How the Parliamentary Labour Party is showing its contempt for the Labour Party membership

Over 250,000 Labour Party members voted for Jeremy Corbyn as party leader last September (2015). He stood on a ticket of change, of returning to a society where everyone will be treated fairly and decently, and where the privileged few will not prosper at the expense and suffering of the majority of the citizens of the country.

The Parliamentary Labour Party which consists of 229 Labour MPs has decided by a majority that they do not want him to remain as leader despite the wishes of the membership. Some of those same Labour MPs have referred to the members supporting Jeremy Corbyn as "dogs", which shows their contempt for the membership. This is the membership who, come every election, works their socks off to get said MP's elected to Parliament.

By attacking the democratically elected leader in this manner they are also attacking all of the membership who support him. We will not forget those who took part in this coup against democracy. Evidence has come to light that this has been an orchestrated event carried out with the collusion of the mainstream media, whose constant attacks on Jeremy Corbyn have been aimed at undermining his leadership in the eyes of both the membership and the country.

There is a proper and accepted method of challenging an elected leader under the Party Rule Book but the way the PLP has acted this week is not it (Labour MPs retain the power to trigger an extraordinary or "special" Labour Party Conference to choose a new leader if they lose confidence in their existing leader). Their actions have no legitimacy under the Rule Book and are, quite frankly, disgraceful behaviour on the part of those PLP members who took part in the orchestrated resignations and coup against Jeremy Corbyn.

Labour Party members voted overwhelmingly for change by electing Jeremy Corbyn as the party leader. We do not expect that vote, that mandate, to be ignored or overturned by careerist politicians in Labour seats. Any attempt by those MPs opposing the democratically elected leader will be resisted by the membership.

EU Referendum: If you only watch one video please make it this one!

It's only a couple more days until the EU Referendum on our membership of the EU. You're probably sick of all the rhetoric, arguments for and against by now. But I would urge anyone reading this blog, if you only watch one video please make it this one!

All six of us, and the cat...

We sit sipping a latte whilst watching the news
Of kids with no water stood in long queues
Holding their plastic cans and waiting their turns
For ten litres of water whilst the sun, overhead, burns.

We all tut, "how dreadful" and "it's such a shame"
Yet moan that our government sends cash to them in our name.
"Why are we paying them when we need it here instead?"
Demand well-fed citizens snuggling in a warm comfy bed.

"We're only a poor country" is one of our laments
Whilst planning our Summer holidays for kids and parents.
Meanwhile, across the globe in many hundred places
Families starve and children thirst, despair etched in their faces.

Not for them a comfy bed or latte on demand,
Not for them an education and career to be planned;
A place to live and grow without the fear of bombs
And air strikes turning their homes into simple tombs.

A carefree childhood, a happy life, to many is denied,
Whilst aid agencies and peace protesters are derided.
By creating hunger, pestilence or war
Big business and state exploitation is going way too far.

Yet still we sip our lattes in our homes with central heating,
Whilst far away some dissidents endure yet another beating:
Their crime is asking  just for basic human rights,
For speaking out against abuse they face most days and nights.

Religions, states and corporations all must take some blame
For treating people badly, have they no shame?
But are we any better when we constantly complain
About the cost of foreign aid that helps to ease their pain?

Would it be so very bad if we had a fraction less
So others who have nothing can be helped out from that mess?
Do we need ten pairs of shoes when some women have one?
Do we need the latest iPhone when some folks don't have one?

Do we need a gas barbecue or a big double oven
When some must cook on open fires beneath a searing sun?
Do we need that Netflix sub or Sky Sports on the box?
Or could we help our fellow humans eradicate smallpox?

Are power hungry electricals really such a need?
If we each cut back our consumption then would it help to feed
Those hungry refugees in camps where they have fled
In fear of enslavement, or rape or their deathbed;

To get away from air-strikes, bombs and shells
That turned their previous lives into living hells.
Our government caused their misery and pain
Yet we say, "Not giving cash or refuge to them again."

Despite wrecking their homelands for political reasons
We refuse them safe harbour as if they committed the treasons.
We created most of the problems the world faces
And we benefited from them throughout the ages.

Yet when those who are suffering ask for some aid
We look quite affronted or sorely afraid.
That by helping out those with the biggest needs
It will weaken our hearts and make us into weeds.

That simply by showing humanity and compassion
Our nation will be overrun in storm-trooper fashion
By millions of immigrants "all on the make"
Who will claim all our benefits and eat all our cake.

They'll rape all our women and some of the men
And sell into slavery all of our children.
They'll bring all their weird customs, their rites, and their wrongs
And bury us in cous cous and surround us with bongs.

"They don't have our standards" we say to each other
Whilst sipping our lattes and watching Big Brother.
"They come over here and take all of jobs,
"And claim all our benefits - what rotten knobs."

"Use all our roads, our schools and our NHS,
"And leave nought for us born here, oh what a mess."
If we stopped up our borders so no more can invade
And choose with which places we want to do trade,

Then the overseas aid that our government "wastes"
Will help us to prosper and improve our tastes,
And those of us left here will be able to claim
That we're native English and proud of the name.

All six of us, and the cat...

This poem came about after weeks of reading endless scaremongering and bigotry written in the #EU  #Referendum campaign but was finally brought forth after today's article in The Independent about the lack of water supply in Palestine during Ramadan... 

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

Attributed to Edmund Burke 1729 - 1797

A vote to LEAVE the EU in the Referendum will not solve the EU VATMOSS issue!

You might recall that I was particularly vocal about the #EU #VATMOSS issue last year... if not then a look back through the blog will fill you in on what I was saying...  but as we approach the EU #Referendum. it's worth flagging up how the REMAIN / LEAVE votes relate to the issue of VAT on cross-border digital sales within the EU.

You might think that if we vote LEAVE then all our woes will end and VATMOSS will no longer be an issue for micro-businesses...   and you would be wrong!

In fact, a vote to LEAVE would make the situation even worse for small traders... 

Clare Josa (co-founder of the EU VAT Action Campaign and one of the team which took up the issue of how VAT on digital cross-border sales was hurting small businesses) explains why...

http://www.dancinginyoursoulshoes.com/will-happen-eu-digital-vat-leave-eu-10-popular-myths-debunked/

Four possible legal outcomes of Brexit

The EU Referendum is too important an issue for how to vote to be decided by silly TV debate name-calling, by incorrect info on leaflets or the side of a campaign bus, by biased media reportage, by chats with your mates down the pub. 

What is really needed is some actual factual information on what the outcome will mean for you, for me, for our kids and grand-kids, our communities, our workplaces and our public services.

This is one of the most succinct summaries that I have seen so far...

"EU Referendum: Know the facts: Square One Law guide lays out four possible legal outcomes of Brexit"

‪#‎EU‬ MythBusters: "The EU forces its will on member countries"

Not true.

Nothing is decided at EU level unless all member countries have explicitly agreed by treaty to do so, and even then each piece of legislation is agreed by national governments. For sensitive matters like tax and foreign affairs, the requirement for this agreement is complete unanimity, and in other areas there is a very high "qualified majority" threshold. (A "qualified majority" is defined as: 55% of member states, representing at least 65% of the EU population)

This means that no one state (or minority of states) can impose a measure on other member states, and that smaller states cannot override states with larger populations.

‪#‎EU‬ MythBusters: "EU membership costs us a fortune"

Traditionally, the UK net contributions to the EU budget are less than 1% of UK’s public spending. While all bigger and richer member states are net contributors, as a contribution per capita the UK is behind countries like Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands or Austria, Finland and Belgium.

The Confederation of British Industry estimates that EU membership is worth £3,000 a year to every British family — a return of nearly £10 for each £1 we pay in. And the budget for the whole EU is just 1% of GDP, compared to about 49% spent by national governments. That’s just 2% of our public spending each year.  http://www.richardcorbett.org.uk/eu-membership-costs-us-a-fortune/

This is a useful reminder of how much (or more aptly how little) our membership of the EU costs each taxpayer per day... just 11.8 pence per taxpayer per day (or £43.07 per year) which when compared with the CBI's own assessment that EU membership is worth (that is, brings a return value back) to each family of £3,000 per year makes the Leave argument on the grounds that it costs too much a total nonsense. 

What does the ‪#‎EU‬ do for us? Protects against sexual discrimination in the supply of goods & services...

The Gender Directive, officially Council Directive 2004/113/EC of 13 December 2004 implementing the principle of equal treatment between men and women in the access to and supply of goods and services, is a directive which prohibits both direct and indirect sexual discrimination in the provision of goods and services in the European Union.

The directive applies to:

• all people and organisations (both public and private sector) that make goods and services available to the public;
• goods and services offered outside the area of private and family life.

National equality bodies
Each EU country must have at least one body responsible for promoting equal treatment between women and men in the fields covered by the directive. These national equality bodies are empowered to analyse the problems encountered, monitor the situation in their country, make recommendations and provide concrete assistance to victims.

Preventing insurers from using gender as a risk factor
According to Article 5(1) of Directive 2004/113/EC, member states must ensure that "the use of sex as a factor in the calculation of premiums and benefits for the purposes of insurance and related financial services shall not result in differences in individuals' premiums and benefits".

‪#‎EU‬ MythBusters: "Most of our laws come from Brussels"

Not true.

The independent House of Commons library found that the real proportion is just 13.2% of our laws. And these figures include everything that even mentions the EU, even if it's just a passing reference or a definition, according to the researchers!

Broken down this means 1.4% of our Acts of Parliament and 12.9% of implementing measures (Implementing Measures are mandatory requirements in the form of regulations which come into force without further implementation into national laws.)

Hardly overwhelming, is it? http://www.richardcorbett.org.uk/laws-from-brussels/

What does the ‪#‎EU‬ do for us? Protects birds...

The Birds Directive (formally known as Council Directive 2009/147/EC on the conservation of wild birds) is a European Union directive adopted in 2009. It replaces Council Directive 79/409/EEC of 2 April 1979 on the conservation of wild birds which was modified several times and had become very unclear. 

It aims to protect all European wild birds and the habitats of listed species, in particular through the designation of Special Protection Areas (often known by the acronym SPA). Europe is home to more than 500 wild bird species, but at least 32% of the EU's bird species are currently not in a good conservation status. The Birds Directive aims to protect all of the 500 wild bird species naturally occurring in the European Union.

The Birds Directive is one of the EU's two directives in relation to wildlife and nature conservation, the other being the Habitats Directive (see last blog post).  The Habitats Directive led to the setting up of a network of Special Areas of Conservation, which together with the existing Special Protection Areas form a network of protected sites across the European Union called Natura 2000.

What does the ‪#‎EU‬ do for us? Protects wildlife and habitats...

European Protected Species (EPS) are species of plants and animals (other than birds) protected by law throughout the European Union. They are listed in Annexes II and IV of the European Habitats Directive.

The lists include several hundred species of plants and animals. They do not include any fungi, lichens or birds.

European Union states are required under the Habitats Directive to protect the listed species, and for some species (those listed in Annexe II), they are required to designate Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) to protect populations of them.

These regulations help to protect areas of land from development which will harm or destroy those species... without this protection developers will be free to ride roughshod over any land irrespective of what it contains.

What has the EU ever done for my … town?

Good question!

Projects across the UK, from getting people into work to building new tram stops and museums, have gone ahead with EU cash.

Areas of deprivation have benefited from funds from the EU. Areas which have been flooded have been helped by payments from the EU flood fund. Arts funding and business development grants, funds to help workers made redundant or those who live in areas of high unemployment, money to help build or rebuild infrastructures at the heart of our communities, and much more besides... all has come from the EU.

If the UK votes to leave the EU on June 23rd then we will lose access to these funds. Some folks claim that the UK government will fill the need from the savings made from the EU contribution, but many of us are unconvinced. The government has no track record of supporting many of these issues, nor of allowing such spending.

In the end it will be us and our communities which lose out by leaving the EU.

Vote REMAIN on June 23rd to make sure we don't end up as the poor relation on the edge of Europe.

‪#‎EU‬ Myth Busters: “Our most important markets are China and the US, not the EU”

The EU is the world’s biggest single marketplace, and it is the UK's largest trading partner, with sales amounting to almost half (48%) of our world exports and more than half (53%) of our world imports. 

In 2014, the United Kingdom exported $472B making it the 9th largest exporter in the world, and imported $663B making it the 5th largest importer in the world. In fact we export more to Holland (7.2% of UK exports) alone than to the entirety of the Commonwealth's 53 nations!

The Observatory of Economic Complexity [OEC] figures state:

"The top export destinations of the United Kingdom are the United States ($51B), Germany ($46.5B), the Netherlands ($34.2B), Switzerland ($33.6B) and France ($27B)."

"The top import origins are Germany ($100B), China ($62.7B), the Netherlands ($50.7B), the United States ($44.4B) and France ($41.5B)."

So whilst the USA figures as our single nation top export market (11% of exports), it is still not a match for the value of exports from the UK to the whole EU marketplace; whilst exports to China form the same amount as exports to France (5.7%).

If Brexit occurs, the UK would need to re-negotiate more than 100 trade agreements, all of which take time and meanwhile what happens to our businesses trading outside of the UK?

Source of facts:
http://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/profile/country/gbr/