Cutting Through the Jargon
Understanding the Terminology - We Explain & Clarify
What is the EU?
Where did it come from and why?
Many people confuse the word "Europe", which is a geographical region, with the term EU, which is a political entity. In the UK we are all Europeans and the country will always be in Europe but with action and our legendary British spirit, we will soon not be in the EU.
Originally the EU was designed to make "future wars unthinkable and materially impossible", whilst reinforcing democracy of its members. This was captured in the European Coal & Steel Community (ECSC), formed in 1951. Since then the EU project has evolved:
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1958 Rome Treaty - European Economic Community (EEC) formed
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1975 UK Referendum - Decision to stay in EEC-PM Ted Heath
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1992 Maastrict Treaty - Birth of the European Unionor EU as we know it today-PM John Major
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2009 Lisbon Treaty - Enlargement & Constitutional Change - PM Gordon Brown
What Does it Cost Us?
What we pay to the EU and what we receive in return?
Many people believe that the UK benefits financialy from its involvement in the EU. Many cite receiving significant EU grants used to invest in all sorts of, usually, high-profile or "glamour" projects.
In fact the EU does not have any of its own money but levies membership fees on its members, which are then redistributed by unelected EU bureaucrats. The UK makes a £19bn contribution, however it receives a discount of £5bn leaving a net fee of £14bn. The EU then makes payments to the public and private sectors in the UK of £5bn. The result is the UK is out of pocket each year by approximately £9bn, that is we are £9,000,000,000 worse off BUT we actually lose control of £19bn of our own money. Would you let a complete stranger take control of your bank account?
What's Our Problem With the EU?
We agreed to a trade relationship only!
The UK has always been told that its relationship with the EEC/EU was one based on trade. Without asking the people, Conservative and Labour Prime Ministers successively proceeded to sign the Maastrict and Lisbon Treaties, tying the UK into ever tightening integration and into the EU supranational state, a Federal United states of Europe.
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The EU declare their ambitions plainly and clearly; sovereign nations are not permitted whilst power should be subrogated to the centralised EU. Rightly, the proud and patriotic British do not buy into this and so we have decided, through a democratic process, that we want to leave - pretty straight forward - or is it?
What is Brexit?
What did we vote for and what should happen
The Vote:
In 2016 the United Kingdom voted together on a constitutional question with a binary answer; The UK should leave the EU or The UK should remain in the EU. Quite reasonably, there was no mention of the mechanism, which it is the job of the government to determine.
The Process:
The process for a member of he EU leaving requires the triggering of a clause in The European Treaty called Article 50, which the government and parliment overwhelmingly did in March of 2017. The article then provides 24-months to prepare for departure from the EU. During this period we remain a member but 2-years later on 29th March, 2019, our membership ceases and we are free to go our own way.
A Divorce or Withdrawal Agreement:
After 45 years of association there is, as you would imagine, a lot of work to disentangle us. This cannot of course be done overnight or at least it is better to have some time to do things properly and so the plan was to have a transition period managed according to certain rules and terms - The Withdrawal Agreement
During the transition period any ongoing terms and relationship are negotiated including; adopted standards, rules, laws and of course any future trading relationship. Once this complete the process is complete and we are out.
The Withdrawal Agreement- "The Deal"
The deal thats not really a deal!
It seems that everyone is screaming about No-Deal and many appear to think that this means we are leaving the EU without a trade deal and the ability to continue to trade or operate. As explained here this is clearly not the case.
So What Went Wrong?:
Seems like it should have been simple but it is now beyond 29th March 2019 and we are still a member of the EU - so what went wrong? Well firstly, after the referendum David Cameron, as a remainer, decided he could not implement something he didnt believe in and stood down - fair enough! So instead the Conservatives appointed a new leader, who would manage Brexit. Unfortunately they elected Theresa May - you guessed it - another remainer, who in this case was far less honourable and accepted the task with open arms. She has since betrayed her appointment at every twist and turn of the exit process, not least of all in achieving a fair and reasonable Withdrawal Agreement - why has this not been achieved?
The [Non]-Negotiation:
Many claimed we were in a strong position, "the EU need us more than we need them", "we will get a good deal" etc. Remainers of course said the polar opposite. So what is it really?
Well firstly Brexit was not a financial decision but a constitutional one - we want to govern ourselves and most accepted there may be a price to this. That said here are some plain facts:
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We are one of only three net contributors to the EU ie we receive less back than we put in
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As a huge world economy we put into the EU the scale of cash it needs to operate
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The EU reeps huge financial gains from access to our fishing waters (CFP)
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The EU protects its own agricultural sector by manipulating UK agriculture via the CAP
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We are the EU's largest customer for many of its products including cars from Germany, wine, medicines etc.
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We are the centre of global finance and much of the EU's trillions of debt are underwritten in the UK
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We have a £100bn trade deficit with the EU so if tariffs were to apply they would be c. £12bn a year worse off without a Free Trade Arrangement
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The EU would also be worse off by the substantial tariffs collected by the UK on its behalf on goods arriving in the UK from outside the EU
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So its probably fair to say that we are a handy member and if we aren't remaining then at least they should keep us, if not sweet, then at least on side.
So with all of this and more in her armoury, Teresa May failed to negotiate competently nor with intent and the result is we are still in. Her Withdrawal Agreeement ("The Deal") is not only hugely costly to us but simply does not represent Brexit and what the people voted for - it just loosens ties to allow an easy rejoining of the EU at some future point.
So whats the big deal? [pun intended].
Actually it has all been a deceipt. May has been in cohouts with the EU to defy the desires of the British people and a large part of this is to use confusion around the so-called "Deal".
Many people think that the so-called "No-Deal" departure means that we leave the EU without a trade deal that subsequenty makes us poorer. Nothing could be further from the truth. A so-called "No-Deal" would make the country richer but as usual we are beign deceived.
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In fact the situation can be simply explained as follows:
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The EU is protectionist, which means it looks after is own
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When EU countries sell to each other there are no tariffs
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Goods from outside theEU are subject to tariffs (taxes)
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Each country applies these and then submits them to the EU-a bit like VAT
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If we leave the EU without a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) then they will apply tariffs to what we supply them and we will apply tariffs to what they sell us
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As we buy more from them than they sell to us they will owe us considerably more from tariffs than we owe them - they know this - unfortunately our Media akesur that our people are not aware of this!
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The result is that a so called "No-Deal" benefits the UK.
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Why are people so gullible to reality?
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The majority of people believe what they hear or see from the Main-Stream media (MSM); BBC, ITV, Sky,CNN etc.-it's so very sad but so very easy - what else have people got to turn to.
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We are currently subject to EU many laws, rules, treaties and agreements. Once we actually leave these need to be changed or replaced to reflect our new independent status and this will take some time. In some cases, where we will continue to cooperate with the EU such as trade, it is advantageous to have a new agreement in place prior to leaving to ensure continuity-this is not essential but preferred.
So using the example of trade,
So the leave sequence is;
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Start the leave process (Article 50),
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Agree what happens during the transition phase (Withdrawal Agreement)
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Enter a transition period during which we agree with the EU how we trade and cooperate in the future
Once the Article 50 period expires we leave and enter a transition period during which we determine, with the EU, how we will trade with each other. Without the EU Free-trade mechanism we revert to trade on World Trade Organisation terms, which fundamentally try to promote tarrif free-trade. So what are tarrifs? Tariffs ae designed to prevent artificaly low prices due to producing to lower standars
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fter this happens we then enter a transition period during which any ongoing association is discussed and agreed, including trade deals, security cooperation etc.
either; Leave the EU and any related EU laws, rules, principles cease to apply, or we leave the
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Remain advocats, the losers of the referendum have since done everything imaginable to frustrate the Brexit process ven sugesting that the referendum should be re-run as we now know more than we did then. Of course what we actually know now is the depths to which remainers will plummit and the treachory of politicians to frustrate our departure. However thee is no new information about the EU and the reasons for departure remain the same; only reinforced be th behaviour of the EU in this process.
"No Deal"
What is this so-called No-Deal?
So what is this infamous "No-Deal"?
This is very misleading and many people think that this relates to a trade deal. In fact this would be more accuractely described as No-Withdrawal Agreement, which also means No Transition Period.
The result is that we would simply leave the EU and all ties and agreements would end. From a trade perspective, which whilst being only one aspect of the whole exercise, has been the point of peoles focus, we would revert to World Trade Organisation or WTO terms. Without a specific Trade agreement, all countries trade on these terms.
What are Tariffs
How would WTO look from an EU perspective?
Why the EU doesnt want to revert to WTO
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