The Italian PM made this announcement after the Paris terrorist attacks last year. It has come into force in time for the constitutional referendum in December. The Italian government is unlikely to survive unless he wins.

Youth unemployment in Italy is now running at 40%. Maybe the Italian PM is hoping the €500 handout will give his country’s youth something to do.

We found Bieber tickets on sale for Nov 20th in Bologna @ €150...

Meanwhile the Italian bank crisis rumbles on.

[Sources: Il Corriere della Sera, NPR, Ticketstarter.it, Firstonline Italy, Reuters, Breitbart ]   29 Sept 2016

Geert Wilders is Leader of Dutch PVV or ‘Freedom Party’, which is anti-EU.

For the 3rd time in 6 years, Mr Wilders is in court for expressing himself in line with his Party’s policies. The charges are based on the following :

In other words, his party has an immigration policy which the Public Prosecutor has deemed to be illegal under Dutch hate speech laws.

The PVV : most popular party, 6% above the ruling party of Dutch PM Mark Rutte.

Whatever the political views of Mr Wilders you may wish to reflect on the state of European democracy, and the increasing legislation against expressing opinions. This legislation means a popular politician (from a non-establishment political party) has been continually dragged through the courts.

In the latest case, we can’t understand why asking a question and making a statement constitutes any crime at all. We’re not party political and express no opinion on the policies of the PVV. This is about the principle.

[ Sources: Openbaar Ministerie (Dutch Public Prosecution Service), and Youtube of court proceedings ]   28 Sept

Britain’s top universities require great leadership. But when the Vice-Chancellor of ‘Falmouth University’ earned £285,900 last year, one has to question whether the EU gravy-train has played a part in the huge increases in the earnings of UK academics.

For those of you who didn’t know Falmouth even had a university, you might want to know that you can go there to get BA (Hons) degrees in subjects such as Performance Sportswear Design, or Sports Journalism, or Popular Music. We kid you not.

[Sources: Times Higher Education Survey 2016, The Independent - Open letter to UK voters from University academics, UK government website ]   25 Sept 2016

The EU’s Erasmus programme provides opportunities to study abroad. It was often quoted by the Remain campaign as a reason for young people to vote Remain.

It is still being used by British university elites to criticise the vote to leave the EU. What are the facts?

Most people recognise that educational exchange is a good thing. However at a cost of €15 billion euros per year, Erasmus is a typically-bloated EU project.

Only 0.8% of British students benefit from Erasmus, so perhaps we need to keep this more in proportion? The programme has now been expanded to include sport and volunteering. Did any of you vote for that?

[Sources: EU Commission, HESA, UKCISA, Times Educational Supplement ]   25 Sept 2016

President of EU Parliament confirms staying in Single Market for the UK is not an option.

Yesterday Martin Schulz, President of the EU Parliament, visited the UK and met Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn, and gave a speech at the London School of Economics.

In fact Herr Schulz is wrong. He should have referred to 'Membership' of the Single Market, not 'Access'.

‘Access’ to the EU's Single Market is what 165 countries already enjoy, with no requirement for freedom of movement of people. Those countries trade happily with the EU, without being a member of the Single Market.

The British Government should now state clearly that we do not wish to stay a member of the Single Market, but that we wish to continue to trade with the EU without tarifs, as at present. This is clearly in the interests of all parties.

[Sources: LSE (PDF of Schulz's speech), Sky News interview 23/09 ]   24 Sept 2016

It has become fashionable in some circles to talk of a Soft Brexit. To those who voted ‘Leave’, there is no such thing.

There’s either Brexit, or not. Unfortunately the liberal Remain elites (including some who consider themselves as ‘informed’ or ‘intellectual’ Leavers) are inventing yet another terminology to obscure simple facts.

In short, the British people voted to leave the EU.

What is so difficult to understand?

Facts4EU.Org   24 Sept 2016

It's 23rd September, 3 months since the historic vote when the British people voted to leave the European Union.

   23 Sept 2016

The PM repeatedly says “Brexit means Brexit”, but what does she mean?

In July, Facts4EU.Org offered a draft tick list (in no particular order):

Readers may want to send us their own suggestions?

The 6-month anniversary of the Referendum vote falls on 23rd December.

We see no reason not to invoke Article 50 by that date.

Everyone now knows that the Government and the Civil Service failed to make any preparations whatsoever for a Leave vote. This does not mean that we should have to wait longer than six months following the vote before formal notice is given to the EU.

   23 Sept 2016

UNHCR releases data on migrants entering Italy in 2016 so far

Data from UNHCR, 20 Sept 2016

Note: All official figures from the UN and EU which we have looked at in the last year have been revised upwards later. We expect data for Italy will similarly be corrected upwards.

Uncontrolled immigration is an economic issue, as well as a social one.

No wonder the Italian PM refused to share a stage with Merkel and Hollande at last week’s EU summit.

Italy is facing a banking crisis: a staggering 18% of its loans are ‘non-performing’. Its national debt is running at 136% of GDP – the highest in the EU after Greece. Italy is the EU’s 3rd biggest economy after the UK leaves.

While the UK continues to be a member of the EU, it will no doubt be drawn into bearing a proportion of the massive costs of the complete failure of the EU’s continuing immigration fiasco.

[Sources: UNHCR press conference 20 Sept, EU Commission Press release: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-16-1620_en.htm, Official Eurostat Asylum Statistics 2015, published 4th March 2016, and others]       21 Sept

Global credit firm Moody's of New York - Report shows key risks to City institutions by Remain campaign have been over-hyped. 'Passporting rights' unlikely to be a problem outside Single Market.

Readers are aware that most financial organisations favoured Remain during the Referendum campaign.

Moody's latest report was therefore unlikely to cheer for Brexit, so its conclusions are very encouraging. They confirm what many of us have been saying for months.

[Sources: Moody's, FT, DT, Guardian, CityAM, Bloomberg and others]       19 Sept

AfD Party scores major advance in Berlin against Angela Merkel’s CDU

Founded only 3 years ago, the Eurosceptic and anti-Islam ‘Alternativ fur Deutschland’ (AFD) Party rose to 14.1% in the Berlin regional elections yesterday.

German media is reporting that Merkel’s CDU will now be kicked out of the Berlin regional government by a new governing alliance of the Social Democrats, Left Party, and Greens.

If this can happen in traditionally socialist/green/'progressive' Berlin, the political landscape in Europe is changing. And if the AfD Party can go from nowhere to 14.1% in Berlin in only 3 years since formation, this change is becoming increasingly rapid.

OTHER GERMAN NEWS

[Sources: AfD, German press reports including FAZ, Welt, Spiegel, also the Guardian]       19 Sept

Italian PM refuses to share platform with Merkel & Hollande

Yesterday’s ‘Unity Summit’ of EU leaders (minus the UK) broke in disarray, with Italian PM Matteo Renzi refusing to share a stage with the German Chancellor and French President.

To inflame tensions more, Hungarian PM Viktor Orban - one of the 4 Visegrad country leaders of Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia - said other countries had failed to change their ‘self-destructive and naive’ immigration policies. No-one was in any doubt he was referring to Germany.

The language amongst the leaders of the 27 EU counties was toxic.

Perhaps this is why the end-of-summit Declaration issued by European Council President Tusk was anodyne, and simply restated already agreed objectives and ‘concrete measures’. Optimistically entitled ‘The Bratislava Roadmap’, it contained nothing new and merely highlighted the serious problems now facing the EU Project.

This summit was originally called to discuss the post-Brexit situation, thereby justifying the UK not being invited. In fact Brexit was hardly touched upon.

The ultimate metaphor for the current ‘State of the Union’ came when the boat chartered to take the 27 leaders for lunch and a visit to a Dutch-funded island art museum on the Danube was faced with turning back or running aground. The captain clearly didn’t fancy being stranded for hours with 27 bickering EU leaders and decided to cruise round in circles instead...

Once again, we simply couldn’t make this up.

[Sources: European Council Press Release, European newspapers including La Repubblica, FAZ, DT, DE, and various TV news channels]       17 Sept

Retail sales continue to grow, despite Remainer doom and gloom predictions

Yesterday the Office of National Statistics released the latest retail sales figures.

"The Committee expected some bounce-back in surveys of business and consumer sentiment following the sharp falls in the immediate aftermath of the vote to leave the European Union. Nevertheless, since the August Inflation Report, a number of indicators of near-term economic activity have been somewhat stronger than expected. The Committee now expect less of a slowing in UK GDP growth in the second half of 2016."

That's the closest you'll get from the BoE to saying "Sorry".

The latest great sales figures are in stark contrast to all the predictions from the so-called 'experts' before the Referendum. The Chancellor would be well-advised to look at the facts when considering his Autumn Statement, rather than the continued pessimism from the Bank of England's Governor Mark Carney. Carney is still trying to justify his pre-vote interference and incorrect and politically-motivated predictions.

[Source: ONS official retail sales figure data, Bank of England MPC Minutes, ]       16 Sept

EU Commission President Juncker presents pessimistic State of Union – again

Here is the opening statement from Juncker yesterday.

"I stood here a year ago and I told you that the State of our Union was not good. I told you that there is not enough Europe in this Union. And that there is not enough Union in this Union.

I am not going to stand here today and tell you that everything is now fine. It is not.

Our European Union is, at least in part, in an existential crisis.

...Never before have I seen such little common ground between our Member States. So few areas where they agree to work together.

Never before have I heard so many leaders speak only of their domestic problems, with Europe mentioned only in passing, if at all.

Never before have I seen representatives of the EU institutions setting very different priorities, sometimes in direct opposition to national governments and national Parliaments. It is as if there is almost no intersection between the EU and its national capitals anymore.

Never before have I seen national governments so weakened by the forces of populism and paralysed by the risk of defeat in the next elections.

Never before have I seen so much fragmentation, and so little commonality in our Union."

With a leader like this, the EU doesn’t need enemies.

[Source: EU Commission: text of President's speech. Also, watch Juncker's disastrous State of the Union speech last year.]       15 Sept

Our verdict on last year's 'State of the Union' effort by EU Commission President Juncker was: "At 1 hour 20 mins, it's rambling, incoherent, and frankly embarrassing."

Regrettably, Mr Juncker hasn't improved much. We invite you to watch and listen to his effort this year, 2016, below.

It's our opinion that the 2015 and 2016 State of the Union speeches should be compulsory viewing for all British school pupils, and should be recommended viewing in every lecture theatre in every university for students in the UK. Perhaps then they will see the reality of what it has meant to be part of the sclerotic and dysfunctional construct that is the European Union.

With leaders like this, it's no wonder the EU is falling apart, and no wonder that the Referendum resulted in the largest vote in UK history for any political decision - that to regain the United Kingdom's independence by leaving the EU.

Facts4EU.org - winning the 'Leave Means Leave' debate

[Video source: EU Commission]     14 Sept 2016

Corps of 100,000 ‘youth volunteers’ to be ready to deploy anywhere in the EU by 2020

From Jean-Claude Juncker’s State of the Union speech today:

This new ‘European Solidarity Corps’ is clearly another attempt to indoctrinate the EU’s youth. Young Europeans already have numerous volunteering options, via national and international charities.

If the EU wants to help young people, it should focus on the trade deals it has signally failed to put in place with the rest of the world, which might reduce the appalling level of youth unemployment across its member states.

[Source: EU Commission: text of President's speech]       14 Sept

David Davis, Brexit Secretary, appeared before the Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday and in two hours said almost nothing.

A disappointing performance by the Brexit Secretary yesterday. After weeks of silence, David Davis had the chance to reassure the public that Brexit was on track and that the Government knows what it’s doing.

Please judge for yourselves whether you think he succeeded :-

Source: BBC Parliament TV

Commentators were less than impressed. The Daily Telegraph’s Michael Deacon wrote:
“He beamed, he bantered, he chortled. ‘I see nothing to fear in any outcome,’ he breezed, when asked about his looming negotiations with the EU. ‘Get thee behind me, Satan!’ he honked, when asked about the European Parliament’s chief Brexit negotiator, Guy Verhofstadt. I didn’t realise it was possible to swagger while sitting down, but Mr Davis managed it.”

John Crace at the Guardian was equally scathing: “David Davis's default waffle was a model of clarity for the foreign affairs committee”.

Firstly Mr Davis, banter and bonhomie have their place. However Brexit is a serious matter and deserves to be treated so. Secondly, the British people need to be kept informed. Yesterday you gave the impression that you didn’t dare say anything because Theresa May will be making all the decisions. Thirdly, we expected a far more robust position from you. We’re leaving the EU by choice – it’s up to them to try to keep the vast amount of business they do with us each year.

The Facts4EU.org Team     14 September 2016

Frances O’Grady accepts the Referendum result to leave the EU

The Secretary-General of the Trades Union Congress addressed its annual conference yesterday.

During the campaign, we criticised Ms O’Grady for her astonishing views, her distortion of facts, and for her strong support for Remain. Millions of trade unionists ignored her and voted to Leave.

That said, she has now come out and confirmed she accepts the result.
Well done her.

[Source: TUC website: Opening Statement to Congress]       13 Sept

President Tusk finally admits EU was "overrun by waves of irregular migrants" last year

The first duty of any government is the security of its citizens. On Friday in Stockholm, EU Council President Donald Tusk made the following extraordinary statement:-

“Never again can we allow our borders to be overrun by waves of irregular migrants as in 2015.”

Tusk’s statement uses unambiguous language. As far as we are aware, this is the first direct and clear admission by the EU of the abject and continuing failure of its No.1 duty to protect its citizens.

How can the EU function with 3 current views like the following, from its most powerful leaders?

Frau Merkel still refuses to admit her catastrophic mistake in causing the ‘overrun of waves of migrants’. She continues to assert that it was the right policy and that “we can manage”. Still no apology to all the EU countries affected by her bizarre largesse, who patently feel they can’t manage and are refusing to accept a redistribution of migrants now in Germany, or indeed of those in Italy and Greece.

Finally, where are the Social Justice Warriors?
If uttered by Nigel Farage (or a Brexiteer from any party), a phrase like “overrun by waves of irregular migrants” would attract an immediate and hostile reaction by the liberal elites who dominate the media.
Strangely, not even the Guardian covered it.
At Facts4EU.org we are not so coy.

[Sources: Süddeutsche Zeitung, Council of the European Union, European Forum Alpbach, BBC, DT, FAZ, Breitbart]       11 Sept

Can we not celebrate glorious music and indulge in a little patriotism,
without the EU intruding?

Source: YouTube. BBC Symphony Chorus, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Jiří Bělohlávek conductor

The final sequence of the Last Night of the Proms is quintessentially British.

Following publicised attempts by Remainers to politicise the event this evening by seeking to hand out EU flags, we appeal to Remain campaigners, to music-lovers, and to the musicians from all over the EU and the World to leave politics out of a wonderful British institution.

For those wishing to sing along, here are the words to Blake's 1804 poem Jerusalem, set to music by Parry in 1916, and the words to Elgar's 1902 composition Land of Hope and Glory, with lyrics by Benson.

JERUSALEM And did those feet in ancient time, Walk upon England's mountains green: And was the holy Lamb of God, On England's pleasant pastures seen! And did the Countenance Divine, Shine forth upon our clouded hills? And was Jerusalem builded here, Among these dark Satanic Mills? Bring me my Bow of burning gold; Bring me my Arrows of desire: Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold! Bring me my Chariot of fire! I will not cease from Mental Fight, Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand: Till we have built Jerusalem, In England's green & pleasant Land For a video of 'Land of Hope and Glory' click here

LAND OF HOPE AND GLORY Dear Land of Hope, thy hope is crowned, God make thee mightier yet! On Sov'ran brows, beloved, renowned, Once more thy crown is set. Thine equal laws, by Freedom gained, Have ruled thee well and long; By Freedom gained, by Truth maintained, Thine Empire shall be strong. Land of Hope and Glory, Mother of the Free, How shall we extol thee, who are born of thee? Wider still and wider shall thy bounds be set; God, who made thee mighty, make thee mightier yet, God, who made thee mighty, make thee mightier yet. Thy fame is ancient as the days, As Ocean large and wide: A pride that dares, and heeds not praise, A stern and silent pride; Not that false joy that dreams content With what our sires have won; The blood a hero sire hath spent Still nerves a hero son.

The Facts4EU.org Team     10 September 2016

EU Commission forced to withdraw plan - 2 days after publishing it

Remember how the UK’s young people were persuaded to vote Remain based on promises of free mobile phone roaming charges, cheap flights and Eurail passes, and free study anywhere in the EU?

As ever, the details continue to unravel after the Referendum vote.

[Source: EU Commission News site]       10 Sept

Daily confirmations that Remain claims are in tatters

Here are just a few:-

We consider it ironic that it’s Remainers who claim the Leave campaign told lies. The evidence shows the opposite.

It’s a shame there’s no longer an effective Leave campaign to counter the continuing lies and propaganda.

[Source: EU Commission News, Dept of Treasury, BBC Parliament]       10 Sept

PM Theresa May repeatedly refers to ‘some control’ of immigration as part of Brexit deal

She explicitly rejects the Leave campaign’s suggested Australian-style points system

In China yesterday, Mrs May repeatedly dismissed a points system for immigration and talked many times of only ‘some control’ or ‘an element of control’ over numbers entering the UK post-Brexit.

"What the British people voted for on the 23rd of June was to bring some control into the movement of people from the European Union to the UK. A points-based system does not give you that control." – Theresa May, at G20 in China, 05 Sept.

This was rapidly criticised by Nigel Farage and by some other leading Brexiteers. Even in Parliament the first speech by David Davis, Secretary of State for Brexit, appeared to be more robust. Asked about continuing membership of the Single Market, he said “the simple truth is that if a requirement of membership is giving up control of our borders, I think that makes it very improbable.”

Mrs May says “I want a system where the Government can decide who comes into the system. A points-based system means they come in automatically if they meet the criteria.”

Not true. If a limit is set for the coming year, applications can be processed on a first come first served basis. In fact the Australian scheme does have a set number of places each year, decided in advance:

“128,550 places for skilled migrants, including employer sponsored, general skilled and business categories.” [Australia Government’s 2015-16 Migration Programme]

The Australian system may not be perfect for the UK’s needs, but it’s hard to see how Mrs May can justify saying “A points-based system means they come in automatically if they meet the criteria.”

The fundamental issue is of course not the precise system, it's taking back full control of our borders. Not 'some control' or 'an element of control'. The question of numbers and the type of immigrants is then a decision for an elected British Government.

[Sources: Hansard, BBC, Australian Government Migration site ]       06 Sept

“Such great friends, such strong allies,” says Aussie PM

However EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker tries to block UK from talking to Australia and other friendly nations.

News from the G20 Summit taking place in Hangzhou in China :-

Meanwhile, poor Jean-Claude Juncker is less happy.

It would clearly be absurd for the EU Commission President to think he has the power to stop the UK from talking to friendly nations. As things stand, the UK can’t sign a Free Trade Agreement until it exits the EU, but this doesn’t stop discussions taking place. (See article below.)

We agree with the Australian PM: “such great friends, such strong allies”. We look forward to seeing ‘British Made’ on far more products in Australia, as well as ‘Made in Australia’ on far more products for sale in the UK. This applies equally to New Zealand, Canada and the many other countries with whom the UK enjoys friendly relations around the World.

[Sources: AFP, BBC, News.au.com ]        05 Sept

EU Commission President Juncker says "Nein"

Such discussions are an “exclusive matter” for the European Union and “we are sticking to it”, Juncker said yesterday

There are typically conflicting legal opinions on the question of whether the UK can start to negotiate trade agreements with non-EU countries prior to exiting the EU. This relates to articles 50, 207 and 218 of the Treaty (TFEU).

The excellent EU-specialist lawyer and QC Martin Howes of Lawyers for Britain says “The process of negotiating new trade deals can be started during the 2-year notice period leading up to Brexit, with a view to bringing them into force on or soon after the date of exit.”

1. If the UK were prevented from even negotiating with non-EU countries prior to its exit from the EU, the UK and the EU could be seen to be disadvantaged in a way not foreseen by the Treaty. The fall-back position would then be WTO rules – a wholly inappropriate restriction for the World’s fifth-largest economy and potentially damaging for the rest of the EU. Furthermore, is the UK also to be prevented from having discussions with the WTO to ensure the smooth transition of trading arrangements with WTO member countries on the UK's exit from the EU?
2. It is inconceivable that a country of the importance of the UK could be prevented from preparing for its exit. This is tantamount to a deliberate act of damage to a neighbouring state and must equate to an unreasonable restraint of trade.
3. It would also prevent the UK from negotiating a trade deal with the EU itself, which would then leave EU exporters into the UK facing large tariffs in some cases. All of this would hardly pass any test of being ‘fair and reasonable’ and nor would it be in the political and economic interests of the EU.
4. Article 50 was ill-conceived and poorly-drafted and was almost an afterthought in the latest Treaty. Prior to that, no ‘leaving’ provision even existed in previous EU treaties. We would go further and say that an argument could easily be made that Article 50 is not fit for purpose, given the enormous implications for all the countries of the EU, for the exiting country, and for the rest of the World.
5. It is our opinion that the UK could easily agree to absent itself from ongoing EU trade negotiations with non-EU countries and discussion thereof, allowing the EU to continue in its (interminable and mostly abortive) attempts to agree Free Trade Agreements with other countries. In effect, the EU and the UK could then agree to pursue their own trade agendas without disadvantaging the other.

[Sources: Lex-Europa.com legal treaties: link 1 and link 2, Lawyers for Britain, World Trade Law, World Bank ]
  05 Sept

Former Minister John Redwood MP publishes Article 50 Letter and Action Plan

Next week, Secretary of State for Brexit David Davis MP will set out for the first time the Government’s initial thinking on the strategy for leaving the EU.

Ahead of this, Conservative backbencher, Leave campaigner and former Minister John Redwood MP has published his suggested ‘Article 50’ letter of notice to the EU. Yesterday he followed this with his proposed Action Plan. Below we publish each of these in full. Mr Redwood’s Diary carries many more articles on this topic.

ARTICLE 50 LETTER - Rt Hon John Redwood MP, 31 August 2016

Dear Sirs

The UK as a result of a referendum has decided to withdraw from the European Union. In accordance with Article 50 we hereby notify the Council of our intention to leave.

Article 50 of the Treaty states clearly that “any member state may decide to withdraw from the Union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements.” In the case of the UK this means passing an Act of Parliament. The UK government has always confirmed when asked about the loss of sovereignty involved in EU membership that the UK Parliament remains sovereign because it can repeal the 1972 European Communities Act. The government is introducing a Bill to effect this change, and to transfer all EU law into UK law to provide immediate continuity.

The UK wishes to continue with strong trading, investment, business and other links with our friends and former partners on the continent. The UK is not proposing any new barriers to our mutual trade, and will be happy to continue with all the business and trade arrangements and business rules currently in place. These will be confirmed in UK law as we make the necessary constitutional changes. If the rest of the current EU does wish to consider placing new tariffs and barriers on our mutual trade, then we will be willing to come to talks to discuss how these might work. They would of course need to be compatible with World Trade Organisation Rules, and with Article 8 of the Lisbon Treaty which states that “The Union shall develop a special relationship with neighbouring countries, aiming to establish an area of prosperity and good neighbourliness.”

The UK has voted to withdraw from the Treaty and is doing so in accordance with Article 50. It also does so under the Vienna Convention on the law of Treaties by invoking a “fundamental change of circumstances” compared to those when the UK consented to the Treaty.

Yours faithfully

ACTION PLAN FOR BREXIT - Rt Hon John Redwood MP, 03 September 2016

1. Send Article 50 letter explaining we are leaving using our own constitutional arrangements as per previous Article, which will be an Act of Parliament.

2. Offer talks on trade and tariffs if they wish to change anything, saying we are happy to offer them no change to current arrangements. In other words we stay in the Single Market as now, without the freedom of movement and the contributions. The advantage we have is when it comes to trading we are happy with the status quo, so they are the ones with a problem if they wish to change it. This reverses the presumption of many commentators that the UK needs to negotiate with the rest of the EU, and is the supplicant. By definition we cannot negotiate with them over taking back control. You are not taking back control of your laws, money and borders if you need to negotiate this with other EU countries. By offering to keep all rules, laws and trade arrangements relevant to trade and investment we have no need to negotiate, unless they wish to impose new barriers on us. So we make them the generous offer of no change so they can continue to sell us so much more than we sell them, and see if they can reach agreement on barriers amongst themselves which we would then need to talk to them about. Were they to be able to agree tariffs or other barriers they need to be WTO compliant, and it would allow us to impose tariffs on things like food and cars where they sell more to us. They are very keen to avoid tariffs.

3. Cancel EU contributions and incorporate the money in UK budgets, providing 0.6% GDP boost through the extra spending and tax cuts amounting to the £10bn net a year we currently send to the EU and do not get back.

4. Announce that as from the specified date any EU citizen coming to the UK to work is welcome to do so until we have left the EU, but will need to apply for a work permit on our departure under the rules then applying worldwide on a non-discriminatory basis.

5. Develop and take work permit system for EU migrants to Parliament for approval. The scheme would be based on allowing high level migration (qualifications and or pay rates) but controlling worldwide numbers of lower paid employees. It would allow for seasonal labour and labour where there was a shortage or skills gap the UK could not easily plug in the short term. The Irish border would operate as today, but any continental EU migrant using that border would need a work permit to get a job.

6. Work out new fishing arrangements and discuss with other North Sea neighbours both within and outside the EU.

7. Launch Repeal Bill for 1972 Act with confirmation of EU laws as UK laws into Parliament. The aim should be a short and straightforward Bill that takes back control of our laws in the first clause, and guarantees all current EU law in the second clause as good UK law, pending any subsequent decisions to repeal or amend items not required to meet our trade obligations with the rest of the EU. This would include early passage of new migration controls, and the cancellation of EU contributions.

Naturally Mr Redwood's pieces have already started to attract comment and controversy. One Brexit site has already attacked Redwood's ideas with the usual vitriol which they always reserve for Brexiteers (not Remainers) who fail to see the righteousness of the Brexit solution they have decreed as the One True Path.

At Facts4EU.org we welcome constructive ideas of all kinds and consider Mr Redwood's contributions to be helpful in what should be an open debate.

We gratefully acknowledge Mr Redwood's permission to reprint the material above. Mr Redwood's Diary containing these and many other thought-provoking pieces is available at www.johnredwoodsdiary.com

Facts4EU.Org     04 September 2016