly used as leverage in negotiations by British politicians. Dehumanisation of foreign born people has been a strong feature of the last few years. Scandalous Vote Leave facebook ads were targeted at people most likely to respond to anti foreign sentiment. Politicians have spoken about FOM and immigrants as if foreigners a problem and never an asset. Tabloid headlines smeared and sneered at fellow EU citizens for years. An incredibly shocking extension to this is the apparent abandonment of any feeling for the plight of British citizens stuck in a state of uncertainty. “Why should we care, they moved abroad. It’s nothing to do with us” I hear. It seems along with voting leave, people voted to banish empathy from their hearts.

SIXTEEN MILLION ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY ONE THOUSAND, TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY TWO people voted to Remain
SEVENTEEN MILLION FOUR HUNDRED AND TEN SEVEN HUNDRED AND FORTY TWO people voted to Leave
THIRTEEN MILLION registered voters did not vote at all

I know how you feel my friends, but we can’t avoid these numbers, we have to look at them squarely in the face. Leavers, you are right, you won we lost. So why are you still so angry and confused? If it makes you happy then why are you so mad? Why do you hurl abuse at those who would hold you to account for your referendum promises and the law of the land and why do you tell judges and parliamentarians they are traitors? Is it because you know how intrinsically weak the numbers are, how fragile the margin is? Only 37.4% of registered voters voted to leave the EU. What did they vote for? It’s all so mysterious like an Agatha Christie novel – so many motives for bringing a disaster to the door of the UK. Some say they want to crash out without the single market or the customs union, some want the EEA, EEA plus or minus or Canada whatever, some just wanted to give Cameron and London a good old-fashioned kick in the nuts. Some believed that £350 million more pounds would be sent to the NHS every week because a big red bus said so. Many wanted rid of foreigners. Yes, they did, don’t argue, in bigger numbers than we would like. Leavers, that is something you have to face up to and look squarely in the eye. That’s on you, not us.

Numbers are essential for our everyday decision making in our little business so I am used to following them. It’s clear to me the Leave margin is fragile and that the British public opinion is moving towards the view we should take the time to think again. Is leaving the EU really such a good idea given what we have now learned?

Really? Here is a handy checklist of questions.
You want to be poorer?
You want to make your neighbours poorer?
You want to send all your EU doctors and nurses away because they feel unwanted?
You want to get rid of the consumer and market protections that EU membership brings just as they battle against price fixing and cartels on our behalf and focus on finding cooperative solutions for aggressive tax management by global companies.
You want your children to miss out on the fantastic opportunities FOM gives them for their lives, their education, their jobs?
You want to limit your own chances for a little travel or a spell living abroad later in life in one of 28 countries where you can access healthcare and your pension and all the other reciprocal benefits we enjoy as EU citizens?
You want your region to lose its EU regional funding?

Is this what you want?

If your answer is yes, I don’t believe you.

Democracy is not a snapshot of the will of the people in a particular moment. It’s not a single answer to a simple question about a complex 40 year relationship with our trading partners and friends to be interpreted as a decision cast in stone when the evidence shows what a bad decision it is. If that were true women would not have the vote. Hell, if that were true, not even working class middle aged white men would have the vote.

@redalphababe #brexit #peoplesvote #stopbrexit #finalsayforall #eureferendum