8th June 2017 - A General Election

On 18th April, our Prime Minister, Theresa May, announced a snap election with the aim of strengthening our negotiating position as we exit the European Union. And so rears the Brexit debate once again. Here's why I will vote Conservative in the forthcoming election and have always believed that Brexit is in the best interests of our country. 

In 2012, myself and my colleagues set up our business. We thought that we needed a network. A larger body to negotiate deals, open doors, give us access to resources. It quickly became clear that we, having been in our industry for many years, could write that resource ourselves, could command our own deals and doors were being opened for us, not for a network. We were 4 people with a solid vision and a plan.  

New beginnings

This is my personal Brexit analogy. We were brave with our business and we went it alone. With freedom came opportunity. We can innovate and grow. We are highly respected in our sector and, economically, we haven't looked back. I now apply that thinking to our country. For all of the flaws that we can pick out of our society today, Great Britain is a strong nation and we are lucky to live here. We have the building blocks in place to construct an economy which truly benefits everyone. More trade with more countries, better services, improved household income. It might sound simple but I believe, wholeheartedly, that free trade is the key. 

So, let's move on from all of the smoke screens around Brexit. No one wants to reduce human rights, pay workers less, repeal laws which make sense or stop immigration. Let’s focus on what really matters here and that is improving the lives of our people. Putting our country first is not about excluding others or inward thinking but about improving the lives of our citizens, the primary focus of any government. 

The opportunity to be independent and to support yourself and your family is the most powerful resource that we, as individuals, can possess. Giving the people of Great Britain the best NHS that we can deliver, a world-class state education system, excellent social care, opportunities for all and money in their pockets should now be our vision. 5 years ago, I was excited about our business, and I still am today. Let's all now be excited about our vision for an independent and free Great Britain. I believe that we can achieve this vision, not with decisions being made in Brussels, not with artificial economic manipulation and tariffs, but by opening our markets, unreservedly, to the world and letting the fundamental principles of economics do the rest. 

At home in Cambridgeshire

30th June 2016 - The Aftermath

At the start of this week I deactivated my Facebook account. As someone who loves Facebook for keeping in touch and for sharing my writing, pictures and adventures with friends and loved ones, this was a big deal for me. It was the curse of the referendum. I campaigned in my own little corner of the world for Brexit. I have explained my reasons many times and believe, wholeheartedly, that if you want something to happen then you do something to influence it. In my heart I didn’t expect a leave result. I cried when I read the result on the morning of 24^th June. The emotion came as a surprise, even to me. I did not realise what months of debate and hope, resulting in this outcome, would mean to me. Democracy won. I am thrilled about the result and excited for the new future that our country can now carve for itself. I do, however, understand those who have legitimate concerns and do not feel as I do about the result. I have never made this personal. I try to make my arguments as compelling as I can, to always talk from the heart and to welcome those who come along with me. What followed the referendum result was the polar opposite of what I describe.

The last few years have seen a rise in the numbers of far-Right extremist parties and movements across Europe. The National Front in France, the Platform for Catalonia in Spain, the Party for Freedom in the Netherlands, Golden Dawn in Greece, the list goes on. One has to ask why this is happening? It is my firm belief that this movement is in direct response to the inability that the people have to vote out those residing in the corridors of power in Brussels. If the people can’t be heard, the extremists rise up and they will shout loudly. The erosion of democracy is the erosion of society as we know it.

Now, here’s the thing. Just because I believe in sovereignty, democracy, freedom and taking our place on the world stage, I am not far-Right, small-minded, uneducated nor am I a racist. I have been called all of those things along with being told that I have destroyed a man’s life. Me, with my one vote in 17 million. I understand the depth of feeling, really I do, but the personal nature of the retaliations from people around me just got a bit overwhelming. The comments underneath mine on threads stating that the leave campaign was only about immigration, that leave campaigners know nothing and that our grasp of history, politics, the inner workings of the EU and economics is somehow less valid than those voting to remain. The supposed moral high ground became rather overpopulated and nasty in the aftermath of the vote. I will return to Facebook when I have the strength to re-enter the debate. Many avoid politics to protect themselves against what I have experienced. I will never do that (although Facebook is still a terrifying battleground right now!) This is the game. People coming together to debate and to try to influence the outcomes which they believe are in the best interests of our society. We’re not so different. Left and Right are two sides of the same being. We all want to defend against tyranny and we all need, desperately, to dilute the extremes of both the far-Left and Right.   

I understand that the EU’s founding fathers had dreams of peace and harmony after World War II and I don’t deny that the EU was instrumental in achieving this, back then. Today’s reality is very different. Instead of extending a hand to those countries who have been economically destroyed by the single currency the political elite are pressing ahead with an ever closer union and a European superstate in the face of bitter opposition from the people. Keep a close watch on Italy......

So, amidst the hysteria, I am encouraged by talk of fresh hope for India, now able to see the possibility of a trade deal with the UK. New Zealand’s Foreign Minister has offered us the use of their top trade negotiators to assist with our post-Brexit negotiations whilst also floating the possibility of a fast and “symbolic” free trade agreement with New Zealand. The early discussions about the ability for people to move more freely between the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand is a beacon of hope and opportunity for so many. This hope will continue. There will be trade deals. We should have faith that we are strong and that our freedom will enable us to truly help those countries who need it, rather than having a blind faith that the EU’s political elite will do it for us. But, above all of this, let's first learn how to respect each other. We really all do want the same thing, a bright future for our country and, for that, we need unity and positivity.

"Laws alone can not secure freedom of expression; in order that every man present his views without penalty there must be spirit of tolerance in the entire population." ~ Albert Einstein

23rd June 2016

“We have more in common than that which divides us” – a poignant quote of Jo Cox's adorned the stage at Glastonbury today and holds as true today as it did when she made her parliamentary maiden speech.

Yesterday I voted to leave the EU. I also wrote a piece in my head congratulating the Remain campaign as I wholeheartedly believed that they would win. That the undecideds would stick with the status quo. That the cry of xenophobia had been believed by too many. 

I have campaigned, in my own little corner of East Cambridgeshire, to leave the EU since our Prime Minister delivered on his promise of a referendum. We are leaving a political organisation, not a continent. We were political allies before the EU and we will continue to be so. We have hundreds of years' of history of welcoming immigrants from across the world and, we will continue to do so. We love Europe. I love Europe. Those things are all true. What I could never buy into was the belief that the central government which has manifested itself in Europe would ever effectively serve the interests of its members.

I don't believe in federalism. I believe in democracy. As a good friend and colleague once told me, democracy is about taking the decisions as close to the people as possible. Within the EU structure, that is not very close to the people at all (and, yes, I also oppose the House of Lords). The President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, said, “Britain belongs to the European Union”. To me, this epitomises the nature of the organisation. If they have that view of Britain, how do they view Greece, Spain, Italy – those countries who really need their help to claw their way out of the economic gloom that they have found themselves in since surrendering their currencies to the Eurozone? Nearly 50% of those under 25 are officially unemployed in Greece and Spain. The EU is a power-hungry juggernaut, immovable in its direction, as demonstrated by our own inability to get any meaningful reform. It also has an extremely chequered past in terms of keeping its member states safe from terrorism, driving prosperity, creating jobs or doing right by refugees from war torn homelands. To me, it has crashed and burned on all of those issues yet, we hail it as the purveyor of peace, prosperity and opportunity.

Today has been a strange day as the Remain camp cry “where are the Leave supporters now?” as they hurl down their abuse on social media and direct their anger at those of us who voted for the same reasons as them, because we believed that this was the right thing for our country. And I respond with, “we are quietly planning on going to work, trading, serving the people and businesses of our country, creating jobs, building our futures and keeping the wheels of this country moving over the inevitable hurdles that this historic event will create.” I have spent countless hours researching, reading and listening to all sides of this debate, yet still, I am called uneducated, small-minded and racist. This campaign has divided our nation like nothing I have seen before. Now is the time that we must ensure that our government is the best that it can be, we must be heard, we must care, we must listen and we must work. I, for one, plan to brush off the insults and do everything that I can, in my little corner of the world, in the coming weeks, months and years to lift our country back to its feet so that it can prosper, grow, welcome, trade and embrace its place in the world. 

23rd June 2016 

"There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right." ~ Martin Luther King

23rd June 2016

So, here we are, days away from voting on our country's future and the debate is showing no signs of growing up. Indeed, as desperation sets in on both sides, the claims and accusations are getting wilder. Job losses, monsoons, wars and disaster await us. 

It would be nice if everyone stopped for a moment and listened to each other to take stock of what is really motivating those people around them. They might be surprised.

My campaign for Brexit, in my own little corner of Cambridgeshire, is born entirely out of a vision which has democracy at its heart. Our children deserve a shot at a future and I want that future to be free. EU membership is not freedom, is not democratic and it will swallow us up over time.

• It's not racist - I want to see immigration to the UK from across the globe. Immigration is what has made our country the wonderful and diverse place it is today. That must continue. That is not what we are fighting here. The immigration debate is about managing it so that our country is not crippled by years more austerity measures and sky high taxes as we struggle to keep up with the cost of open borders within the EU. I don't want to see any country crippled by immigration. Brits in Greece or Eastern Europeans in Britain. Free movement of people is simply not economically viable for any of us. 
• It's not born out of a superiority complex - I want to see freedom for Greece, Italy, Spain and all of those who are unable to rebuild their economies whilst the EU retains its hold. I don't just believe that the EU is wrong for Great Britain. I believe it is wrong full stop. It is destroying its member states. Youth unemployment is off the scale across the EU, currencies were devalued overnight as member states were convinced to join the Euro and economic growth is a thing of the past. I want to see Italy, Greece and Spain becoming synonymous with their strengths again and not bankrupt and beholden to the EU.  
• It is not about just thinking that the grass is always greener - It is about a deep rooted belief that without the fundamental principles of democracy underpinning our society then we are giving up all that we have fought for and built. Our successes now are in spite of the EU, not because of it. The Remain campaign would have us believe that, without EU membership, our people would have no holiday, sick pay, maternity leave or rights. Our society advanced pretty well before the EU and I am certain that it would continue to do so afterwards. 

The idealised EU that the Remain campaign talks of, with a prosperous trading bloc, is simply not the EU that has taken shape. Never has there been less opportunity for young people in Spain, Italy, Greece etc. In peacetime, this level of economic gloom and unemployment is not acceptable. Are we just scared of going it alone because, from where I'm sitting, the future is not bright and I can't work out why we'd stay?

I read a bit about the VW scandal recently. Some 25,000 EU lobbyists work under the radar to influence Brussels to line the pockets of European businesses at the expense of the environment and what's right (this was a case in point). We can do nothing about this engrained corruption and that's not democracy. 

The EU will not reform. Our best chance at securing reform was with a possible Brexit looming and we failed spectacularly with the most valuable bargaining chip that there was, right there in our hands. That should tell us all we need to know about our influence within this organisation. 

I say that now is the time to be brave and to believe in our ability to create a bright future for our country, together and democratically, and not just to make do with what we misguidedly see as the safe option. 

"People who have prospered under a given social system may be unable to imagine the perspective of those it has failed." ~ Michel Houellebecq

  

A vision with heart

I could recite some convincing statistics to encourage people to leave the EU. But that won't do it now. The clear and sensible argument is no longer enough. No one sees the figures anymore and, frankly, they're so contradictory that they are not convincing anyone. In my mind, what's missing from the remain campaign is the heart, the vision and the dream.

I hear a lot of this, "the risks are too high" and, "we need stability." That, my friends, is not a vision. Being shackled to a failing political and economic union is a risk too. Whatever is said, we would not join the EU if it were a new option today. And we do not have to die by our sword and remain in it because of a misguided loyalty to the EU and it's unelected bureaucrats. Our true loyalty is to the people of Europe and that would live on after a Brexit. 

So, what is the leave vision? My vision is one where we can truly contribute to Europe by exporting to it, importing from it and contributing to its economy by visiting those countries which we have grown up with. Those countries which we love as we do our own green and pleasant land. Nothing will change. We will appreciate and immerse ourselves in the different cultures. We will visit our friends and buy their goods. Why would we not? The difference will be that when Jean Claude Junker and his cronies in their marble offices make more decisions which directly conflict with the best interests of our nation, those of our friends and neighbours, those in Africa trying to trade out of poverty or those fleeing war and terror, we won't have to fall in line. 

There will be no isolating of Britain nor refusals to forge trade deals. The world's fifth largest economy should have the confidence in its ability to plough its own furrow and to rise from stagnation, strong and powerful. This is not just for us, it's for our European and worldwide relationships and for our position on the world stage. A Brexit could give us the strength and ability to build on and contribute to those relationships rather than having them managed from Brussels. Surely that is worth fighting for. 

"We know now what we are, but know not what we may be" ~ William Shakespeare

Why I will be voting to leave

On 23rd June 2016 the UK will hold an in/out referendum to decide whether we remain members of the European Union or not. 

 

Many people don't share their political views for fear of antagonising others, because they see it as a private matter, or because they feel a lack of engagement with the subject, which is fine. I am passionate about politics and about our country and I read and listen to as many viewpoints as I can. I believe that people engage more with each other than they do with the establishment. For me, the views of my peers and those around me are as important to me anyone else’s. I want everyone to be as informed as they can be and to be able to consider the future of our country amongst friends and family.

 

So, from the heart, here is why I will be voting for Britain to leave the European Union on 23rd June 2016.

 

I will not pretend to be an expert on all of the ins and outs of this matter, few of us can. Nor will ever I base my views on whether my own financial situation, or those of my friends, colleagues and acquaintances, is likely to be better inside or outside of the European Union. The truth is that we don’t know. One thing I do know and that is, to me, that this matter goes a long way beyond whether I think, and I reiterate that no one knows, that I might be better or worse off in the short term. The economic impact of a Brexit will be felt but, I believe, for the greater good not only economically but morally and democratically too.

Economically – The UK is the world’s fifth largest economy, the fourth military power and has created more jobs in the past five years than all of the other 27 EU states combined. Why would the other EU leaders not want us at their table? Although, they haven’t tried very hard to convince us that it is the right thing for our country. Repatriation of Aid spending from the EU was in the 2005 Conservative election manifesto but was not sought in David Cameron’s renegotiation. We continue to spend £2bn per annum via the EU on Overseas Aid, much of which ends up with wealthy countries (see the EU office in Barbados). We cannot influence the direction of this money to effective development projects therefore, in my opinion, we shouldn’t pay it. A touch simplistic but this matter needs stripping right back. And then, against a backdrop of the banks putting money in and falling energy prices, the pace of economic recovery in Europe is sluggish at best. We are currently shackled to this economy and unable to prosper beyond it.

 

Morally – The EU imposes steep tariffs on African agricultural imports preventing Africa from being able to trade its way out of poverty. Leaving the EU would see us freed from tariffs and quotas as we return to global trading. As well as freeing us to trade with the rest of the world, thereby benefitting their economies, there is also a domestic benefit. These tariffs and quotas currently see our food and heating costs at higher levels than they ever have been. Freedom from them would benefit the poorest in our country by returning the cost of these basic essentials to non-EU levels. This current control is twisting our economy out of shape and preventing us from trading freely on the world stage where we belong. The Eurocrats and lobbyists know how to work the system and the EU looks, to me, to be a system for maximising corporate welfare and not for banishing poverty. I believe that we should be opening ourselves up to the opportunities and competition that the world has to offer and that this is the best way that we can defeat poverty. 

 

Democratically – From all that I have read, the EU appears to be making its people poorer with less democracy. Our friends in Greece, Italy and Spain are buckling under the EU regime with no sign of this pressure abating. They no longer control their own destinies and they are crumbling, one by one. Unemployment and debt are the words of the moment, not prosperity and freedom. And these people cannot do a thing about it. They are at the mercy of the EU.

 

Democracy has elevated Switzerland and our nation deserves the same. The EU’s executive, the Commission, is unelected and carries out the following tasks directly influencing our country:

- Proposes new laws

- Manages EU policies and allocates funding

- Enforces EU law

- Represents the EU internationally

 

I do not believe that a continent with as much wonderful cultural, economic, religious and historic diversity as Europe can be politically governed by one body effectively representing the interests of all of the member countries. I firmly believe that we should give the choices back to the people.

 

Winston Churchill said of World War II that it was an “unnecessary war”. The EU was founded after World War II to promote peace and co-operation across Europe. Today we see the rise in popularity of the far right across the whole of Europe, terrorist attacks on our continent and what feels to be a dangerous undercurrent of discontent which, I believe, is a very long way from Churchill’s vision for Europe.

 

“I understand democracy as something that gives the weak the same chance as the strong” – Mahatma Gandhi

 

So there you have it. Whether 23^rd June becomes Independence Day for the UK or whether we vote for what we think is the status quo, the above is why I believe, deep down inside, that we are better off outside of the European Union. That is the future I want for my daughter, one with foundations built on sound economic principles, true to its morals with real democracy at its heart. 

 

"There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right." – Martin Luther King Jr.