Sacrificing our Sovereignty - HS2 and TEN-T

Research by Anne Palmer

The Coalition’s Program for Government?

The linked research paper has been prepared by Anne Palmer and is too long to include in full as a posting on this blog. I have therefore posted it on a little used but relevant sister blog linked here. I quote merely the first few papragraphs and omit all the hugely important links. Please read it in full when your time allows, it is immensely important for Britain.

These two paragraphs below are acknowledged as Crown Copyright from the Coalition’s program for Government. Chapter 13: Europe.

“The Government believes that Britain should play a leading role in an enlarged European Union, but that no further powers should be transferred to Brussels without a referendum. This approach strikes the right balance between constructive engagement with the EU to deal with the issues that affect us all, and protecting our national sovereignty”.

“We will ensure that there is no further transfer of sovereignty or powers over the course of the next Parliament. We will examine the balance of the EU’s existing competences and will, in particular, work to limit the application of the Working Time Directive in the United Kingdom”.   End of quotes.

We have read recently of the Government’s acceptance of a full speed ahead with HS2.  Yet, not one word from our Government or explanation that the HS2 is part of the EU’s Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) Policy.  Although I have written about this before, I did not emphasize just how, in accepting this EU project, it is transferring ever more masses of UK Sovereignty to the European Union. In the acceptance of this EU Legislation our politicians are allowing the European Union to dictate what we must do on our land, sea, and air. All of which so many people fought so very hard to prevent in the 1939-1945 war, when the people of every age-yes even children- fought so hard for this once sovereign Country to remain forever FREE FROM FOREIGN RULE.

Mayor Johnson and a British referendum on the EU

It is being reported that Boris Johnson has come out in support of a referendum for Britain on the Lisbon Treaty whether it has been ratified or not. Let us look at what he actually said: In an interview with The Sunday Times, Johnson said: “If we are faced with the prospect of Tony Blair suddenly emerging, suddenly pupating into an intergalactic spokesman for Europe, then I think the British people deserve a say on it ... I do think it would be right for such a debate to be held, particularly if the upshot of the Lisbon treaty is going to produce President Blair.” This then is a spoiler against Tony Blair becoming the first EU President, deliberately targeted at those, on the Continent, making the decision on the the first such appointee to the EU Presidential post. It must surely go without saying that Tony Blair is among that small group of totally shameless and despicable politicians who emerged during the twentieth century in different parts of Europe. As such, it would be entirely fitting for him to become the first appointed head of the corrupt and anti-democratic EU. No decent man or woman would wish their name associated with such an organization after the affront of the Lisbon Treaty ratification process. The actual occupant of the Presidency, as Mayor Johnson is fully aware, is an irrelevance on the question of whether Britons should now accept governance under the terms of the Lisbon Treaty. It is brave of such a leading figure in the Conservative Party to have expressed this view in clear contradiction of the views of his party's leadership. We need it even more clearly spelled out please Boris, Britain needs a referendum on Lisbon, or if ratified, then on the EU, FULL STOP!

Referenda - the elephant at the Constitutional Crisis

At this time of year six years ago the detail of the proposed EU Constitution was becoming clear. On this very day in 2003 on Ironies I made a posting which contained the crux of the insuperable problem (put in bold here but not in the original) between the UK and the EU, I quote it in full below as it is more than relevant today, surprisingly the original links still work. I will be discussing this old posting later today in the light of our present crisis and the ridiculous and irrelevant interventions of David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Alan Johnson yesterday. The posting on Ironies, linked here, was as follows:

Monday, May 26, 2003

Referenda After two weeks of travel in France where internet connections are as rare as warm beer, I return to find the Daily Telegraph Leader 'Fight for a Referendum' today throwing its weight behind the call for a referendum on the EU Convention outcome. Steven Den Beste USS Clueless today also gives an outsider's view of Britain's wierd constituitional arrangements and the momentous decisions the country now faces. The link provided to the John Major cover article in this week's The Spectator adds weight to the unanswerable case for the people to be involved in any decision. Major was interviewed on the same subject on Radio Four and for once sounded absolutely firm on a point of principal involving the EU, even sounding close to convincing when trying to justify his own avoidance of a referendum on the Maastricht Treaty. While in the small Charante village of Aubeterre last week, I sat beneath a staute and plaque to the French founder of the League of Human Rights and discussed this fallacy with its attendant impossible contradictions that the system of English Common Law Rights so cleverly avoids. Can the attendant disadvantages highlighted in today's USS Clueless Blog now mean that the British should join the rest of the world in the pretence that some can legislate the impossible and enforce the unachievable? Maybe so, but let it be a British Constitution with the powers vested solely in the Westminster Parliament, while devolved as only that body may deem fit!

posted by Martin at 5/26/2003 09:18:00 AM

UBS mortgage losses in USA reach 19 billion dollars

The announcement from the Swiss Bank in its first quarter results was as follows: Positions related to US mortgage market * In line with 1 April pre-announcement, fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC) businesses impacted by losses of around USD 19 billion on US real estate and certain structured credit positions ­ risk positions decreased through disposals and writedowns The Swiss Central Bank sees its primary purpose as maintaining confidence in the country's currency. Does the Bank of England? I have lost count of the times I have heard UK media reports on the credit crunch, that began last August, stating that the problem is that there is lack of transparency in the market or that the banks are reluctant to reveal the extent of their exposures. The Authorities job is to prevent such obfuscation and thereby restore confidence, why does this only appear to be happening with Swiss Banks? I partly blame the influence of the EU in this disastrous climate of deceit. Transparency is difficult for the ECB as it lacks the sovereignty to become a lender of last resort. Today we will be getting an update on the disaster at the Airbus parent, the malign influence of the EU was again at work last evening with the Scottish Labour Party's leader backing an early referendum on independence, read here. The potential break-up of Belgium and now the destruction of the UK are only made possible by the belief in the Euro currency and sustainability of the EU. We must hope the growing crisis for the West's economic model will now bring an early end to the EU as it is presently so corruptly constructed! A British referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, as promised by Gordon Brown's governing party, could be a first step to restoring an iota of his credibility and concurrently act as a prompt for complete and proper EU reform.