February 11th, 2022
Dear Friends and Supporters
The past 2 weeks have certainly been eventful, and included the 2-year anniversary of the UK’s exit from the political institutions of the European Union. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has used this celebration to try and reinvigorate his popularity, with the recent mini-reshuffle of Ministers aimed at placating Brexiteers in Parliament and around the country. Among the changes made, Jacob Rees-Mogg MP has been given the role of ‘Minister for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency’.
While it’s about time a Minister was appointed to this role, with specific responsibility for escalating Brexit reforms, the fact Boris was willing to add ‘Government Efficiency’ onto the title given to Rees-Mogg only raises questions about whether the focus of this Government is really about fulfilling the real opportunities of Brexit – or whether this is just another ‘smoke and mirrors’ game, as we have seen before.
Increasing efficiency should obviously be a key goal of Ministers across the Government. However, this will be a mammoth task, especially as we believe the job includes the reform of the Civil Service. I find it very difficult to understand how Rees-Mogg’s new job, combined with his responsibilities to his constituents, can be balanced with the time needed to investigate and introduce reforms to former EU regulations. If this job of EU/Brexit law reform is to be done properly, it will need all of his time and focus!
Also included in the PM’s reshuffle was a raft of changes within the team at 10 Downing Street. Brexiteer Steven Barclay MP has been made Chief of Staff and the PM has begun setting up a new department – The Office of the Prime Minister. Slightly ironically, he is creating more bureaucracy when he is supposed to be trying to be more efficient.
However, of huge concern, is the appointment of the Prime Minister’s new Director of Communications, Guto Harri - a man who worked for Boris Johnson when he was Mayor of London, but h fiercely backed ‘Remain’ in the EU Referendum. Is this really the man to shape the PM’s messages about delivering on Brexit? I very much doubt it!
I know I have written about this before, but unfortunately Brexit is clearly not yet done and dusted.
Get Britain Out still needs to continue our fight to help to deliver a Real Brexit this year.
Donations continue to reduce and we cannot carry on without money.
There have been increasing interventions by high profile ‘Remainers’ - such as Sir John Major, Dominic Grieve and Lord Adonis - as they seem to believe now is their chance to undermine Boris Johnson and Brexit.
These blatant attempts to further their ‘Re-join the EU’ cause cannot go unchallenged, so it’s more important than ever for Get Britain Out to give Brexiteers across the country a loud voice in the media.
If you value our work, and can afford to do so, please can you dig deep to help us keep fighting for a Real Brexit.
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The Government’s 2-year anniversary celebration of Brexit also included the release of a document entitled ‘The Benefits of Brexit: How the UK is Taking Advantage of Leaving The EU’. Certainly when I read the title, I was filled with hope to see the Government finally making the case for Brexit and clearly explaining the steps they will be making to take advantage of Brexit. Except this is not what the document does! Instead, we have over 100 pages of Civil Service waffle with very little actual substance or vision – along with no deadlines or timeline of any sort for changes to be made. It is clear the people who wrote the document have never believed in Brexit and have no appetite for delivering on the democratic will of the people. If reform of the Civil Service is happening, I can recommend Rees-Mogg starts with those who have written this report.
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One thing is now very clear - the Prime Minister has done a lot of talking in the last 2 weeks about how he will step up and deliver on Brexit. However, talk is easy. All of us need to see actions now to reflect the promises he has made, otherwise his words will just mean more empty promises from a beleaguered PM who had so much potential in the beginning.
Thankfully, one area where common sense now seems to be prevailing in Westminster is on energy. The Prime Minister appears to be starting to look away from his ‘Net-zero’ agenda, perhaps realising the United Kingdom needs to increase our level of energy independence by not solely focusing on unreliable renewable energy sources - such as wind and solar.
- Last week saw the UK Government approve a new oil field off the coast of Scotland named ‘Oil Field Abigail’, an area which holds in the region of 5.5 million barrels of oil.
- This week the Government also granted permission for 6 new oil and gas drilling sites in the North Sea, to combat rising wholesale gas prices.
- In excellent news this week, a UK team as part of the Joint European Torus (JET) project near Oxford – not bound to the EU - has achieved a world record for the amount of power created through Nuclear Fusion. In just 10 seconds this machine created enough power to fuel 10,000 homes. If fully developed the technology has the potential to create near limitless energy without the dangerous by-products we see created by current nuclear power.
(N.B. Nuclear Fusion reactions power the Sun and other stars. In a fusion reaction, two light nuclei merge to form a single heavier nucleus. The process releases energy because the total mass of the resulting single nucleus is less than the mass of the two original nuclei. The leftover mass becomes energy).
Not only will these developments help us to combat the cost-of-living crisis, we will reduce our dependency on potentially hostile foreign states, like Russia or the EU for our power. Unfortunately, though, there has also been some regression, as the UK regulator - the ‘Oil and Gas Authority’ (OGA) - has this week ordered the sealing of the UK’s only 2 fracking sites, despite the process’s potential benefits of lowering gas prices. In the USA - where fracking is far more common and makes up over 50% of their oil and gas production - natural gas prices are 71% lower than they are in Europe. Despite this clear positive, the Government appears to have abandoned the practice because they are unwilling to pursue a positive argument with the public, as well as finding ways to limit potential negatives, such as small earthquakes.
On top of this we have seen further failure by the Government to secure the borders of this country. While the media fussed over ‘Partygate’, the number of illegal migrants crossing the English Channel in January 2022 was SIX times higher, than in January 2021, with over 1,200 people making the crossing and being put up in hotels at the taxpayers’ expense. The Government claim their new ‘Nationality and Borders Bill’ will solve the problem, but more than 2 years after being elected on this promise, the Bill is still nowhere near coming into Law. In the meantime, thousands of people continue to enter this country illegally, with very few checks in place and a system which makes it nearly impossible to remove them even if their asylum claims are rejected.
In addition, I now learn we are paying for 60 CCTV cameras on French beaches, with no ability to monitor these ourselves, or proof any of them will stop the people-smugglers from endangering lives! No doubt they will simply end up giving the French officials a more comfortable way of sitting and watching boats getting launched, taking no action in the process.
In Northern Ireland, we continue to see the EU refuse to come to the table willing to negotiate in any meaningful way. Clearly, despite Edwin Poots, the agriculture Minister of the DUP attempting to ban checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK, and the DUP First Minister, Paul Givan, resigning over the Protocol issues. The EU are still trying to convince themselves the Northern Ireland Protocol is fit for purpose.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has held a meeting today with EU Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič. However - as per usual - following the meeting, negotiations have been kicked down the road again, with a joint-statement of just 63 words being released despite the fact intensive talks were supposed to have taken place all this week! The EU are obviously of the opinion they can wait out Boris Johnson and his Government, while hoping he is forced to resign over ‘Partygate’, and a more pliable replacement might take his place. If the UK are to change this mindset, then we must put pressure on the EU by forcing them to make decisions now. The continuation of appeasement tactics by Liz Truss are simply unacceptable – and while she is jetting around the world as Foreign Secretary, her mind is clearly not on resolving the problems in Northern Ireland!
Following on from the last two points I have made, we are now seeing just how much damage the excessive focus on so-called ‘Partygate’ - and threats of ‘No Confidence’ votes - are doing to the ability of the Government to get anything done. This must stop, otherwise we will simply stay in this endless loop of political witch-hunts. Meanwhile, it is the Great British Public who are paying the price because attention cannot be paid to the real issues which affect our everyday lives. To make matters worse, MPs are now off again on an 11-day ‘Recess’, meaning any urgent action is further delayed. Many MPs claim they should be given a pay rise - well how about they actually put in the work to earn it – especially now we are OUT of the EU, and they cannot rely on the EU to do all their work for them!
However, regardless of the problems we are seeing at the moment, I do like to end these e-Bulletins on good news, as it is so important we keep talking about the benefits of Brexit - even if some in Government seem to forget:
- The UK economy grew by 7.5% last year - which was the fastest in the G7 - blowing EU competitors out of the water with the German economy growing by only 2.1%.
- Thanks to our world-leading vaccine rollout in the UK – only possible because we left the EU - we are set to end all Covid-19 restrictions later this month.
Brexit has allowed our economy to open up more markets than ever for British goods. As a result, trade with countries we have signed deals with so far, grew by over £20 billion in 2021 alone, despite ongoing restrictions in some countries and the impact of the Suez Canal being blocked for 6 days, disrupting worldwide trade flows. You can see Get Britain Out’s full analysis of the trade deals the UK has signed, as well as those we are now negotiating with potential partners, HERE.
WHAT WE HAVE BEEN UP TO:
Director of Get Britain Out, Jayne Adye, has written or featured in the following articles –
OTHER IMPORTANT STORIES YOU MAY LIKE TO READ:
- Brexit stalemate goes on: Liz Truss and EU's Šefčovič fail to come up with solution to Northern Ireland impasse after latest round of talks in London – Daily Mail
- We need no Major lectures on democracy from Remainers - Spiked
- Non-EU imports overtook trade with the bloc last year – The Evening Standard
- CCTV cameras will be set up along French coast in bid to bring halt to Channel migrant crossings – Daily Mail
- Six North Sea oil and gas fields to be fired up amid Cabinet row over net zero – Daily Telegraph
- Six times as many migrants crossed Channel by boat in January as in same month last year as numbers jump from 223 to 1,341 – Daily Mail
- Top Tory Brexiteers pile pressure on Boris Johnson for bigger Government shake-up – The Evening Standard
- What have you done! Frost explodes at Boris as he lifts lid on furious red tape Brexit row – Daily Express
- Global Britain: £500bn Brexit boost and 5m jobs via supercharge of UK exports and new trade ties – CityA.M.
- Lord Dodds: Northern Ireland will miss out on flexible UK approach to state aid due to the NI Protocol – Newsletter
- Brexit Britain is China's most dangerous European enemy – Daily Telegraph
- UK swerves away from EU car safety rules following Brexit - CityA.M.
- The Brexit Freedoms Bill must not be watered down - Daily Telegraph
- Fishermen Slam Boris for Saying He ‘Got Brexit Done’ Despite Being ‘Sold Out’ - Breitbart
- Boris will fight to survive ‘Partygate’ scandal with plans to level up the UK & avert war in Ukraine - The Sun
- Brexit: EU laws overhaul will boost growth, vows Boris Johnson - BBC News
- Why is the EU so scared of British food? - CapX
- Boris’s betrayal of his revolutionary Brexit mandate is now almost total - Daily Telegraph
- Attempt to stop Brexit checks at NI ports ‘breaches international law’ - Evening Standard
- Brexit Britain masterplan to clinch £500 billion windfall and millions of jobs laid bare – Daily Express
- UK fintech investment hits £27.5bn, a sevenfold increase in just twelve months – CityA.M.
That’s all for this e-Bulletin. I hope you have a lovely weekend as the weather finally seems to be starting to turn the corner.
From Jayne Adye, Campaign Director and my Team at Get Britain Out
P.S. Thanks to everyone again who helps us with donations - whether one-off contributions or repeat donations. As I have explained above, we still need financial help if we are to continue – this is serious or we will really have to stop the campaign soon! There is so much more the Government needs to do to deliver a Real Brexit for Britain.
Donations can be made via bank transfer, bank standing order, direct debit or cheque (please note cheques should be payable to The EU Referendum Campaign Limited and NOT Get Britain Out, which is our trading name) – and not only via PayPal.
All details are on our website HERE. Your donations are really appreciated.
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Thank you.
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Thanks again to everyone for your support, which is very much appreciated.
Jayne and the team
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