Letter: Although Article 50 Has Been Signed It Will Still Be An Uphill Struggle

Published on: 30 Mar, 2017
Updated on: 30 Mar, 2017

From John Armstrong

Well there we have it. Article 50 signed. The deed is done. Good of Mr Tusk to remind us that until we’re actually out that we are still subject to EU law and jurisdiction.

I wonder what new laws they will pass in the next two years in order take the shine off our newly acquired freedom?

The sticky point is that the Great Repeal Bill will draft all EU law into UK law so we will be stuck with them until we can repeal them individually; that is if MP’s wish to, given that so many of them wanted to remain.

We will not be safe from vindictive law making until we repeal the 1972 Single European Act. I think that we should get on with it immediately and not wait for the end of the Article 50 process. A great deal of mischief can done in two years.

Negotiations have already begun, it would appear, with a threat from the EU that they will block Brexit unless all those EU Citizens who arrive in the next two years are allowed to stay.

That’s a fine start isn’t it? Angela Merkel too has joined the fray early by ruling out parallel negotiations on trade. Further threats to block have been made with regard to preparatory trade talks with other nations. So we can see that they wish us the very best.

The EU are aided of course by what amounts to a fifth column operating behind enemy lines who’s sole aim is to overturn the referendum result and to frustrate the will of the electorate. By this I mean all those die hard Remainers doing all that they can to talk down Brexit.

These are not ordinary folk who voted remain because of project fear, or because they were a little nervous of change. These are high ranking politicians, judges, lords of the realm; people who’s whole political life has been for Europe.

These are the same people who tried to amend the Brexit Bill in the House of Lords to give settlement rights to EU citizens living in the UK ahead of similar rights to UK residents in the EU.

Presumably they are of a mind with the EU negotiators and wish to cram as many EU migrants into the UK as possible before the cut off date; though quite what their motive could be I cannot think.

Although Article 50 is triggered Brexit is still going to be an uphill struggle. With a belligerent EU across the water and a cabal of seething malcontents at her back; the prime minister is going to have her work cut out. This is going to be a story worthy of Shakespeare.

Responses to Letter: Although Article 50 Has Been Signed It Will Still Be An Uphill Struggle

Peter Gatford Reply

March 30, 2017 at 5:36 pm

A good letter from John Armstrong, I couldn’t agree more.

I was beginning to think I, and most of my circle of friends, were alone thinking along those lines. The discussion in these parts appear to be lead by the Liberal Democrats, (surely a title they now have to reconsider) who wish to reject the results of the referendum in an attempt to regain support and overturn the wishes of the majority.

The country has decided, the government is now set. In efforts to get the most from this new opportunity we need to pull together and be seen to pull together. The ever opportunistic Liberals, the predictable SNP’s, aged ex politicians and various over exposed media persons, if not actively supporting the new era, should resist damaging the very good chances we all have to create a better future for us all.

Any failure to secure the best results cannot be acceptable nor is it in anyone’s best interest. Sadly failure is supported, and indeed encouraged, by these small minority groups.
Tom Hunt Reply

March 30, 2017 at 5:47 pm

It’s really disappointing to read of Mr Armstrong’s paranoid delusions about fifth columnists. This kind of talk is bizarre, especially when directed against parliament and the judiciary.

A central thrust of the Brexit argument was to re-establish Parliamentary sovereignty (not that it ever went anywhere) and to ensure British judges rule on British matters. Having made this argument, it’s bit rich to then complain if Parliament does something you don’t agree with. That is the nature of democracy, the alleged defence of which was another key reason proffered for Brexit.

I note that Mr. Armstrong continues to hold the view that EU citizens currently living in the UK, in many cases with their British families, should be used as bargaining chips in our negotiation with the EU. The Britain I believe in is, amongst other things, open, fair, tolerant and well able to concede these people’s right to live here. It is a shame than others appear to have less faith in Britain than I do.
- John Perkins Reply
  
  March 31, 2017 at 10:10 am
  
  Tom Hunt conflates the issues of Parliamentary sovereignty and British judicial independence. They are not the same thing at all. Parliament has not done anything Mr. Armstrong could be said to disagree with. The point being made is that some are attempting to make it do so regardless of the expressed will of a majority of people.
  
  The EU is refusing to settle the supposed issue of immigration in advance, thus forcing the UK to play the same game. It’s demand for payment before any negotiation can take place is part of the same confrontational approach.
David Pillinger Reply

March 31, 2017 at 12:13 pm

As an ordinary person of Guildford, I think that Mr Armstrong (who I understand was the leader of UKIP in these parts) is deluded.

Europe is not our enemy. Europeans are our friends. Foreign nationals (British or otherwise around the world) move around because they are hired by companies or institutions (in Guildford Allianz, Ericsson, the NHS, the university), and EU laws are made by us, the British, together with our friends in other EU countries for good reasons with which we generally agree wholeheartedly.

Enough of these backward looking, door slamming, little Englander attitudes, please. There is no conspiracy from Europe. UKIP’s oratory is truly embarrassing to us as a nation.
- John Armstrong Reply
  
  March 31, 2017 at 10:47 pm
  
  Surely Mr Pillinger can do better than that. “Little Englander” just doesn’t just doesn’t cut it as an argument in these days of a resurgent global Britain.
  
  Resurgent indeed, the whole world has been coming to the Pool of London for many a hundred years. We had a global trading empire with wooden ships and wind power. Only during the EU era have we shortened our gaze and erected barriers to business.
  
  Now we can put to sea again; we sail with the tide; the EU in our wake.
  - David Pillinger Reply
    
    April 2, 2017 at 1:19 pm
    
    Correction. It is we globalists, who are the reason for the resurgent global Britain, not the Little Englanders and door slammers.
- John Perkins Reply
  
  April 1, 2017 at 10:42 am
  
  It is disingenuous of Mr. Pillinger to claim to be an “an ordinary person of Guildford” whilst simultaneously identifying Mr. Armstrong with UKIP. Mr. Pillinger was a leading member of the local Remain campaign and obviously still is.
  
  Can we have a end to the nonsense suggesting that anyone who disagrees with remaining in the EU somehow hates Europeans or foreigners generally. Few actually think that way.
  
  Petty insults such as “deluded”, “backward looking”, “door slamming” and “little Englander” are not helpful either. Nor are they any more accurate than the implied accusation of xenophobia.