THE UK GENERAL ELECTION

As polling day looms for the tedious general election in the UK, a decision is to be made as to which party to vote for. According to the opinion polls, the general election looks set to produce a Tory government, with a likely majority.

The Tories have fought the campaign championing the slogan of ‘Get Brexit Done’. In fact, the Tories are not offering Brexit but are trying to pass off Brino as Brexit. A more honest slogan would be: ‘Get Brino Done’.

In Turbo Brexit, I defined independence as consisting of three aspects. Firstly, sovereignty and the ability of a government to take decisions, and the importance of a government to be willing to do so. Secondly, military power and security, and the ability to defend the country and project power to support foreign policy. Thirdly, economic independence, in that a country is able to trade successfully by exporting sufficient goods to pay for imports, and that the government can pay its bills and honour its commitments to the people – eg pensions and social care (see Turbo Brexit: And the Case Against Brino, page 12).

In August 2016, The English Rights Campaign blog posted an item entitled ‘Turbo Brexit’. That post was followed by another which set out how the ten points of Turbo Brexit might be carried out, the role of the EU, and how quickly the points might be implemented. That subsequent post stated:

‘The government continues to tell anyone daft enough to listen to them, that Brexit is so complicated that it is impossible to do anything until sometime next year. The triggering of Article 50 is being heralded as the moment to wait for. However, all triggering Article 50 does is start a negotiation. It does not implement the vote to leave.

“Brexit” is simply a term. It is a term now being used in order to start a debate of what the term means. This is a subversive distraction. The public voted to leave the EU. They did not vote to have a negotiation. “Brexit” is a term to encapsulate the vote for Britain to leave. The core issue is to leave. Presently, the government is doing nothing to actually get out of the EU and is focused on stalling matters until they are prepared to open negotiations.

It should be remembered, that the EU’s response to Britain’s referendum vote, was to offer to agree to a deal speedily. This offer was repeated. The EU did not want matters to drag on. That offer was not taken up. It is the Tories who are keeping Britain in the EU, and they continue to refuse to implement the vote to leave. At a recent EU summit, Theresa May actually complained to the other EU members that Britain was being shut out of the EU meetings and that she was unhappy with this. She wanted Britain to remain fully engaged in the EU decision-making processes.

The English Rights Campaign has set out 10 points that would enable Britain to make the most of leaving the EU. This has been titled Turbo Brexit (see the English Rights Campaign item dated the 4 August 2016). While it is desirable to have a complete break with all matters being sorted out in one go, there is nothing to prevent making a start if the will is there. To examine the 10 points in turn (for ease, the original Turbo Brexit point is set out in italics in brackets):

1. (A complete end to the annual payments to the EU. Any post-Brexit deal should exclude any further payments to the EU. The so-called Norway Model should be rejected. From the money saved, £100 million per week should be allocated to the NHS. The sooner the EU payments cease, the sooner the extra funding for the NHS is available.) – This can be implemented at once and unilaterally. There is no justification to continue paying into the EU when we are no longer involved in the decision making and when we are scheduled to leave. The NHS needs the money and is more important than the EU. It is not a complicated matter to stop authorizing payments to the EU, any more than it is too complicated for someone to stop signing cheques.

2. (There should be a full restoration of British sovereignty. Neither the EU nor any other international organization, should have any power over Britain’s internal affairs. Britain’s laws should be determined by Britain’s parliament. Britain should withdraw from the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights and repeal the so-called Human Rights Act.) – This should be implemented without delay and the EU is only a sideshow regarding this. This would require the repeal of the 1972 European Communities Act. The May Government is making a big noise about a great repeal bill. Despite the government bombast, this bill is relatively straightforward and should take immediate effect and not be deferred.

3. (Britain should regain full control over its territorial waters and those should be set at the international standard, with the fishing limit extended to 200 miles. Britain should have full control over its fishing policy and fish conservation.) – Britain should begin this process and notify the relevant international organizations. There will be a need to make a new arrangement with the EU regarding existing fishing activities, but we are able to act unilaterally if the EU is unreasonable.

4. (There should be an end of free movement of people and Britain should take whatever measures are necessary to bring mass immigration to a complete end. The EU should have no say over who lives in Britain. Illegal immigrants and immigrant political extremists should be deported. This must necessitate withdrawing from the UN Convention on Refugees; help should be given to genuine refugees in their own or neighbouring countries. British citizenship should not be granted until someone has lived in Britain for at least 30 years and is someone of good standing.) – Britain should stop mass immigration at once. Britain should get on with the necessary legislation. The current free movement of people will need to be ended, which affects the EU. Again, unilateral action can be taken if the EU is unreasonable. Ending mass immigrant is not negotiable.

5. (Overseas Aid should be reduced to a minimum. The aim should be to reduce it by at least £10 billion. Those who wish to give donations to overseas bodies and charities are of course free to do so with their own money.) – This should be done at once and does not affect the EU.

6. (Britain’s trade policy should be one of balanced trade. Britain has a massive balance of trade deficit with the EU and also with China. Britain needs to adopt trade policies that will eliminate these trade deficits. If necessary, tariffs should be used. In addition, there should be measures to prevent further key British firms being taken over by foreign entities. Other countries protect their key industries and so should Britain.) – Future trade relations with the EU are the most problematic item. However, this cannot be used as a justification for inaction on everything else, nor can Britain afford to be strung along in open-ended talks with the EU, possibly, until the Article 50 two-year time limit expires and the EU tells us to clear off (this has been described as ‘Dirty Brexit’). Britain could offer to continue current arrangements, with some modifications, with a deadline for EU approval. Failure to reach an agreement by the deadline could result in either tariffs or a reversion to WTO [World Trade Organization] rules. Grandstanding an interpretation of 19^th century free trade theories is not the priority. The priority for Britain should be to bring a trade with the EU back into balance, which would be a positive transformation of the British economy; Britain needs to pay for imported goods by exporting goods rather than funding the trade deficit by selling assets and borrowing from foreigners. Bringing the trade back into balance means that Britain would boom, generating both the tax revenues and the higher living standards needed.

7. (There should be a determined de-Marxification programme to remove the ideology of political correctness from society. Those promoting political correctness should have their access to public monies cut. Political correctness should cease to be the basis of morality and patriotism should be quietly engendered.) – This should be done at once and does not affect the EU.

8. (Priority should be given to reducing the government spending deficit; ending the scandal of councils seizing pensioners’ homes if they are taken into care; and reintroducing a fully transferable married couples’ tax allowance. To raise money, in addition to the extra tax income from increased growth due to trade being brought back into balance, and the savings on overseas aid and payments to the EU, there should be the introduction of a Solidarity Tax on those who have thus far avoided the extra costs of the political correctness and immigration that they so loudly demand. All organizations bringing in immigrants should be charged the full cost of a house; there is no reason why taxpayers should fund a housebuilding programme to cater for the immigrants brought in to save wages and training costs for business and other organizations; let those organizations which do so well out of immigration pay to house those immigrants.) – This can be implemented without EU interference, although the speed of the implementation will depend upon the speed with which Britain leaves.

9. (The House of Lords needs to be replaced to better reflect the views of ordinary people and to cull the collection of cronies with which the chamber has been stuffed since the expulsion of most of the hereditary peers; it has become an expensive Ponzi class gravy train and is dysfunctional. There should also be the introduction of an English parliament to give the English an equal footing in Britain. The powers devolved to the various national parliaments should be equalized with a proper federal structure.) – This should be done at once and does not affect the EU.

10. (There should be selective measures taken to tackle crony capitalism, self-aggrandising lawyers and dishonest bankers (including their agents). Monopoly abuse should be met with fines. Lawyers should no longer be allowed to manipulate the law to their own financial advantage (e.g. orchestrating allegations from foreigners against British troops, and exploiting divorce proceedings). It should be assumed that the wealth created during a marriage is split evenly in order to simplify, make fairer and minimize lawyers’ fees. Small and medium-sized businesses should have the law amended to alter the balance of power in their favour regarding banks. Bank criminality should be aggressively prosecuted.) – This should be done at once and does not affect the EU.

In conclusion, it is obvious that the main reason for the delay in an implementation of Turbo Brexit is not the EU, but because the Tories do not agree with it and are dithering regarding any implementation of the Brexit vote. The Tories are the problem.’

None of the major parties (including the two pretended Leave parties – the Tories and the Brexit Party) contesting the general election come anywhere close to committing to implement even a majority of the above 10 points.

The Boris Johnson proposed treaty with the EU is simply a rehash of May’s proposed treaty. Importantly, the 1972 European Communities Act remains in force during a so-called transition period, while the UK surrenders its representation in EU institutions. The UK becomes subject to EU dictatorship – the exact opposite of Taking Back Control (the Vote Leave referendum slogan). The payments to the EU will continue as will free movement. This means that points above 1-4 are automatically ignored. The Tories are responsible for the wasteful largesse of overseas aid (point 5) and show no inclination to end that.

So far as point 6 and the need to bring trade with the EU and China back into balance, all the Tories promise is a desperate policy of free and frictionless trade with the EU, with vague bombast about free trade deals with other countries across the globe. The Tories remain committed to the policy of globalization. This gives the more protectionist EU the upper hand in the future trade negotiations. The EU is already demanding full access to UK fishing grounds and that free movement continues in return for a free trade deal. Even India is pushing for the ability to send more immigrants to the UK in return for a free trade deal.

There is no effort to reject political correctness or implement a de-Marxification programme (point 7).

There is some talk by the Tories about solving the social care funding crisis, but nothing more than that. No party has raised any objection to multinational companies exploiting the welfare system to provide housing etc to cater for immigrant workers, who they choose to employ to save money on wages (point 8).

There is some interest in reforming the constitution, but no firm proposal (point 9).

There is zero interest in tackling crony capitalism (point 10).

Despite the concern of people about mass immigration and the desire to end it during the referendum, there is no party of any description contesting this general election that is advocating an end to mass immigration. Not the Tories, nor The Brexit Party, nor UKIP. This represents a total defeat.

A Tory victory will produce Brino. The UK will not recover sovereignty. There is no interest in rebuilding the UK’s depleted military capability and people smugglers are now happily sending illegal immigrants across the English Channel on an almost daily basis. The UK will not be more secure and its borders will be open.

On the economy, the UK will not be able to pay its way, and the government will continue to borrow and dishonour its commitments to the people. There is a danger that the UK will be locked into a new treaty that ensures that the trade deficit with the EU continues to grow. The UK will not be an independent country and, due to the trade deficit, faces the ultimate prospect of economic ruin.

If the experience of Boris Johnson’s mayoralty in London is to be repeated, then England faces the prospect of a few years of ‘fun time with Boris’ before a takeover by the Islamists and the hard-Left, with the English becoming a minority in their own country.

I will therefore not be voting in the general election.