Debunking the myths about Norway
We constantly hear two things from the Remains: 1. That we want to be like Norway, and 2. That Norway has all the costs and disadvantages of EU membership, without the 'say'.
Well first, we don't want to be 'like Norway' – except insofar as they are a rich and successful independent nation in their own right. We want to have a British deal with the EU, based on our being their biggest customer and the 5th largest economy in the world, not a Norwegian, Canadian or Swiss one.
And second, most of what is said about Norway's relationship with the EU is false. These five factsheets from the Norwegian No To EU campaign contain the truth about the matter. Don't circulate them to the public, but use the information to help you make your arguments in your own words.
Factsheet 1: What is the difference between EU membership and the EEA Agreement? (Download)
Factsheet 2: Norway’s financial contribution to the EU & EEA (Download)
Factsheet 3: Is Norway 9 or 75 per cent in the EU? (Download)
Factsheet 4: Do we need the EEA Agreement in order to sell our products to the EU? (Download)
Factsheet 5: Northern delight – Norway delighted to have left the EU behind (Download)
Factsheet 6: Britain, do not listen to the Scaremongering! (Download)
Rules on EFDD materials
If you haven't already done so, can you please download and read these crucially important rules on EFDD materials at this sensitive time.
Cameron backs wealth
In the Commons yesterday, the Prime Minister made an heroic effort to get back on the front foot by defending wealth – and the right of parents to pass their wealth on to their children... more>
Cameron’s EU “deal” under threat from the European Parliament
Cameron’s much-vaunted “renegotiation” of the UK’s EU membership terms (in fact the changes he’s claiming are trivial) has come under attack from a leading German Liberal MEP Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, who is also a Vice President of the parliament... more>
That leaflet
In a furious debate in the Commons yesterday, Europe Minister David Lidington had the unenviable task of trying to defend the indefensible – the government’s £9 million pro-EU leaflet. But in a withering speech John Redwood said that public anger over the plan will persuade more voters to vote for Brexit... more>
'Brexit would save the NHS'
The ding-dong over the impact of Brexit on the NHS goes on, but the Remainians are not having it all their own way. The Times reports that fifty medical professionals have called for Brexit in order to free up more funds for the NHS. A choice – would you rather send £10 billion to Brussels? Or to the health service?
John Longworth on Brexit
John Longworth is the former head of British Chambers of Commerce. He resigned recently following enormous pressure on him after he expressed a personal view that the UK should leave the EU. Writing in the Guardian recently, he said that he had resigned “in order to tell the truth about Brexit”... more>
And David Miliband (remember him?) on Brexit
Fresh from the sound-bite factory, David Miliband says “Now is not the time for unilateral political disarmament”. Good line, David, but you’re out of touch with reality. Give the man a banana.
Collapse of waste treatment plants
The Mail reports the closure of two of the UK’s largest recycling plants, in Lancashire. This will cause extensive redundancies, and industry experts warn that such closures could be repeated elsewhere – such are the economics of recycling. The plants were opened nine years ago based on a £2 billion Private Finance Initiative... more>
'Hydrogen city'
Another story about grandiose and extravagant schemes to meet EU climate and emission objectives: there is a plan to convert Leeds into a “hydrogen city“, at a cost of £2 billion. This would involve a massive programme to convert all gas appliances in the city from natural gas to hydrogen – and while hydrogen emits no CO2 when burned, natural gas is already relatively low-emission compared to other fossil fuels... more>
Stop the travelling circus!
As I write in Strasbourg, I reflect that I spend three nights a week, twelve weeks a year in a Strasbourg hotel (admittedly a fairly modest one). That means that for seventeen years I’ve spent roughly ten percent of all my nights in a Strasbourg hotel, at the taxpayers’ expense – as have 750 other MEPs, give or take. There’s only one way to stop this nonsense – the only way is Brexit.
You can read more of Roger Helmer's blog here.
1830-1900: Spotlight on BBC One (South West) - Steve Crowther
Dear Sir,
The latest scaremongering from "Project Fear" is that if we leave the EU women will lose many of their rights, health and safety will vanish from factories and paid leave to workers as a right will disappear. They cite the EU's paid holiday directive 75/457/EEC, which came into force in 1975, as their justification for the claim.
If we look into the facts however we discover that Britain had a Factory Act as early as 1802 covering the health and safety of the workers, limits on working hours came into force as early as 1850, many workers had paid holidays from 1871 and in 1939 it became law that all employees were allowed paid leave, initially one week then two in the 1950s. This later became up to four weeks per year.
So far as I am aware all of this was achieved without the intervention of the EU!
Other things they say we only got because of the EU, such as 'maternity leave' and so on, would have followed without the requirements of directive 75/457/EEC as our society became more 'enlightened' just as these earlier improvements in the 'lot' of workers had come about. They have been driven by public demand and so long as we remain a free society will continue to be.
Talk of this being 'due to the EU' or 'disappearing if we leave' is nothing more than desperation by the 'in side Little Englanders' who seem to think our country is too small to succeed or run its own affairs outside the EU. In that, as in so much else, history proves them wrong.
Yours faithfully,
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Steve Crowther
Party Chairman
Referendum Campaign
http://www.ukip.org/
