This is UK money: enjoy the sight of it because it is currently being turned into Euros and we are never likely to see as much of it again – and you have Boris Johnson and his Conservatives to blame.
Wow. Boris Johnson’s insistence on his silly Brexit deal has meant the one industry in which the UK remained a world leader – finance, is falling.
More than 440 financial firms have shifted thousands of jobs and £1 trillion of assets out of the UK and into the EU because of Brexit.
That’s about 10 per cent of the total assets held by the UK banking system – meaning that our banks have been decimated, according to the classical definition of the term (decimation, in army terms, was the killing of one in every ten of a group of people as a punishment for the whole group).
And worse is to follow, according to research from the New Financial think tank.
Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal didn’t cover financial services, you see. He relied on “blue sky” daydreaming that a separate deal could be reached with the EU. This dream has turned into a nightmare with the EU refusing to give ground.
7,400 jobs have moved from the UK to the EU – and are not likely to be replaced.
And the UK is set to lose much of its £26 billion annual financial trade surplus, meaning the nation’s balance of payments (the difference between profits from exports and payments for imports) is likely to slip much deeper into the red.
It’s further evidence of a bizarre Tory policy – to give all of the UK’s business assets to foreign firms and governments.
The privatisation of UK industry – begun under the Thatcher governments and continuing to this day – has taken ownership of firms away from the general public and placed it mostly in the hands of foreign organisations.
Firms run by the governments of EU countries now run most of our railways, water services, and (I seem to recall) power supplies. Now our banking services are set to atrophy.
And of course, it will be ordinary working-class UK citizens like you and This Writer who will suffer.
Businesspeople always pass the consequences of their failures down. That’s why Tories have been able to persuade so many voters that pay rises for the workers are a bad idea – the bosses would not forgo their profits to support them but would hike their prices instead.
With less cash coming into the UK via the banks, the ultra-rich parasites will be looking for new ways to suck money out of us.
The result will be the impoverishment of the UK. We will be a once-great nation destroyed by political midgets with over-inflated opinions of themselves.
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Flag-shagger: Boris Johnson’s insistence on having a Union flag behind him whenever he is seen on TV, and his government’s demand that government buildings fly that flag at all times, indicates an alignment with “powerful and continuing nationalism” of the kind promoted by organisations like the BNP and Britain First: fascists all.
All UK government buildings have been ordered to fly the Union flag every day in the Johnson government’s most blatant display of fascist principles yet.
The first characteristic of fascism, according to Laurence W Britt’s famous 14-point list, is “powerful and continuing nationalism”.
This is most strongly evidenced by the use of flags. You see it in the behaviour of far-right extremists like the BNP, Britain First and so on, whose insistence on adopting the Union flag for themselves has dragged it into disrepute.
Johnson may claim that he’s taking it back but in fact he is merely aligning his government with those other fascists.
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The UK Statistics Authority has delivered an official reprimand to Michael Gove and his Cabinet Office for faking the figures on post-Brexit trade.
The Road Haulage Association published the results of a survey in February, showing that the volume of exports to the EU fell by more than two-thirds (68 per cent) in January, immediately after the UK finally severed its membership of the European Union.
Gove’s Cabinet Office then pretended that the RHA was wrong, stating that “inbound and outbound flows (across all UK ports) were close to normal, at 95% outbound and 96% inbound, in spite of the impact of Covid lockdowns on trade.”
The UKSA’s reprimand pointed out that the Cabinet Office’s response contained “claims based on unpublished data, and as such these figures cannot be verified”.
Worse still, it referred only to “flows” of lorries, and not to the amount of freight they were carrying.
It is entirely possible that the number of lorries going out to the EU was almost as high from January 1 onwards as they had been before.
But the claim that exports had dropped by two-thirds is also likely to be true if most of those lorries were empty – and they were.
Gove has been caught trying to mislead the public over this important issue. By rights he should resign. But does anybody think he will?
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Northern Ireland: it seems Boris Johnson’s stupidity may end not only his post-Brexit free trade deal with the EU but also terminate 23 years of peace.
Paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland have withdrawn support for the Good Friday Agreement due to Brexit – and they aren’t nationalists but unionists.
The Loyalist Communities Council, a group representing the views of the UVF, UDA and Red Hand Commando, are protesting at Boris Johnson’s Irish Sea trade border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
The group has written to Johnson and Ireland’s taoiseach, Micheál Martin, warning of “permanent destruction” of the 1998 peace agreement without changes to post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland.
The letter said unionist opposition to the Northern Ireland protocol – the part of the Brexit deal that keeps Northern Ireland a part of the EU’s single market for goods – should remain “peaceful and democratic”.
But this is a decision to withdraw support for a peace deal that underpins power-sharing in Northern Ireland. If a solution is not found quickly, peace in the province could be lost – again.
And it would be Boris Johnson’s fault.
In fact, the Brexit deal seems to be unravelling fast for Johnson. The European Union has refused to ratify it for a second time after Brussels accused the UK of violating it.
The decision came after Johnson’s ministers said they would unilaterally change parts of the agreement to give businesses in Northern Ireland time to adapt to new trade rules.
Johnson is unsafe wherever he goes now.
If he decides to change the Brexit deal again, to preserve the Good Friday Agreement, his dream of free trade with the EU (which turned out to be a nightmare in any case) will be over forever.
But if he doesn’t, he risks re-igniting the Troubles – as violence by nationalists and unionists in Northern Ireland between 1969 and 1998 was known.
Loyalist paramilitary groups endorsed the Good Friday agreement and say they have no desire to reignite the Troubles.
But the LCC said the Northern Ireland protocol had breached safeguards in the Good Friday agreement to protect the status of the province and the rest of the UK.
You take 12 hours off Twitter and you open it to see that Northern Ireland loyalist groups have renounced the Good Friday Agreement.
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Two-fingered salute: Boris Johnson’s message of thanks to transport workers who kept groceries, other goods and medical supplies moving during the Covid-19 crisis. His government is apparently planning to attack their jobs, pay and pensions as soon as it can.
The Tory government is planning to reward key transport workers who kept the UK running through the Covid crisis – with a kick in the teeth, it seems.
The Department for Transport is hoping to employ a “union-buster” to take on workers in an “all-out assault on jobs, pay and pensions”, according to the RMT union.
And where the DfT leads, will other government departments follow in a renewed effort to destroy workers’ representation once and for all and begin a new dark age for the people of the UK?
The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Employees (RMT) reports that the DfT is recruiting for a Rail Pensions and Workforce Director who will be a member of a new-created team of 15 workers.
An advertisement in The Guardian states that the successful applicant “will shape and define the future of pensions and workforce in the rail sector”, operating in a “politically sensitive environment”.
Welfare Journal quotes RMT general secretary Mick Cash:
RMT has been warning that the Government and the employers would be gearing up for a post-COVID assault on our members across the transport sector and here they are headhunting a dedicated hitman or woman.
It would be a scandal if the essential transport workers who have kept key staff and freight moving throughout the pandemic were rewarded with a kick in the teeth on jobs, pay and pensions.
And why not?
Matt Hancock has already slapped NHS employees in the face with his refusal to reward doctors, nurses and support staff for all their dedication, working to keep thousands of people alive in the face of indifference from their political employers who failed to source appropriate equipment.
So why shouldn’t the government tell the people who transported all the supplies – including, no doubt, the medical gear that we all needed (when it finally turned up) – that their contribution is not appreciated at all and that they will be punished rather than rewarded for it?
What did these people expect from selfish, ignorant, entitled toffs?
And what can you expect in the future? You know the Tories will get around to attacking you as soon as they’re able – don’t you?
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Do you ever wonder whether High Court judges get frustrated that any serious work they do is delayed by the misdeeds of government ministers (not to mention the bleatings of sensitive celebs – but that’s another matter)?
Civil service union the FDA is demanding a judicial review of Boris Johnson’s decision not to sack Priti Patel for breaking the Ministerial Code by bullying officers at the Home Office, Department for International Development and the Department for Work and Pensions.
Johnson rejected the findings of a report by Alex Allan that found Patel was guilty of bullying civil servants while a minister in three government departments.
He defiantly backed her to continue as Home Secretary when, according to the rules, she should have been sacked – and said he had “full confidence” in her.
The decision provoke Allan to resign as government adviser on ministerial standards last November, immediately after the prime minister announced his decision.
It also emerged that Johnson had spent considerable effort trying to rally support for Patel among other ministers. This became even more questionable when it was revealed that Patel’s loathsome behaviour appeared to have pushed one employee into attempting suicide.
Now the FDA is taking the matter to the courts – and about time too:
In a written submission, general secretary Dave Penman told the High Court that “civil servants should expect to work with ministers without fear of being bullied or harassed”.
Mr Johnson’s actions had “fundamentally undermined” the disciplinary process, he added, and the prime minister had “misinterpreted” the definition of bullying in the Ministerial Code.
Mr Penman said there was “bewilderment, dismay and anger among our membership” and there had been “serious detrimental effects to workplace relations and confidence in the process for dealing with complaints against ministers”.
He added that, if Mr Johnson’s decision was not “corrected” by the court, “his interpretation of the Ministerial Code will result in that document failing to protect workplace standards across government”.
This is a row that has been simmering for a year – since the resignation of Sir Philip Rutnam as Home Office permanent secretary in February 2020.
He said he had been the target of a “vicious and orchestrated briefing campaign” ringled by Patel.
And he is pursuing an employment tribunal claim for constructive dismissal.
This action can only be strengthened if the High Court supports the FDA’s application.
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Michael Gove says the UK has had enough of experts: it seems his Chelsea scarf has cut off the supply of blood to his brain.
Now we know why senior Tories have been quietly telling us we’ll have to wait a number of years before seeing the benefit (ha ha) of Brexit.
I notice that the number of years mentioned seems to vary between five and 50. That also tells us much.
But it is our memories that we should be consulting. We were told that Brexit would take us out of the shadow of the EU and into the “sunlit uplands” of independence (even though we were never dependent on the European Union, when the UK was a member).
That was the happy fantasy; this is the bitter fact:
The volume of exports going through British ports to the EU fell by a staggering 68% last month compared with January last year, mostly as a result of problems caused by Brexit.
It’s a drop of two-thirds – a disastrous amount for any country. For the fifth-richest in the world, it signals a precipitous fall to a place much lower in the international wealth rankings.
And there must be no passing of blame. Responsibility lies firmly with Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove, it seems – who ignored repeated warnings from the Road Haulage Association.
In a letter to Gove dated 1 February, the RHA’s chief executive, Richard Burnett, also told the minister he and his officials had repeatedly warned over several months of problems and called for measures to lessen difficulties – but had been largely ignored.
In addition to the 68% fall-off in exports, about 65%-75% of vehicles that had come over from the EU were going back empty because there were no goods for them to return with, due to hold-ups on the UK side, and because some UK companies had either temporarily or permanently halted exports to the EU.
“I find it deeply frustrating and annoying that ministers have chosen not to listen to the industry and experts,” he said.
Ah, well. We all know Michael Gove’s views about experts.
Michael Gove saying how important it is to follow the science and listen to experts.
— Parody Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson_MP) April 4, 2020
Yes indeed. Mr Gove said the people of the UK had had enough of experts getting it wrong all the time.
Unfortunately for him, it seems the experts – and, yes, they do come from an organisation that can be reduced to an acronym – were right and he was wrong.
I wonder how many billions of pounds he has cost his fellow UK citizens?
Michael Gove famously told us the British had had enough of experts
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The Tories said that EU nationals would be encouraged to apply for “settled status” rather than being forced to leave the UK after Brexit.
That’s what they said.
But they have put obstacle after obstacle in the way – barriers to application and delays in Home Office decision-making being significant factors in pushing vulnerable EU citizens out.
And from January 1, EU citizens were quietly added to the Tory government’s voluntary returns scheme, offering them paid flights and £2,000 resettlement money to get them to leave of their own accord.
It seems clear that Tory policy hasn’t moved an inch since Theresa May was attacked so bitterly for sending advertising vans around London telling people from foreign countries to “go home”.
Worst of all, this is cutting our collective nose off to spite our face.
The UK relies on EU migrants to do a lot of important work. Without them – especially in the Covid crisis – we’ll struggle.
Either the Tories haven’t thought about that or – more likely, considering the Covid death toll – they simply don’t care.
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This is great news at a time when companies seem keen to ramp up the stress on employees who already have enough worry with Covid-19.
British Airways has agreed to end so-called “fire and rehire” employment practices.
The company came to the deal after nine days of strike action over the Christmas/New Year period which the union United said caused “overwhelming disruption to the company’s cargo services”.
Unite had proposed a urther nine days of strike action to start on January 22 but the first three days were called off at the last minute, after progress was made at the negotiations.
Another round of strikes due to begin this weekend has also been called off.
The deal is as follows:
End of “fire and rehire” (the last area of BA where this was a threat)
Workers will revert to previous contractual provisions subject to agreed changes
No compulsory redundancies
Improved pay protection for staff whose pay sits above the new agreed rates
An increase in pay for a significant proportion of staff
Members who did not sign the new contract and were dismissed will be offered their jobs back on the agreed terms.
Unite’s members will have to be balloted on the deal, and it is understood that they are likely to accept it.
It’s a great victory for Unite, but let’s not minimise the step that BA has taken at a time when other firms are opportunistically forcing employees to re-apply to do the same job they’re already doing, but for less money and with fewer work-related protections.
BA is setting an example, and even if nobody else follows it, let’s applaud that choice.
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