I think I’ve found an explanation for the continuing “Project Fear’ items our MSM keep reporting. We know that Remainers, especially in the the Cabinet and the HoC, are terrified of the WTO/No Deal Brexit – the one we voted for. So methinks we’re seeing a classic case of ‘projection’, as described in orthodox psychology: they are terrified, therefore we must all be afraid, very afraid. Their hope is that we will come running to Nanny State and cry to make them stop the Brexit pain.

However, there’s a ‘fear’ item which you all need to know. I am quoting at length from a report in The Times because it’s paywalled. It is very important, and frightening and infuriating at the same time:

“Whitehall officials have been gaming a state of emergency and even the introduction of martial law in the event of disorder after a no-deal Brexit, it has emerged. Mandarins are considering how to use the sweeping powers available under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 to stop any civil disobedience resulting from the nation leaving the EU on March 29.
Curfews, bans on travel, confiscation of property and, most drastic, the deployment of the armed forces to quell rioting are among the measures available to ministers under the legislation.They can also amend any act of parliament, except the Human Rights Act, for a maximum of 21 days.” (my bold)

Note: this is their preparation for a No-Deal-Brexit!

One wonders if this Act will be applied when we leave with the WTO/No Deal and Remainers start rioting …:

“The possibility of using the legislation, introduced to deal with national emergencies such as acts of war and terrorism, was raised for the first time last week as part of the final stages of contingency planning for Operation Yellowhammer, the battle plan for a no-deal Brexit.”

Unlike the generic ‘Project Fear’ utterances, this ‘preparation’ does frighten me. Read on:

“As no-deal preparations are accelerated and training is rolled out to civil servants, questions have been raised about the legislation and how it could be used in the event of a no-deal Brexit,” the source said. Powers that can be used under the legislation, which critics have described as “truly draconian”, include “any provision which the person making the regulations is satisfied is appropriate” to protect human life, health and safety, and to protect or restore property and supplies of money, food, water, energy or fuel.” (my bold)

Note well that it will be some unelected civil servant who will make the decisions! Also note this:

“The overriding theme in all the no-deal planning is civil disobedience and the fear that it will lead to death in the event of food and medical shortages,” another source told The Sunday Times last week.” (my bold)

It is inconceivable to me that Brexiteers should start acts of civil disobedience when we get the WTO/No Deal Brexit we voted for! Therefore, Remain Whitehall seems to expect severe Remain Rioting – which they would use to implement this act, unto amending the ‘offensive’ No-Deal act of Parliament … and that is what is truly frightening.

Stopping Brexit, no matter how the MPs and MSM try to obfuscate, is what it is all about. The way the HoC Remainers are proposing to do this is by getting an extension to Article 50. In this, they are ably assisted by the EU, see e.g. this:

“EU negotiators have spent the past week locked behind closed doors in Brussels trying to thrash out a way to get Mrs May’s deal ‘over the line’ – without compromising their dogged insistence on a Northern Ireland ‘backstop’. The Mail on Sunday understands that they have received detailed legal advice about the expected request from London to extend Article 50 beyond the planned Brexit Day on March 29 – including work on whether it is possible to circumvent the need for the UK to put MEPs up for election to the new European Parliament when it is formed on July 1.” (source).

The Times (paywalled) writes:

“EU diplomats believe a British request for a delay of the Brexit deadline is almost inevitable if the UK wants to avoid exiting without a deal. But leaders now question if there is any point in an extension that would merely put off the moment of reckoning, rather than produce a Commons majority for a deal.”

Well observed by EU ‘diplomats’! Don’t forget that the aim of the extension-loving Remainers is not to get a ‘better deal’, it is to create the conditions for a 2nd referendum. Just because that demand has been quietly taken off the table of amendments doesn’t mean they don’t aim to get it. After all, the noises from Brussels are encouraging:

“Liberal Democrat MEP Catherine Bearder stunned the BBC when she revealed that her colleagues in the European Parliament have offered her support to secure Britain’s place in Europe. [She] claimed that other MEPs in Strasbourg were “deeply sympathetic” and had offered “to do anything they can” to help Britain stay in the EU. […] “They say that if the UK gets a second referendum, we will come to help and do whatever we can to help and make sure you stay. They really don’t want us to leave.” (source)

How kind of them – of course they don’t! They need our money … and intervening in the internal affairs of a country is, after all, a tried and tested EU method – remember Greece, remember Italy?

In yesterday’s column, I observed that the ‘Brexit calm’ we saw in yesterday’s MSM veiled feverish activities behind closed doors. Today’s reports confirm this. The DT (paywalled) reports that:

“Ministers and MPs have told Downing Street that Brexiteers and the DUP will only help to keep her proposals alive this week if the Prime Minister commits to seeking specific changes from the EU to alleviate MPs’ concerns.The warnings came amid frantic talks between No 10, ministers and MPs aimed at averting a crisis if a majority of the Commons fails to rally around a solution to save Mrs May’s deal.”

Meanwhile, the SNP was working on yet another amendment:

“SNP MP Ian Blackford will table an amendment on Monday calling on the Prime Minister to take into account Scottish Parliament’s, the Welsh Assembly’s and Commons’ votes to “overwhelmingly” reject her deal.”(source)

If you need your blood pressure raised, do read the whole thing – it’s about the Scottish tail trying to wag the whole UK dog. The DM now envisages ‘The Battle of the Brexit blockers’ amid fears that the Speaker will do his best to help the Remainers. If you can, take Tuesday afternoon off to watch the spectacle in the HoC, starting at 11.30, with some other business coming first.

Should you be meeting Remainers today and tomorrow, you must first read today’s Diary entry by the indispensable Sir John Redwood. You won’t find better points to slap round Remainer blockheads!

I leave you with the prospect of an extension with which I heartily agree:

“As fears grow that time is running out to legislate, Downing Street is planning to extend the hours of Commons sittings and keep MPs in Westminster on Fridays as well as provide help with childcare to ensure laws can be passed.” (source)

Right on! Go for it! No more long weekends for Parliament!

Tick-tock-tick-tock …

 

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