EU Referendum

UKIP Conference 2015 – The Dangers Of EU Referendum Tunnel Vision

Samuel Hooper2 Comments

Nigel Farage - UKIP Conference 2015 - Doncaster

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Full speed ahead to the referendum, but on all other fronts UKIP is treading water

Given the unedifying way in which Day One of UKIP’s 2015 party conference ended, the leadership is probably relieved to have been bumped down to third place in last night’s television news running order by the assorted villains and criminals at Volkswagen and FIFA.

After a day in which the coming EU referendum was placed front and centre, UKIP somehow managed to finish the day with much of the media talking about a potential split in the party over which “Out” campaign group to support. Rather than talk about how best to fight and win the referendum, the party was seen to be bickering over which group it most wanted to fight the EU referendum with. The inter-group rivalry is not all UKIP’s fault, it must be acknowledged, but it does not bode well for the eurosceptic cause if we are already witnessing bickering and glory-seeking on this scale.

Just when UKIP’s laser focus on winning the coming EU referendum should be paying real early dividends, the party is mired in a contentious debate over which eurosceptic campaign group’s bid to be given lead campaigner designation by the Electoral Commission should be supported. That – and the almighty row which blew up between Douglas Carswell and donor Arron Banks – does leave the party vulnerable to criticism and mockery like this:

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Britain’s Strong Tradition Of Liberty Trumps Enforced European Unity

Samuel Hooper1 Comment

Britain Europe History 3

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More good sense emanating from Reimagining Europe, the Church of England’s contribution to the EU referendum debate, this time courtesy of Adrian Hilton of the Archbishop Cranmer blog:

No-one seems to have much memory any more of the centuries of incremental British liberty, stability and fraternity which preceded these past few decades of European equality, bureaucracy and oligarchy. The pebbles of 1973 and 1975 grind down the cornerstones of 1215, 1534, 1628, 1679, 1689, 1701, 1706, 1829, 1928… I could go on, but few of these dates resonate any longer against the incremental attrition of ‘ever closer union’ couched beneath ‘unity in diversity’, in which cultural difference and historic detachment must be subsumed to an overarching judicial-political construct by which our national freedoms and individual unfreedoms are now defined.

Very true. And Hilton’s conclusion is also spot on:

Now we are to decide our European destiny again by referendum, but this time we must be told the truth: we either leave to pursue a future that is contiguous with our past, or we stay to be absorbed into a United States of Europe, which is already being rolled out as “economic governance” – just ask the peoples of Greece, Ireland, Spain, Italy and Portugal. The “democratic deficit” cannot be fixed: the whole project was designed at its inception to bypass the capricious and unenlightened will of the people. Democracy is an inconvenience: the epistocracy knows best.

We were lied to. Sorry to be so blunt, but that’s the history. If my parents and grandparents had been told back in 1975 that their voting to remain in the EEC would eventually mean that a market trader would be arrested for selling a pound of bananas, or a young student could be carted off to a Greek jail and deprived on his ancient rights of Habeas Corpus and trial by jury, they’d have voted to leave. And that’s what I’ll be doing, whatever honest, sincere or cast-iron guarantees they decide to give.

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EU Sock Puppets: Brussels Propaganda From The Mouth Of A Familiar Face

Samuel Hooper3 Comments

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Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan gives us something to consider when the pro-Europeans inevitably roll out their long list of charities and other non-governmental organisations endorsing an “In” vote in the coming Brexit referendum.

The EU has form when it comes to bribing its citizens with their own money – that’s how broadcasters which receive money from the EU come to show passionately pro-European and rabidly anti-UKIP mockumentaries ahead of key national elections.

It’s also how nearly every large infrastructure project in Britain seems to come stamped with a “funded by the EU” plaque prominently placed to take all the credit for something which would have been built anyway – and probably for lower cost – had the money gone straight from taxpayers to the project rather than through the Brussels pork machine first.

So it should come as no surprise to anyone when a list of household name organisations dutifully line up to warn us of impending Armageddon if Britain were to do what every other successful economy in the world outside Europe does, and face the world as a strong and autonomous nation, willing to build partnerships to face global challenges but never subordinate our own national interest to the 1950s dream of ever-closer union at any price.

Our duty remains to look critically at these claims, and determine what (if any) merit is left when the self-preservation instinct and ulterior motives of the organisation in question are stripped away.

#EUSockPuppet

EU Propaganda - EU Regional Development Fund - EUSockPuppet

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Jeremy Corbyn Capitulates On The EU, Betraying Left Wing Eurosceptics

Samuel Hooper9 Comments

Jeremy Corbyn - EU - European Union - Brexit - EU Referendum

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Is Jeremy Corbyn’s capitulation on Europe a sign of things to come?

We all know that Jeremy Corbyn is a eurosceptic at heart. He voted for Britain to leave the European Community in the 1975 referendum for precisely the same reason he remains sceptical of it now – Corbyn recognises that remote and anti-democratic institutions in Brussels and Strasbourg make it impossible for Britain to pursue her own sovereign policies.

Of course, in Corbyn’s case, the EU stands in the way of creating a true socialist state, a People’s State of Great Britain with levels of regulation, social legislation and economic protectionism that even Brussels rightly rejects. Corbyn’s euroscepticism is thus very different from a conservative or libertarian’s euroscepticism, but it still comes down to sovereignty at the end of the day – whether Britain should be free to pursue her own interests, or subordinate our national interest to the “greater good” of European unity and harmonisation.

Since the general election and the summer escalation of the Greek economic crisis, there has been an encouraging increase in left-wing euroscepticism, with prominent thinkers and voices finally starting to accept that the EU might not have the interests of all its individual member states at heart. It has been encouraging to watch these green shoots of euroscepticism grow on the Left, as more people came to realise that this anti-democratic anachronism from the 1950s is perhaps not the solution to the challenges of the twenty-first century.

But all of this welcome progress came to a screeching halt yesterday when Jeremy Corbyn announced an abject and humiliating climbdown in his eurosceptic stance, no doubt forced by self-entitled members of his restive shadow cabinet:

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The EU “Renegotiation” Is An Attempt To Deceive You

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EU Renegotiation - Brexit - European Union

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By Ben Kelly, blogger and editor of The Sceptic Isle.

If you are one of those many people who consider themselves to be a “Eurosceptic” and lean heavily towards the “no” (for “Brexit”) vote yet still believe in the so-called re-negotiation – because “it’s worth a try”, you never know what we might get, we’re in a strong position to win back powers, et cetera – then please stop. Stop wasting time, and wake up.

If you are against our membership of the European Union on principle then the possibility of “winning” some minor cosmetic changes to our relationship should not give you cause for doubt. You need to focus on arguing for secession, now.

The renegotiation is a pretence conducted by avid europhiles with the sole intention of shutting down this debate and sealing the United Kingdom’s fate as a permanent part of the political union, destined for deeper integration. The evidence for this plain to see, and eurosceptic Conservative Party members and MPs should not allow the party leadership to get away with its insultingly transparent charade.

The image being portrayed is that of our government locked in a “renegotiation” with other EU members; with all the arguments, banging on the table and defiance that this entails. Please don’t fall for this, David Cameron is not a born again eurosceptic. None of that is happening, it is all nonsense, complete make believe; at best it is elaborate political theatre.

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