A Letter to my Member of Parliament

I have become increasingly concerned about Brexit and the Prime Minister's statements about Brexit.

I telephoned your office today and spoke to one of your parliamentary assistants and thank him for his time.

Philip Hammond, the Chancellor of the Exchequer said in Parliament the other day that all flights between the UK and the EU could stop on 29th March 2019 if there were 'No Deal' (see http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/864962/Philip-Hammond-Brexit-flights-European-Union-UK-airlines)

Today, Michel Barnier, the chief negotiator for the European Union and the other 27 states has said today that "I am not able in the current circumstances to propose that we should start discussions on our future relationship". (see https://ec.europa.eu/avservices/focus/index.cfm?sitelang=en&focusid=2687) 

We are being told that if the UK leaves the EU under no deal we can trade happily under WTO terms but in actual fact I have seen references to Mutual Recognition Agreements and Free Trade Agreements which are NOT WTO terms but different from WTO terms.

The United Kingdom voted correctly in my view to leave the European Union but we expected the Government to negotiate the best deal for the country which in my view they are not doing. Lord David Owen said on the radio yesterday that he thought it was incorrect of the Conservative Party to treat Brexit as solely a Conservative Party undertaking. He said he thought all parties should be involved and I agree with that.

It is the United Kingdom's decision to leave 'The Club' and if we leave without a deal we will lose access to European Union databases and interfaces to which we have so far enjoyed access.

1. No airline company will be able to leave UK airspace as they will have no overflying rights and cannot log a flight plan. There will be no flights coming up to Easter 2019. Just think what the electorate will make of that.
2. Dover is not a registered Border Inspection Point (Port - BIP). https://ec.europa.eu/food/sites/food/files/animals/docs/bips_contact_unitedkingdom.pdf
3. The nearest Border Inspection Point in France is in Dunkirk NOT Calais. Dunkirk BIP was recently enlarged and can cope with 5000 trucks per annum. "Each year, Eurotunnel carries 1,600,000 trucks to and from the UK with a total trade of £91 billion".  Lorries to France will effectively be stopped and there will be a log jam.
4. France will not be eager to recruit more staff to ensure Dunkirk BIP is properly staffed and can cope with the traffic (why should they) unless, I suspect, the United Kingdom was willing to underwrite those costs.
5. Animal Products, Chemicals and other goods will be dramatically impacted by Brexit. Horse Racing and Formula 1 will be adversely affected. The British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) and the European Fresh Produce Association (Freshfel) have started to sound warnings and I expect there to be more.
6. In a no deal scenario, the implications for the Irish border, the only land border between the United Kingdom and the European Union will be horrendous.

The Prime Minister has said that for a 2 year implementation period after Brexit the United Kingdom will effectively mirror the European Union:

"During this strictly time-limited period, we will have left the EU and its institutions, but we are proposing that for this period access to one another’s markets should continue on current terms and Britain also should continue to take part in existing security measures."

This in effect means that we will be under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice until 2021

As this is the case, the United Kingdom will not have left the European Union on 29th March 2019.

The president of the EFTA court, and ministers of Iceland and Norway have all suggested that the United Kingdom should join EFTA and thus stay in the single market. The European Union has even said that it would let the United Kingdom invoke Article 112 of the EEA treaty which would allow the United Kingdom to MANAGE immigration once we were an EFTA state.

I know you are on the 'payroll vote' but I think you should warn ministers of the economic catastrophe that a 'No Deal' entails. In 2017, your majority was only 1915 votes. How many constituents are employed by Luton and Heathrow airports or trade with the European Union. Can your majority survive a No Deal conclusion?

It is not an optimal solution but the safest solution is to join EFTA, stay in the European Single Market and work as an independent state intergovernmentally to develop EFTA and the EEA treaty in to something better than it is and work towards the final goal in UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe).

I am sorry for the length of this email but I am seriously worried.

Yours sincerely

Notes:

Much of the above is taken from the postings of EUReferendum.com (www.eureferendum.com) or The Leave Alliance (http://leavehq.com/default.aspx) or from Flexcit (http://www.eureferendum.com/documents/Flexcit.pdf)

Not covered above is that if we left the Customs Union but stayed in the single market via EFTA/EEA, the United Kingdom will be outside the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice and subject to the EFTA Court.
(http://leavetheeuropeanunion.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/european-free-trade-association-efta.html)

The Irish border issue could be much better managed if we rejoined EFTA.