Author: Admin01

We Carry On

Admin01

5th February 2020

WE CARRY ON.  THE UK MAY HAVE LEFT THE EU BUT OUR BELIEFS ARE UNDIMMED

The Forest of Dean for Europe committee has decided that we will continue.  Our aims will change but we will be here for anyone who believes in the peace, prosperity and cooperation amongst European nations that the EU personifies.

On Friday evening 27th March we are holding a party to thank everyone who helped us campaign for EU membership in 2019 and we will consult on what should be our way ahead.  Join us at The Armoury Village Hall, Dean Rd, Newnham GL14 1AD

Food Supplies

Admin01

12th September 2019

Our food supplies at threat from Brexit warn experts in the Forest of Dean

The EU supports our farms in the Forest of Dean and secures our food.

Three quarters of our imported food and drink comes from EU countries and would become more expensive if we leave the Single Market and Customs Union.

Robert Purdie, former National Farmer’s Union (NFU) secretary in Cinderford says “without this support, everyone in the food industry will suffer economically – whether in large dairy or small organic, whether Coleford’s Ribena worker or the Forest’s sheep badger.

His warnings are echoed by Dr Sylvia Wilson, MRCVS, Forest vet, who asserts strict standards keep our food of the highest quality and “in the EU, we enjoy the highest standard of food production and animal welfare.  Importing food from outside the EU makes diseases like Food and Mouth and Swine flu much more likely”.

“Forest of Dean for Europe” is spreading these salutary words in a new leaflet to be widely delivered in the Forest of Dean constituency.  The distribution will begin at the Onion Fayre in Newent this Saturday.

Defend our Democracy

Admin01

5th September 2019

“Defend our Democracy” demonstration outside Mark Harper’s offices this Saturday

“Forest of Dean for Europe” will join the Labour Party, Lib Dems and Greens at 10:00 am Saturday 7th September in Cinderford to demonstrate against the government’s anti-democracy actions.

We will join a  peaceful protest against recent Government actions in seeking to subvert our democratic traditions.  We will gather this Saturday 7th September at 10am outside Mark Harper’s Office, 35 High Street Cinderford Gloucestershire GL14 2SL.

Sylvia Wilson from Forest of Dean for Europe says “the sooner the charlatans who have taken over the Conservative Party are removed from office the better.”

We are joining the Labour, Green and Liberal Democrat Political Parties together with many others who are angry about the proroguing of parliament and steps taken to avoid scrutiny of the government’s reckless attempt to send the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal.. There will be banners, flags, whistles and music.

Suspending Parliament

Admin01

Date 29th August 2019

Suspending Parliament reveals total contempt for our Parliamentary democracy.

Statement by Forest of Dean for Europe about the Government’s decision to suspend Parliament:

At a time of grave constitutional crisis this is not only shocking, it is also frightening. It reveals a total contempt for our Parliamentary democracy. It has no historic parallel since Charles I – and we know how that ended. As House of Commons speaker John Bercow has said today, “it’s an offence against the democratic process”.

The 2016 referendum was narrowly won. Brexit supporters said they wanted Parliamentary Sovereignty back. Yet this government are ready to set aside Parliamentary process, even Parliament itself, when it suits them. They do so on the flimsiest of mandates: they are a minority government, led by a Prime Minister who has been elected by 0.1% of the UK electorate.

This Prime Minister lied his way through the 2016 referendum campaign. The lying continues. He now pretends that the request to the Queen to suspend Parliament was all about preparing the ground for domestic legislation. This insults our intelligence. It is plain that the reason is that he knows that MPs will not allow him to drive the UK over the No Deal cliff. On top of being dishonest with the public, this government is also cowardly – it has so little confidence in its central policy that it won’t allow Parliament to debate or vote on it.

Shameful as this is, more frightening is the threat to democracy. Hiding behind the questionable mandate of a referendum that took place over three years ago, Boris Johnson’s government is acting as many previous tyrants have. He is trying to evade public and Parliamentary scrutiny. And he is trying to pit people against a democratically-elected Parliament. It is what fascist leaders did in Europe in the 1930s.

This attempt to by-pass Parliament must not succeed. Principled MPs will fight it in every way they can. It will be challenged in court. Above all, people in their millions need to protest: on the streets in London and elsewhere; in letters to their MPs; signing Parliamentary petitions; in the press; on social media – in every way possible. This is no longer about Brexit. It’s about whether we want to live in a Parliamentary democracy or under something that begins to resemble a dictatorship.

Forest of Dean for Europe calls on Mark Harper to disassociate himself from this move by his government. And we ask all those in the Forest of Dean who believe in democracy to add their voice to ours. This outrage must be stopped!

April Post

Admin01

In April 2017, he wrote an article for the website “OpenDecomcracyUK” and made the following points.

As an introduction, he says:

  • The Brexit project has gone sour. It has turned Britain into a laughing stock. It is certain to make us poorer and to lead to lower incomes and lost jobs. We Brexiteers would be wise to acknowledge all this. Future generations will look back at what we did and damn us.
  • There is zero chance of a sensible Brexit. It’s a decision which will not just impact the lives of our children. But also our children’s children.
  • A clumsily executed Brexit will hit us in terms of lower incomes, lost jobs and industries, worse public services and restricted opportunities.
  • I’ve heard the argument that people want to get it over with and ‘just leave’. That’s reckless, stupid and could inflict incalculable damage. Matters can get an awful lot worse…..I write this as someone who voted for Brexit.

On the economy, he says:

  • The economic arguments for Brexit have been destroyed.
  • Nissan is abandoning plans [for the UK]…Sony is moving its HQ…..Panasonic did it last year… Dyson is moving his HQ to Singapore. The trickle of companies announcing plans to leave Britain has turned into a flood. …. Britain’s departure from the EU will be as great a disaster for our country as the over-mighty unions were in the 1960s and 1970s.
  • The biggest immediate losers will be the working-class people in the NE who are widely said to support Brexit.
  • I accept that the EU is a dysfunctional body……but we are much better off working inside the EU for reform (where we are greatly respected) and not as a hostile neighbour.
  • It is folly to rely on the World Trade Organisation (WTO) which is fundamental to the Brexiteer economic model. The WTO, under attack from the USA and China, is losing its ability to ensure a free market for goods and services.
  • No country that is relatively small [compared to the USA, China and EU] can rely on the WTO alone. We would be adrift and at [their] mercy as we try to go it alone. Liam Fox’s department will have almost no replacement trade deals ready for Brexit.
  • The EU has just signed a huge free-trade deal with Japan. If we leave the EU, ….does anyone seriously think we could get something better? We will be weaker and more isolated. No business organisation wants Brexit. The CBI and TUC, in a highly unusual show of unity, have written a joint letter expressing deep concern.

On the union of the UK, he says:

  • A second reason to change my mind is the threat to the UK, to our own union. I underestimated the importance of the Good Friday Agreement …  the separatists within our own nation would push us apart [in Northern Ireland] as the Scottish nationalists are also doing. ….. The EU is part of the glue which holds us together in the United Kingdom.

On integrity, he says:

  • My third unhappiness concerns the integrity of some leading Brexiteers. We are learning more and more about the deceit and illegal tactics which accompanied the Leave campaign. 
  • Britain’s national watchdog has fined Leave.EU for breaking electoral marketing laws. The National Crime Agency is still investigating suspicions of criminal offences. Alleged links to Russian money are even more worrying.

On Brexiteers, he says:

  • The fourth problem is the Brexiteers themselves. Phrases [used by Brexiteers] such as ‘vassal state’….do not remotely characterise our relationship with Europe. The affection …. for Donald Trump is ominous.
  • It is not too late to think again. It is clear that we can reverse Article 50. It would quite reasonably be portrayed as a betrayal of the 17.4 million who voted leave….I would answer as follows:
  • The Brexiteers made claims about leaving the EU that have turned out to be untrue. They said it would be quick and easy. They said trade deals would be available …..that the trade deal with the EU would be one of the easiest in human history.
  • They made false claims about British finances. They used illegal methods and their funding was obscure.
  • If the referendum had been a general election, the Brexiteers would have been chucked out of office.

 In conclusion, he says:

  • I don’t believe [a second referendum] would be undemocratic. So many facts have changed that it makes senses to re-examine the most important decision in decades.
  • Many MPs still marching under the Brexit banner…..have changed their minds.
  • But where is [my] declaration of love for the EU? I have none. Only a deep, gnawing worry that we are making a significant mistake, a worry that is growing by the hour.
  • Suspending Brexit will be greatly preferable to the alternative.