Thursday, 30 November 2017
Here’s a link to an interview with Richard Corbett MEP for the Peoplesnewss
Category Archives: BREXIT
Blaming immigrants is the oldest right-wing game in history, says Former Europe Minister.
Sunday, 12 March 2017
Blaming immigrants is the oldest right-wing game in history says Former Europe Minister.
Denis MacShane is a former journalist and MP. He was the youngest president of the NUJ in 1979 and went into exile when Margaret Thatcher was elected, to work for the international trade union movements – helping the Solidarity union in Poland, black trade unions in South Africa, Lula’s metalworkers in Brazil and the unions whose general strike in South Korea toppled the military dictatorship in 1987. He is unusual amongst British political activists in speaking European languages.
While an MP, he was Minister of state for Europe. An active campaigner against anti-Semitism while in Parliament, the former Rotherham MP who left the Commons in 2012, was once chair of an anti-Semitism think tank called The European institute for the study of contemporary Antisemitism. He wrote a book Globalising Hatred: the New Antisemitism in 2008. The BNP targeted him for attacks because of a chapter exposing its leader’s anti-semitic record. Since leaving office, Dr MacShane is working “Pretty much all the time on Brexit”. He says he writes or speaks on Brexit almost every day and has spoken on the subject all over the world, from Washington to Tel Aviv. In January 2015, he published his book Brexit: How Britain Will Leave Europe, which predicted the outcome of the June 2016 referendum. He has written a new book on what happens next, which will be published in June 2017, on the anniversary of the referendum.
As a respected authority on the EU and Brexit, MacShane is well placed to answer the questions I put to him;
Was immigration the biggest factor in the Brexit vote? I asked.
“Yes. The focus of the anti-Europeans was on the number of European workers in the UK. The slogan ‘taking back control’ was direct from the UKIP line that the UK and to ‘take back control’ of its frontiers. At the Tory Party conference in October 2015, Theresa May, then the Home Secretary said “The number of immigrants coming in from Europe is unsustainable’, to thunderous applause. Starting with William Hague in 2001, then Michael Howard in 2005 and David Cameron in 2010, the Conservatives took the old language of Enoch Powell and updated it against Europeans who came to work in the UK. There were some, who genuinely did not like the EU and saw the problem as one of sovereignty, but the dominant issue in every meeting and on every doorstep or in every radio phone-in, was immigration.”
I asked if the referendum result had led to a genuine rise in race related hate crimes or if the reports were being exaggerated? He told me “The police have stated quite clearly that the up to 100 per cent rise in hate crimes have clearly linked these attacks to the xenophobic attacks on the presence of Europeans in the UK, which was at the core of the Brexit campaign. The Community Security Trust – which reports on anti-Semitic attacks in the UK, has also noted a major increase in anti-Jewish attacks since the referendum campaign with its focus on xenophobic themes.”
But did the electorate really understand the consequences when they voted to leave the EU and did they think that the cost (yet to be seen) was a price worth paying or were they mislead into voting for something different to what they will end up with? Not according to Macshane; he says “The plebiscite it is now widely acknowledged was won on the biggest lies ever seen in a national vote – that £350 million a week would be available for the NHS, that 75 million Turks were about to arrive, that the Queen’s Speech was mainly written in Brussels or that a European Army was about to be formed. There was no effective discussion on the costs because we will not now these until the middle 2020s. The referendum was lost 15-20 years ago, when a well-funded political campaign was launched with support from the Conservative leadership – forget UKIP – and powerful off-shore owned media networks to rubbish the EU and create the climate which made Brexit inevitable.”
The Labour party recently managed to hold on to Stoke on Trent in a bi-election, where UKIP’s new leader Paul Nuttall was a candidate. I asked the former member of Tony Blair’s cabinet if the victory signalled a change of heart and the beginning of the end for UKIP. He told me “Ukip is finished in March 2019, assuming that a political Brexit is unavoidable and the UK will elect no more MEPs to the European Parliament. UKIP is a one pony party. It has no programme for national or local government. It is simply an anti-European party with two linked demands – to win a plebiscite and to use it to amputate the UK from Europe. David Cameron conceded the former and UKIP fellow travellers like Boris Johnson, Liam Fox, David Davis and Michael Gove are hoping to deliver the latter.”
Are we yet to see the consequences touted before Brexit around the stock markets crashing and the pound falling or were the claims just scare mongering?
“We have not left the EU so Brexit has not happened and the economic impact will not be known until the middle 2020s. But the announcements about moving work to Europe to guarantee access to the Single Market are not scare-mongering, but cold reality. The Brexit devaluation is feeding into higher prices and inflation and the Government has had to abandon its economic programmes to increase debt and deficits to keep the economy afloat. Brexit is causing uncertainty in all sectors of economic activity and above all in FDI, which only comes to the UK on the promise that any firm investing in Britain would have full, unfettered access to 450 million middle class consumers in Europe. Brexit breaks that promise.”
If UKIP are finished, I asked, can Labour win back the voters from UKIP or are they likely to go to other parties such as Conservative or more far right groups?
“Labour won back voters tempted by anti-immigration populism from Enoch Powell and Margaret Thatcher. Labour needs a convincing offer for many who feel with justification they are losers in the modern economy. Blaming immigrants is the oldest right-wing game in history – Jews in the 1930s, West Indians in the 1950s, Indians and Pakistanis in the 1970s and 1980s, Kosovan and asylum seekers in the 1990s, Poles, Slovaks, and other citizens of new EU member states in the last 15 years. When Labour has convincing policies and convincing spokespersons it will start to do well again!”
“The Tories do not have a track record of prioritising the people of the North”
“The Tories do not have a track record of prioritising the people of the North”
With only weeks to go until the EU referendum, much of the debate still revolves around either the economy or immigration. I wanted to know what the effect would be not only on the country but on me personally – as a man living in Yorkshire. I asked Linda McAvan, MEP for the area, whether she thought that a university city such as Sheffield, who’s economy depends largely on our tens of thousands of students, would be less attractive to foreign students from both inside and outside the EU, should we decide to leave.
She says “Visa free travel and the right to live, work and study in another EU country makes studying in the UK significantly easier for EU students. Students, including UK students, can participate in study abroad programmes like Erasmus, Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs, and Erasmus + all of which receive maintenance to help cover living costs. Currently, EU students are treated as ‘home students’ meaning they pay the same fees as their UK contemporaries. Brexit could change the status of EU/ European Economic Area (EEA) students to that of international students. Students from non EU/ EEA countries pay significantly higher to attend university in the UK.
EU membership has also provided access to considerable funding streams such as the Horizon 2020 fund which provides the UK with £8.5bn for research and development. Much of this money goes into University research programmes. Access to such funding assists in the hiring of the best and most skilled academics from across the European Union. This collectively has a substantial impact on the quality of teaching and placement opportunities for students. Better learning opportunities enhance the student experience and contribute to the quality of degree programmes.
EU students contribute £3.7bn to the UK economy. If fewer EU students started coming to the UK to study due to visa and finance issues such as the rising cost of fees, student numbers will reduce, this will have a knock on consequence on staffing levels as Universities will have less money. Fewer resources will be put into degrees and universities would have difficulty attracting the best staff to teach courses. This would leave the UK trying to compete for EU and international students.
It is worth pointing out that in the event of a Brexit the UK could join the EEA just like Norway or Switzerland which would give us access to the EU single market. This however would require the UK to agree to the free movement of people, pay a contribution to the EU budget, and require adherence to EU rules and regulations without consultation or having a seat at the negotiating table.”
My second question was whether the North of England will suffer more than the South in the event of an out vote.
She told me “Economic differences already exist between the North and the South. Tory policies in the 80s and 90’s had a devastating economic impact on areas like South Yorkshire. EU investment through the programmes such as Objective 1&2, the European Regional Development Fund, and European Structural Fund put money back into the region. If Brexit happens, it will do so under a conservative government. The Tories do not have a track record of prioritising the people of the North.”
I asked Linda if she thought immigration was as big an issue as we are led to believe or is the real issue that we don’t have enough hospitals, schools or houses being built – making immigrants simply an easy target. She said “The policies of the current government and the previous coalition government did not do enough to support the development of schools, hospitals and houses. The Affordable Housing Bill put forward by the Tories has done nothing to alleviate the housing crisis. In fact, home ownership has fallen in the past 6 years and rents have sky rocketed. Other EU countries have much higher EU migration. Norway, for example, has higher EU migration than the UK in terms of proportion of their population. Unfortunately, Immigrants are always an easy target but lack of coherent policies from the government is at the root of these issues.”
My conclusion from talking to Linda and previously her colleague Richard Corbett, is that locally, the people of cities like Sheffield will undoubtedly be worse off if we leave the EU. There are many cities in the UK that are very similar to Sheffield that would suffer also. I’m convinced that what the two MEPs are telling me is at least credible and almost certainly true. I am yet to hear an argument from the brexiteers that has credibility or evidence.
Only a vote to remain will allow us any certainty and stability.
“The intentions of the right wing Conservative Party are rarely good” says Brexit campaigner.
Friday, 20 May 2016
The EU referendum debate has been relentless but largely inconclusive. There have even been debates about who should be allowed to take part in the debate, one fact which we can probably all draw our own conclusions about. While the official campaign seems to have been raging for months, on 20thMarch I published an interview with Yorkshire & Humber MEP and in supporter, Richard Corbett.
I have been trying since to find somebody willing or able to articulate the argument for leaving the European Union. Matt, a freelance journalist and politics student took up the chalice.
I asked him exactly the same set of questions; I started with the issue of sovereignty, with many claiming that 75% of our laws are passed by in Brussels. Matt conceded that 75% was ambitious but said that the true figure was nearer to 65%(according to business for Britain), depending on whether you are discussing laws impacted by or written by Europe. He admitted the latter figure would be considerably lower. The figure according to Mr Corbett was 13.2%.
Next I asked Matt if the EU was nothing more than an expensive Gentleman’s club, costing the UK taxpayer a fortune. Again, he admitted that the spinningthat can be done here is spectacular. He claims that last year we paid £18billion, minus £5 billion that we immediately received back in a rebate. He says the EU then spent a further £4billion here on projects, giving a total cost of £9billion, which he says is still an awful lot. Mr Corbett disputed this, saying that EU membership is worth £3000 per family in Britain.
Some economists are predicting 2 years of uncertainty in the stock markets leading to a potential crash in the event of a Brexit but Matt thinks there will be some sort of crash whether we leave or not. He told me that the uncertainty depends on whether Cameron resigns or not (in the event of an out vote), adding that formalising Brexit will take a while anyway so the uncertainty and crash are inevitable.
Will Brexit mean British football club’s expulsion from the Champion’s League, I asked. Matt thinks that this is ridiculous myth, created by the in campaign. He says that none of the major clubs or any player has corroborated this.
I asked him next if Boris Johnson’s decision to back the out campaign was merely a bid for the Tory leadership. Despite his intention to vote out, he agrees that “Boris is just looking after Boris, not the people of this country”.
When asked if both big and small businesses alike will suffer if we vote to leave he is uncertain, “as there are leaders of business backing both Remain and leave campaigns”. Both sides he says are being extremely hyperbolic. He has no qualms though about the fact that EU will still be more than happy to do business with us though, because we are the sixth biggest economy in the world.
I asked the freelancer, who has featured in the Independent, if the main intention of the Tory out campaigners was to abolish worker’s rights. “The intentions of the right wing Conservative Party are rarely good” he said. ”but that is absolutely no argument to vote to remain. I’m a socialist – and believe in full employment rights and social justice for all, but if your main argument to vote to remain is to oppose the will of the British electorate because you don’t like what they’ve decided then -it sets a really horrible precedent- that is no reason to prop up an undemocratic institution just because you lost an argument. Instead, they should focus on winning the arguments and winning hearts and minds over for additional employment rights and human rights at the national level.
So can we have an open and honest fact based debate on the referendum? The Nottingham University politics student, hopes so, but the moment he said, “it doesn’t look like it. Both of the designated campaigns are being fronted by vacuous political operators who make a living deceiving the public. Hopefully, this will change soon” he dreams.
If we leave, there is no going back!
If we leave, there is no going back!
With less than 100 days until the UK goes to the polls in the biggest political event for generations, and not a straight answer in sight from the right-wing press I asked MEP Richard Corbett for the ins and outs of the referendum hoping to bust the myths being pedaled.
I started by asking Richard about the often made claim by the out campaign that our Parliament isn’t sovereign with some Euro-sceptics claiming that up to 75% of our laws are passed in Brussels.
The Yorkshire and Humber MEP says “the independent House of Commons library found that the real proportion is just 13.2% of laws; and these figures include laws that even mention the EU only in passing.
So what about the claim that the European Parliament is nothing more than a gentleman’s club, costing UK tax payers a fortune?
He refuted this claim, stating in fact that the confederation of British industry estimates that EU membership is worth £3000 per month to every family in Britain. A return of £10 for every £1 spent, and the budget is just 1% of GDP.
But will an out vote mean two years of uncertainty, leading to a possible stock market crash? I asked. Richard told me that while it is impossible to predict whether a Brexit would cause a stock market crash, it will lead to uncertainty in the markets.
I asked Richard, Deputy leader of the European parliamentary Labour party, if was ludicrous of Boris Johnson to say we should vote out to get a better deal. The MEP says if we walk out on our neighbours it would be difficult to see where the good will would come from to get a better deal, indicating that Bo Jo’s out campaign was more linked to a future Tory leadership bid.
I asked Richard if he thought the desire from Tory MPs to leave the EU was based on a desire to abolish worker’s right’s? He accepted that the Tories are split over the issue but believes the right wing leavers in the party are very keen to diminish worker’s rights in the UK and see Brexit as a way to achieve this.
We often hear UKIP leader Nigel Farage refer to the European parliament as undemocratic, but Mr Corbett states on website that the European commission only makes suggestions which have to be passed (or rejected) by elected national Governments and directly elected MEP’s. In any case, he says, Commissioners themselves are accountable to the European Parliament, which elects a President, approves its appointment and can dismiss it by a vote of no confidence.
Is this, as many have claimed, a once in lifetime vote, I asked. Yes, Richard says “Which is why it’s so important to make the argument for staying in. if we leave, there is no going back.”
In the event of an out vote from the UK as a whole but Scotland voting to remain, I asked whether the Scot’s should have another independence referendum. “The SNP certainly wants to have another referendum and have recently gone back on their once in a lifetime promise before the referendum last year”.
Many people claim they want to leave the EU because of immigration and believe Brexit to be the solution, Corbett points out that there is almost an equal number of Brits in other countries as Europeans in the UK, and those in Britain pay one third more in tax than they take out in benefits and services. He says “freedom of movement isn’t really a problem in terms of numbers or cost to the exchequer. Where there are problems, they are things that our Government could and should deal with, such as agencies only advertising jobs abroad and undercutting wages.”
Of those who come from outside the EU, Richard says “that’s under our own national rules, which we determine, but are far better able to enforce those rules while we remain in the EU because for one thing we maintain our borders in Calais, rather than Dover, which means we can process applicants before they arrive here. If they arrived here and then were found to be ineligible, we would have the often difficult task of deporting them, a problem we currently avoid with our partnership with France.” He also points out that we can use the Dublin regulation, which means we can send some asylum seekers back to the EU country in which they first arrived. A figure he puts at some 12,000 since 2003. He also highlighted the system of cooperation among police and intelligence forces meaning we get information on certain people when they arrive, such as fingerprints and criminal records. It also helps he says “cooperating to fight international gangs of people traffickers.”
For the concerned football fans I asked Richard would Brexit mean the end of Champions League football, meaning top players will snub the premier league. He referred me to West Ham’s vice chair, Karen Brady’s comments when she claimed that exit from the EU would make it harder for English clubs to attract international players while fans would be stung by higher costs when travelling to games on the continent. She said in a letter to football club chairmen that players from the EU can sign for clubs here without the need for a visa or special work permit, making it easier to sign top talent from across Europe to play in our leagues. She said “losing this unhindered access to European talent would British sides at a disadvantage compared to continental teams.
Jason Holyhead 