Brexit: the referendum

[Henri McPhee]

I've heard this talk about "EU accounts" before. What's the background to this?
Are UK government accounts regularly audited?

I don't know about UK government accounts, but there have been corruption scandals with regard to the EU accounts in the past. The UK is a net contributor, unlike Ireland, which means it pays in more than it gets out. I can't remember the exact details now but there was talk in the past about olive oil in Italy going into mafia pockets, and talk about cigarette smuggling.

It's white collar crime, rather like bank fraud, which means it hardly ever gets prosecuted and punished by the so-called men and women of character and integrity prosecutors. The police only seem interested in narcotics, possibly because there is money in it for them.

The thing is the public and the House of Commons are kept in the dark about all this, and it is covered up. They only hear of the austerity cuts and closures in order to have a balanced and surplus budget. I accept that the same sort of thing sometimes happens in Russia, and it is even worse in some other countries in Africa and Asia.

About ten years ago there was a whistleblower called Ms Andreason in the European Political Union who spoke out before Obama started putting whistleblowers into prison for life. She said that the Commission had worse protection against fraud than Enron, and accused Mr. Kinnock of dragging out disciplinary proceedings against her until after he retired.

There are several websites about all this one being:

http://www.caef.org.uk/d64knnck.html

 

[MikeG]

.........About ten years ago there was a whistleblower called Ms Andreason in the European Political Union who spoke out before Obama started putting whistleblowers into prison for life.........

What has a whistleblower in Europe got to do with Obama? When did the POTUS get powers to put anyone in prison, let alone a European in Europe? WTF is the European Political Union? You continue to pull irrelevant tripe out of your backside and parade it is fact.

Oh, and as for there being some conspiracy about EU accounts not being signed off by auditors......everyone knows that. There is no conspiracy, no cover up, and it's been brought up in the Commons endlessly.

........I can't remember the exact details ......

But that won't stop you.

.....but there was talk in the past about olive oil in Italy going into mafia pockets, and talk about cigarette smuggling.........

Absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with an EU referendum. Stick to the topic.

 

[Craig B]

.. there was talk in the past about olive oil in Italy going into mafia pockets ...

Italian Mafiosi put olive oil in their pockets? That sounds very messy.

 

[Peter May]

Italian Mafiosi put olive oil in their pockets? That sounds very messy.

Don't worry, it can all be very easily reduced to this.
Que Sera, Sera

With apologies to Doris Day.

 

[icerat]

I was listening to Cameron on the BBC this morning as I was getting ready to go out. I swear he said about the deal that "the UK gets the benefits of the EU without the costs"

Say what? So we non-UK European taxpayers are paying for your benefits. Welfare sucking scum!

 

[NWO Sentryman]

What are you talking about? They aren't voting on the deal; they are voting on an in-out referendum. The precedent that it may set is for the EU to worry about.

The "In" vote is campaigning on the basis that the deal negotiated by Cameron is worth staying in the EU.

 

[NWO Sentryman]

Italian Mafiosi put olive oil in their pockets? That sounds very messy.

And it ruins their suits

 

[Ian Osborne]

'Leave' is exciting whereas 'Stay' is dull. A lot of people have a quiet yearning for dramatic change, 'a fresh start' as it were.

I'm not so sure. Britain is generally pretty resistant to radical change, as we saw in the Scottish independence vote and the alternative votes referendum. I suspect FUD may win the day again in June.

 

[GlennB]

I'm not so sure. Britain is generally pretty resistant to radical change, as we saw in the Scottish independence vote and the alternative votes referendum. I suspect FUD may win the day again in June.

I agree with this really, but fear (slightly) a moment of madness. And if the Eurosceptic press is joined by The Sun and Boris then the tide might turn.

 

[ComfySlippers]

I don't want to sound like an old fuddy duddy but I'm pleased about the agreement to finally stop sending benefit payments to non-residents at UK rates.

 

[Trebuchet]

It occurs to me that without the decision not to adopt the Euro, "Brexit" wouldn't even be in the cards. Do you UK folks agree?

 

[Craig B]

It occurs to me that without the decision not to adopt the Euro, "Brexit" wouldn't even be in the cards. Do you UK folks agree?

It would make voters more reluctant to contemplate Brexit, no doubt. Currency unions can be broken, as the Irish Republic demonstrated in relatively recent times.

I think it would have been an obstacle to Brexit, but wouldn't necessarily have ruled it out.

 

[CapelDodger]

Nobody may leave the Brexit rally!

How utterly delicious. And I thought this whole exercise would be bum-numbing tedium from start to finish. Now I think it'll be bum-numbing tedium from here to finish.

 

[angrysoba]

The "In" vote is campaigning on the basis that the deal negotiated by Cameron is worth staying in the EU.

Cameron might be pushing that line but I think few people are of the opinion that only this deal makes it worth staying in the EU.

 

[MikeG]

I don't want to sound like an old fuddy duddy but I'm pleased about the agreement to finally stop sending benefit payments to non-residents at UK rates.

But it's so trivial. That'll save tuppence ha'penny, and probably put 4 or 5 families off making the trip. If that is "fundamental change to our relationship with Europe" (Cameron's claim), then there can't really be anything fundamentally wrong. Except there is.

 

[MikeG]

It occurs to me that without the decision not to adopt the Euro, "Brexit" wouldn't even be in the cards. Do you UK folks agree?

Possibly/ probably. But there would have been a revolt at the time if a government had proposed that we enter the Euro ("hand control of our economy over to Germany/ faceless bureaucrats"), and Brexit may have been contemplated then instead of now.

 

[funk de fino]

When it comes to Unions the Tory philosophy is stunning in it's hypocrisy.

 

[Archie Gemmill Goal]

I agree with this really, but fear (slightly) a moment of madness. And if the Eurosceptic press is joined by The Sun and Boris then the tide might turn.

If Boris is the deciding factor on anything then I truly despair for the future of the UK.

It occurs to me that without the decision not to adopt the Euro, "Brexit" wouldn't even be in the cards. Do you UK folks agree?

Perhaps if they could have made the decision stick but pushing for it would probably have caused enough of a ruckus amongst the Little Englanders that we'd already be out.

When it comes to Unions the Tory philosophy is stunning in it's hypocrisy.

Tell me about it.

 

[SusanB-M1]

Now that Cameron has achieved his renegotiation of the country's relationship with Europe, this is the thread for all things related to a possible British exit from the EU.

BBC: "Cameron: UK has special status with EU"

BBC : Osborne: "UK has achieved substantial change"

The bookies think we'll be staying in.

The opinion polls are close, but with "in" leading, it seems.

With all its ups and downs, advantages and disadvantages, etc, the EU has meant that we have not had WW III. It's like the nuclear deterrent or not, no-one can predict which mad dictator will rouse a populace against the rest and that is far and away the most important factor as far as I'm concerned.

 

[angrysoba]

With all its ups and downs, advantages and disadvantages, etc, the EU has meant that we have not had WW III. It's like the nuclear deterrent or not, no-one can predict which mad dictator will rouse a populace against the rest and that is far and away the most important factor as far as I'm concerned.

Hmmm...I am sure that one of the purposes of the EU was to improve diplomatic ties among European nations (particularly Germany and France), but I really doubt that there is much evidence that the EU has prevented WWIII.