10 big wins from just leaving the EU on 31 October

https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/

We can

Spend all the money we save on our priorities

Cut tariffs on imports especially where we cannot grow or make them for ourselves

Remove VAT from items as we wish – as with green items like insulation and boiler controls  and feminine hygiene products

Rebuild our fishing grounds and land more of our own fish for home consumption

Work with our farmers to cut food miles and enjoy more home grown produce

Regain our seat and vote in international bodies

Sign Free trade  deals that suit us with other countries – all the time we were member s they never managed an FTA with the USA and many Commonwealth countries

Decide our own laws

Cut the costs of government by getting rid of a whole unnecessary EU level

Avoid all the financial and foreign policy  risks of the Euro and common EU foreign policy




Those who relaunch Project Fear aim to damage our country

Only if the EU believes we are leaving on October 31 without  signing the Withdrawal Agreement do we have a reasonable chance of leaving tariff free.

The new PM needs to tell the EU we are leaving, but we would be happy to negotiate a Free Trade Agreement after departure allowing the EU continued access to us tariff free and for us to them. All they need to do is agree talks.

The peddlers of false Project Fear forecasts clearly want to stop us getting such an agreement.




Boris calls for 20,000 more police

More police form part of the proposal for a reflationary budget. They are a direct answer to the requests of Chief Constables and Police Commissioners. I have reported here under  local issues this viewpoint.

I welcome a balanced package of tax cuts and public service improvements given the state of the economy and history of public service  funding since the banking crash and great recession of the last Labour government.

It is important that the new Home Secretary and Police Commissioners use the extra personnel wisely to tackle areas of crime where more people could make a difference. The public want fast response policing where officers can arrive promptly at a crime scene or location of possible crimes and disorder, and take prompt action to prevent or to pursue offenders. Intelligence led policing is likely to be the most effective, with any traditional beat policing being an exercise in engagement with the local community to learn about the problems and to pick up leads about possible offenders.

Drug rings and County lines need targetting more. Anti social behaviour and internet fraud are also big issues. I would welcome comments on how extra  officers could best be deployed.




New direction in the EU?

The possible new leaders of the EU have not received great reviews from the press and public commenting so far. The EU Heads of government took a long time to make up their minds who to recommend to the Parliament. Their decision dumped the spitzenkandidat system they were meant to be following. Instead of recommending Manfred Weber, the leader of the EPP grouping in the Parliament to be EU Commission President, they recommended Von Leyen, the Defence Minister of Germany, who was not in the frame for such a post prior to the election.

The lack of direct democratic accountability of the Commission President is a worry for some supporters of the EU. That is why they invented the spitzenkandidat system. Under this approach the leaders of the main party groupings contesting the European elections appear on public platforms and debate the future of the EU so the public can see what they would do if they won the European election and if their candidate became Commission President . Whilst it is not as good as making the post directly elected, it could provide more accountability than the behind closed door recommendation made after the election.

Von der Leyen is an unknown politicians when it comes to the EU agenda. We are told she is an EU enthusiast who will presumably wish to support more steps to European integration. She is also a German conservative, who may not want to commit  more German tax revenue to grants and transfers around the Euro currency union. She may find herself in disagreement with Christine Lagarde, the French former Republican, who is proposed to be the next President  of the European Central Bank. Lagarde is also likely to be keen on more European integration, and may advocate a bigger EU budget with Germany making a bigger contribution to that budget.

Charles Michel, the former Belgian PM, becomes President of the Council. Known for seeking to reconcile opposites and to weld a coalition out of very different forces, he will need dark arts to construct alliances and coalitions for policies that can command majority support in the Council of Ministers and the Parliament.




The Conservative leadership election

https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/

I will be voting for Boris when my ballot paper arrives. He has given a clearer pledge to get us out of the EU by 31 October than Jeremy Hunt. This is vital for the future of our democracy and for the recovery of the Conservative party.

He has pledged tax cuts for individuals earners  and home buyers and more spending on local schools and the police. In contrast Jeremy has promised a further expensive large cut in Corporation tax for large companies, where we are more competitive . It is our  tax rates for individuals and taxes on enterprise and property ownership that are holding us back and harming the revenues.

If I needed any more reasons to choose Boris rather than Jeremy, the issue of fox hunting would supply it. Jeremy Hunt announced he would want a further Commons vote on fox hunting and implied he supported fox hunting. I have no wish to see this divisive issue re opened in Parliament. It is very unlikely Parliament would vote a different way to last time, but it would stir up strong emotions on both sides. Mr Hunt then appeared to back down rapidly under fire, saying he did not intend to introduce such a motion were he to become Prime  Minister and was merely reasserting the position from Mrs May’s failed Manifesto of 2017. This made his position worse.

I look forward to our early exit from the EU without signing the completely unacceptable Withdrawal Treaty. I want a  Brexit bonus  budget to spend the money we save. We should stop all contributions to the EU from 1 November onwards.