BEST
FOR BRITAIN'S
WEEKEND WIRE
Dear John,
It’s almost Christmas, and in true British holiday tradition, it’s
all kicking off. We’ve got more strikes, more incompetence, and a bit
more on that not-so-great Brexit deal for good measure. Let’s check in
on how it went.
Non-ambulatory
ambulances
‘Twas the week before Christmas,
and all through the nation, not an ambulance stirred, thanks to 12
years of pay stagnation.
Ambulance worker strikes hit the NHS on Wednesday for the first time since 1989 after the
Health Secretary Steve Barclay claimed his ‘door is open’ for
negotiations, so long as the negotiations don’t mention
pay.
The latest group of essential
workers to strike have spoken of 14-hour plus shifts, no opportunity for
breaks, and dangerously overstretched services and have called for
their pay to keep up with inflation. In the face of such
reasonableness, the Government has channelled this yellow piller,
advising people to avoid contact sports and other risky
behaviour.
Ahead of the strikes, the APPG on
Coronavirus, to whom Best for Britain acts as secretariat, published
shocking FOI data showing that England’s ambulance trusts have lost over 160,000
calendar days due to staff with Long Covid while the NHS lost more
than a million! Read more here.
Nurses’ strike: the
redux
Tuesday was the second day of industrial action in a week from RCN
nurses in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. With public opinion
remaining firmly on the side of striking nurses,
there is growing pressure for the Health Secretary to sit down with
RCN leadership to head off further strikes in the new year.
In an admirable demonstration of
how negotiations are supposed to work, RCN head Pat Cullen signalled
willingness to negotiate down from the union’s opening demand of a 19%
pay increase, but the Government have so far refused to discuss pay in
any talks.
Shockingly, the Government’s
strategy of doing absolutely no
negotiating and hoping a
winter of discontent will turn the public against strikers has so far
proved fruitless. Check out this video which focuses on nurses’ critical working
conditions from Best for Britain’s Can’t Wait campaign.
The Retained EU Law Bill - A
Christmas Catastrophe coming soon.
Yesterday saw more warnings about the apocalyptic impact of the
Government’s ‘bonfire of EU red tape’ Bill. Most businesses leaders,
legal experts and environmental aficionados agree that the wholesale
scrapping of workers rights, food safety regulations and wildlife
protections (to name but a few) is on balance, a crackers idea, so of
course the Government is ploughing ahead with it
regardless.
Read this chilling portent by our CEO Naomi Smith on what Christmas
2024 might look like one year after the Retained EU law Bill is
passed.
Where am I supposed to do my
Christmas shopping now?
For anyone hoping to keep their
Christmas shopping closer to home to spend locally and avoid postie
strike complications, well, you can’t do that either. New research
from Best for Britain has revealed that, across the UK’s biggest cities,
Christmas markets this year are set to be 21% smaller than they were
before Brexit.
The largest cities, such as London
and Edinburgh, have seen the size of their markets roughly cut in
half, while Leeds’ trademark German Christmas market was cancelled
outright due to difficulties in securing visas for traders. One
capital managed to buck the trend: Belfast, which remains in the EU
single market due to the Northern Ireland Protocol. If only there was
some kind of conclusion we could draw from this!
So if your Christmas tree is
looking a bit light of gifts nestled at the bottom, we’re working to
make sure it doesn't happen again. Next year we’ll show you how to
make origami sculptures with your blue passport.
Brexit
continued…
A new report from the British
Chamber of Commerce published on Wednesday evening revealed that more
than half of businesses are still struggling with the "shackles" of
new bureaucracy created by Brexit two years after it was negotiated.
Quelle surprise!
The BCC found that 56% of firms who
dealt with the new trade arrangements were facing difficulties importing or exporting
goods, 45% face difficulties trading services, while 44% have reported
difficulties obtaining visas for staff.
Responding to the report Hilary
Benn MP, co-convenor of the UK Trade and Business Commission, to whom
Best for Britain also acts as secretariat, called on the Government to prioritise easing the flow of trade
between British and EU companies.
STOP THE
CLOCK!
Yes, Best for Britain has pressed
pause on our counter after it was announced that former banker
(of course) Sir Laurie Magnus would be Rishi Sunak’s new independent
adviser on ethics.
The appointment comes almost 200
days after the resignation of Lord Geidt who refused to go along with
Boris Johnson’s stated intention to break international law and almost
2 months since Rishi Sunak promised “integrity, professionalism, and
accountability at every level”.
The epic heel dragging is even more
offensive when you consider the deluge of sleaze, abuse and unethical
behaviour which has dogged the Sunak administration since day
dot.
Just 4 weeks ago, Best for Britain
launched
a fresh (and fake) recruitment drive to help find a replacement
adviser. To the 500 people who sent applications to the Prime Minister
our thanks and commiserations.
Late-comers Christmas
special
The chance to make it onto Santa
Claus’s sleigh may have passed, but there’s still time to help him
finish his rounds for the year. Best for Britain's Christmas merch collection is still on sale, and items are fast
selling out.
It’s a perfect opportunity to get
your ‘Still European’ beach towel for any holidays you have planned
for the new year. It also doubles as a pillow for long waits in the
passport queue!
That’s your last Weekend Wire of
2022. We’ll be back in the New Year.
From all of us at Best for Britain,
we would like to express our sincere thanks to all our supporters for
following the twists and turns with us during what was a particularly
twisty and turny year!
We wish you a very happy and
healthy Christmas and a new year full of political competence - but
we’re not holding our breath on that last part.
Glad tidings,
Grace
Pritchard (while Tommy is State-side)
Head of Communications, Best for
Britain
