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November 2008
S O S
SAVE OUR SOVEREIGNTY
5 Battery Park, Polruan-by-Fowey, Cornwall PL23 1PT
Tel: 01726 870850 e-mail: iric.binstead@virgin.net
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Many readers very kindly responded to my request for funds and I am most grateful to all who donated. SOS is now sent to at least 5,000 people, some by email but many by post. As the cost of even second class stamps is now so great, it would be very much appreciated if anyone who normally receives this newsletter by post would agree to accept email copies instead. If so, kindly send me your name and email address.
CLIMATE CHANGE
There were many favourable comments on the article on climate change by the ‘Ancient Mariner’ which was attached to the last SOS. Only three people who responded still believed in global warming. Unfortunately it appears that the EU, and consequently our government, still pretends that the world is getting warmer and is prepared to desecrate our beautiful countryside with giant windmills because of an unrealistic target for renewables imposed by the EU. The government is also rushing to build offshore wind farms which, according to the Sunday Telegraph, 26.10.08, may be a safety risk for shipping and other maritime users. Christopher Booker, writing in the same paper, states that Mr Brown mendaciously claimed that we were now getting 3 gigawatts of our electricity capacity from wind power, enough to power more than 1.5 million homes. This assumption confuses ‘capacity’ with the actual amount of electricity wind produces. The government’s own figures show that wind turbines only generate on average 27/28 per cent of capacity and that the 2,000 turbines already built only produced 694 megawatts last year – less than the output of a medium-sized conventional power station.
Mr Booker states in his article that, on the previous Sunday, he noted that sea ice cover in the Artic was 28% higher than on the same date last year. The next day a World Wildlife report addressed to the EU (from whom WWF receives considerable funding) claimed that sea ice was at a record low as, illustrated by a computer model. The following day satellite readings showed the ice was already 31% up on last year. (Whatts-up-with-that blog) According to the Daily Telegraph, 15.10.08, many EU countries are now sceptical of over ambitious climate change goals in these uncertain economic times. The ex Spanish Prime Minister, José Maria Aznar said climate change was ‘not real’. (www.typicallyspanish.com 22.10.08) At a presentation of a book in Spanish by Czech President Vacklav Klaus entitled ‘Blue Planet’ Mr Aznar said that climate change was scientifically questionable and had become the new religion of enemies of freedom.
Writing in the blog Conservative Home, 29.10.08, Ruth Lea, Director and Economic Adviser at Arbuthnot Banking Group, Governor of the London School of Economics and Director of Global Vision, said that: “even if one accepts the hypothesis that by cutting man-made CO2 emissions one could ‘control’ climate change, British efforts, unless backed by large emitters, would be futile in the extreme”. She also said that this country was lagging well behind countries such as Germany and France in the matter of producing renewable energy, that these renewables would have to be imported, and would therefore not assist efforts to re-industrialise the economy. By 2020 the burden of green policies was expected to rise to 55% of the average business electricity bill and guarantee further migration of industry out of Britain. Despite the fact that by 2020 the burden of green policies is likely to rise to 18% of the average domestic electricity bill from its present 14%, the Commons approved the climate change bill by a clear majority. According to Christopher Booker, Sunday Telegraph, 2.11.08, while this debate was taking place, London was experiencing its first snowfall in October for 70 years.
CARBON TRADING
In his October newsletter ‘Straight Talking’, Roger Helmer, MEP, states that he attended a meeting of Europia, the European Petroleum Industry Association, and was informed of the likely impact of the EU’s Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) which gives the ‘rights to pollute’ in certain circumstances. This is a wholly artificial construct and the first phase of the ETS scheme added to industrial costs without reducing emissions. This scheme makes production more expensive and less predictable and favours importers over EU-based refiners. The industry believes that, unless similar schemes are put in place world-wide, the EU will just be a less attractive place to invest and future investment and jobs will go elsewhere. According to European Voice, 3,11,08, the EU Commission’s Economic Policy Committee’s working group argues that decreased energy use would reduce tax revenues.
According to EUObserver, 29.10.08, the EU Commission has changed the criteria for measuring greenhouse gas emissions saved by biofuels to allow more biofuels produced in Europe to be used to meet the proposed 10% target for transport fuels by 2020. European-produced fuels are amongst the most expensive and inefficient in the world.
BRITAIN AND THE EU
In October 1962, in a speech to the Labour Party dedicated to the Common Market, Hugh Gaitskell said: “We must be clear about this…it does mean, if this is the idea, the end of Britain as an independent European state … it means the end of a thousand years of history. You may say, ‘let it end’. But my goodness, it is a decision that needs a little care and thought.” Mr Gaitskell opened his speech by observing that the level of media debate on this “crucial, complex and difficult issue” had not been high. Mr Gaitskell also said that if Britain joined the EEC, she would be “no more than a state … in the United States of Europe, such as Texas and California”. (Richard North, Eureferendum Blog, 17.10.08)
Norman Tebbit wrote in the Daily ?Telegraph, 28.10.08, that “We can never be part of a federal Europe”. He said that at last month’s Global Vision and Daily Telegraph conference, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing had stated that, whether or not Britain would be “better off out”, the advance of ever closer union of the EU would be easier without Britain slowing the pace. Mr Tebbit also wrote that the recent global financial crisis had emphasised that the EU could not continue as it is and the retreat of Eurozone countries into unilateral protectionism to save their own banks had demonstrated the weakness of the euro. He thought that no currency could survive without a single treasury, a single central bank, a single finance minister and a single tax system.
A note of the salient points of a letter from Idris Francis to the speakers at a Liberty fringe meeting at the Conservative Party Conference is attached to this newsletter. If anyone would like a copy of the original letter, please email Idris Francis at francis.idris@googlemail.com. For those who do not have internet access, send your request to me, including a stamped addressed envelope for the reply.
BUREAUCRATIC SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY (BSE)
According to Richard North, (14.10.08) translated literally, this means ‘officials with holes in their brains’, a pandemic which has infected the regulatory systems of virtually every developed nation in the world. (http://eureferendum.blogspot.com). In his blog dated 12.10.08, he states that cast-iron evidence has come to light that the EU Commission has been aware for at least a year of ‘shortcomings’ in its financial regulation system. The system includes ‘mark to market’ rules which are at the heart of the current banking crisis. So far the Commission has only produced draft changes to the rules and, to avoid having to admit openly that its regulations were at fault, it sneaked out changes earlier in the month camouflaged by misleading press coverage.
Writing in Eureferendum, 1.10.08, Dr Richard North reported that Professor Peter Spencer, of the Ernst & Young Item Club, regarded as one of Britain’s leading economists, had given his views on the Basel system of banking regulations which determined how much capital banks must raise to keep their books in order. Professor Spencer said they were the root cause of the crunch and were serving to worsen the City’s plight. Dr North said that The Guardian that day had written about a European Union directive of 2001 which had been adopted as the new accounting standard in the UK in 2006. This dictated that banks must value their assets on a daily basis and must base their calculations on the market value of each asset if it were liquidated that day. If share values tumbled in response to a credit crisis, millions of pounds could be wiped off balance sheets and cause a decline in asset values. The directive in question is 2006/49/EC of
14 June 2006, known as the Capital Adequacy Directive, and this should be read in conjunction with Directive 2006/49/EC. The pair of directives together implement the Basel II agreement.
In June 2008 Professor Tim Congdon published a paper entitled ‘Northern Rock and the European Union’ in which he largely blamed the EU directives for the bank’s failure. This paper can be seen at http://www.global-vision.net/perspectives.asp. In Eureferendum, Professor Congdon wrote “Banks did not know the true state of each other’s capital and, hence, their ability to repay loans. Inter-bank markets seized up…..” As well as Northern Rock, Bradford and Bingly’s problems also stemmed from the Basel II directives. According to the Daily Telegraph 17.10.08, the European Commission has now banned for a period of five years the payment of dividends by banks which have received Government funds. There are fears that the Basel II agreement could cause the failure of the proposed Lloyds TSB/HBOS merger.
In the meantime, Conservative Home, 21.10.08, published a report by Brooks Newmark MP, a member of the Treasury Select Committee, in which he stated that, although Gordon Brown claimed that “Debt is considerably lower than a decade ago”, Britain’s public debt is actually an enormous £1,866 billion, which is equivalent to 125.5% of GDP. This is three times larger than the Government’s published figure of £645 billion, or 43% of GDP.
HEALTH
The NHS Confederation now has an office in Brussels. The NHS’s European office, was revealed by Roger Knapman MEP in a letter to the Western Morning News, 23.9.08, when he was invited to a reception there. According to its website, http://www.nhsconfed.org/about/index.cfm, the office was set up to inform NHS organisations of key EU developments and to promote the priorities and interests of the NHS to the European institutions. A more sceptical view is that it is all part of a plan for the EU to take control of health services in the 27 member countries. The NHS office is funded by the UK’s ten strategic health authorities and is part of the NHS Confederation. The Commission has adopted White Paper COM(2007)630 final – Together for Health: a Strategic Approach for the EU for the period 2008-2013. As yet there are no directives but a number of policy decisions have been made. For example, Decision 2000/96/EC refers to a list of communicable diseases and Decision 2002/263/EC lays down definitions for reporting communicable diseases. For further information see http://ec.europa.eu/health/index_en.htm.
According to the Dr Rath Health Foundation, 12.9.08, the “New transatlantic economic integration agreement and secret FDA-EU ‘confidentiality arrangement’ threaten the harmonising of U.S. dietary supplement legislation to restrictive European regulations”. José Manuel Barroso, the EU Commission President, has stated specifically that the pharmaceutical sector is one of the areas which would most benefit from transatlantic regulatory cooperation. According to the Sunday Telegraph, 15.6.08, strict regulations are to be imposed on alternative healers who will be required to register with a regulator. A report by the Department of Health suggests that patients have been harmed by some herbal medicines and one patient has died.
BIG BROTHER
Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, wants to record at the Cheltenham Headquarters (GCHQ) every mobile ‘phone call, text and internet message of every person in the UK. According to the Sunday Times, 26.10.08, this year’s Privacy International survey put Britain bottom of the European league for surveillance and civil intrusion. This ‘interception modernisation programme’ which is reported to cost £12 billion, will operate alongside the ID card register, driving licence centre, the numberplate recognition computer and the CCTV network. The report suggests that, at some time in the future, this databank will be amalgamated with banking and employment records and the National Health Service personal records computer. GCHQ lobbyists have told the press that any opposition to Miss Smith’s surveillance plans would be ‘disastrous’. The Home Secretary has promised that her surveillance regime would cover only details of electronic communications, not the contents, but the Times report suggests that this is mendacious. We were told that details of our passports and identity cards would be safeguarded and not sent abroad, but according to Private Eye 1220, 16.10.08, details will be shared with other EU countries and possibly non-EU countries as well..
GARAGES
Independent garages need full and fair access to information, training, multi-brand diagnostic tools and parts in order to service modern cars. According to the Daily Telegraph, 10.9.08, the EU Commission plans to scrap as from 2010 the so-called ‘Block Exemption, under which these parts and services are presently provided. This could force up prices for car repairs as the hourly charge by independent garages is £55.63 per hour as opposed to £94.70 at main dealers. The AA reported on 28.9.08 that EU plans for all new cars to be fitted with automatic headlights by 2011 and the use of lights during daytime could add £160 to family car costs. The EU believes that the introduction of ‘Daytime Running Light’ will contribute to reducing fatalities on European roads but the plans have come under severe criticism from car manufacturers, who say there is a risk that drivers will forget to switch on their headlights at night. There are also concerns for the safety of motorcycles, which presently use headlights during daytime, and will no longer stand out from other road users.
EUROPEAN COURT OF JUSTICE
According to EU Observer, 10.9.08. the former German President, Roman Herzog, and Director of the Centre for European Policy, Lὒder Gerken, believe that the European Court of Justice (ECJ) should be stopped from undermining national jurisdiction. Mr Herzog stated that, in his view, the ECJ “systematically ignores fundamental principles of the Western interpretation of law, ignores the will of the legislator, or even turns it into its opposite, and invents legal principles serving as grounds for later judgements”. He said that a key judgement – the Mangold case – is set to be analysed by the German Constitutional Court and will set the tone for future relations between the ECJ and national courts.
TRIALS IN ABSENTIA
An article in the Sunday Times, 14.8.08, states that the British Government has endorsed an EU law which provides that no member state could refuse to extradite an individual sought by another member state. This applies even if the individual has been tried in his absence and given a heavy sentence. A person’s right to defend himself is enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights but it appears that the preamble to this regulation states that the right itself is ‘not absolute’. It appears that the EU can dispense with human rights when doing so increases ‘efficiency’. This regulation is a threat to the liberty of all law-abiding British subjects.
This article also mentions that Fair Trials International, a charity which reports on standards of justice in other countries, cites the case of a British man on holiday in Romania in 2004 who was charged with having sexual relations with a minor. He was held on that charge in Romania for three months but the alleged victim did not appear to give evidence and could not be traced. The Briton was released in November 2004 and required to leave Romania within five days. In March 2007, he received an email from the British Embassy in Romania informing him that he had been tried and convicted in his absence. He had been sentenced to seven years in prison for sexual abuse and this had been confirmed on appeal. A European Arrest Warrant was issued by the Romanian Government and the man was sent back to Romania. Another trial was held which lasted just an hour and again the alleged victim did not appear. The seven-year sentence was again confirmed and the man is now in prison where he will be held until he completes the sentence. According to the Times, 3.9.08, the proposal for trials in absentia was put forward by seven countries including Britain. These plans were opposed by the European Criminal Bar Association because they were “by their very nature a violation of the fundamental procedural rights of the accused”.
METRIC MARTYRS
On 11th September 2007 the European Commission announced that pounds and ounces could be used by traders. However, two days later the UK Trading Standards Institute corrected this statement by saying that the legal position had not changed and that goods sold loose from bulk, such as fruit and vegetables, are still required to be sold in metric quantities and weighing scales must be calibrated in metric units of measurement. Hackney Council officials seized weighing scales belonging to market trader Colin Hunt. The offence was that the scales were calibrated in pounds and ounces. Janet Devers, Colin Hunt’s sister, who also runs a fruit and vegetable stall in the market, faces prosecution before a jury in January on 13 charges arising from the shambles caused by EU directives which imposed compulsory use of metric weights and measures.
According to Christopher Booker, Sunday Telegraph, 13.7.08, two former employees of Hackney Council have said that senior officials of the Council had singled out Colin Hunt, and now Mrs Devers, for ‘harassment’. On 29.10.08 the BBC reported that the Government will shortly issue new guidelines to councils and John Denham, the Innovation Secretary, said that it was hard to see how such legal action was in the public interest. An appeal has been set up to pay for Janet Devers’ court costs. Please send donations to the Metric Martyrs Defence Fund, PO Box 526, Sunderland SR1 3YS.
PRISONERS MUST BE ALLOWED TO VOTE
Unless the Government gives prisoners the right to vote at the next general election, under the European Convention of Human Rights, the poll will be illegal. According to the Observer, 10.11.08, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Justice said: “Prisoner voting rights is a sensitive and complex issue, and we need to look very carefully at what the right approach to prisoner enfranchisement in the UK is and at how it would be implemented”. Nick Herbert, the Shadow Justice Secretary is quoted as saying that “sweeping new entitlements for prisoners is a classic example of over-reaching human rights laws” and that “Parliament should make these decisions, not European judges”.
EU CHARTER OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS
This forms a part of the Lisbon Treaty from which the UK is supposed to have an opt-out. In an answer to a question from Ashley Mote, MEP, to Mr Barroso, President of the EU Commission, as to whether or not the Charter of Fundamental Rights applied to the UK, Mr Mote was informed that “It is Commission policy not to comment on public statements by politicians in the Member States”. Ashley Mote remarked: “…We all know any opt-out is only as good as successive favourable decisions by the European Court of Justice. The first one against and the opt-out disappears.”
EMPLOYMENT
According to a Press Association report, 5.11.08, the EU Parliament’s employment committee has voted to end Britain’s opt-out from the EU rules which limit the working week to 48 hours. Labour MEPs were among those who voted in favour. Alistair Tebbitt, Head of EU and Employment Policy at the Institute of Directors is quoted as saying: “MEPs have made a big mistake by voting in favour of abolition of the opt-out. As the EU enters recession, employers need more flexibility, not less. We urge the Government to fight for retention of the opt-out with every ounce of effort it can muster”. It was agreed last June that the UK could remain outside the European Working Time Directive in exchange for accepting the Temporary and Agency Workers Directive, even though the UK would be the country most affected by this directive. There are 1.3.million temporary and agency workers in this country. The issue now goes to the full European Parliament who will vote on the proposal next month.
JOBLESS MIGRANTS CAN CLAIM BENEFITS
It was reported in the Daily Mail, 5.11.08, that migrants who leave the UK because they have lost their jobs are still eligible for a £60 per week handout from the British Government because of an EU directive relating to free movement within the European Union. The TaxPayers’ Alliance is quoted as saying: “The
benefit system was invented as a safety net for people in this country fallen on hard times. If you choose to go back to Poland, there is no way you should be allowed to continue claiming off the UK taxpayer”. Under EU law the reverse would apply to British workers returning home from Poland, but they are few.
COMMON PURPOSE
Earlier this year, in response to a Freedom of Information request, I was informed that Cornwall County Council had spent in excess of £20,000 on Common Purpose courses for its staff. I have reason to believe that the amount spent may have been considerably greater. http://www.stopcp.com/index.php; and www.cpexposed.com
FOOD
(Attached to this newsletter is a copy of a leaflet published by the Campaign for an Independent Britain entitled ‘Starve the World – The European Union and World Trade - un-free, un-fair – The truth about world poverty the politicians don’t want you to read’.)
MEETINGS
The British Constitution Group
THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION
A Conference in Support of Our Constitution and Common Law
KINGS HALL, GLEBE STREET, STOKE-ON-TRENT TOWN HALL
24 January, 2009, ll.0 am to 5.0 pm
Only 1,000 places available so early booking essential
Tel: (01752) 312743 10-0 am-2.0 pm OR 0781 352 9383
Reservations and cheque and credit card payments to The British Constitution Group, Unit 20, Argyle Estate, Argyle Street South, Birkenhead, Wirral CH41 9HH or on line at www.thebcgroup.org.uk or roger@thebcgroup.org.uk - £12.50 per head. Speakers: John Bingley, David Bourne, Albert Burgess, Brian Gerrish and John Harris. Doors open 10.0 am. Please be seated by 10.45 am.
This is an event for those wishing to be part of the ‘democratic resistance’. A part of the proceedings will be devoted to what can be done practically to organise against the sombre background of an ever-deepening crisis in our democracy, government and economy.
New Britain
AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND FESTIVAL 2009
Saturday, 24 January 2009
You are invited to come and sign messages of friendship to the Prime Ministers of Australia and New Zealand which will be sent to them from this Festival. Starting at 2.15 pm, a wreath will be laid and the Australian National Anthem sung at the statue of Admiral Arthur Phillip, situated in Watling Street just behind St Paul’s Cathedral. Admiral Phillip, who was born in the City of London, became the first Governor of Australia and founder of Sydney. There will be a procession (15 mins), behind Australian and New Zealand flags, to the ancient church of St Katharine Cree, Leadenhall Street accompanied by Britannia in full costume with escorts. (If too far please attend service and Reception.) The service commencing at 3.0 pm will be followed by a Reception in the adjacent Hall. Present will be: Alderman Sir David Brewer CMG, Lord Mayor of London 2006 (just appointed Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of Greater London but not be attending in that capacity); Sir Michael Savory, Lord Mayor of London 2005, Chairman of the Admiral Phillip Memorial Trust, who will speak about Admiral Phillip; Alderman Andrew Parmley MusM Hon GSM, Director of Music. A trumpeter will sound the fanfares. Please come and show support for the Commonwealth. Representatives from Australian and New Zealand High Commissions will be invited as will the Australian and New Zealand media. Further information 020 7247 2524.
BOOKS
Brave New Europe? – An audit of the European Union Project.
In just 32 pages, this booklet briefly covers almost all aspects of the EU. Commencing with a short history of the project, it even tries to find some advantages to our membership. The publishers report that a copy of the first issue was sent to all political parties and none has disputed any of the contents. Price £1.50, 5 @ £5, 15 @ £10 from Technographic Systems (Publications), 58 Walpole Road, Bromley, Kent BR2 9SF, info@theeuroprobe.org.
The End of the English – The European Superstate by David Brown.
This book is written as an apology to David’s grandchildren and to grandchildren everywhere for the loss of freedom and democracy, which should have been their birthright, as a result of our membership of the European Union. It covers many aspects of the EU, is easy to read and is an ideal introduction to the subject. Price £6.99 from June Press, PO Box 119 Totnes, Devon TQ9 7WA.
The View from Here by David Challice
This is a collection of short articles – mainly about the European Union – which have appeared in weekly advertisements by Trago Mills dating from 2001. This informative and often amusing book is ideal to dip into or to read as a whole. Price £6.99. Available from Trago Mills or from Merchandising, UKIP HQ, Lexdrum House, Unit 1, King Charles Business Park, Old Newton Road, Heathfield, Newton Abbot TQ12 6UT.
Iris Binstead
THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY CONFERENCE, SEPTEMBER 2008
To: Dominic Grieve MP, David Davis MP, Janet Daley, Daily Telegraph, Daniel Finkelstein, Daily Telegraph, cc Shami Chakrabarti, Liberty
LETTER FROM IDRIS FRANCIS TO SPEAKERS AT THE LIBERTY FRINGE MEETING AT All four speakers talked for a total of one hour on the subject of freedom and liberty without once mentioning the European Union.
Knowing that Idris would make the same points about the EU’s threat to our freedom that he made at her meeting at the Lib Dem Conference, Ms Chakrabarti refused him the opportunity of asking a question at this meeting.
Idris started attending fringe meetings at party conferences is to expose the EU’s 1997 plan Corpus Juris which it describes as ‘an embryo of a future EU criminal code’. From the EU’s point of view of ‘ever closer union’ and its objective of becoming a state in its own right, it is entirely logical for it to want a single legal system for the whole of the EU.
Corpus Juris (ISBN No 2-7178-3344-7) explicitly abolishes habeas corpus, jury trial and lay magistrates. It brings back double jeopardy and proposes a European Public Prosecutor.
Corpus Juris was explicitly rejected by the then Home Office Minister, Kate Hoey, in 1998 who promised a veto if it was ever formally proposed.
Elements of Corpus Juris have been pushed through piecemeal, eg the Government’s attempt to obtain 90 days detention and then 42 days.
EU sees terrorist threats and financial problems as beneficial crises enabling them to seize more control, eg the EU Arrest Warrant, for which not even prima facie evidence of an offence is required
An EU Arrest Warrant can be carried out by any ‘authorised person’. It can also be carried out after trials in absentia.
Ms Chakrabarti was quoted in the Sunday Telegraph, 21.9.08, as being concerned about trials in absentia and said there should be a right of scrutiny by a local court..
Most EU countries have always allowed people to be tried and convicted in their absence, something that our British system has never accepted until recently.
Idris linked the threat to jury trial and lay magistrates, the fact that double jeopardy is now being allowed and the attempt to merge our 43 police forces into regional forces with the gradual harmonising of the British system of law with Corpus Juris.
Europol (the EU Police Force) were recently granted permission to question defendants in custody in Britain. Europol officers have lifetime immunity from prosecution for anything they do as part of their jobs.
Idris believes the Government did not bring in the Civil Contingencies Act off its own bat but after behind the scenes discussions with the EU.
The European Parliament has recently approved plans to allow seizure of assets prior to any charge or trial, and without any evidence whatever, as long as the supposed offence involves a 3-year or more jail sentence.
Newspaper pictures have shown the letters ‘EU’ in tiny print forming the background of British ID cards. Almost all other EU countries already have ID cards and in some countries it is an offence not to carry them. The ID card is undoubtedly an EU plan
The Government’s ‘Pay as you drive’ schemes to record positions of vehicles at all times are, in fact, EU schemes intended to use the Galileo system and to generate income. The primary aim of the Galileo project is military, as the EU would not be credible as a World Power if its military had to depend on America’s GPS that could be denied them at the flick of a switch.
Idris said he had filed formal complaints against Ken Jones and Richard Brunstrom of North Wales and Sussex Police Forces respectively, both members of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), for conspiring with the then Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, to lobby MPs in the immediate run-up to the vote on 90 days detention which was lost by one vote. He complained on the grounds that every policeman is told when he signs up that he is not allowed to take part in political activity. His two claims were rejected on the grounds that those involved were merely doing their jobs!
There are plans to make DVLA and even NHS data available to every EU member state, which in practice means every police force and magistrate in the EU.
In France Investigating Magistrates control the investigation of crimes, give orders to the police and act as judges in prosecutions. If there is a jury, then professional judges go with them into the jury room and too often tell them what their verdict must be. Also what passes between the professional career judges and the ‘lay assessors’ in the jury room is covered by a secrecy law. English judges’ summing up must be delivered in public.
In response to a question, Mr Grieve claimed that ‘jury trial is not under threat’.
Article 26.1 of Corpus Juris (stated at its presentation to be ‘an embryo of a future EU criminal code’ to be extended to all kinds of crime) states that the courts must consist of professional judges… and not simple jurors or lay magistrates. Note that the word used is ‘simple’ not ‘simply’, telling us what the authors think of jurors, whom we see as the last defence against tyranny.
Mr Grieve confirmed to Idris after the meeting that he was aware of Corpus Juris but claimed that it would be stopped – even under the Lisbon Treaty, but gave no indication of how that would be possible.
Idris also made the point that no EU plan is ever shelved in the face of resistance, but simply resubmitted again and again until approved.
One of the most recent examples of a threat to our liberty is the European Gendarmerie Force. The pictures on their website showing shoulder badges of the EU flag surrounding flaming grenades, symbolising their military origins, were recently removed. These heavily armed riot control paramilitaries, drawn from 5 countries, are intended to restore order in any member state ‘with the consent of that state’. Bob Spink MP, in the Commons, and Lord Pearson in the Lords, recently asked for assurances that consent would never be given by our government, but these assurances were refused by David Miliband, our ‘gap year’ Foreign Secretary.
In a letter a concerned Cambridge vicar also raised the question as to whom his sworn loyalty now belonged. Buckingham Palace forwarded his letter to the EU who replied that it was ‘content for loyalties to remain as they have been for the present’. Idris wondered how long it will before loyalty to the Crown will be replaced by loyalty to the EU. In reply to a letter from Idris concerning treason and sedition, Kate Hoey MP, then Minister for Europe, wrote that the ‘citizenship’ imposed upon us by Maastricht was ersatz and fake, but Idris says Lisbon gives the EU status as a legal entity, and the citizenship it imposes this time is supposedly real, imposing in turn both rights and responsibilities largely unspecified – at the EU level.
Idris is familiar with much of the European Convention on Human rights and its origins in British and American law. The European Charter of Fundamental Rights, an enforceable part of the Lisbon Treaty, is similar in many respects, but contains in Article 52 the statement “…limitations (on the exercise of the rights and freedoms recognised by this Charter) may be made (only) if they are necessary and genuinely meet objectives of general interest being pursued by the Union….”
Professor Anthony Coughlan, of Irish National Platform, has commented that: “This clause is extremely vague and could be subject to huge abuse in the future if this Charter should come into force. Criticisms may be made of several other specific articles in the Charter, when one considers the scope for judicial public policy-making they would create once they come to be interpreted by the judges of that ‘court with a mission’, the ECJ. But this Article 52 is the most sinister. Most of the rights set out in the proposed Charter sound splendid at first sight – except that we already possess them more effectively under our national Constitution …they are already fully in being, guaranteed by our national laws and enforced by our own courts. What this Charter seeks to do is enable the European Union and its Supreme Court, the ECJ, to get hold of our fundamental rights, as a key step in advancing its project of creating an EU Superstate and a ‘harmonised’ legal system in which the existing States of the EU are reduced to mere provinces with their national democracy and independence wholly eroded.”
Idris’s letter concludes by saying that the Conservative Party, even now, is unable or unwilling to face facts and tell the truth, but prefers to ignore the EU, and even threatens its own members and politicians who speak up against it. This is appalling and unacceptable. That the Conservative Conference held no debate whatever on the EU, and instead set out how it plans to govern this country when much the greater part of that power has already been ceded to Brussels, is equally unacceptable.
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