In June 2016 I voted to leave the EU. And because I had both the time and the wherewithal to give the matter considerable thought, my decision was informed after many months researching what advantages, if any, membership of the EU had conferred on the UK and also, what advantages could be gained through leaving.
We joined the EEC in 1974. Ted Heath was the Prime Minister at the time and after having had our application blocked many times by President de Gaul of France, he was desperate to be the one to succeed.; which was why he agreed to such bad terms for our membership. As with the present Brexit debacle, because stupid politicians told the EU we would accept any terms to be allowed to leave, predictably, they have made our leaving terms extremely onerous. So it was when Heath applied for membership. They knew he would accept any terms and so they made the price hideously expensive. We were obliged to pay a membership fee way in excess of other members; we had to cede our fishing waters to the EU receiving back a tiny fraction of what they once were; and we had to accept farming and manufacturing tariffs which were more expensive than they had been on the open market. We also had to cut ourselves off from our Commonwealth friends. Each time, when applying to join and when applying to leave, we chose to arrive at the negotiating table as supplicants when we should have stood up strong and proud for Britain and only agreed terms that were acceptable to us. Unfortunately, our politicians have spent the past 45 years in the shelter of and under the control of the EU and they were frightened silly at the thought they might once again actually have to provide a framework of laws for Britain. Clearly, our politicians are not up to the task.
It may surprise people to know that in the 45 years we have been members, including the £95 billion trade deficit we run, which largely benefits France and Germany, we have contributed the equivalent of £4 trillion to the EU coffers. Which is why it is a surprise now to be told we must pay £100 billion as a leaving fine. We have been the proverbial “milche cow” which is why, even though they hate us for being disruptive of their plans, they are desperate for us to remain as members so they can continue to fleece us.
Because we arrived at the EEC 25 years after the project started, all the wheeling and dealing on trading matters had been done and dusted. As our politicians, then as now, were extremely feeble, we had no alternative but to fit in but, even though our economy is largely services based, the EEC never made allowances for this sector which would have gone some way to offset the huge trade imbalance we have with other members. It must also be remembered that we joined a trading bloc, not an unellected group intent on taking over the world. I believe Heath knew about the longer term intentions of the EEC ruling group but deliberately chose to keep the secret from the rest of us because he knew that would, almost certainly, have meant we would not have voted to join.
The bloc has increased in size and scope from the six we joined to the 28 it is now, and soon it intends to grow again. Many of these poorer nations have been propped up by us as the second largest contributor, and one of only two that has always been a net contributor, but our money has been routed through the central EU Politburo who pretend to be giving away their own money. While we struggle to build a high speed rail network, we have paid huge sums to other nations to achieve that end. Our roads are in a sorry state, yet we pay large sums each year to allow other nations to build new roads. While our schools and hospitals struggle to cope with the demand placed on them, we help to build schools and hospitals in other countries. And so it goes on.
In 2016, knowing there was considerable unrest in the UK because of the massive influx of migrants, both from the EU and from the wider world, David Cameron, the Prime Minister at the time, who had promised a referendum, but feared the outcome, went to the EU to ask for certain concessions to help relieve the pressure on the NHS in particular, concessions that would, probably, have produced a different referendum outcome had they been granted. But he was sent home humiliated, with his tail between his legs like some whipped cur. It was at that light-bulb moment that many people finally realized that when we were told that the only way to change the EU was from within, that was a brutal lie. In or out, it was impossible to change the EU because it is essentially an extremely undemocratic organisation. Even the possibility of losing their milche cow couldn’t change it.
Nine months before the 2016 referendum, my wife and I were on holiday in Naples and one day we were sharing a table with two French men and their wives. One Frenchman was a doctor and the other one, his brother, was a vet, so they were intelligent men. The subject of Brexit came up and they reminded us that both France and Ireland had comparatively recently held referenda and both had been forced to vote again until they got it right. ‘They will never let you leave,’ they said. It seems they were right.
Brexit is now much more unlikely to happen than at any other time in the past 3 years. But that isn’t because the EU won’t let us go, it is because our current Prime Minister and a majority of our own politicians refuse to comply with the referendum result and let us leave. We could have stated, 3 years ago, that we were giving two years notice of our intention to leave. We required no deals but if the EU wanted to offer a mutually beneficial deal we would consider it. But deal or no deal we were leaving. We would now have left the EU with a decent deal and all would be harmonious. Instead, our present, pathetic Prime Minister has humiliated herself but much more importantly, she has humiliated the UK. We have had politicians, with no repercussions to them whatsoever, openly consorting with “the enemy” to work out ways to thwart the referendum result and nothing was said or done to stop them. We have a Prime Minister who together with some Whitehall mandarins and the EU, designed a Withdrawal Agreement that is so hideously one-sided and punitive towards the UK it make one wonder whose side our Prime Minister and her aids are on. The agreement has rightfully been pilloried by all sides and particularly by the legal community. It is an appalling document that both humiliates us and would turn us into a vassal state,yet, even knowing all this, our own Prime Minister has thrice tried to stuff it down politicians’ throats and is clearly intent on doing so a fourth or fifth time until it is accepted. There can now be no doubt whatsoever that she is actively seeking to damage the UK. Don’t ask me why. It defies explanation yet that is what she is doing.
She has repeatedly lied to the people of the UK, she has repeatedly lied to Parliament and she must also have repeatedly lied to our Queen during their weekly meetings. I repeat, for some reason best known to her, she is intent on doing irretrievable damage to the UK, and our politicians seem helpless to stop her. She is like someone who because she cannot make a mark for achieving something worthwhile in her life is determined to make her place in history as being the one who destroyed the UK.

I have written many letters and articles on this serious topic, a few of which I have attached under this general heading. Before you accuse me of being a Nazi or worse, as the Labour MP has accused Boris Johnson, just read carefully what I have written and if you discover any lies I would be very happy to consider changes to any of the above. Only the seriously blind or blinkered would truthfully disagree with anything I have written. For the rest, do the honourable thing and lobby your MP to get justice for the little people who are being dumped on from a great height. Things must change if we are, once again, to hold our heads high.

Next Stage

Since writing the above, there has been another General Election and Boris Johnson has been declared the new Prime Minister with a majority of 80. People had great hopes that all would quickly change for the better and that Johnson would set out the new rules of engagement with the EU. Sadly, this has not happened for a variety of reasons.

Primarily, and coinciding with Johnson’s success at the last election, the entire world has been beset by a cruel pandemic that has shattered economies and killed many people. So, instead of marching boldly into the new world that had beckoned, The UK, along with just about every other economy in the world has had its sights firmly set on escaping the Covid pandemic with as few deaths and damage to our economy as is possible.

That said, Johnson has adopted a much more conciliatory tone with the EU than is merited or the EU deserves. He has caved in in so many areas of importance to the UK that his support in the country has been dramatically reduced. Nor has he handled the covid crisis as well as might have been expected so that our death rates are among the highest in the world while our economy has also been badly hit. He has tried to satisfy everyone and has finished up satisfying no one.

His decisions on climate change are also extraordinarily out of touch with reality and have been likened to putting the cart before the horse. He seems intent on making the UK reliant on bio-fuels sourced from unfriendly countries who have the ability to turn off the taps if we don’t follow their rules, rather than continuing with our own perfectly satisfactory bio-fuels until reliable new sources of energy have proved themselves. He seems to be taking advice from someone who knows nothing.

Bernard Gallivan
January 2022