In war, it’s always a good idea to find out what is in the mind of the enemy. As the Anti-Prorogation show continued yesterday in the Supreme Court, there was also an ‘event’ taking place in Strasbourg – a debate in the European Parliament on Brexit which brought forth a hugely important statement. More on that below.
Firstly though – the second day of the court case, with the defence from the government Counsel and another attack, from a lawyer representing the Scots. Depending on the Brexit partisanship of the MSM, you either get praise for the anti-prorogation lawyer, as e.g. here, or (paywalled) here with the prospective speech of John Major getting the headline : “Boris Johnson acted like a dishonest estate agent, John Major to tell court”, while the correspondent for the Brexit-leaning DT is more even-handed:
“Eadie[ the Government barrister] […] highlighted the Prime Minister’s compliance with constitutional practice in requesting the prorogation from The Queen, and the fact there is no convention concerning the length of the prorogation. Eadie also referred to the High Court judgment which accepted that lengthy prorogations had taken place in modern times. In his view, nothing in Pannick’s submission, had demonstrated that parliamentary sovereignty had been curtailed by prorogation.” (paywalled link)
It’ll not be plain sailing though as the conclusion of that report hints:
“However, in what may be viewed as a sign of government preparedness that things may not be going to plan, Eadie finished his submission by stating that he wants to get something in writing as to what the government would have to do if the Supreme Court found against it. The government, he said, would provide a submission on this matter for Day 3 of the hearing.” (paywalled link)
And so into day three with more lawyerly displays which are, in the end, not only about the lawfulness of the Prorogation but are plain lawfare against Brexit.
Next we descend into the swamp that is the EU in all its glory. First though a bit of background, i.e. the usual EU complaints. Let’s start with another Macron ultimatum:
“The Prime Minister has been given until September 30 to submit an alternative to the Irish border backstop in writing to Brussels. The ultimatum was hammered out at a meeting between French president Emmanuel Macron and Finnish PM Antti Rinne in Paris today, reports in Finland claim.” (link)
Is that again a Macron ‘solo’, more unenforceable Macron fireworks? There’s far more though. The DT (paywalled) has found some interesting ‘sources’:
“Certain Brussels sources are briefing that Mr Johnson was left stunned during lunch with Mr Juncker in Luxembourg when he was told the British plan was not comprehensive enough to replace the backstop. That was hotly denied by Downing Street and there are suspicions, among some in Brussels, that is EU spin.” (paywalled link)
Ah – but which ‘Brussels sources’ are we to believe? Let’s be content for now that some sources are different from others … Here is the inevitable M Juncker:
“ Mr Juncker said he urged Mr Johnson to “spell out” his suggestions for “alternative arrangements” for the backstop such as what technological solutions he envisaged. The EU insists that technology is not advanced enough to keep a border invisible.” (paywalled link)
Funny that – such technology works well for other, non-EU countries! This next quote illustrates the EU ‘spin’:
“Some “working” was shown to European Commission officials in Brussels in technical talks last week but the UK team insisted on taking the papers back when they left. EU sources described the documents as essentially the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement with the bits the government didn’t like “crossed out”. It fell far short of a formal proposal, they said.” (paywalled link)
Meaning: the UK has brought proposals which the EU doesn’t like, so ‘sources’ are spinning and smearing – which our Remainers will of course utilise against the government as being ‘Teh Truth’.
Pray tell me: how do we know that the UK negotiators had only presented the WA with lines crossed out? A bit more of EU spin, is it? Then there’s the usual from M Barnier:
“Mr Barnier said, “The UK government outlined the aspects of the backstop they don’t like. That’s not enough, however, to move towards achieving a solution,” […] “We need a legally operative solution in the Withdrawal Agreement, which fully responds to each one of the problems, addresses each one of the risks, created by Brexit,” he said. “If the UK leaves without a deal these questions don’t just disappear,” he added.” (paywalled link)
Note the latest use of ‘a legally operative solution’ which first cropped up in the Communique after ‘that’ lunch in Luxembourg. I told you at that time that this would become the latest ‘non’!
And so, finally, into the EU Parliament swamp. Here’s how the Brussels warfare against Brexit unfolded yesterday in that Strasbourg session. Remember that the Brexit Party was allotted one speaker only. Watch this video – you’ll have guessed who the speaker was. This was preceded by attack after attack on Johnson, by Messrs Juncker, Barnier, and the Empire Man himself, Verhofstadt:
“I can tell you that Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk can do a lot of things but they can’t close the doors of our house,” Mr Verhoftsadt, the European Parliament’s Brexit coordinator, boasted. He told Brexit Party MEPs that any eurosceptic who compared the EU to the Soviet Union “should point the finger at Westminster rather than Brussels or Strasbourg.” (paywalled link)
Oh dear! Must we now feel ashamed of our democratic tradition? Or should we feel ashamed of the Remain traitors in our country providing the EU with ammunition to use against us? And then Mr Verhofstadt let the EU cat out of the Brexit bag:
“Mr Verhofstadt vowed the EU would never allow Mr Johnson to build a low-tax, low-regulation, “Singapore on the Thames” after Brexit. “We are not stupid! We will not kill our own companies, economy, single market. We will never accept ‘Singapore by the North Sea’,” he said after warning MEPs would veto any free trade deal that allowed Britain to stray too far from EU rules.” (paywalled link)
The mask has finally dropped. In a nutshell, here’s the basis of the EU negotiations to this day, now out in the open: fear of economic competition by a Free Great Britain. Note well the threatened veto of ‘any free trade deal’ after Brexit! I’ll give the final word to John Longworth (TBP):
“What is transpiring is like a giant game of poker, bluff and counter-bluff, with very high stakes. The tricky thing in this game is that the PM is playing with a hand marked by the players and with others looking over his shoulder. Is it any wonder that the UK appears to be playing a bad hand, even when there is no such thing? What makes this truly “extraordinary” is that it must be rare in the history of our nation that we have people in positions of power who have been and are, colluding with a foreign state against their fellow countrymen and are not called out as traitors.” (paywalled link)
He concludes:
“The awful truth may be that, when the chips are down, it will be a choice between a referendum where the terms of the game are set by a Remain Parliament and a reshuffled Withdrawal Treaty, basically a choice of “the devil and the deep blue sea”. For true Brexiteers, a truly knavish outcome, good for the Brexit Party who will sweep the board, but very bad for Brexit and the hope this endeavour engendered in vast numbers of my fellow citizens.” (paywalled link)
That, sadly, describes the outcome so many of us are expecting. The one piece of silver lining I can discern is the fact that ‘Mr EU Empire Verhofstadt’ keeps overplaying his hand. That ‘empire’ quip will come to haunt the EU.
The inimitable Sir John Redwood writes about empires in his Diary today. Also, keep in mind Verhofstadt’s outburst (see above) about ‘not allowing’ the UK to build a low-tax ‘Singapore on Thames’. It’s about money, pure and simple, so take all the usual demands and criticisms from the Barniers and other Brussels sources with a large pinch of salt.
Remember also that the Remainers in the HoC are bereft of any financial sense, remember furthermore that the Remain demonstrators have never told us Leavers why paying more and more money to the EU is so desirable. Nor has Labour explained why ‘Tory Austerity’ is to be condemned while they are happy to give away more of our tax money to the EU.
For us, it means patiently waiting for the Court decision, patiently waiting for the outcome of the game Johnson is playing. It means that we must remain vigilant.
Above all, we must let not ourselves be dismayed by the Remain propaganda coming from our MSM, via Brussels ‘sources’. As always:
KBO!
Mr Leane – ”….relationship to the EU cannot be anything other than the relationship between one country and another…”
But the EU isn’t a ”country”, is it?
If there ever was a true democracy we now know that it is dire straits, and “democracy” is now little more than an illusion with an aberration like Brexit appearing every now and then.
But such aberration are becoming more and more rare and are generally quashed before the great unwashed get notions they should not be ruled the rich and powerful.
If Brexit is stopped then …………….
I still don’t understand why we need a FTA with the EU when we buy so much from them than they do from us and services will like be excluded anyway? We would make a mint from tariffs until trade rebalances as consumers buy more homemade products as they cost less. Win win. I’m sure there are other sources for the components and raw materials and so on.
There’s an interesting video here from Brebox, Nigel Farage and other Brexit Party members being interviewed in Strasbourg. Nigel thinks that Boris will step of a plane from Brussels around the sixteenth of October waving a piece of paper like Chamberlain, declaring that he has a great deal, a last take it or leave it from the EU that we’ll be expected to be grateful for. We need to watch out for this stitch up, I’ve been predicting something like this for some time.
“BrexBox Episode 7: is Boris inching towards a Brexit stitch-up?”
https://youtu.be/s4v2ONlRrnY
I must say that Nigel and the other party members came across well in this interview, well informed with fact and figures, some good people I think. Compare this with the wild illogical rantings of the remainers of late and I’m starting to like The Brexit Party.
The video is around twenty minutes long but the first six or seven minutes should do, Nigel is worth listening to here.
I would describe Nigel Farage as a soldier, not a politician. But now that he has won the “war” (the referendum), the politicians have to take over. And in politics things are never black and white. People on both sides have to agree, which takes time. On the British side they are leaving the EU, meaning Britain will become an independent country in its own right with the unhindered right to make and enforce its own laws. Colonial powers never give up in their attempts to enforce their rule even when the game is up and such attempts are not worth the paper they are written on.
So why not humour the EU with whatever “agreement” comes along but in the end relationship to the EU cannot be anything other than the relationship between one country and another
That’s fine Edward, but as we have learned over the last 40 years our politicians are not very good at standing up for us, choosing the easy life, and if we let them leave a tentacle or two more will gradually entwine us back in. There will be a gradual and maybe not so subtle backsliding. We cannot trust them, that is blatantly obvious for all to see now. Brexit has certainly shown them for who they are.
If you have to kill a snake, kill it once and for all
Japanese Proverb
Yes. But even a written Constitution has been found not worth the paper it is written on when those with wealth and power get their hands on it.
It is up to each generation to stand up for the truth and the rights that go with it.
However treaties are worth something. Think Spain and Gibraltar. The ‘deal’ Boris seems likely to sign us up to, unless it contains a get out clause, may be a much bigger problem than some imagine. We need to be able to keep the EU in line using tariffs. I was hoping that is exactly what Boris was planning to do and was just leading the EU on but frankly this now seems less and less likely. Also defence seems to be slipping under the radar, unless I’ve missed something.