The Beginning of The End!

Was This the beginning of Brexit?


A very interesting read by journalist Alasdair Sandford on 23/6/2016. I do appreciate that of course this is all water under the bridge, but it does me good to remind myself how we got to today, and the reasons why.
I personally found it thought-provoking. How times have changed, How much we have all been through to get to where we are now. Who would have thought it could happen?

Anyway, please do have a read, it is a reminder. LEST WE FORGET!

It covers the period 1973 to 1990.


Quote

1973 - the United Kingdom joins the ‘Common Market’

The UK joins the European Economic Community on January 1, along with Denmark and Ireland, raising the number of EEC member states to nine. The deal struck by a Conservative government follows years of negotiations involving Edward Heath both before and after he becomes prime minister.

At the time the UK is one of the poorest major European nations, its economy having slipped behind the likes of France, Germany and Italy. Conscious of declining trade links with the Commonwealth and wary of being marginalised by a fast-emerging economic powerhouse on the continent, Britain has twice attempted to join the EEC in the 1960s. Each time it has been thwarted by President De Gaulle of France, who fears Europe being drowned in the Atlantic by Britain’s US ties, and diluted by its ‘great escort’ of Commonwealth countries. The French veto is finally lifted by de Gaulle’s successor, Georges Pompidou.

British officials have been aware since the fledgling EEC’s origins in the late 1950s that joining the new entity will involve some loss of sovereignty. (Commenting on the impact of European law in a 1974 judgement, senior English judge, Lord Denning says ‘’when we come to matters with a European element, the Treaty (of Rome) is like an incoming tide. It flows into the estuaries and up the rivers. It cannot be held back.)

Later, an ever-growing chorus of eurosceptics will complain that given the EU’s increasingly federalist drift, British sovereignty has been sold down the river!

1975 - The first In/Out referendum

Elections the previous year have returned to power a Labour government deeply divided over the UK’s membership. Under Prime Minister Harold Wilson, terms are renegotiated and - just two and a half years after the UK joined - a referendum is held in early June 1975 on whether Britain should remain part of the Common Market.

Labour ministers campaign on both sides - with pro-Marketeers pitted against ‘No’ campaigners railing against ‘Eurocapitalism’. But other mainstream politicians - including the new opposition leader Margaret Thatcher - as well as business and the press, are overwhelmingly in favour of staying in.

Eurosceptics have since claimed that the supremacy of European over national law was covered up at the time. In fact, although it is certainly underplayed by the pro-EEC camp, the question of sovereignty is raised during the campaign. However, weighing far more heavily in the public’s minds are arguments about jobs and prices - a sensitive issue in the inflation-ridden 1970s.

With a high turnout at the polls, Britain duly voted by two-to-one to remain part of the European club.


1984 - Our own money back!

Thatcher is definitely no longer wearing her famous multi-flag jumper as she thumps the table at the Fontainebleau summit threatening to withhold UK contributions to the European budget if a fairer deal is not granted.

Having had no say in the EEC’s original development, and limited clout when negotiating its entry terms, London has long argued that the Common Agricultural Policy - representing 70 percent of EEC spending particularly beneficial to French farmers - and the mechanism for determining budget contributions, are both unfavourable to Britain.

“We are simply asking to have our own money back” Thatcher says, persisting at the summit amid a reportedly male chauvinistic atmosphere which sees other leaders pretend to be asleep or read newspapers while she makes her case.

Although the prime minister tries to hold out for more, the resulting agreement grants Britain a 66 percent rebate on its net contributions which remains in place over three decades later. It is seen as a symbolic victory for the UK - and a landmark battle setting the tone for Britain’s relationship with Europe for years to come.

1986 - Single European Market.

Margaret Thatcher is a fervent supporter as the Single European Act is signed to banish trade barriers within the European Community, paving the way for a full single internal market by 1992 to counter the economic clout of the USA, Japan, and the growing Asian markets. The business-friendly UK embraces a move it believes will be good for economic growth - though it has to accept institutional reform involving the introduction of majority voting, scrapping several national vetoes, despite fears that will erode national sovereignty.

According to her foreign policy adverser, Charles Powell, Thatcher grasps the Single Market as a way to engage positively with the EU after the budget rows. However, the negative strain of those long drawn-out negotiations takes its toll, contributing to alter her view of Europe over time from positive and favourable, to decidedly sceptical.
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Long after leaving office, by the early 2000s, Thatcher’s support for the Single European Act has evaporated as she says signing up to it was a terrible error.


1986 - Thatcher’s Bruges speech.

The British prime minister’s speech to the College of Europe in Bruges in September is a watershed moment in the UK’s relationship with the European Community. It is remembered for one infamous Thatcher quotation: “We have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state in Britain, only to see them re-imposed at a European level, with a European super-state, exercising a new dominance from Brussels”.

The speech becomes a benchmark for growing Euroscepticism in Britain throughout the 1990s and 2000s, leading to the rise of UKIP and ultimately the current referendum on the UK’s EU membership.

The trigger for Bruges is the federalist drive of European Commission President Jacques Delors, who in recent speeches to the European Parliament and Britain’s Trades Union Congress (TUC) has spoken of a new Europe where 80 percent of economic and social policy will be decided at European not national level. Alarmed at the prospect of what she sees as Brussels-imposed socialism, Thatcher replies with her alternative vision for Europe.

But can her speech be seen as an early prototype for Brexit?
According to Powell, it was not meant to be anti-EU, and another far-less quoted excerpt from her speech could almost be lifted from today’s ‘Remain’ manifesto.
“Let me be quite clear. Britain does not dream of some cosy, isolated existence on the fringes of the European Community. Our destiny is in Europe, as part of the Community”.

In contrast to growing hostility to Delors’ EC among British Conservatives, the traditionally, Eurosceptic Labour Party has found a figure and project to rally round.



1990 - “Up Yours Delores”


Delores’ federalist scheme has been gaining steam. The Commission President’s ideas for further European integration involve a Community with supranational power invested in the European Parliament, Commission and Council of Ministers. “No! No! No!” Thatcher famously tells the House of Commons on 30 October.

Two days later, in its own unique style, the Sun echoes her hostility towards the froggie Common Market chief, urging the tabloid’s readers to ‘’tell the French fool where to stuff his ECU’’ - the precursor to the euro.

However, the government is anything but united on the issue. On the same day, Thatchers’s long-serving and - until then - faithful senior minister, Geoffrey Howe resigns in protest at her European policy, precipitating her downfall within the month. The divisions unleashed in the Conservative Party over Europe persist to this day.

Meanwhile, Lord Denning has changed his tune, lamenting in 1990: “No longer is European law an incoming tide flowing up the estuaries of England. It is now like a tidal wave bringing down our sea walls and flowing inland over our fields and houses - to the dismay of all".

“Up Yours Delors” is still cited as a benchmark for all subsequent eurosceptic stories by a British press whose treatment of Europe has been cited as one of the main reasons for the British people’s hostility towards the EU.

Re: The Beginning of The End!

Was this the beginning of brexit, or the beginning of the end? Or are they synonymous?
It sounds like the beginning of britains prosperity. Of course, that is now ending. Is that what you try to tell?

Re: The Beginning of The End!

No Solache, It just reminded me of how the EU manipulated Britain, turned us upside down and emptied our pockets for the last 40 years. It also reminded me of how gullible our former governments were to fall into the EU Common Market claptrap when the plan wasn't free trading between European nations at all, It was always the aim of being the United States of Europe.

After reading that article, it does my heart good to know we are where we are today. It's been a long time coming, but not long now. We will take the hurt, but at least we will be free of the boot.

Re: The Beginning of The End!

Why should you worry Solly??

Donkeyman! 🤔🤔

Re: The Beginning of The End!

What happened to the easiest deal possible, have our cake and eat it, unleashing britain's potential

There will be no downside to Brexit, only a considerable upside*
David Davis, 14 July 2016

The free trade agreement that we will do with the European Union should be one of the easiest in human history*
Liam Fox, 20 July 2017

There will be no change to the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic*
Michael Gove, Boris Johnson, Priti Patel, 1st June 2016

The UK will regain control over our domestic fisheries management rules and access to our waters.*
Theresa May, 3 March 2017

If we vote Leave, we will be able to increase funding to science and still save billions*
Vote Leave, 14 June 2016

Re: The Beginning of The End!

It seems A German fishing chairman has called for UK fish not to be sold in Germany after Brexit unless certain conditions are met.

Hahaha ! We can easily change our dietry habits, which we should. Eat more quality fish , less 'left-overs' and meat.
No need for us to buy their cars .

"We will fight them in the fish markets. We will fight them on the fishing gounds. We will never surrender " !

Re: The Beginning of The End!

The condition being the fish are dead?

Re: The Beginning of The End!

Different fish

The traditional accompaniment to chips has fared differently. A typical household bought 44g of white fish (fresh, chilled or frozen) per week in 1974. While it still remained the most popular fish choice, 40 years later that figure was just 19g.

But other types of seafood did better. Shellfish purchases rose fivefold, and those of salmon by 550%.

"I think health marketing around the benefits of omega 3 as well as the decline in price explains the increase in salmon consumption," says Abbots. At the same time, despite anxieties about stocks of white fish like cod and haddock, "the British public aren't great at trying different white fish substitutes that they haven't heard of".


People used to really like eating liver. In 1974 a typical household bought 36g of it per week.
But not by 2014. Then the figure had fallen to just 3g - a 92% drop. Offal - familiar to a wartime generation that eschewed waste - had fallen out of favour among younger, more squeamish Britons.
"People don't know what to do with offal any more," says Annie*
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35595530

Re: The Beginning of The End!

Ha Ha! Puddle duck!
As you say, we dont need to buy their over priced cars anymore!
The cars from the east are just as good and are considerably
cheaper once the EU tariff is removed from them??
And food products can be sourced from Africa and the Antipodes
and even South America at similar or cheaper than EU products??
So not buying UK fish is a two edged sword and good luck to them
on that??

Donkeyman! 👍👍👍

Re: The Beginning of The End!

I really don't care if the entire continent of Europe decides never to eat our fish. We shall eat it and that which we don't want can stay in the sea and begin to restore its numbers after having been plundered by the Frogs for 40 years.