Climate Change on the world stage by Boris Johnson

I assume that the abolition of the department established to combat Climate Change is related to exporting our prestigious comedian BoZo to explain to the world (using his well established diplomatic language) why Britain intends to ignore our international obligations.

Freedom of Travel & John McDonnell

McDonnell was stated to have said that Labour no longer needs to defend free movement of labour because that has now gone, following the decision of the public to vote to leave the EU.
It is only a matter of time before the electorate realise that BREXIT will have no impact on immigration. Migration is a 2-way process and there are as many ex-pat BRITS in the EU as there are EU citizens in the UK, about 2.8 Million. The published disparity arises because the figures oft quoted are for people who have an NI number or similar for the EU. It ignores the huge number of Brits who simply live in Europe.

So whereas we are now all free to go and live, work or retire anywhere in the EU (subject to the condition that you can support yourself, else you have to go home after 3 months). In future we will have to ask permission from the receiving State. Similarly EU citizens are currently allowed to come here again on condition that they 'are not a burden on the state' or they get kicked out after 3 months. Employers can select from a huge pool of talent from the whole EU, I know 'cos I regularly run interview panels - but in future the State will decide who can come and work here not employers.
BREXIT has taken away our freedom to travel, and our freedom to recruit the best person for the job. Isn't that the sort of thing that Jo Stalin did? I know that is as extreme analogy - but it is time that BREXIT accepted that our personal freedom has been undermined.
My other moan is that BoJo keeps talking about building trading links outside of the EU. But I can do that now - our company already exports to the Far East, Australia, Japan, the US, Canada and even on occaisions to Russia and South America. We have been given nothing. Yet in return for nothing we are now going to be locked out of the biggest free trade area in the world.
Returning to McDonnell, if he cannot articulate support to retain our freedom of travel then IMO he too should stand down with Corbyn.

The EU a Socialist business perspective

I still remember my first overseas trip, a Belgian car parts factory in 1979. As I left a customs officer spotted my tool bag - “... and what's in that sir?”, “My tools” I replied. “Oh no you're not, come here ..” She searched my tools, listing everything down to the last screwdriver on official paper which she stamped, one copy for me and one for HMRC. On my return they found that form and cross-referenced everything ensuring I had not secretly exported a screwdriver, or smuggled a Belgian torque wrench. Belgium customs did the same, and my collection of tools worth about a tenner generated no less than 8 official forms. This bizarre and costly ritual was repeated when I worked in France, and then Germany; I still do it for the USA and the Far East.

What a contrast 20 years later. I first knew I was redundant when my pay cheque bounced; my shop steward told me that at my age (36) I would never get a full time job again. He was right, I have been a contract engineer ever since. My first large contract was with Celint, an Italian company supplying videotext terminals to Olivetti. I asked Luigi, yes that was his name, why he recruited British Engineers, his answer was simple – the Maastricht Treaty allowed him to select staff from all over Europe “It's so easy” he said. My next big job was with Ellen Betrix in Frankfurt. So I opened my British Deutchmark Bank Account, which became ECUs, and finally Euros. I have lost track of the number of EU contracts that I have had, or the goods that we have have exported without any export paperwork. The ease of working with EU countries is vital, especially for small businesses such as ours. For much of 2015 I worked for an Irish company, who paid my salary into my Euro bank account. About 10% of all UK financial transaction are in Euros, using the UK Euro banking system. Do not believe what you are told about Free Trade, it is not free of red-tape or charges – exports to Norway may not have tariffs but you have to submit customs forms and each costs £25. For the EU the only official piece of export paperwork required is the postage stamp you stick on the parcel. BREXIT will pile costs onto UK PLC, kill UK exports, and many British small businesses will fold. The Tory Right who are behind BREXIT are supported by rampant free-marketeers of Big Business who will benefit from the abolition of workers and consumers rights, but it is ordinary people who will pay the price.

Migration is a 2-way process, and with the EU it is in balance. 2.8 Million EU citizens work in the UK, and a similar number of Brits have used their freedom of travel, like me, to work, live or retire in Europe. Of all the benefits of EU membership I value my freedom of travel the highest; and for Farage, Boris or Gove to deny that freedom to our children would be criminal. It allowed me to work when the British economy was wrecked by Thatcher's Government, and it enables millions of British people today to have freedoms that our parents could not have dreamt of.

Turkey - BREXIT - NATO - Afghanistan - what a muddle

NATO's initial intervention into Afghanistan was commanded by Turkey, under Major General Hilmi Akin Zorlu. Perhaps Michael Gove & Boris Johnson can explain why they were willing to allow British Troops to be led in to battle by a Turkish General, yet we are not allowed to cooperate with them on economic development, or social, cultural and scientific projects within the EU.

The EU , Boris Johnson & Hitler

In the week that Boris Johnson plunged the EU debate into the depths, with his offensive comparison to Hitler's NAZI regime, I was reminded of the EU's birth.

Europe is a continent that has a history of warfare, the most savage being WW2. Out of those ashes the victorious allies established a cluster of international alliances to prevent a repeat of such horrors. First was the Council of Europe, the brain-child of Winston Churchill. Its rules were simple, only Democracies could join, and they had to guarantee their citizens Freedom. These include the right to marry, free speech, and freedom from fear of persecution. In 1940 very few nations were eligible, military juntas still ruled parts of the West, and in the East the Iron Curtain fell. It was a beacon of hope that helped other nations discover that freedom was better than dictatorship; today it has 47 member states. At its heart is the European Convention of Human Rights – a charter of individual freedom and rights guaranteed not just by British Law but by all of Europe. Only Belarus & Kazakhstan have refused to ratify these basis freedoms – and it would be betrayal of those who fought for our freedom for Britain to join that pitiful group.

NATO was established to act as a mutual protection and defence force. Of its 28 members, 22 are in the EU. It intervened to stop civil war in the Balkans, patrols against piracy around the Horn of Africa, and provides troops to fulfil the EU's role as peace-keeper and nation builder.

The most significant organisation arose from a series of trade pacts, that bonded Europe's economies together in a such as way that a new European war would be unthinkable. The European Coal & Steel Community (ECSC) merged with other organisations to develop in to the European Union (EU). At is core is the principle of free trade, and freedom of movement. The EU is far more than a crude free trade area, all its citizens are also granted new freedoms that our parents could not dream off. Nearly 3 million Brits have used that freedom to live, work & retire in the Algarve, Costa del Sol and elsewhere in Europe.

The EU plays a key role in environmental and consumer protection. Almost all of the so-called 'European Laws' are no more than basic regulations covering food safety, the use of toxic chemicals, safe working practices and common decency. You must have international agreement on environmental protection, as dumping garbage into your neighbours garden is not an acceptable option. These rules apply to all member states of the European Economic Area (EEA), so leaving the EU to join an as yet unknown free-trade area would not allow us to abandon these regulations; it would however mean that we will cease to have any say about their content.

A good example is the highly successful common fisheries policy, which saved the North Sea from dying. I am unsure if Nigel Farage was planning to issue cod with passports, and establish underwater border posts – but fish swim about. So successful is the Common Fisheries Policy the North Sea is now restocking with fish, and its operation has been duplicated by Norway and the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (USA, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Japan, and others).

Workers rights are key element of EU rules, guaranteeing maternity rights and fair treatment of people with disabilities. Enforced excessive working hours are no longer allowed, and EU regulations underpin factory and machine safety. You cannot have a genuine free market if some countries are allowed to ignore the rules to undercut the prices of decent employers who value their staff and invest in safe working practices.

Above all it is the social, cultural and scientific collaborations that have been ignored in the debate. The EU runs the only International Scientific funding programme apart from the UN, now known as Horizon 2020. British universities and businesses are the second largest recipient of these funds, which are won by free and open competition. Thanks to these actions we now have the Mobile Phone – the GSM standard was the result of EU funding for the European Telecoms Standards Institute (ETSI) which established a common set of rules for mobile phones, and created overnight a multi-billion £ market. Thanks to the European Stem Cell Centre we have successful treatments for blindness (Macular Degeneration), and work continues on other debilitating diseases. The ERASMUS programme enables 1000's of young people to travel to the EU to gain skills and training, as well as supporting similar programmes in the UK. British scientist will be locked out of Horizon 2020 the day that we BREXIT.

No organisation is perfect, but the EU has developed from a desire to bring the people of Europe together without destroying our national character. It has given us freedom, prosperity, 50 years of peace, scientific and technical advances, environmental protection, consumer safety and workers rights. Do not take us back down the road of Nationalism and isolation.

Over the next few weeks Berwick Labour Party is hoping to leaflet and reach out to you all. If you would like to help our campaign to promote the EU from the viewpoint of personal freedom, consumer and environmental protection please help us get the message out. We are also pleased to be hosting the Berwick EU Debate at the Swan Centre on the 10^th June. We have guests from both sides of the debate. Come and listen, and most important of all make sure that you are all registered to vote.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-berwick-eu-debate-tickets-24902473970?aff=ebrowse

HSBC and BREXIT

Weren't HSBC responsible for bankrupting half the country a few years ago? I assume that their former chief executive has joined BREXIT in order to finish the job.

Time to destroy the Union?

I think that the time has come to break with the Union. Scotland should be set free, as should Wales and Northern Ireland. The armed invasion by Wessex that destroyed the independent nation of Mercia was a disgrace - Birmingham & Wolverhampton have a right to be freed from the tyranny of the London based dictatorship. Danelaw should be allowed to re-express its right to freedom and self determination.
The self styled autocratic dictatorship of the United Kingdom must be undermined, only that way can BREXIT have any real meaning - so we can all be free in our hamlets and live peacefully without a single Euro in our wattle & daub huts.

Or maybe , just maybe , we can start discussing the real issues. The EU is far more than an economic entity, it plays a major role in the social, educational and cultural arenas as well, rebuilding a Europe shattered not just by WW2 but by millennia of conflict. Freedom of movement is fundamental to our freedom it should not be given away in a shady deal to secure David Cameron's position.