National Rejoin March on Saturday: going the extra mile

National Rejoin March on Saturday: going the extra mile

Sep 8, 2022 | Bylines, News

Lisa Burton, Bremain Vice Chair talks to some of those who are travelling from Spain to London this Saturday to join the National Rejoin March, writing for Yorkshire Bylines.

The first National Rejoin March will take place in London this Saturday, 10 September. It has the support of dozens of UK-based, pro-European groups who will travel from across the country to attend. But what motivates those coming from further afield? I spoke to some fellow British immigrants living in Spain and asked them why they were making the effort, at considerable personal expense, to attend an event that lasts just a few hours.

Attending the National Rejoin March: Sheila

Sheila and her husband live in Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands and are retired. Her husband has health and mobility issues, yet, at considerable expense and disruption, will take the four-hour flight to London, arriving after midnight the night before the march and flying back the day after.

They have been living in Spain since 1993 and are well settled and legalised, with Brexit not causing any specific problems for them personally. So why make an effort at all?

Sheila spends time on forums helping people in crisis because of Brexit. Whether it be denied residency, advice on health, driving, families separated due to different immigration statuses or a friendly, supportive ear. She sees the stress and difficulties Brexit has wrought on many people’s lives. People have had to leave and sell their homes. Lives shattered.

Sheila’s son has lived in France for 15 years. She fears they may need his support as she and her husband get older. Brexit makes that extremely difficult. UK nationals have rights in their host country but lost their freedom of movement and must adhere to the 90/180-day rule in the rest of the Schengen zone.

Sheila, like many UK nationals residing in the EU, did not have a vote in the Brexit referendum due to the 15-year limit. She wants to voice her opinion. “Brexit has caused so much damage to so many people.”

Attending the National Rejoin March: Hilary and Stewart

Hilary and her husband Stewart will be flying in from Valencia. They are both passionate pro-Europeans and have attended protests previously.

Hilary told me:

“I have felt a deep sense of commitment towards Europe from the day we joined in 1973. For 47 years, we enjoyed all the benefits of being part of a group of nations that always sought to improve the lives of its citizens. I never even dreamt that one day I would find myself on the outside looking in. I am deeply ashamed of what Brexit has done to our once-proud nation and shall continue to resist until the day we resume our rightful place at the heart of Europe.”

Hilary and Stewart supporting SODEM and Steve Bray (Mr Stop Brexit) 2020, photo used with permission

Attending the National Rejoin March: Vanessa

I came across Vanessa a couple of weeks ago as she reached out for help on a Facebook group. She has an elderly mother in Spain who has sadly had a stroke and needs care. Brexit has made it impossible for Vanessa to stay and take care of her mother. Her tenaciousness and attitude are admirable. She has tried every avenue to get help and her story heard, including contacting many Spanish authorities, the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, Sky News, the BBC and LBC radio, and is still looking for solutions.

Vanessa must leave Spain on 8 September and leave her mother for three months before returning, or she will be deemed illegally overstaying. I couldn’t practically help Vanessa, but I was able to tell her story, which you can read here in full.

“This will be the first protest march I have ever attended. Brexit has turned people’s lives upside down in a way few understand. My mother wants to remain in her home of 22 years, and I just want to take care of her.”

Attending the National Rejoin March: David Eldridge

“Although on a personal level, I’ve recently rejoined the EU by becoming Spanish, I’m travelling to London for the march because I still care for my former compatriots (including close family) in the UK.”

David continues: “To those that say it’s too early to campaign to rejoin the EU (we’ve been dubbed ‘extremists’ in one tabloid). I know the UK isn’t going to rejoin soon, and rejoining will be a long process involving profound changes to British society and the political system. But we can start on that path immediately after the next election if the political will is there and embark on a step-by-step process. Erasmus, Horizon, an amended treaty encouraging UK-EU trade rather than inhibiting it, eventually leading to rejoining the single market and customs union, the restoration of reciprocal free movement rights until the time is right to take the next logical step and become full EU members again.”

Attending the National Rejoin March: Sue Wilson MBE

Sue is chair of the citizens’ rights group Bremain in Spain and one of the guest speakers at the event. Before Brexit, Sue was not interested in politics but was devastated by the referendum result. She was the main plaintiff in a case that took Theresa May to court over the legality of the Brexit referendum. The government accepted the referendum broke electoral law and that had the result been legally binding, it would have been overturned. However, even though it was treated as binding by the government, it was, in fact, merely advisory; therefore, the court ruled that the result should stand.

 

“As British citizens abroad, we have always felt as though we were invisible to our own government. We’ve been treated like bargaining chips during negotiations and had rights we expected to hold for life stripped away from us. Brexit is an unmitigated disaster, and we’ll keep turning up in Westminster – even from Spain – until politicians of all persuasions get the message. It’s time to get Brexit undone and rejoin the EU.”

Sue Wilson MBE – Chair, Bremain in Spain, photo used with permission

Let down by our government

What I note most strongly when speaking to UK migrants in Spain is the sense of feeling let down. Let down by a government that didn’t tell them or the country the truth about what Brexit would mean. Saddened that so many UK nationals don’t fully understand the far-reaching consequences of Brexit, what the loss of freedom of movement truly means and the difficulties it brings. After all, it was only the British that lost this right.

The Brexit referendum was six years ago and no one born this century voted for Brexit. Evidence abounds that Brexit is damaging the fabric of Britain, its investment potential, growth and the UK’s world standing. Almost half of all businesses have ceased trading with Europe due to costs and red tape.

While the Conservatives, Brexit-supporting media, and even the Labour Party may want to avoid the B word altogether, many say it is time for an open and honest conversation about the damage of Brexit and how it is exacerbating all the UK’s issues. And how the most simple solution to so many problems would be to rejoin the single market at the very minimum.

These people are no longer Remainers. They are Rejoiners, and they are not going away.

Dear Brexiters – What if this was your mother? Vanessa’s Story

Dear Brexiters – What if this was your mother? Vanessa’s Story

Sep 7, 2022 | News

One of the most under-reported and tragic consequences of Brexit has been the impact on those with deep family connections to Europe

Lisa Burtonby Lisa Burton

At the 2019 Conservative party conference, Priti Patel announced, “I have a particular responsibility when it comes to taking back control. It is to end the free movement of people once and for all”. Her statement was met with rapturous applause, and Brexiters all over the country rejoiced and boasted of this perceived win.

This celebration always struck me as bizarrely nonsensical. After all, the only people losing their freedom of movement were the British – no one else. The repercussions and consequences are complex and multi-faceted, affecting trade, goods, and people.

UK nationals can no longer retire in the EU if on a basic UK state pension. The minimum income requirements for a non-lucrative visa are €27,793 a year. Young adults can no longer pop over for the experience of a summer job, and the option to ‘try before you buy’, i.e. come over for a few months, get a job and see how it goes, has now gone.

Most people in the UK understand that the United Kingdom now has third country status in the EU and that the loss of freedom of movement affects their future options for living and working in another EU country. However, little is understood about how this status change affects British nationals residing in a European Union member state. These issues are far-reaching and complex. Here is just one story.

Meet Vanessa and Margot

Vanessa lives in Byfleet, Surrey, and her mother, Margot, 86, lives in the town of Jávea, in Spain’s Costa Blanca region. Margot moved to Spain 22 years ago to retire and has, like many others, come to love her host country, which she now calls home. 

On 5 May, Vanessa received a call from a close friend of her mother, informing her that Margot had a fall and was acting confused. At the time, Margot was suffering from a urinary tract infection, but Vanessa felt something more was going on, so she flew out to Spain as quickly as possible and is thankful she did.

Margot was taken to the hospital for an MRI, which showed she’d had a stroke. She was admitted to the hospital for three days and then had to return three times weekly for physiotherapy. Margot had paralysis on her left side and needed speech and language therapy.

The 90 in 180-day rule for third-country nationals

Margot needed help with cooking, cleaning and taking care of herself. Naturally, Vanessa wanted to, and, as an only child, felt she had no option but to be the one to stay and take care of her mother while she recuperated. This would not have been a problem pre-Brexit, as Vanessa could have stayed and obtained residency, but it is now.

With the UK’s third-country status, the time its citizens can spend within the European Union is subject to restrictions.

UK nationals are only allowed to spend 90 days in the whole of the Schengen zone in any 180. If you spend three months in Spain, you cannot visit anywhere else in the EU for another three months. Vanessa and Margot were about to realise the enormous implications of this.

An impossible situation

Vanessa visited her mother earlier in the year, so she had used part of her 90/180-day allowance by the time of her mother’s stroke. They knew that if Vanessa stayed past June, she would breach immigration laws. Overstaying would be committing a serious infraction that could lead to significant penalties, including being banned from entering Spain altogether, so she had to leave in July for a week and returned a week later to start the process. Little did they know, though, just how difficult it would be.

Jumping through hoops

For tourists, a visa to overstay is only given in exceptional circumstances. Suppose you had a car crash and could not leave the hospital, for example. There are family unification visas, but they are very restrictive, and you can only regroup children if they are under 18.

You must apply for the visa through Spain’s Ministry of the Interior and the National Police. It is not a simple process. Vanessa tried to make an appointment, but none were available in time, so on 20 June, she approached a lawyer.

The National Police and the lawyer were based in Alicante. Neither Margot nor Vanessa have a car, so it took three round bus trips to complete the paperwork. The first two round trips took 16 hours, and the second 12.

All documents needed to be officially translated into Spanish. The cost for Vanessa’s birth certificate to be translated, notarised and apostilled cost 300 euros. She required extra health insurance and proof of that and proof of enough funds to live on 100 euros per day. Her visa would grant her an additional 61 days. That equated to over 6,000 euros, money neither Vanessa nor her mother had, so she had to borrow money from her daughter and husband to put in her bank account and submit statements as evidence.

Eventually, after being in limbo and having an irregular immigration status for weeks and expenses of 1,000 euros, the extension was granted on 22 August.

On 8 September, Vanessa will have to leave her mother again

Although the visa was issued on 22 August, it was backdated. Otherwise, Vanessa would have been deemed overstaying when trying to obtain the visa. Vanessa has to fly back to the UK on 8th September and leave her mother alone for a minimum of three months before she can visit again. What happens if Margot has another fall or her health deteriorates? It would be illegal for Vanessa to fly and see her in Spain. The worry of this is enormous.

Margot

The effect on the family

Vanessa has a husband and twin adult daughters. Her husband has been living alone without his wife. One of the daughters is entering her third year studying Spanish and French in France. Vanessa wanted to attend her introduction week at university there. She now can’t. Vanessa had to give up her job as a private swimming instructor. All her old clients have moved on to someone else.

Some say Margot should return to the UK so her family can care for her there. Margot says, “no way”. She lives in a small apartment in a modest area, likes her neighbours and gets on well with them. She has grown to love the sense of community her Spanish town gives her.

How typical is Vanessa’s story?

While most British immigrants residing in the EU are of working age, Spain is different. It has always been a highly attractive place for the British to retire.

It is impossible to know how many people are affected, but Vanessa and Margot are certainly not the only ones.

There are 407,000 Brits who took up their right to live in Spain, and 152,000 of them are pensioners. Many families could face formidable, life-changing decisions they never thought they would have to consider, and it is all down to Brexit.

Can we talk about rejoining the EU yet?

Can we talk about rejoining the EU yet?

Sep 1, 2022 | Bylines, News

With mounting evidence of Brexit damage in plain sight, Sue Wilson asks whether now is the time to start a campaign to rejoin the EU? Bremain Chair Sue Wilson MBE writes for Yorkshire Bylines.

On Saturday 10 September, the National Rejoin March takes to the streets of London. It will be the first time since before the pandemic that pro Europeans will rally to the cause of rejoining the EU. The march will include many well-known speakers from the political world and from pro-EU campaign groups, all wanting to make the case for a reversal of Brexit and a return to common sense. But is now the right time?

Time for a serious debate?

Lord Alan Sugar recently raised the issue of rejoining the EU on Twitter. Lord Sugar had earlier tweeted that Boris Johnson and Michael Gove – “the biggest liars in 2016” – should both go to jail for misleading the British public during the referendum. He followed this up with the question “what would it take for us to reverse Brexit and re join (sic) the EU”, and asked for a “serious debate” on the subject.

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>This might sound a stupid if not naive question but what would it take for us to reverse Brexit and re join the EU. Serious debate please. <a href=”https://t.co/T4l30EDpfo”>https://t.co/T4l30EDpfo</a></p>&mdash; Lord Sugar (@Lord_Sugar) <a href=”https://twitter.com/Lord_Sugar/status/1564157036975333376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>August 29, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>

Whist that debate may be starting to happen on social media, there is no evidence, as yet, that it is happening in political circles, though it certainly ought to be.

 

Will the EU have us back?

There seem to be two main arguments against any serious debate on rejoining the EU, or even the single market and customs union.

Firstly, the EU won’t want us back. We’re a bunch of trouble-makers, any lost business can easily be made up elsewhere and we can’t be relied upon not to change our minds again at some future juncture.

Terry Reintke, German MEP, and one of the speakers at next weeks’ rally, begs to differ. On a recent trip to the UK, she was struck by the UK’s doubt that “the EU would take us back if we wanted to rejoin”. She responded by stating we have “millions and millions of friends in the EU” and that “no matter what happens, we will always leave a light on.”

This is a view that is supported by former Brexit negotiator, Guy Verhofstadt, who has retweeted the details of the forthcoming rally with the following comment:

“Polls show British voters regret Brexit & want a European future, yet no opposition party dare represent them & the next Tory Government will be the most Eurosceptic yet. Britain needs a pro-European renaissance!”

 

Mike Galsworthy, founder of Scientists for EU, and Campaigns Strategy Manager at the European Movement UK, also tweeted recently that the EU’s attitude should not be a matter of concern. He said he has been reassured by trusted contacts in the EU that “there would be a real supportive appetite on the other side”, and even some room for flexibility.

 

Now is not the time

The other pervasive argument against rejoining the EU is to do with the timing. It’s too soon, they say. We must wait a decade, or even a generation, before the country is ready to even think about Brexit again.

That argument may have held some weight in the early days of Brexit, but it’s now over 6 years since the referendum, and Brexit still hasn’t been fully implemented. All the earlier government talk of not mentioning Brexit, then the realism that Brexit still wasn’t “done”, makes the waiting even more pointless. Are we supposed to wait for Brexit to be fully implemented before we can even start a sensible, serious discussion on Brexit damage, and how to rescue the country from the Brextremists?

Sorry, but no. How can it be too soon for debate? How can it be too soon to attempt to prevent further damage, or to start to fix the many problems that Brexit has, and is, causing?

As Professor A.C Grayling says, to talk of delay is “defeatist”, and plays into the Brexiters hands. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. “Brexit is reversible”, says Grayling, and rejoining can be achieved in 5-6 years, which means we are over halfway there already. Now that’s a timescale I can get on board with!

 

What would it take to rejoin the EU?

In answer to Lord Sugar’s question, Galsworthy responded with a list of four requirements for rejoining and an offer of drawing up a business plan:

A stable, substantial, popular majority for Rejoin.
A competent campaign to keep it in the spotlight.
Both Labour and Tories with high Rejoin numbers.
A willing EU.

Galsworthy added that the requirement that is not given enough consideration was point number 3). Not only was it important to prevent “the UK dancing the hokey-cokey down the decades (in out in out)”, as different parties took power, but also to rebuild the one nation, pro-EU, pro-single market, Conservative base.

The best catalyst for the rebuilding of the Conservative party would be a dramatic loss for the party at the next General Election, and the new government dispensing with the unfair and undemocratic first-past-the-post voting system. Considering the latest voter intention polls show a 14% lead for Labour over the Conservatives, and the public are increasingly dissatisfied with Brexit, then anything starts to look possible.

Nobody is suggesting that undoing Brexit will be easy, or quick. It’ll be a tough journey, with roadblocks and diversions along the way, and no doubt more Brexiteer lies, misinformation and anger. But after six years of this anti-Brexit fight, pro-EU numbers are swelling, our arguments are cutting through, and evidence of Brexit damage is in plain sight. Even the right-wing media are starting to take notice.

That’s why I, along with many more eloquent and informed speakers, will stand up on 10 September and say now is the time. The country cannot afford to wait a decade, or a generation, to save itself from Brexit. So, join the resistance now and demand a better Britain – one that is back at the heart of Europe where it belongs.

Bremainers Ask……. Otto English

Bremainers Ask……. Otto English

Sep 1, 2022 | Bremainers Ask, News

Otto English is the pen name of author and journalist Andrew Scott. Having worked in theatre and TV in his twenties, as a playwright and researcher, Scott went on to have a ‘portfolio career’ combining teaching and scriptwriting before his online twitter rants and blogs about Brexit and the chaos of British politics led to a permanent career change in 2016.

Since then, he has written for the Independent, New Statesman, Politico and Byline Times (among others). His book Fake History was published in June 2021, and he is currently working on a sequel. He lives in SE London with his wife and two teenage children.

Steve Wilson : How do we undo the damage that the last 12 years of Tory rule – and Johnson’s time in power in particular – have done? Can the country ever return to her former glory?

The great danger for us all, whether Brexiter or Remainer or otherwise, is to keep looking backwards. The path forward is less about ‘undoing’ the damage and more about building something new in its place. Key to that, obviously, is getting rid of this government and opening up a new chapter and a fresh page in our relationship with our European partners and the wider world.

Johnson has demonstrated that leadership matters and that countries cannot prosper on the promises of hot air and bluster. Likewise, if the Brexiters have achieved anything, it is to demonstrate how critical our relationship with Europe is, and so my immediate hope is that after the Government is consigned to the political dustbin of history, a new administration will seek to join EFTA / EEA and work hard to normalise relations with our most important allies and neighbours.

It is going to be a long hard slog, because our nearest allies currently view us as something akin to a basket case and rebuilding trust and relations will take years.

I’d love to believe that ‘rejoining the EU’ would magically solve our problems and reset everything, but to do so would leave me open to the same trap that the Brexiters fell into. Brexit cultists believed, after all, that our membership of the EU was ‘the problem’ and that by leaving we could magically cast ourselves back to a golden age. Likewise, there is a danger in thinking that rejoining is a) possible in the short term and b) would offer us an immediate return to former glory – or even normality.

Michael Frederick Phillips : History is written by the winner. Where do you see the European Union in 40 years’ time? What do you anticipate will be seen as its successes and failures?

The pandemic and recent events in Ukraine have demonstrated history’s most valuable lesson – nothing is certain, and peace, prosperity and security can never be taken for granted.

Brexit was born out of the conceit that everything would always be OK and that none of the above mattered.

During the EU referendum the ‘project fear’ mongers made light of David Cameron’s warnings of a potential war in Europe and dismissed the historical fact that the European Union had led to a period of unprecedented peace and stability on our continent.

Much as I hate to praise Cameron for anything – those dire warnings have now come to fruition.

I hope that history will come to see another 40 years of peace and prosperity as part of the EU’s great success story, and I hope too that Putin’s aggression will lead to an ever-closer union, with Ukraine joining at the earliest opportunity. Nations are always safer, better, healthier and wealthier standing together and working in partnership over pursuing narrow nationalistic self-interest.

The war in Ukraine has also made the strongest possible case for closer military cooperation across Europe and hopefully that will lead to the establishment of some form of EU army.

As to failures – well, the risk to the EU is always going to be 27 nations pulling in opposite directions and the union itself failing to carve out a strongly defined place in the world. It would be good to see the EU as a more clearly defined bloc – capable of standing up to Russia and China and keeping the US in check. European people would benefit from that, but so too would the world.

Andy Hawker : The Conservative party’s prime ministerial contenders are obsessed with donning the crown of Margaret Thatcher. Could the successful candidate actually make use of Thatcherite policy to turn the UK around or has the world become a different place?  Does Thatcher deserve such reverence and could we imagine what her stance would be on the failed Brexit project?

Of course, it’s very hard to speculate about what Thatcher would have said or done as she is no longer with us but, for all her later Euroscepticism, she helped foment the single market and create what became the EU, so I find it somewhat bizarre that she is so championed by the Brexiters. I cannot imagine her thinking that Britain should leave the union as she was first and foremost an economic pragmatist and anyone with half a brain could have predicted what would happen if we left.

I also find the lionisation of her a bit bizarre because anyone who remembers the 1980s can also remember how deeply divisive she was and more, that the policies she enacted had disastrous long-term consequences. Through the rose-tinted glasses of history, we often forget that on her watch unemployment hit 3.5 million, that northern mining communities were devastated, that there were two major recessions and that, despite the talk of her economic miracle, GDP never grew by more than 2% on her watch and interest rates hit 15%. Her ‘right to buy’ scheme also went some way toward precipitating today’s housing crisis. And that’s even before we get onto her bullying, homophobic Section 28 legislation and the horrors of the Poll Tax.

The current Tory leaders hanker after her crown because like cosplaying Churchill before them (Boris Johnson) they don’t have the capacity, imagination or depth of character to stand on their own two feet.

David Eldridge : Do you think Britain (whole or in parts) will ever rejoin the EU? If so, how do you see it happening, in terms of a timescale and stages in the process?

I hope so but given the 6 years of civil war we’ve been through and with neither of the main political parties pledging it I really cannot imagine a time when it happens. I believe that the path back to some semblance of membership is through EFTA – EEA membership, as I said above.

Of course, if Scotland were to become independent, then they would undoubtedly seek to join and a weakened England and Wales might follow.

Keir Duncan : Following the raid on Trump’s villa in Florida and the potential for criminal charges to be brought against him, do you think this could ever happen with some of the Brexit protagonists and the lies they peddled? 

Section One of the Ministerial Code states very clearly that politicians who have deliberately lied should resign. I quote in full: “It is of paramount importance that Ministers give accurate and truthful information to Parliament, correcting any inadvertent error at the earliest opportunity. Ministers who knowingly mislead Parliament will be expected to offer their resignation to the Prime Minister”.

The code obviously needs to be more robustly enforced and updated to include the Prime Minister themselves. It goes without saying that it should be completely unacceptable for politicians to lie and lie and lie and get away with it in a supposedly advanced democracy, but somehow lying has become the norm. In the process it has diminished British democracy and the office of PM.

Of course, if we started locking up politicians for lying the jails would soon be full, but we need proper standards in office as a basic standard.

I’d like to see everyone in political office held more firmly to account by the press and media and I would like to live in a country where liars do not prosper, but we need a wholesale change in attitudes for that moment to come. The public should expect and demand more and the press needs a firm kick up the arse.

That said, I think Trump and US politics is in another league of dishonesty. Politics, particularly on the right seems to be built entirely on lies, disinformation and a dangerous disregard for sanity. I’ve just been there for two weeks and watching the news, particularly Fox, was genuinely frightening. We will have to wait and see what happens there, but if America lets Trump get away with his actions, whether that be regarding his retention of official documents or his behaviour around the events on Capitol Hill, I think the country is in serious trouble.

John Moffett : Led by Donkeys and Bylines provide such great resources, but how can we increase their reach to better educate the public and make them question more what politicians say?

Both Byline and LBD sit outside of the establishment. This is a strength and a weakness because our voices are not as amplified as we would like and often, we are writing for people who already agree with us.

As a writer for Byline Times, I am very aware of that freedom. We don’t worry about upsetting people because we’re not in with the in crowd of lobby journalists and politicians and that is very liberating, even if it does sometimes put people’s backs up.

We were writing in depth about the relationship between Lebedev and Johnson and the apparent entryism of former members of the Revolutionary Communist Party into the Brexit Party (and elsewhere) long before anyone else, for example. Other outlets had written about Johnson attending the Lebedev parties but almost nobody was ringing alarm bells. In both cases I was stunned at how slow the mainstream press was to pick up the stories and more – that some publications pushed back at us for daring to write about it.

Obviously, the best way for us to get more reach is for more people to subscribe!! But in the meantime, I think it’s beholden upon all of us, however big our platforms, to use our voices – whether that be on social media or in conversations with friends and family. Many people are far too reticent.

I’m also a believer in engaging with the other side more. Byline TV has been criticised a bit for inviting on people with pro-Brexit and right-wing views but politics has become very polarised and many of us are sitting in little echo chambers – we need to do what Black Label used to boast about doing, and reach the places other voices can’t reach.

Matt Burton : You have made no secret that you are a republican and have often spoken/written on the monarchy and Empire. Do you think that the British people will be ready to have an open discussion on abolishing the monarchy once the Queen dies?

In a word ‘yes’. When the Queen dies there is going to be the opportunity to have a great big conversation about the future – not only of the institution itself but also the way this country operates politically.

I have no personal animosity toward the royal family – after all they are mostly born into it and didn’t choose the roles. However, I do not think that in 2022 it is appropriate for a head of state to be decided by biology and the hereditary rights of one family.

Many things need to change in Britain – House of Lords reform is roughly 200 years overdue and our current arrangement vis a vis head of state is not fit for purpose. We have always been told that the monarchy acts as a constitutional backstop and yet during Brexit and the Johnson reign of blather the buffers have been shown to be about as robust as a bag of jelly.

If Brexit has provided anything positive, it is that it has shone a bright light on the inadequacy of our political institutions and the myths we have been brought up with regarding their exceptional nature.

Personally, I would go for an elected non-executive Head of State like Ireland has – and, whatever monarchists might insist to the contrary, that would not mean President Blair, Johnson or Farage.

Lisa Burton : Brexit and Johnson, like Trump, have exposed the weaknesses in our political establishments, institutions and (unwritten in the UK’s case) constitution. What lessons should be learned from this, and what changes would you like to see brought into our political systems to ensure this does not happen again?

Absolutely right. I think it’s potentially a massive opportunity here. Britain has not had the transformative experience of revolution or occupation that our neighbours have mostly had in the last 200 years. As the ‘winner’ in WW2 we carried on tinkering at the edges of our democracy rather than lifting the bonnet and refitting the engine.

Brexit has changed that. It was to all intents and purposes a civil war – although thankfully a largely non-violent one – and as the revolution eats itself it could present an opportunity for the more progressive elements in the country to edge us toward a transformation.

I hate Brexit and I hate the six years plus of misery it has visited on this country – but would it not be a delightful paradox if the very forces of conservatism that brought its misery upon us were destroyed by it?

As to political lessons – well the biggest takeaway perhaps is ‘never, ever hold a referendum on something most people do not understand’ and the second is ‘make politics boring again’. Political life has become a sort of branch of the entertainment industry (I call this politainment). It should instead be worthy, dull and for the benefit of the people – not a bunch of jumped-up spivs with posh accents in ill-fitting suits.

In next month’s newsletter we are delighted to be featuring Baroness Sarah Ludford, who has been a member of the House of Lords since 1997 and is currently the Liberal Democrat’s Europe and Brexit spokesperson.

She was a Member of the European Parliament for London from 1999 to 2014, working mainly on EU security, justice and human rights issues, and on EU foreign affairs, as vice-chair of the EP delegation to the US.

If you would like to put a question to Sarah, please email us at enquiries@bremaininspain.com no later than Saturday 3 September.

My personal journey through Covid

My personal journey through Covid

Aug 29, 2022 | Bylines, News

Sue Wilson MBE, Bremain Chair, reflects on lessons from her own experience of Covid for West England Bylines. Are we now failing to treat it seriously enough?

I’m recovering from Covid. I had always expected to catch Covid at some point. After all, an increasing number of friends, family members and acquaintances had succumbed, so there seemed a certain inevitability about it.

Living in Spain, in a village of 3,000 people, had certainly helped to keep me Covid free until now. The measures here were strict – much stricter than in the UK – and as a result, I felt safe. I was also very careful, and continued to avoid crowds and to wear a mask long after it was no longer mandatory, especially during the summer when our numbers were swelled by tourists.

The only time I really felt concerned for my safety was when I travelled back to the UK to visit my elderly mum. The contrast between the attitudes of both the UK and Spanish governments, and the UK and Spanish people, was stark. The British public were behaving as though Covid was no longer a threat. And why wouldn’t they? That was what they were being told to believe.

 

A surprise and unwelcome birthday gift

It’s rather ironic, therefore, that I caught Covid in my own home. On Sunday 14 August, 16 friends joined us for lunch in our garden to celebrate my husband Steve’s 70th birthday. Little did any of us know that a surprise birthday gift for Steve, then me, would be our first, and hopefully last, dose of Covid.

Two days later, we received a call warning us that our friend had tested positive for Covid. We both tested ourselves immediately, but both tests were negative. The following day, Steve was starting to display symptoms but still testing negative, but by Thursday morning, the test was positive. By that evening, my symptoms started appearing, and by Friday morning, I too tested positive.

 

Not everyone’s symptoms are the same

While most of our symptoms were the same, there were noticeable differences between my symptoms and Steve’s. We both ached all over, even our eyes seemed to ache and our ears felt as though our eardrums had been blown out by a very loud bang. We both found even the smallest of tasks took all of our energy – even making a cup of tea felt like running a marathon – a feeling compounded by a real fogginess of the brain.

However, where Steve lost his sense of taste and smell, I did not, and my cough was much worse than his, especially during the first couple of nights.

For me, the most obvious symptom though was one of exhaustion. Having tested positive on Friday, I slept for over 20 hours on Saturday, then 15 hours on Sunday and 12 on Monday. Only on Tuesday did my sleeping habits and my eating habits start to return to something like normal. In the process, I had lost 3 kg in weight in just four days.

 

Returning to normal

It’s now six days since I first tested positive, I am definitely past the worst, and I’m on the way to recovery. I know that I am going to have to pace myself, and will certainly heed all the warnings from those that have been here before, not to try to do too much too soon. Friends and colleagues that have had Covid tell me not to expect to feel completely back to normal for one to three months and I will gladly head their warnings.

Although the last six days was a relatively short time to feel sick, the severity of my dose of Covid was not only a shock, but a wake-up call. I may be no spring chicken, but I’m a healthy middle-aged hen. I rarely drink, I eat a healthy Mediterranean diet, mostly meat-free, I exercise regularly and I keep my brain active. I’m also fully vaccinated and boosted. If Covid could hit me so hard, then how much worse could it be for someone more vulnerable, or unvaccinated?

 

The threat has not gone away

Responsible governments around the world are well aware of the dangers that Covid still presents. As the virus mutates into new forms, or the true nature of the long-term effects become better understood, ways of dealing with Covid will also need to mutate.

The British government, on the other hand, continues to act as though Covid is “done” and ignores the damage that is being inflicted on the British public and the NHS through their lack of action. The pandemic has claimed the lives of over 180,000 people in the UK and millions are now “grappling with long Covid”, according to The Times newspaper.

To add to the list of government mistakes made over Covid – from late lockdowns to the removal of safety measures and support too soon – they are about to add another irresponsible action to their catalogue of errors. From 31 August, “regular asymptomatic testing will be paused across certain settings including in hospitals and care homes”. Not only is this action “completely negligent” and “unacceptable”, says Dr. Deepti Gurdasani, but it will likely result in “vulnerable patients getting infected – some even dying”

Public inquiry

Hearings for the long-awaited Covid public inquiry are planned to commence in 2024. Despite that fact, the cost of the inquiry has already reached £85 million, thanks to the government hiring top legal and public relations firms to represent it. For comparison purposes, the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, which has been running for four years, has so far cost £88 million. The Covid inquiry looks as though it will be one of the most expensive inquiries in British political history.

Ministers, it seems, do not hold back when it is their own backs that need protection. It’s a shame that they don’t feel the same way about protecting the nation, not least from themselves.

Thankfully, it appears that the worst of my infection is now behind me, and I can expect a gradual, if not speedy, return to pre-infection levels of normality. Let’s hope the same can be said for the country once we rid ourselves of the terrible virus that is infecting Westminster.

Like Johnson, Truss and Sunak commit to treating the devolved nations with disdain

Like Johnson, Truss and Sunak commit to treating the devolved nations with disdain

Aug 19, 2022 | News

Sunak and Truss have consistently voted against giving further powers to the devolved nations – and their recent comments do not bode well

Lisa Burtonby Lisa Burton

Recently, we’ve all witnessed a true ‘blue on blue’ war of words as Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak battle to become the next leader of the Conservative Party and thereby the next prime minister of the not-so-United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

In their desperation to appease a tiny minority of the population – the Conservative Party membership – they have indulged in a game of ‘who can stoop the lowest and swerve hardest right’. In doing this, they have exposed their ignorance and intention to continue to show disdain for the devolved nations of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, their people, and their elected leaders.

Both candidates have consistently voted against giving further powers to the devolved nations. Sunak and Truss have rejected further devolution to the Scottish and Welsh Parliaments over 90% of the time when they have voted on the issue at Westminster, including an amendment to the Scotland bill, which would have required the consent of the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish people before Holyrood could be abolished.

Sunak on Wales

Both candidates had strong words of criticism for devolution. At the leadership hustings in Cardiff on 3 August, Sunak declared that “the path of onward devolution has not worked” and suggested that leaders at Westminster needed to “fix” it. Precisely what he means by ‘fixing’ is unknown. It could mean anything from reducing powers to total abolishment.

He then accused the Welsh Government of “squandering” millions and “failing” children and hospital patients, saying he wanted to “make sure that people in Wales get the public services that they demand”. If only those living in England knew that all they had to do was demand required services.

As for accusations of squandering money? That’s a bit rich coming from a chancellor whose party wasted £37bn alone on a failed track and trace system and billions more on unusable PPE, fraudulent Covid business relief funds and unfair levelling up funds, to name a few.

Truss on Wales

Truss had a similar approach to Wales but added a personal touch in attacking Mark Drakeford, the elected First Minister of Wales:

“The fact is that there are too many people in this country who are ashamed of our, who talk our country down and say the best days are behind us. They are completely wrong, and one of those is Mark Drakeford. Whether it’s stopping the M4 relief road, whacking a tax on our tourist industry, I will crack down on his negativity about Wales and the United Kingdom.”

She added, “We will be able to take on the low-energy version of Jeremy Corbyn that is Mark Drakeford”.

The Welsh Government ditched the M4 relief road project for environmental reasons in favour of six new train stations between Cardiff and Newport. Yet Johnson pledged to build the M4 relief road anyway, leading to Drakeford accusing the UK Government of “pretending” to have the power to do it.

When Truss was explicitly asked if she would build the M4 relief road, she also said: “Yes”. Neither Westminster nor the PM has the power to force Wales to build the road. They know this, but it’s all part of their divisive power playing.

Sunak on Scotland

Sunak told the Spectator podcast in July that another referendum on Scottish independence is “not the priority” for people in Scotland. Quite a sweeping and factually incorrect statement considering over 50% of the Scottish electorate support Scottish independence and, therefore, a 2nd referendum. His arrogance also fails to recognise that the SNP, a party whose objective is to bring about independence, has a huge mandate from the Scottish electorate. They hold 64 out of 129 seats. Impressive, considering Scotland has a form of proportional representation, not first past the post as Westminster does.

Although Sunak did have a nice little story about working in Darlington, Scotland. Darlington is in England and over 100 miles from the Scottish border.

Truss on Scotland

“What’s happening in Scotland is the entire resources of the Scottish Government are being used to run essentially an independence campaign, and I think that is grossly irresponsible”, Truss said.

Apart from being ludicrous, it’s also hugely hypocritical. The Conservatives brought Brexit for their version of ‘independence’ against the wishes of the Scots, who voted 62% to remain in the EU, while Brexit has been sucking the life out of the UK Government and country for six years, costing billions and taking 25,000 civil servants to implement it.

Truss didn’t stop there; she took another leaf out of Donald Trump’s tactic book and went after Nicola Sturgeon personally. Truss questioned how she would tackle the growing separatist sentiment in Scotland, “The best thing to do with Nicola Sturgeon is ignore her.” After hoots of laughter from the Tory membership, she added: “I’m sorry, she’s an attention seeker, that’s what she is.”

This coming from a woman who is regularly mocked for her indulgence in a bit of cosplay for photo opportunities and obsession with image. However, after recent reports that the only time Truss and Sturgeon met at Cop26, Truss asked Sturgeon, “How do you get into Vogue?” It all makes sense. Jealousy is not an admirable trait Ms Truss.

Increasing support for Scottish independence

The Conservatives continue to be a gift to the SNP by driving an increase in support for independence. The Perth hustings held on 16 August garnered quite a protest outside. Tempers were flared.

Sunak doubled down on previous comments, saying he could not “imagine the circumstances” in which he would allow a second independence vote and that “now or anytime in the near future” would not be the time to focus on it.

Truss was greeted with loud cheers from Conservative members when she said: “If I am elected as prime minister, I will not allow another independence referendum.”

Their tactics are arrogant and failing. Recent polling has shown that whether it be Truss or Sunak that becomes PM, both candidates will increase the ‘Yes vote’ for Scottish independence.

Johnson also devised his own plan this week, the day before the Perth hustings – he decided he would take Scotland’s water for England. Did he think the Scots were going to cheer this on? No, of course not; he just doesn’t think of the Scots’ needs at all.

Northern Ireland

Simply put, if the Conservatives cared about Northern Ireland, its people and maintaining peace under the Good Friday Agreement, they would not have chosen the version of Brexit they did and this version will almost certainly lead to the reunification of Ireland.

Like Scotland, Northern Ireland voted to remain in the European Union. The UK could have left the political institutions of the EU but remained in the single market. Doing that would have been the sensible option and compromise between Leave and Remain, particularly on such a narrow result. More importantly, it would have meant no border in the Irish Sea or between the North and South of Ireland.

With a softer Brexit, equivalence could have been maintained between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, but the Tory party’s hard right had long since hijacked Brexit for their agenda. In Johnson, they found the perfect dodgy salesman.

The Northern Ireland protocol is the solution to the hard Brexit the Conservatives fought for, not the problem.

Johnson announced he had his “oven-ready” Brexit deal within weeks of taking office. He repeatedly lied in the media to business leaders and the people of Northern Ireland, saying there would be no checks or forms on the movement of goods and animals. It was a blatant and calculated lie.

Not only did he throw Northern Ireland under the Brexit bus, but the government also signed an international treaty with the European Union in bad faith. Johnson knew the border would cause issues with unionists, but he also knew he had no intention of honouring the details in the deal.

Belfast Hustings

The Conservative membership comprises fewer than 600 members in Northern Ireland and the hustings itself was always going to be awkward for the leadership candidates.

There were questions around Westminster having the right to ban abortion in Northern Ireland. One audience member asked whether Truss would appoint another “fly in, fly out political landlord” instead of someone “accountable to the electorate”. While another questioned her over her continued loyalty to the outgoing prime minister, who, they said, had “continually lied” to parliament.

Both candidates doubled down on the protocol bill but with Truss confirming they would enact it in totality with Sunak trying to be the professional, saying he would try to negotiate with Brussels while simultaneously breaking international law.

Suppose the Conservatives’ protocol bill is enacted through parliament. In that case, it will lead to the EU launching legal action, likely sanctions and a possible trade war, which the UK will lose. Prices of goods will rocket, on top of a cost-of-living crisis already affecting so many. It would be a dereliction.

The channelling of Margaret Thatcher

As reported in the Spectator, the Thatcherite obsession confirms the Conservatives remain utterly indifferent to the sensitivities and history of the nations. “The misguided souls on the right, including in Scotland, who believe Holyrood should be strongly reined in by London, which is one sure way to push the electorate towards independence.”

The Thatcher government saw Scotland as an “experiment” for the divisive poll tax, and the Scottish have not forgotten. Oliver Letwin stated that a tax based on people, not property, “would create too many big losers” in England and Wales; hence they trialled it north of the border. The poll tax would, of course, be Thatcher’s downfall.

Thatcher’s confrontations with the unions were popular with some. However, in Wales, the miners’ strikes were experienced very differently and, even today, are still a source of anger and trauma in some areas.

In 1979 there was a referendum on Welsh devolution. Only 20.3% were for and 79.7% against. By 1997 a nation sick of Thatcher’s policies voted 50.3%, Yes, and Welsh devolution was born.

Thatcher became a symbol of division between Wales and England that could only be reconciled by Wales gaining at least some control over its domestic affairs. A study from Martin Johnes of Swansea University found:

“In 1986, there had been more than 166,000 people in Wales on the dole. By then, less than 40% of Welsh households were headed by someone in full-time employment. Nearly a fifth of men out of work had been so for five years or more.”

These communities are still amongst the most disadvantaged in the country. These communities have not forgotten.

No one to blame but themselves

The Conservative Party of recent years are no unionists. They are the party of populism and English nationalism. As was foretold, it is now just a matter of time before their ideological pursuit of a hard Brexit breaks the Union. The question is, who will go first?