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  • Ukrainian refugees – Once again, Brexit Britain makes the EU look weak

    UK has granted nearly 2½ times as many visas as France

    Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2023

    If the BBC won’t report this, Facts4EU.Org will – Over 212,000 Ukrainian visas issued

    When it comes to Putin’s war, the UK is taking in Ukrainian refugees AND leading Europe’s military effort. The UK has so far approved huge numbers, and 155,500 have arrived so far

    The latest data issued yesterday by the Home Office reveals that Brexit Britain has issued nearly 2.5 times more visas to Ukrainian refugees than France has.

    Below we show the truth of how Brexit Britain has stepped up in offering a place of refuge for large numbers of Ukrainian refugees from Putin’s war.

    Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

    Ukraine Scheme visa applications

    UK Home Office data, as at 10 Jan 2023

    • Over ¼ of a million (259,400) visa applications received by the Home Office
    • 212,600 visas have been issued so far (82%)
    • Total arrivals of Ukrainian refugees to date : 155,500
    • Almost 70% of applicants have been female

    [Source: UK Home Office, published 13 Jan 2023.]

    How does the UK compare to EU countries?

    Facts4EU.Org has analysed the latest data from the EU Commission about Ukrainian refugees. Unfortunately it is very incomplete and unreliable, but what follows is based on our best interpretation of the EU’s current published data issued on 11 Jan 2023.

    Very few EU countries have provided data on the number of Ukrainian refugees actually in their country. We have better information on the number of visa applications made, but this is also incomplete. By contrast the UK Home Office’s data is impressive. (And it’s not often that we can commend the Home Office.)

    The UK’s performance versus comparable EU countries

    When comparing the UK’s performance with that of EU countries it’s important to give a meaningful comparison by excluding countries on Ukraine’s doorstep, which naturally received far more applications as hundreds of thousands flooded across their land borders in 2022.

    Ukraine has four land borders with the EU: Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania. Given the demographics of Ukraine, most Ukrainian refugees fled via the northern route: via Poland or in some cases Slovakia. This took many of them on to Germany and Czechia.

    © Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2023, using mapchart – click to enlarge

    Poland has of course shouldered the biggest burden out of all EU countries, taking in some 940,000 Ukrainian refugees. (We have this data for Poland but for few other EU countries.) Having the longest EU land border with Ukraine and a long tradition of absorbing Ukrainian migrants this is unsurprising.

    The UK is of course a very long way from the Ukrainian border with the EU. Kiev is more than 2,100km from London (more than 1,500 miles). Given this information, what follows is all the more remarkable.

    Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

    Ukrainian visa applications (UK) and ‘Temporary Protection applications’ (EU)

    (Excluding EU countries directly bordering Ukraine)

    • Czechia: 244,650
    • UK: 212,600
    • Germany: 188,100
    • Spain: 153,740
    • Italy: 146,380
    • Bulgaria: 144,260
    • Slovakia: 101,735
    • Netherlands: 97,995
    • Romania: 89,630
    • France: 89,030

    [Sources: EU Commission and UK Home Office.]

    © Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2023 – click to enlarge

    The UK has granted :-

    • 38% more than Spain
    • 45% more than Italy
    • 117% more than the Netherlands
    • 2.4 times as many as France
    • 2.4 times as many as Austria
    • 3.2 times as many as Ireland
    • 3.5 times as many as Belgium (the EU’s centre)
    • 4.7 times as many as Sweden

    [Note: Germany’s information is very incomplete so we have not included it in the list.]

    Brexit Britain’s proud record of assisting Ukrainian refugees

    During March 2022, the UK Government introduced two new visa routes to allow persons affected by the war in Ukraine to come to the UK. Introduced on 04 March 2022, the Ukraine Family Scheme allows applicants to join family members or extend their stay in the UK.

    The Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme was introduced on 18 March 2022, and allows Ukrainian nationals and their family members to come to the UK if they have a named sponsor under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme.

    Additionally, from 3 May 2022, the Ukraine Extension Scheme allows Ukrainian nationals and their immediate family members to apply for permission to stay in the UK.

    Observations

    Brexit Britain – a humanitarian AND a military power

    Last year the media reported on the UK’s response to President Zelenskyy’s appeal for military aid – something the UK has been providing since Putin’s illegal invasion of Crimea in 2014, almost nine years ago. This contrasts strongly with the EU’s very slow response.

    As 2022 went on, parts of the UK media started looking for something on which to criticise the UK and deflect attention away from the EU’s inadequacies. They chose the subject of Ukrainian refugees from the conflict, who are mostly women and children. It was suggested that somehow the UK was not playing its traditional role as a humanitarian nation.

    Facts4EU’s report above proves that Brexit Britain has stood up to be counted. Not only has the UK led Europe’s military effort – as confirmed by Ukraine’s President – but it is also playing its part when it comes to providing refuge for Ukrainian families escaping the conflict.

    We must get reports like this out there

    Reports like the one above take far longer to research, write and produce than many people realise. If they were easy, readers would see other organisations also producing these daily.

    However, there’s little point in the Facts4EU.Org team working long hours, seven days-a-week, if we lack the resources to promote them effectively – to the public, to MPs, and to the media. This is where you come in, dear reader.

    Facts4EU.Org needs you today

    We are a ‘not for profit’ team (we make a loss) and any payment goes towards the actual work, not plush London offices, lunch or taxi expenses, or other luxuries of some organisations.

    We badly need more of our thousands of readers to become members, to support this work. Could this be you, today? It’s quick and easy, we give you a choice of two highly secure payment providers, and we do NOT ask you for further support if you pay once. We just hope you keep supporting us. Your membership stays anonymous unless you tell us otherwise.

    Please don’t assume that other people will keep us going – we don’t receive enough to survive and we need your help today. Could you help us? We rely 100% on public contributions from readers like you.

    If you believe in a fully-free, independent, and sovereign United Kingdom, please join now by clicking on one of the links below or you can use our Support page here. You will receive a personal, friendly ‘thank you’ from a member of our team within 24 hours. Thank you.

    [ Sources: UK Home Office | EU Commission (Eurostat) ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

    Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Sat 14 Jan 2023

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  • The ECHR – What’s in a European name?

    ‘The problems of 4 little letters DO amount to more than a hill of beans in this crazy world’

    Magna Carta montage © Facts4EU.Org 2023

    Our birthright of habeas corpus, our human rights, and the magnificent Magna Carta

    Facts4EU.Org and CIBUK.Org is pleased to present a guest article by the respected former MP Christopher Gill on the very current subject of the ECHR, which is so badly constraining the Government in its options of how to deal with the exponential illegal migrant crisis.

    Mr Gill begins his piece with an analogy about a can of beans. Most readers will remember Humphrey Bogart in the iconic film Casablanca, as the jaded bar owner says to the glorious Ingrid Bergman: “The problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.”

    Well, the problem of four little letters – ECHR – do in fact amount to more than a hill of beans to the British people, and Christopher Gill explains why in his article.

    Facts4EU.Org has researched and published many times on the European Convention on Human Rights and its associated Court. The guest article below provides fresh insight from someone who understands these issues well.

    About the author

    Christopher Gill RD is a former MP (for Ludlow), a former member of the National Executive Committee of the UKIP, and former Hon. President of The Freedom Association (TFA). As a former Conservative Party MP, he was one of the Maastricht Rebels of the mid-1990s and is a confirmed Eurosceptic.

    As a constituency MP, Mr Gill fought against the closure of local cottage hospitals – something of great relevance in today’s NHS crisis. Perhaps more notably he is known for being an expert on areas of EU legislation.

    At the time of the 2010 election, Christopher Gill stated that his reasoning for standing was: “I am standing against ‘call me Dave’s’ Tories because I cannot tolerate their utter contempt for the concerns of voters on matters of immigration, economy, individual liberty and the broken promise of a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.”

    The ECHR – What’s in a name?

    By Christopher Gill RD

    When opening a can of baked beans one can be almost certain that the contents will match the description on the label.

    Not so when one delves into the pages of an international agreement known as the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

    To a generally unsuspecting British public it is virtually inconceivable that their ‘human rights’ aren’t comprehensively protected by the aforesaid ECHR – after all, ‘human rights’ is what it says on the front cover.

    The provisions of the ECHR are widely regarded as the human rights gold standard but, upon examination, the facts of the matter tell a rather different story.

    They demonstrate that the rights enshrined in the ECHR, transposed into British law by dint of the Human Rights Act 1998, are, in significant respects, inferior to those with which we British subjects are actually born.

    For example, what might not unreasonably be described as our very birthright includes the all-important law of habeas corpus, once described by the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu as “such an incredible part of freedom”, which, since 1679, has protected us against all forms of coercion.

    Far from being the panacea for all human rights ills, the ECHR suffers from some fundamental deficiencies, particularly as far as we British are concerned whose invaluable and indisputable contribution to the wider world’s human rights has its roots in Magna Carta, 1215.

    Amongst the most egregious of the ECHR’s several deficiencies are that it specifically does not prevent false accusation, arbitrary arrest and potentially unlimited periods of detention without trial, as the litany of innocent British people served with an European Arrest Warrant (EAW) would surely attest.

    A further matter for concern is the fact that presiding over the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) are judges drawn from each of the 46 countries in membership of the Council of Europe, some of which have human rights records that leave much to be desired.

    The world has changed dramatically since, in the aftermath of the Second World War, the ECHR was conceived. Regrettably it is now being used for purposes for which it was neither designed nor intended.

    The human rights abuses in the decade preceding Victory in Europe in 1945 were typified by the appalling concentration camps and the wholesale abuse of those whom the Fascist and Communist dictators arbitrarily condemned to imprisonment, slave labour, starvation and premature death.

    Those of us old enough to have witnessed the millions of Displaced Persons criss-crossing Europe in the days following the cessation of armed conflict are left with an indelible memory of human rights abuses that by today’s standards are virtually unimaginable, but which at the time, for compelling reasons, Winston Churchill and others felt moved to try to prevent ever happening again.

    Inevitably, because their good intentions had to accommodate two totally different systems of criminal justice – ours derived from Magna Carta and the continental jurisdictions, via the Napoleonic Code, derived from the Inquisition – compromises had to be made. It is those compromises that force the conclusion that substituting the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in lieu of the European Convention would now, post Brexit, be in Britain’s better interests.

    For the record Article 9 of the UDHR unequivocally states that “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile”.

    Furthermore the UDHR would, contrast the ECHR, have the effect of making British judges, sitting in British courts, the final arbiters in British human rights cases – surely a most welcome repatriation of a significant aspect of national sovereignty !

    – Christopher Gill, 10th January 2023

    Observations

    We are most grateful to Christopher Gill for his article and we hope readers found it interesting. He is a man of enormous depth of knowledge, having been active over the decades in the fight to free the United Kingdom from the yoke of EU empiricism.

    Sooner or later our government has to tackle the issue of the ECHR – the Convention and its Court. We will continue to keep up the pressure until they do.

    However there’s little point in the Facts4EU.Org and CIBUK teams working long hours, seven days-a-week, if we lack the resources to promote our work effectively – to the public, to MPs, and to the media. This is where you come in, dear reader.

    Facts4EU.Org needs you today

    We are a ‘not for profit’ team (we make a loss) and any payment goes towards the actual work, not plush London offices, lunch or taxi expenses, or other luxuries of some organisations.

    We badly need more of our thousands of readers to become members, to support this work. Could this be you, today? It’s quick and easy, we give you a choice of two highly secure payment providers, and we do NOT ask you for further support if you pay once. We just hope you keep supporting us. Your membership stays anonymous unless you tell us otherwise.

    Please don’t assume that other people will keep us going – we don’t receive enough to survive and we need your help today. Could you help us? We rely 100% on public contributions from readers like you.

    If you believe in a fully-free, independent, and sovereign United Kingdom, please join now by clicking on one of the links below or you can use our Support page here. You will receive a personal, friendly ‘thank you’ from a member of our team within 24 hours. Thank you.

    [ Sources: Christopher Gill ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

    Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Fri 13 Jan 2023

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  • “50 years later, I still think joining the EU was a mistake,” says Irexit spokesman

    It’s easy to forget the Irish twice voted against EU treaties and were told to vote again

    Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2023

    Facts4EU.Org and CIBUK.Org are pleased to present a guest article from the Republic of Ireland

    Below we publish the thoughts of a well-informed Irishman on his own country’s journey in its relationship with the European Union. He covers many important issues which have resonance for British people in the light of Brexit.

    Emeritus Professor Anthony Coughlan is Spokesman for ‘The National Platform EU Research and Information Centre’, Dublin. The organisation advocates a Europe of independent, democratic, cooperating nation states.

    With Europhile politicians such as Leo Varadkar in charge in the Republic of Ireland, it’s easy to forget that the Irish people voted to reject two key EU treaties in two referenda.

    As they ‘voted the wrong way’ they were of course made to vote again until they got the decision right. Given this background, the perspective of a very experienced Irish eurosceptic should be of interest.

    We hope readers enjoy Professor Coughlan’s excellent article as much as we did on reading it.

    Photo: Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar

    ‘A monumental betrayal of democracy by Ireland’s political Establishment’
    By Anthony Coughlan

    In the 1972 Accession referendum that brought us into the EEC, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, the Labour Party and the two recently divided Sinn Fein parties urged a No vote. But when it came to the poll it looked as if most voters said to themselves that if Fianna Fail and Fine Gael – traditional political opponents – recommended joining, it must be a good thing. The huge Yes vote was equivalent to the combined vote of the State’s two biggest parties.

    That was then – this is now

    Would people have voted the same way if they could have seen how the EEC/EC/EU has developed in the half century since? I would myself, but it is idle to speculate. What matters is where we are now and what the future holds.

    What has happened in between has been a monumental betrayal of democracy by Ireland’s political Establishment. Whether one regards joining the EEC as a mistake or not, membership was genuinely endorsed by Irish voters in 1973.

    The Irish people rejected the Nice and Lisbon Treaties but were ignored

    But when voters rejected the Nice Treaty in 2001 and the Lisbon Treaty in 2008 two things had changed: the Irish public showed clearly they were concerned at the direction of travel, but our Establishment was no longer willing to turn back, no matter what the people wanted.

    The consequences of the rejection of the People’s instincts – and, more importantly, their instructions – have been profound. One was joining the single currency, which led to the reckless credit expansion by the Irish banks and the 2009 financial crisis.

    The other has been the constitutional revolution by stealth that has made us citizens of a Federal European Union, effectively a United States of Europe, without most of us realising it or thinking through its implications.

    Photo credit: The National Platform – click to enlarge

    The ‘Federation of Europe’

    The 1950 Schuman Declaration, which the EU celebrates each year on May 9th, Europe Day, described the first supranational treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community as “a first step in the federation of Europe”. A Federation is a State and to advance that goal has been the purpose of the eight EU-related referendums we have had since 1973. Do people remember the monstrous assault on national democracy across Europe which brought the EU Constitution, that is now part of our Constitution, into being?

    In 2004 there was the “Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe”, whose first article stated: “This Constitution establishes the European Union” – clearly a constitutionally different EU from what was called the EU previously. When the French and Dutch peoples rejected this in referendums, it was 99% repackaged three years later as the Lisbon Treaty. Only Ireland was allowed a referendum on that. And when we voted to reject it in 2008 we were made to vote again in 2009 on exactly the same treaty to get a different result.

    The transfer of powers to the EU

    The EU Constitution implemented by the Lisbon Treaty abolished the European Community that had been the repository of supranational powers up to then. It transferred those powers to the new European Union which Lisbon established, giving it legal personality for the first time. It gave this new EU powers over foreign and security policy, and crime and justice. It gave it the power to decide our human rights. It put EU law-making substantially on a population basis to the benefit of the big States. And it made us all real citizens of the post-Lisbon EU so that we all now have two citizenships, with State sovereignty divided between the supranational Federal and the National/Regional level, just as in such classical Federal States as the USA and Germany.

    One can only be a citizen of a State and all States consist of their citizens. The prime civic duty of each of us, with our two citizenships, is to obey EU law and national law. In any conflict between the two, European law has primacy.

    Where are we now, post-Brexit?

    European Union membership has brought benefits of course, just as our membership of the British Union did, but on any objective assessment the costs now outweigh the benefits. We are now net contributors to, rather than beneficiaries from, the EU Budget.

    Today Ireland does more of its foreign trade with North America and the UK than it does with the continental EU. We really are closer to Boston than Berlin.

    The policy trajectory

    Outside the EU we would get back the power to make our own laws, regain our own currency and with it control of either our rate of interest or our exchange rate. We would get back our valuable sea fisheries and our foreign policy independence.

    What of Partition? Can it ever be in Britain’s security interest – or indeed England’s – to facilitate a United Ireland as a member State of a European Federation dominated by Franco-Germany? I doubt it. If that is so, then anyone who aspires to a reunified Ireland should logically be advocating Irexit – not least as a meaningful gesture to the “Britishness” of Northern Unionists.

    We need to look more objectively at the post-Lisbon EU and its policy trajectory. That means looking at it more critically than is our wont.

    The author: Anthony Coughlan is Associate Professor Emeritus in Social Policy at Trinity College Dublin

    [NOTE: Facts4EU.Org inserted sub-headings into Professor Coughlan’s article for ease of reading and also emboldened some of his key points for those readers who are short of time. Otherwise the text is unaltered.]

    Observations

    An Irish eurosceptic perspective

    From time to time Facts4EU.Org brings readers perspectives on the EU from other countries. We are outward-looking internationally, along with CIBUK of which we are an affiliated organisation, and look to support euroscepticism wherever it may be.

    An economist by profession, Professor Coughlan has been a long-standing opponent of EU integration on democratic and internationalist grounds and has written and spoken widely on EU-related matters. Back at the time of the UK’s first EU Referendum in 1975, he shared platforms with former Labour Ministers Peter Shore and Tony Benn and Conservative Minister Sir Richard Body.

    He was an active campaigner in Republic of Ireland referendums on its 1972 EEC Accession Treaty and on the 1987 Single European Act Treaty, the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, the 1998 Amsterdam Treaty, the 2001 and 2002 referendums on the Nice Treaty, the 2008 and 2009 referendums on the Lisbon Treaty and the 2012 Stability Mechanism Treaty. He also brought a constitutional action before the Irish Supreme Court in relation to fair procedures in EU-related referendums and he won the case.

    More recently Professor Coughlan was invited to make a submission to the Irish Senate Special Select Committee on the Withdrawal of the UK from the European Union in June 2017; and his submission to the UK House of Commons Northern Ireland Affairs Committee in October of that year makes points that are broadly similar.

    Facts4EU.Org would like to thank Professor Coughlan for his permission to publish this article.

    Facts4EU.Org needs you today

    We are a ‘not for profit’ team (we make a loss) and any payment goes towards the actual work, not plush London offices, lunch or taxi expenses, or other luxuries of some organisations.

    We badly need more of our thousands of readers to become members, to support this work. Could this be you, today? It’s quick and easy, we give you a choice of two highly secure payment providers, and we do NOT ask you for further support if you pay once. We just hope you keep supporting us. Your membership stays anonymous unless you tell us otherwise.

    Please don’t assume that other people will keep us going – we don’t receive enough to survive and we need your help today. Could you help us? We rely 100% on public contributions from readers like you.

    If you believe in a fully-free, independent, and sovereign United Kingdom, please join now by clicking on one of the links below or you can use our Support page here. You will receive a personal, friendly ‘thank you’ from a member of our team within 24 hours. Thank you.

    [ Source: Anthony Coughlan ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

    Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Thurs 12 Jan 2023

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  • We have just entered the third year of Great Britain’s freedom from the EU empire

    What have been the benefits of Brexit and what is still to come? Part One

    Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2023

    Facts4EU.Org looks at the state of Brexit Britain – history, progress and opportunities

    It is the start of the third year since Great Britain fully exited the European Union, at 11pm (midnight in Brussels) on 31 December 2020. In effect, GB’s independence started on 01 January 2021, which means it has just entered its third year of freedom from the EU empire. Sadly, Northern Ireland has been left behind but we hope this will soon be rectified.

    It seems an appropriate time to take stock. In what follows we look at England, Scotland and Wales, as so much of Brexit does not yet apply to Northern Ireland. We summarise N.I.’s position further down in this report.

    This is the first part of a review of Brexit by Facts4EU.Org and the ‘Clear Water’ CIBUK initiative and we begin with a retrospective look at what happened since the largest democratic vote in British history, on 23 June 2016.

    Brexit – the timeline

    It is stated in the official documents that the United Kingdom formally exited the EU on 31 January 2020. Whilst lawyers may argue this is technically the case – and the Johnson Government certainly did – the UK immediately entered the ‘Transition Period’ for a further 11 months.

    In practice, nothing had changed. The same EU rules applied until the end of 2020. The UK remained in the European Union Customs Union and the Single Market.

    As a result and to all intents and purposes, Brexit cannot be said to have started until 01 January 2021. We have therefore just entered the third year of (a partial) Brexit.

    The Remainer years : 2016 – 2019

    For four years after the EU Referendum the Remainer Establishment colluded to block the democratically expressed will of the British people. All elements of the Establishment were involved, from Ministers, MPs, Peers, to almost every UK institution from the CBI to the Church of England, to the BBC and the rest of the broadcast media, and to most of the press.

    Internationally it was the same. The EU Commission and Council was determined to punish the United Kingdom, of that there can be no doubt. The government of the Republic of Ireland also weighed in, seeing an opportunity for a united Ireland. And finally all the globalist bodies such as the IMF and OECD did everything they could to support the notion that the Brexit vote was an aberration and should be reversed – or mitigated to such an extent it was meaningless.

    Photo right: Varadkar and Tusk. Credit: EU Council

    Perhaps the most shameful moment occurred when anti-democratic MPs from all parties voted for the so-called ‘Benn Bill’ (European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019). This had the effect of tying both hands behind the Government’s back in its negotiations with the EU, and led to the general election in December of 2019.

    Photo left: Hilary Benn MP

    It wasn’t only Labour MPs and their Tory & LibDem fellow travellers – the SNP were involved too

    Many parliamentary votes were held on what form Brexit might take with the Remainer majority of MPs themselves unable to agree. On 27 March 2019 a vote for the UK to remain in the EU’s Customs Union failed by just 8 votes, but only because the 35 Remainer SNP MPs chose to abstain, in the hope of making Brexit more unpopular.

    By the time of the Benn Act, all the damage had been done, the agenda set. All that could have been done at that point was to exit without a deal and to trade with the EU on WTO terms – which is precisely what Facts4EU.Org argued and campaigned for. Instead the Government chose to proceed in the best way they felt they could in the final negotiations with Brussels.

    And what did we end up with?

    The result of all of the above, caused by the anti-democratic Remainers and the extremist ideologues of the EU Commission, was the disastrous Withdrawal Agreement, the pernicious N.I. Protocol, and the dysfunctional Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

    Facts4EU.Org has previously reported many times on all of these in detail. In this start-of-year summary we will only highlight some key issues.

    Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

    The Withdrawal Agreement, the N.I. Protocol, and the ‘Trade and Cooperation Agreement’

    1. The Withdrawal Agreement – the ‘WA’

    In amongst many totally unacceptable clauses of the Withdrawal Agreement is “the Divorce Bill”. This involves the continued payments by the UK to the EU up to the year 2064 – totalling around £40bn and rising – and with no legal justification whatsoever.

    2. The disgrace of leaving Northern Ireland behind – the ‘NIP’

    Quite disgracefully, Northern Ireland was left behind and is still effectively under EU control, thanks to the Northern Ireland Protocol (NIP).

    Northern Ireland’s status

    • Still in the EU’s Single Market
    • De facto in its Customs Union
    • Governed by laws old and new from Brussels
    • No-one in the Province can vote for or against the EU’s lawmakers
    • Under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice (CJEU)
    • The Act of Union has been nullified by the Withdrawal Agreement and its Protocol
    • The Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement has been destroyed

    3. The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA)

    As with the WA and the NIP, the ‘Trade and Cooperation Agreement’ (TCA) has not exactly helped the UK. Ostensibly designed to continue the free movement of trade between the EU and the UK, (and most of the goods come from the EU to the UK), it has been characterised by stories of belligerent and bureaucratic Customs officials in France, Belgium and the Netherlands making life as difficult as possible for British exporters.

    Probably the most famous example is British truckers being refused clearance because ‘the wrong coloured ink’ was used on the import declarations.

    Rejoiners of course attribute these things to ‘failures of Brexit’ whereas in fact they are caused by the EU wishing to punish the UK. Has the UK made life difficult for EU exporters? No. Their products have sailed through to Brexit Britain because the UK Government unilaterally accepts EU goods as meeting its standards and applies no checks.

    Observations

    So where is the good news?

    Inevitably any look back at how we got to where we are today will contaIn a great deal of negativity. There is, after all, a lot to criticise, even if the vast majority of the criticisms should be levelled at Remainers and the EU for doing their best to make Brexit as painful as possible.

    In Part Two of this Benefits of Brexit series we will start to look at the successes. If any readers would like to sponsor this series we would be most grateful.

    We must get reports like this out there

    Reports like the one above take far longer to research, write and produce than many people realise. If they were easy, readers would see other organisations also producing these daily.

    However, there’s little point in the Facts4EU.Org team working long hours, seven days-a-week, if we lack the resources to promote them effectively – to the public, to MPs, and to the media. This is where you come in, dear reader.

    Facts4EU.Org needs you today

    We are a ‘not for profit’ team (we make a loss) and any payment goes towards the actual work, not plush London offices, lunch or taxi expenses, or other luxuries of some organisations.

    We badly need more of our thousands of readers to become members, to support this work. Could this be you, today? It’s quick and easy, we give you a choice of two highly secure payment providers, and we do NOT ask you for further support if you pay once. We just hope you keep supporting us. Your membership stays anonymous unless you tell us otherwise.

    Please don’t assume that other people will keep us going – we don’t receive enough to survive and we need your help today. Could you help us? We rely 100% on public contributions from readers like you.

    If you believe in a fully-free, independent, and sovereign United Kingdom, please join now by clicking on one of the links below or you can use our Support page here. You will receive a personal, friendly ‘thank you’ from a member of our team within 24 hours. Thank you.

    [ Sources: Facts4EU Brexit Index ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

    Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Wed 11 Jan 2023

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  • “Wake up: Support for rejoining the EU has reached a critical level,” warns Sir John Curtice

    The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Truth about Brexit and Rejoin

    Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2023

    “The Brexit case will have to be remade,” warns Curtice – Facts4EU agrees wholeheartedly

    “Brexiteers cannot assume that their success of seven years ago is necessarily the final word on the matter. The case will have to be remade,” warns Prof John Curtice in today’s Daily Telegraph.

    In a wake-up call to all Brexiteers, Professor Sir John Curtice has published an alarming assessment of public opinion on Brexit. This is a terrible indictment of our political class and of all pro-Brexit organisations in the country, who have abjectly failed to capitalise on the Leave vote seven years ago.

    © Daily Telegraph 2023 – click to enlarge

    “The case for Brexit will need to be constantly re-stated and demonstrated,” concludes John Curtice.

    The Brexit Facts4EU.Org team could not agree more.

    Where did it all go wrong?

    The rot started setting in on 24 June 2016, the day after the EU Referendum. Both the official campaign, Vote Leave, and the unofficial campaign, Leave.EU, seemingly went on gardening leave. Other pro-Brexit organisations seemed just to sit back.

    Facts4EU was the only organisation which continued to work and to publish daily. For months we were to all intents and purposes on our own.

    Interestingly our readership did not drop off. Our readers clearly understood, as we did, that the game wasn’t over. It was obvious that the vast ranks of the Establishment were not going to take their Referendum defeat lying down. And so it proved.

    In tomorrow’s edition of Brexit Facts4EU.Org we outline the appalling events of the post Referendum years, before going on to Brexit benefits now and in the future.

    What needs to be done about this?

    So far this year already, in addition to other individual pro-Brexit reports, we have published a three-part landmark report on the Single Market, providing the official facts showing why the UK should never even think of rejoining the EU. The Rt Hon Sir John Redwood MP kindly provided his commentary on this. Additionally, the former Brexit Minister the Rt Hon David Jones MP also provided his comments on other pieces.

    Last week we started working on a new series, provisionally entitled “The Benefits of Brexit”. We had been intending to publish Part One today, but Professor Sir John Curtice then had his piece published in the Daily Telegraph overnight, and we felt readers should know about that first.

    The fightback for independence, sovereignty, and freedom

    Behind the scenes for the last year we have been working with CIBUK.Org – the oldest-established organisation for independence, sovereignty, democracy and freedom in the uk, founded in 1969. Facts4EU.Org has become their ‘engine powerhouse’ for definitive reports which back the arguments for Brexit.

    Together with CIBUK we have been assembling a network of affiliated organisations to counter the incessant, well-funded and ever-growing false claims from Rejoin organisations. It is these false claims – and the pro-EU and anti-Brexit media that promotes them – that has fuelled the rise in popular opinion against Brexit.

    A pivotal point, an existential crisis for Brexit

    Now we must truly gird our loins once again. “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more.”

    We are working with Westminster politicians and with other pro-Brexit organisations to fight back against the Rejoiner insurgency. We have less than two years until the next general election, when we simply don’t know what a potential change in government will mean. Our prediction is that this would result in us being taken back into the orbit of the EU’s empire by stealth.

    What you can do

    Readers who support a fully independent, sovereign and free United Kingdom can help us in two major ways.

    1. Please promote our work and that of CIBUK on social media and to all your friends via email.

    2. We need money to fund all our work

    This is a sad fact of life. Only a tiny fraction of our readership makes any financial contribution to our work. If we could double this fraction it would make an enormous difference to what we could do. You can do this quickly, simply, and securely in one of three ways.

    Your assistance will remain entirely confidential unless you tell us you are happy for us to credit you as a supporter.

    Thank you for anything you can do.

    Observations

    Facts4EU.Org needs you today

    We are a ‘not for profit’ team (we make a loss) and any payment goes towards the actual work, not plush London offices, lunch or taxi expenses, or other luxuries of some organisations.

    We badly need more of our thousands of readers to become members, to support this work. Could this be you, today? It’s quick and easy, we give you a choice of two highly secure payment providers, and we do NOT ask you for further support if you pay once. We just hope you keep supporting us. Your membership stays anonymous unless you tell us otherwise.

    Please don’t assume that other people will keep us going – we don’t receive enough to survive and we need your help today. Could you help us? We rely 100% on public contributions from readers like you.

    If you believe in a fully-free, independent, and sovereign United Kingdom, please join now by clicking on one of the links below or you can use our Support page here. You will receive a personal, friendly ‘thank you’ from a member of our team within 24 hours. Thank you.

    [ Sources: Daily Telegraph ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

    Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Tues 10 Jan 2023

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  • The total lack of Rejoiner facts

    Facts4EU.Org pumps out Brexit facts daily – where is the Rejoiner equivalent?

    Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2023

    We invite readers to find any Rejoiner facts on their official websites

    Yesterday we published information about some of the official Rejoiner organisations. Today we ask two simple questions: Where is their research and where are their facts?

    We searched in vain for any facts on the websites of these organisations, informing the public of any real information persuading people why ‘Brexit is bad, Rejoin is good’.

    As we previously reported, for years there was nothing. Now there are some pages on one of the sites but they contain only claims, not official facts.

    ‘Estimates’, ‘forecasts’, and ‘predictions’ are NOT facts

    The websites we looked at are as follows:

    We were looking for the kind of detailed research from official sources which we publish on a daily basis. Instead we found only vague assertions, forecasts and guesswork from a variety of pro-EU think-tanks.

    Who are Facts4EU.Org?

    The Facts4EU.Org team are a small group of individuals with no personal political ambitions. We are committed to the cause of the United Kingdom as a fully-independent, fully-sovereign and free country, flourishing in the world. We are proudly pro-Brexit.

    Facts4EU.Org is non-partisan and we only judge political parties on their policies in regard to our main objectives.

    Who funds Facts4EU.Org?

    Almost every week on social media, we see enraged Rejoiners who can’t answer the facts we produce and resort to the question “Who funds you?” More often we simply get abusive messages. If they could actually be bothered to click on the links we provide to all our reports, they would of course know the answer: the British public.

    Facts4EU.Org is an unincorporated association, not a company, and no-one receives a formal salary as an employee or director. The monies we receive from the public (for which we are very grateful) are not enough to cover the cost of our work and are a tiny fraction of what the Rejoin campaigns have received from foreign donors.

    Unlike some of the Rejoiner organisations which have received millions of pounds in funding from foreign foundations, we rely solely on monies received from members of the public for access to the Brexit Index and for other services we provide.

    Observations

    There is a world of difference between estimates, predictions, and forecasts – as used by the original Remain campaign back in 2016 and now used by the Rejoiners today – and real researched facts from official sources, as produced by Facts4EU.Org.

    Some months ago we pointed out that there was no information on the Rejoin websites as to why Brexit is a bad idea. Clearly the European Movement was stung into action and there are now finally some pages on various subjects. Unfortunately none of them contain any of the definitive facts of the type researched by Facts4EU.Org from official sources.

    One of the reasons most of our reports use official EU Commission data is because it gives Rejoiners nowhere to go. The other sources of our research are the Office for National Statistics and various international bodies such as the OECD, IMF and World Bank.

    Anyone can use conjecture and make wild statements. It takes a bit more effort to research, analyse, and report on real facts about Brexit. Please help us to continue doing this.

    Unlike the Rejoin campaigns, no foreign billionaires fund us. As stated above, we rely on the generosity of the British people.

    We must get reports like this out there

    Reports like the one above take far longer to research, write and produce than many people realise. If they were easy, readers would see other organisations also producing these daily.

    However, there’s little point in the Facts4EU.Org team working long hours, seven days-a-week, if we lack the resources to promote them effectively – to the public, to MPs, and to the media. This is where you come in, dear reader.

    Facts4EU.Org needs you today

    We are a ‘not for profit’ team (we make a loss) and any payment goes towards the actual work, not plush London offices, lunch or taxi expenses, or other luxuries of some organisations.

    We badly need more of our thousands of readers to become members, to support this work. Could this be you, today? It’s quick and easy, we give you a choice of two highly secure payment providers, and we do NOT ask you for further support if you pay once. We just hope you keep supporting us. Your membership stays anonymous unless you tell us otherwise.

    Please don’t assume that other people will keep us going – we don’t receive enough to survive and we need your help today. Could you help us? We rely 100% on public contributions from readers like you.

    If you believe in a fully-free, independent, and sovereign United Kingdom, please join now by clicking on one of the links below or you can use our Support page here. You will receive a personal, friendly ‘thank you’ from a member of our team within 24 hours. Thank you.

    [ Sources: The European Movement | The National Rejoin March | UK Rejoin the EU Ltd ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

    Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Mon 09 Jan 2023

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  • It’s far easier to do business in the UK than in the EU, says World Bank report

    As EU celebrates 30 years of its ‘Single Market’ we review how badly it has done

    Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2023

    The EU’s fabled ‘Single Market’ was founded 30 years ago, on 01 Jan 1993, and the EU is celebrating. But what do they have to celebrate about?

    Facts4EU.Org and CIBUK.Org have reviewed the latest reports from the EU Commission on the failings in its Single Market – particularly in respect of the services sector which accounts for 80% of the UK economy. We have also reviewed the World Bank’s latest ‘Ease of Doing Business’ country rankings, which was referred to in a major EU Commission report.

    In Part One of this Facts4EU 30th anniversary special we focus on the World Bank country rankings. In Part Two we show how the UK’s growth actually fell after joining the EU’s Single Market. And in Part Three we will provide proof from the EU Commission itself that the UK benefited from the Single Market least out of all the 28 countries.

    Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

    World Bank global rankings show the UK is much nicer place to do business than the EU

    • UK’s world ranking : 8th out of 190 countries
    • EU27’s world ranking : 40th (average)

    [Source: World Bank ‘Ease of Doing Business’ report 2021, last updated 22 Dec 2022.]

    © Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2023 – click to enlarge

    The EU’s ‘Single Market’ doesn’t make it easier to do business

    The World Bank’s rankings clearly show how the UK is streets ahead of the EU average when it comes to ‘the ease of doing business’.

    Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

    How some key EU economies fare, compared to the rest of the world

    • It’s easier to do business in North Macedonia (No.16) than in Germany (No.21)
    • It’s easier to do business in Georgia (No.7) than in Spain (No.30)
    • It’s easier to do business in Kazakhstan (No.24) than in France (No.32)
    • It’s easier to do business in Azerbaijan (No.27) than in the Netherlands (No.41)
    • It’s easier to do business in Rwanda (No.37) than in Belgium (No.45)
    • It’s easier to do business in Armenia (No.46) than in Italy (No.57)

    [Source: World Bank ‘Ease of Doing Business’ report 2021, last updated 22 Dec 2022.]

    © Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2023 – click to enlarge

    The World Bank says:

    “‘Ease of doing business’ ranks economies from 1 to 190, with first place being the best. The ranking of economies is determined by sorting the aggregate ‘ease of doing business’ scores. A high ranking (a low numerical rank) means that the regulatory environment is conducive to business operation.”

    The World Bank’s rankings look at a wide variety of important factors when doing business in any given country.

    Observations

    Whatever the shortcomings in the World Bank’s methodology in ranking countries might be, one thing is clear. Brexit Britain is far superior to the EU27 when it comes to doing business.

    The UK has consistently outshone the EU27 in these World Bank reports, in spite of the impediments imposed by the increasing raft of EU Commission interference on the UK in terms of laws, directives and regulations.

    It is now essential that the UK Government of Rishi Sunak proceeds with all speed in repealing the 4,000+ EU laws which hold Brexit Britain back. In the seventh year since the country voted for Brexit, we are sure that a very dim view will be taken by voters if the Civil Service drags its feet and if Ministers do not impose their will, with strict targets to be achieved. All these restrictions need to be removed THIS YEAR – as promised.

    In Part Two….

    In the second part of this report we will look at the EU’s Single Market – to which Rejoiners of course want us to stay closely aligned and ultimately rejoin. We will demonstrate – with official government data – how the UK’s economic growth actually fell after the country joined the Single Market and we will summarise the EU’s own evaluation of how poorly this totemic EU policy has performed in the interests of consumers and businesses.

    If you could help to fund these reports we would be greatly appreciative.

    We must get reports like this out there

    Reports like the one above take far longer to research, write and produce than many people realise. If they were easy, readers would see other organisations also producing these daily.

    However, there’s little point in the Facts4EU.Org team working long hours, seven days-a-week, if we lack the resources to promote them effectively – to the public, to MPs, and to the media. This is where you come in, dear reader.

    Facts4EU.Org needs you today

    We are a ‘not for profit’ team (we make a loss) and any payment goes towards the actual work, not plush London offices, lunch or taxi expenses, or other luxuries of some organisations.

    We badly need more of our thousands of readers to become members, to support this work. Could this be you, today? It’s quick and easy, we give you a choice of two highly secure payment providers, and we do NOT ask you for further support if you pay once. We just hope you keep supporting us. Your membership stays anonymous unless you tell us otherwise.

    Please don’t assume that other people will keep us going – we don’t receive enough to survive and we need your help today. Could you help us? We rely 100% on public contributions from readers like you.

    If you believe in a fully-free, independent, and sovereign United Kingdom, please join now by clicking on one of the links below or you can use our Support page here. You will receive a personal, friendly ‘thank you’ from a member of our team within 24 hours. Thank you.

    [ Sources: EU Commission | World Bank ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

    Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Thurs 05 Jan 2023

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  • Official: UK’s growth rate fell after joining the EU’s ‘Single Market’

    Facts4EU.Org publishes the evidence that membership of EU’s Single Market provided no benefit to the UK

    Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2023

    “The EU single market did damage to UK business,” says the Rt Hon Sir John Redwood MP

    Yesterday, Facts4EU.Org and CIBUK.Org’s report ‘It’s far easier to do business in the UK than in the EU’, says World Bank report once again ‘triggered’ those who are still fighting for the United Kingdom to rejoin the European Union. Our research yesterday showed that the UK easily outranks the EU27 when it comes to doing business – and that is according to the World Bank.

    It seems that the more incontrovertible the evidence we provide that they were wrong, the louder the howls of outrage coming from Rejoiner-Remainers.

    Given this, our new report today is equally unlikely to go down well amongst the devotees of “The European Movement”, chaired until two weeks ago by arch Remainer-Rejoiner Baron Andrew Adonis (see Observations below). We advise them to look away now.

    In 25 years of the EU Single Market the UK’s growth rate fell

    This week the EU is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the launch of the Single Market. The EU claims this project as its ‘greatest achievement’ so Facts4EU.Org decided to look at its effect on the United Kingdom’s growth rate.

    The premise was simple. 25 years is a sufficiently long period over which to gauge the beneficial effects of so momentous an ‘achievement’. We therefore analysed the UK’s average growth rate in the 25 years before, and the 25 years after, the advent of the Single Market.

    Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

    Membership of the EU Single Market did not increase UK growth

    • ‘Before’ – 1968-1992 : average 2.4% annual growth rate
    • ‘After’ – 1993-2017 : average 2.2% annual growth rate
    • In the 25 years after the Single Market started, the UK’s average annual growth rate didn’t rise, it fell

    © Brexit Facts4EU.Org – click to enlarge

    [Source: Office for National Statistics]

    The Rt Hon Sir John Redwood MP was Lady Thatcher’s Single Market Minister – here are his comments on our report

    “The EU single market did damage to UK business. In the first 10 years our car output halved as EU imports took over. We lost most of our steel industry to EU and then Chinese competition.

    “The Common Agricultural Policy forced cuts in milk production, blocked beef exports, paid farmers to rip out orchards and led to big reductions in home production of vegetables and flowers.The Common Fishing Policy led to most of our fish going to foreign vessels.

    “It is time we encouraged much more home production. The EU trade Remain goes on about is many more imports than exports.”

    – The Rt Hon Sir John Redwood MP, 06 Jan 2023

    Observations

    Andrew Adonis and his ‘European Movement’

    Until two weeks ago Andrew Adonis was Chairman of the ‘European Movement’ – a lobbying group which has been assembling a membership of pro-EU people and those who favour the UK rejoining the EU. This British movement has been part-funded by George Soros, the foreign billionaire. Adonis’s own political allegiances have varied between the SDP, LibDem, and Labour parties.

    He was previously a writer and local councillor, before becoming an advisor to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown’s governments. In 2005 Mr Blair made Andrew Adonis a Life Peer and he was then given ministerial positions before subsequently being appointed to the Cabinet. As Transport Secretary it is said that he was the pioneer of the HS2 project.


    © Parliament

    Baron Adonis has never been elected as an MP, nor as an MEP, although he has been selected as a candidate on more than one occasion before later dropping out. When he stood as a Labour MEP candidate in the 2019 European elections, he not only failed to get elected but Labour’s share of the vote in his constituency fell to just 6.5%.

    Despite his record, Baron Adonis became a Director of ‘The People’s Vote’ – a pro-EU campaign group. The ‘people’ had of course already had a vote, which is more commonly known as the EU Referendum. In the largest electoral mandate in British history, the people voted to leave the European Union. Nevertheless Lord Adonis and his colleagues campaigned to overturn this – and are still doing so.

    Freedom of speech – even for those with whom we disagree

    The Facts4EU.Org team believes passionately in freedom of speech. We extend this to all those who argue from a different point of view to us.

    Unlike Lord Adonis of Camden Town, however, we have no interest in public office. We are content to research and publish official facts to inform the debate. We tend to think that basic facts are important. After all, if opinions are not based in reality then what value do those opinions have?

    Today’s Facts4EU.Org makes damning reading – tomorrow’s will rub salt into the wound for Rejoiners

    Our report today is damning enough when it comes to the claim that the United Kingdom had to be a member of the Single Market in order to survive.

    Our report tomorrow will produce even more misery for those who simply cannot seem to accept the result of a democratic decision by the British people to regain their sovereignty and prosper outside the confines of the EU Empire.

    We think readers will find the facts in tomorrow’s report astonishing. Don’t miss it!

    Facts4EU.Org and you – would you like us to continue our work?

    Most of our readers are well-informed and appreciate our fact-based articles, presented in a way you won’t see anywhere else. If you value reports like the one above, please help our work with a donation. We have far more to do in researching, publishing, campaigning and lobbying Parliament than we have in terms of the financial resources to fulfil these tasks. We badly need funding to continue – we rely 100% on public donations from readers like you. We are a ‘not for profit’ team (we make a loss) and any donation goes towards the actual work, not plush London offices, lunch or taxi expenses, or other luxuries of some organisations. Nor do we ask you for further donations if you donate once – we just hope that you keep supporting us. Your donation stays anonymous unless you tell us otherwise.

    If you believe in a fully-free, independent, and sovereign United Kingdom, please make a donation now. It’s quick, secure, and confidential, and you can use one of the links below or you can use our Donations page here. You will receive a personal, friendly ‘thank you’ from a member of our team within 24 hours. Thank you for reading this.

    [ Sources: Office for National Statistics ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

    Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Fri 06 Jan 2023

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    Supported by MPs, MEPs, & other groups, our work has impact.

    We think facts matter.
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  • Is ‘The European Movement’ in trouble? Lord Adonis quits as Chairman

    This news comes as the Rejoiners are massing for a ‘Day For Rejoin’ in March

    Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2023

    Facts4EU.Org takes an irreverent look at what the anti-democrats are doing

    10 days before Christmas Lord Andrew Adonis, the Chairman of ‘The European Movement’ of arch-Rejoiners, unexpectedly and quietly resigned, “to spend more time on his writing”. Strangely, this news seems to have gone unreported by the BBC.

    The European Movement’s Vice Chair, Molly Scott Cato, will serve as interim Chair until a successor is elected. Commenting on the resignation she said:-

    “I am disappointed by this news, but I would like to thank Andrew for his enormous contribution to the European Movement as our Chair. Under Andrew’s leadership, the European Movement has accelerated our membership growth, reformed our governance and defined a clear strategy to campaign’ Step by Step’ to reverse the calamity of Brexit.”

    “We are entering a critical stage in the Battle for the Soul of our Country. What we do now will define the pace of our route back to the EU. Our next Chair must be fully committed to that goal whilst continuing to build our Movement across the country.”

    – European Movement website statement, 14 Dec 2022

    Who is Molly Scott Cato?

    Unlike Baron Adonis, who withdrew from every national election before polling day and only got his ministerial position by virtue of Tony Blair making him a peer, Molly Scott Cato was elected as an MEP for the Green Party.

    Her interests are green economics, localism and anti-capitalism, and she is strongly anti-nuclear. An academic, she was privately educated at a well-known girls’ school in Bath and went on to study PPE at Oxford.

    In the last general election she stood as the ‘Unite to Remain’ candidate in Stroud, with the LibDems standing down to give her a chance. Molly Scott Cato came third, gaining only 7.5% of the vote and with just 4,954 constituents voting for her.

    The Rejoiners’ march in October was a bit of a disappointment for them

    In October the National Rejoin March (NRM) organised a march in London, protesting against Brexit and calling for the United Kingdom to rejoin the European Union.

    Amongst the headline speakers was Steve Bray. Readers will know him as the irritating man who for years disrupted every news broadcast from College Green outside Parliament with his constant “No Brexit!” shouts. They also had to endure the Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt.

    The NRM claim that their march in October:-

    “was a huge success, attracting 50,000 re-joiners who marched peacefully through the streets of London to Parliament Square, where a rally was held featuring fantastic and hopeful speeches from Guy Verhofstadt, Terry Reintke, Femi Oluwole, Siobhan Benita, Mike Galsworthy, Steve Bray and many more.”

    National Rejoin March website

    The Metropolitan Police say that only 15,000 were on the march, not the 50,000 claimed by the organisers on the NRM website.

    VIDEO: The Rejoiners’ ‘stage show’ was cringe-making

    When it comes to the stage show following the march, this is where words almost fail us. It must be remembered before watching any of this that it is the Rejoiners who claim that Brexiteers are ill-educated and ignorant. All we can do is recommend our readers to watch at least some of it.

    The full video on YouTube is here.

    Photo credit: NRM

    Now the Rejoiners are mobilising for a day of action in March 2023

    Undaunted, the NRM are now mobilising for a ‘Day for Rejoin’, on Saturday 25th March 2023. Here is what they say:-

    “What is ‘NRM Day For Rejoin’?”

    “A day of pro-rejoin action around the whole of the UK and in every EU country, all happening on the same day. Events of all different kinds, whether a static protest, a music event, street dancing, street stall, book fair, pub crawl, whatever you can dream up! We need organisers to create pro-rejoin events in every area of the UK and around the EU. Sign up to become an organiser with the form below!”

    Over £3 million in foreign funding received by Rejoiner organisations

    One international organisation, known as ‘The Open Society Foundations’ (OSF), was founded by foreign multi-billionaire George Soros, who made a great deal of money betting against sterling.

    Their website states they are :-

    “the world’s largest private funder of independent groups working for justice, democratic governance, and human rights.”

    – Open Societies website

    From 2016 to 2019 George Soros’s OSF donated more than £3 million to UK groups dedicated to overturning the largest democratic vote in the United Kingdom’s history.

    Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

    Foreign funding of UK Rejoiner groups, 2016-2019

    This is only OSF funding – we do not have details of other funding

    • Best for Britain: £400,000 (2017), £1,087,000 (2018), £1,213,689 (2019)
    • European Movement: £100,000 (2017), £100,000 (2018)
    • Scientists for EU: £35,000 (2017)
    • Bright Blue: £86,000 (2016)
    • TOTAL: £3,021,689 over four years after the Referendum

    [Source: The Open Society Foundations]

    © Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2023 – click to enlarge

    Note: We do not have details of any other funding that may have been received by these groups from OSF since 2019, nor the amount of funding from other sources.

    Observations

    Despite all of the above, opinion polls are showing over 50% of the public in favour of rejoining the EU. We must not be complacent and this is where we need the help of our readers.

    We must get reports like this out there

    Reports like the one above take far longer to research, write and produce than many people realise. If they were easy, readers would see other organisations also producing these daily.

    However, there’s little point in the Facts4EU.Org team working long hours, seven days-a-week, if we lack the resources to promote them effectively – to the public, to MPs, and to the media. This is where you come in, dear reader.

    Facts4EU.Org needs you today

    We are a ‘not for profit’ team (we make a loss) and any payment goes towards the actual work, not plush London offices, lunch or taxi expenses, or other luxuries of some organisations.

    We badly need more of our thousands of readers to become members, to support this work. Could this be you, today? It’s quick and easy, we give you a choice of two highly secure payment providers, and we do NOT ask you for further support if you pay once. We just hope you keep supporting us. Your membership stays anonymous unless you tell us otherwise.

    Please don’t assume that other people will keep us going – we don’t receive enough to survive and we need your help today. Could you help us? We rely 100% on public contributions from readers like you.

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    [ Sources: The European Movement | National Rejoin March ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

    Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Sun 08 Jan 2023

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  • ‘UK benefited least from our greatest achievement,’says EU in last Single Market report before Brexit

    Official ‘Single Market Scoreboard 2020’ ranks UK bottom, at No.28 out of 28 EU countries

    Montage © Facts4EU.Org

    With the 2nd highest net contributions, the UK got the least benefit from the EU’s pride and joy

    All readers will remember how the EU’s Single Market was held up by the state-sponsored Remain Establishment as the jewel amongst the reasons why it was essential for the United Kingdom to remain a member of the European Union. The Rejoin campaign continues this false mantra to this day.

    Prime Minister David Cameron, Chancellor George Osborne, and all of “the Great and the Good” didn’t stop talking about it. Without being a member of the Single Market, the public was told, the UK was more or less finished. Between 500,000-820,000 people would lose their jobs almost immediately, the UK economy would fall off a cliff, house prices would plummet, and the defence of the Realm would be in peril.

    So, how did the UK actually do out of the EU’s Single Market, according to the EU itself?

    Brexit Facts4EU.Org reviewed the last official EU ‘Single Market Scoreboard 2020’ before the United Kingdom finally left on 31 December 2020. Here is the EU’s verdict.

    “The UK has the lowest trade integration in the Single Market for goods and the third lowest trade integration for services.”

    – Official EU Single Market Scoreboard, 2020 report

    The Rt Hon Sir John Redwood MP gave Facts4EU.Org his thoughts on our report

    “The more revealing figures show the UK’s growth rate fell after we joined the EEC and fell again once they completed the single market in 1992. That was why some of us campaigned to leave the single market as well as leaving the EU.

    The single market was designed against us and promoted continental exports to us to replace our home production.”

    – The Rt Hon Sir John Redwood MP

    Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

    How the EU’s Single Market delivered nothing for the UK’s trade in GOODS

    © Brexit Facts4EU.Org – click to enlarge

    The chart shows the percentage of a country’s GDP represented by trade in goods with other EU countries (average of imports and exports). This is how the EU itself summarises the Single Market and trade.

    The EU ranks its Single Market at the top of all its ‘greatest achievements’

    It is important to be clear about the EU’s Single Market. It wasn’t a surprise that David Cameron, George Osborne, the BBC, and the rest of the Remain Establishment talked about the Single Market so much. The EU rates it as its ‘greatest achievement’.

    As ever, Facts4EU.Org quotes from the EU Commission itself:-

    “EXECUTIVE SUMMARY”

    “The Single Market ranks at the top among the greatest accomplishments of European integration. For over 25 years, it has been delivering growth, jobs, legal certainty to business, a wide choice of safe products to consumers and guaranteeing the free movement to EU citizens in the Member States. It is part of our daily life, interweaving the activities of businesses and consumers across borders.”

    – EU Commission website

    “Ah, but what about services?” cry the Remainer-Rejoiners. “This is the UK’s strength!”

    Facts4EU.Org also analysed the EU’s figures on the benefits of the Single Market to each country in respect of the service economy.

    Firstly, we must once again point out that the Single Market does not work for services – the UK’s strength – by the EU’s own admission.

    “The Single Market – this jewel that is all too often taken for granted –
    does not function properly for services”

    – Elżbieta Bieńkowska, EU Commissioner for the Single Market, 2017

    That said, the UK got almost as little benefit from its strength in services as in goods

    Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

    How the EU’s Single Market delivered nothing for the UK’s trade in SERVICES

    © Brexit Facts4EU.Org – click to enlarge

    The chart shows the percentage of a country’s GDP represented by trade in services (financial and non-financial) with other EU countries (average of imports and exports). This is how the EU itself characterises this.

    Observations

    Year after year Facts4EU.Org has summarised the official annual reports from the EU Commission on the performance of its “greatest achievement” – the Single Market.

    Year after year the UK has come bottom – benefiting the least out of all 28 member countries overall.

    Above we have summarised the last EU report before the United Kingdom formally left the EU on 31 December 2020. This data is incontrovertible – it comes directly from the EU’s very own “Single Market Scoreboard” which is published each year.

    Why is Facts4EU.Org publishing this analysis?

    Imagine for a moment if the EU’s official ‘Scoreboard’ had shown the United Kingdom at the top, in terms of the benefits it received in trade with the EU’s Single Market. The BBC, Financial Times, Guardian, Sky News and ITN would have been all over this. There would have been daily laments about the economic catastrophe of leaving the Single Market.

    Instead, all we get are economists projections claiming the UK has suffered since leaving the EU. We have not seen the results of the EU’s official Single Market Scoreboard 2020 published anywhere. This is why we researched and published this report. The British public deserve to know these facts, and we very much hope that a national newspaper willl run with this story.

    As for the BBC, well we all know the answer to that one…

    Facts4EU.Org and you

    Most of our readers are well-informed and appreciate our fact-based articles, presented in a way you won’t see anywhere else. If you value reports like the one above, please help our work with a donation. We have far more to do in researching, publishing, campaigning and lobbying Parliament than we have in terms of the financial resources to fulfil these tasks. We badly need funding to continue – we rely 100% on public donations from readers like you. We are a ‘not for profit’ team (we make a loss) and any donation goes towards the actual work, not plush London offices, lunch or taxi expenses, or other luxuries of some organisations. Nor do we ask you for further donations if you donate once – we just hope that you keep supporting us. Your donation stays anonymous unless you tell us otherwise.

    If you believe in a fully-free, independent, and sovereign United Kingdom, please make a donation now. It’s quick, secure, and confidential, and you can use one of the links below or you can use our Donations page here. You will receive a personal, friendly ‘thank you’ from a member of our team within 24 hours. Thank you for reading this.

    [ Sources: EU Commission ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

    Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Sat 07 Jan 2023

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    Since before the EU Referendum, Brexit Facts4EU.Org
    has been the most prolific researcher and publisher of Brexit facts in the world.

    Supported by MPs, MEPs, & other groups, our work has impact.

    We think facts matter.
    Please donate today, so that we can continue to ensure a clean Brexit is finally delivered.

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