Brexitwatch: MPs determine our fate. Write to yours

It's great that two million marched in London and that nearly five million have signed the petition to revoke Article 50, but don't forget that MPs have already ignored another huge march for a 'People's Vote' on the Brexit terms and the four million plus people who signed a petition for a second referendum.

I have always believed that Brexit will be defeated only when MPs begin to think supporting it will damage their careers. So if your MP has not done everything in his/her power to fight Brexit so far, write to them NOW and say that if the UK leaves the EU you will hold them and their party responsible, and you will work to ensure their defeat at all future elections. If they are entrenched Brexiters, write anyway. They can still count.

My MP happens to be Labour's Brexit spokesperson, Sir Keir Starmer, and this is what I have written to him: 

Dear Sir Keir,

I was bitterly disappointed to see the Labour Party trying to sabotage the People's Vote march. This is deeply foolish as well as duplicitous. As for hearing Caroline Flint singing the praises of Theresa May's blind Brexit when even Nigel Farage admits it is worse than staying in the EU, words fail me.

If we now leave the EU, I will not forgive Labour.

There is no longer any justification for Brexit:

1. Any Brexit will damage the UK and particularly the people Labour is supposed to care most about.

2. The referendum result is null and void as it was won by lies, cheating and criminality. (I am bitterly disappointed that Labour has tried to sweep this under the carpet - an act of foolishness and cowardice that will haunt the party for a very long time.)

3. The Brexit that was promised is not being and cannot be delivered, and there is no mandate for either of the available Brexits - Theresa May's blind Brexit or 'no deal'.

Labour's half-hearted opposition to the right wing Brexit coup has been a dreadful stain on the party's reputation, and if we are now dragged out of the EU, I will regard Labour as being as much to blame as the Tories. I trust you will now do whatever is necessary to stop it.

If we do leave, I will not forget, and I will do everything I can to help defeat Labour in all subsequent elections.

There is still time to do the right thing, but it is fast running out.

Yours sincerely,

John Withington

Brexitwatch: how revoking Article 50 could unite the UK

On December 19, I blogged about how revoking Article 50 could unite the country on Brexit. With a petition demanding revocation now having attracted more than 3 million signatures, it seems a good idea to restate my plan:

The government should immediately revoke Article 50 because no sensible Brexit can be negotiated by Theresa May's foolishly self-imposed deadlines. Revoking Article 50 allows us to take back control as we can do it unilaterally without any time limits.

Parliament should then set up a grand committee of all MPs who support Brexit. (This might simply be self-selected or it might be limited to those MPs who have spoken in the Commons in favour of it.)

That committee would then have the task of deciding what the Brexiters want, and devising a plan to be put to parliament. Once MPs had agreed the plan was credible, did not damage the UK, and had a good chance of being accepted by the EU, it would then be put to the government. 

The government would then consider the proposals, and report to parliament on its suggestion as to how to proceed. I urgently recommend this as the best way out of the Brexit mess before it turns into a disaster.

Here's the petition. Please sign - https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/241584

Brexitwatch: if Jeremy Corbyn was Noah.....

Thanks to the New European for publishing my letter.

And sign the petition to revoke Article 50 and stop the whole sorry Brexit saga. A million signatures in 24 hours and counting - fast https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/241584

Brexitwatch: petitions to sign, emails to send

Mind-boggling isn't it? MPs have NEVER bothered to debate whether Brexit will benefit the UK. Sign the petition to demand they remedy this gross dereliction of duty before it's too late:-

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/229636

Yesterday I blogged about contacting the Metropolitan Police to ask why they have not acted on evidence they have received about criminal activity by members of the Leave campaign during the EU referendum of 2016. But it is also worth contacting your MP to ask what they are going to do about the Met's turning a blind eye. This is what I sent to mine:-

I'm sure you are aware that for five months the Metropolitan Police has been sitting on evidence of criminal activity employed by the Leave Campaign to illegally win the EU Referendum. They are apparently refusing to act because of 'political sensitivities.' If you are not aware, you should read this:

https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/brexitinc/james-cusick-adam-ramsay/met-police-stall-brexit-campaign-investigations-claiming-polit

If the referendum was won by criminal means, it is hard to overestimate the importance of the crime. It is something that will damage our country for decades, possibly generations.

But the importance of the decision not to act has even wider-reaching implications. If, in future, crimes are not going to be investigated because certain politicians and/or political groups do not want them to be, then the UK has ceased to be a democracy.

I have made my complaint to the Met, but I should like to know what you and the Labour Party are doing about it.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Brexitwatch: lies, damned lies and Theresa May's government

Along with 189,491 other people, (that's more than 5 times the number who voted that Theresa May should be elected an MP) I signed a petition to the UK government and parliament saying: 'If Vote Leave has broken any laws regarding overspending in 2016 EU referendum then Article 50 should be immediately withdrawn and full EU membership continued.'

The most striking thing about the government's response, from Brexit fanatic Dominic Raab's 'Department for Exiting the EU', is that it NEVER MENTIONS the Leave Campaign breaking the law, even though this is now clearly established. So the government simply ignores the key point of the petition.

The rest of the reply is packed with the usual Brexit lies: the referendum result is described time and time again as an 'instruction' to MPs, while actually it was advice which, as was made clear in the legislation setting up the referendum, parliament is perfectly entitled to reject. 

It claims that 80% of voters in the General Election of 2016 backed Brexit. Arrant nonsense. Labour and Tory parties each offered dozens of policies. No one knows how many people voted for the parties because of their Brexit 'plans' and how many in spite of them. They were also voting on whether Theresa May or Jeremy Corbyn should be running the country. Their answer? Neither.

Then says Raab: 'we are committed to making a success' of Brexit. Yes, and I really want to play centre forward for Manchester United. Unfortunately, just like the government with Brexit, I have no credible plan for achieving my aim.

Perhaps most striking is this sentence: 'There can be no attempt to stay in the EU'. So there you have it. Official government policy: no matter what damage Brexit will do, no matter how many jobs, businesses, public services are destroyed, no matter how much cheating procured the result, the government will continue to drag us out of the EU. 

The full text of the government response is here: 

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/223729

Brexitwatch: Lies and Broken Promises so far

The Leave Campaign in the UK's EU referendum was the most mendacious, deceitful, inflammatory and irresponsible I have ever seen, so it was clear the wheels would come off if they won. But even I am surprised how quickly it has happened. 

Broken promises so far:-

1. The economy will not be damaged. In fact, the pound crashed to its lowest level for more than 30 years, and job losses are already being announced.

2. David Cameron will stay on as Prime Minister. In fact, within a couple of hours of the result being announced, he had resigned.

3. The NHS will get an extra £350m a week if we leave the EU. Now the Brexit leadership says it will not. Their flagship promise was a ‘mistake’.

4. Leaving the EU will cut immigration. Now Brexit Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan admits this is not going to happen. They want to keep freedom of movement with Europe. In fact, as I have pointed out before, the anti-Europeans have no target for immigration, and it may well go up if we leave the EU.

It has been clear throughout the campaign that the Brexit leadership do not have a clue what to do if Britain leaves Europe, and a lot of Leave voters are already expressing their regret at the way they voted. In order to save Britain further damage, it is essential that the foolish threat to leave the EU is immediately withdrawn.

More than 3 million voters have already signed a petition demanding a second referendum https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/131215

And write to your MP demanding they keep Britain in the EU.