A series of polls published in recent days shows the case for Brexit gaining traction, and in some cases has the Leave campaign establishing a lead over Remain. Two polls conducted for The Guardian by ICM shows voters favouring Brexit by 52 per cent to 48 per cent. Notably the result was the same regardless of whether respondents were surveyed online or by telephone. Up to now telephone polling has tended to favour the Remain campaign, with only two such polls giving Leave the lead. That makes the result of the ICM phone poll all the more concerning for Britain Stronger In Europe because that method shows Leave gaining seven points to 52 per cent, and Remain down seven to 48 per cent. The Guardian reports that the result using the online method is almost unchanged, but the change in result for phone polled respondents appears to identify a shift towards Brexit, despite what the paper describes as “a slew of warnings from the most senior members of the government about the economic risks of doing so.” Commenting on the development, ICM Research director Martin Boon said: “Our poll rather unhinges a few accepted orthodoxies. It is only one poll but, in a rather unexpected reverse of polling assumptions so far, both our
Author: Sarkis Zeronian
European Parliament President: Turkey Becoming A ‘One-Man State’
The President of the European Parliament has warned that Turkey is “on the way” to becoming a “one-man state” under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (pictured). European Parliament President, Martin Schulz, made the comment in a sharply-worded interview with the German daily newspaper Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger (KStA). During the course of the discussion he referred to recent developments in Turkey as a “stunning rejection of European values.” Referring to negotiations over Turkey’s status in relation to the European Union (EU), Mr. Schulz added: “[Chancellor Merkel] and EU leaders have said very clearly to the Turkish president that his policy is inconsistent with fundamental European values, and therefore meaningful negotiations on EU membership for Turkey are not only called into question, but rendered virtually impossible.” In the more immediate future, Mr. Schulz said President Erdoğan’s recent actions jeopardise the prospect of visa liberalisation for Turkish citizens traveling into the EU’s Schengen zone. He was not merely referring to the appointment by President Erdoğan of his longstanding and faithful ally Binali Yildirim as Prime Minister of Turkey yesterday, but also his intransigence over reforms demanded by Europe as the quid pro quo for visa free travel. Not only has President Erdoğan refused to make changes to Turkish terrorism laws as required by the migrant deal, but he
Business Barometer Finds Companies ‘Indifferent’ To Brexit
Polling shows increasing government regulation is damaging commercial confidence more than the prospect of Brexit, which leaves businesses feeling “indifferent”. The surprise conclusion on Brexit, which contradicts the opinion of European Union (EU) cheerleaders like international bankers, big business representatives and pro-EU lobbyists at the Confederation of British Industry, was revealed in a FTSE 350 poll conducted by the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA). The Summer 2016 edition of the biannual FT-ICSA Boardroom Bellwether survey published today canvasses FTSE 350 views on the external environment and key governance issues such as board diversity, regulation, corporate culture and risk. Illustrating the respondents’ indifference to Brexit, only 43 per cent of them rate Brexit as potentially damaging, and and only 49 per cent of boards have even considered the implications of leaving the EU at some point after the UK’s June referendum. Evidencing other concerns for respondents, business confidence in the UK economy was found to be at its lowest since the surveys began in 2012, with just 13 per cent anticipating an improvement in the next twelve months. The global economy fared little better, with only 16 per cent expecting improvements on that front. The 13 per cent figure shows a very sharp decline from 40 per cent anticipating improvement in the UK
Mayor Orders Closure Of Molenbeek ‘Clandestine Islamic School’
As part of a campaign against religious radicalism, local authorities in the troubled Brussels district of Molenbeek have ordered the closure of a “clandestine Islamic school”. On Tuesday the mayor of Molenbeek, Françoise Schepmans, ordered the school to be closed after a tip-off from a neighbour, reports Sudinfo.be. It had been operating since 2012. The facility, which had 38 young pupils aged from three to eight years old, was housed in what looked from the outside like a private family home. Inside it was kitted out for children from nursery school age up to the third year of primary education. The children were considered ‘home schooled’, but those teaching, reportedly dressed in niqabs, were not qualified to do so. In the report published by Politico, it is stated that Mayor Schepmans closed the facility due to “architectural” reasons, not over fears of radicalisation. It is true that town planning infringements were the reasons given for closure, however that is because the local authority does not have competence to shut a school for Islamic radicalism. In reality a number of non-profit organisations have been targeted in recent weeks, following the announcement from Mayor Schepmans that her district of Molenbeek was going to raise its game in the fight against
IMF To Publish Report Damning Brexit Just Days Before Referendum, While European Commission Delays Budget Until AFTER It
Brexit campaigners have accused the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of trying to “bully” British voters into voting Remain in the June referendum on continued membership of the European Union (EU). The timing of a crucial report due to be published by the IMF is seen as particularly cynical. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde (pictured above with George Osborne) today used the opportunity of a visit to London to tell British voters there were no economic positives to Britain leaving the EU, a move with “significant downside risk” the impact of which would range from “pretty bad to very, very bad”. Ms. Lagarde claimed the “majority of economic analysis” shows that a vote for Brexit would be “costly in the long run” with a “protracted period of uncertainty”, and there would be an “adverse market reaction” to a Leave vote in the short term. As a result she predicted a “significant depreciation of sterling” and “large contractions investment and consumption, implying lower output, lower growth, and higher domestic prices.” The economic arguments put forward by Ms. Lagarde were not backed by hard data, but she said such detailed forecasts will be published, most likely on 16 June, just one week before the referendum. That move is planned by the
IMF To Publish Report Damning Brexit Just Days Before Referendum, While European Commission Delays Budget Until AFTER It
Brexit campaigners have accused the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of trying to “bully” British voters into voting Remain in the June referendum on continued membership of the European Union (EU). The timing of a crucial report due to be published by the IMF is seen as particularly cynical. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde (pictured above with George Osborne) today used the opportunity of a visit to London to tell British voters there were no economic positives to Britain leaving the EU, a move with “significant downside risk” the impact of which would range from “pretty bad to very, very bad”. Ms. Lagarde claimed the “majority of economic analysis” shows that a vote for Brexit would be “costly in the long run” with a “protracted period of uncertainty”, and there would be an “adverse market reaction” to a Leave vote in the short term. As a result she predicted a “significant depreciation of sterling” and “large contractions investment and consumption, implying lower output, lower growth, and higher domestic prices.” The economic arguments put forward by Ms. Lagarde were not backed by hard data, but she said such detailed forecasts will be published, most likely on 16 June, just one week before the referendum. That move is planned by the
Kettles, Toasters And Hair-Dryers Under Attack From EU…After The Referendum
The European Union (EU) plans to ban high-powered domestic appliances such as kettles, toasters and hair-dryers as part of ‘Ecodesign’ restrictions due to be enforced just months after the UK’s referendum on membership of the politico-trading bloc. According to European Commission guidelines, there is “world-wide demand for more efficient products to reduce energy and resource consumption.” As such it plans so-called Ecodesign legislation which, coupled with energy labelling, is intended as “an effective tool for improving the energy efficiency of products.” Some small household appliances are in the Commission’s crosshairs as Ecodesign is intended to help “eliminate the least performing products from the market, significantly contributing to the EU’s 2020 energy efficiency objective.” However, the energy-inefficient products under threat — including but not limited to kettles, toasters, hair-dryers, internet routers, hand-dryers, mobile phones, vending machines and patio jet-washers — have been granted a temporary reprieve by European bureaucrats despite plans for their demise having been certain for some time. According to The Telegraph, the cynical reason behind the delayed introduction of Ecodesign regulation is the Commission’s fear of undermining the UK referendum campaign. EU officials are under orders to flag up issues in their portfolios relating to the UK which could boost the Leave campaign were they to become public. Britain stands to be
Who Are You? Roger Daltrey Calls EU Leaders ‘Bunch Of F***ing Useless W***ers’
Veteran rocker Roger Daltrey has labeled membership of the European Union (EU) a “disaster”, saying he supports Brexit from the “undemocratic, highly dysfunctional” politico-trading bloc. Echoing Boris Johnson’s comments about the “systematic campaign of subterfuge” pro-EU campaigners have employed, 72-year-old Roger Daltrey criticised Brussels bureaucrats for the way they expanded its remit, saying “they kind of sneakily crept in on us.” In an interview with The Sun newspaper, The Who frontman claimed the European project was “set up by a bunch of crooks” adding: “But that’s how they did this, we all thought we were voting for a common trade area. We voted for an apple and they gave us a bunch of bloody grapes!” Mr. Daltrey said the EU is a “wonderful idea” but the only way to get a Europe people want is to “get rid of this bunch of fucking useless wankers that are running it.” In other comments Mr. Daltrey revealed both a belief in British sovereignty (“What it’s done to our Parliament is put them down to level of Parish Council.”) and in small government, lashing out at unnecessary interference in British lives generated “because there are so many politicians we get so much useless fucking law.” Mr. Daltrey went on to discuss immigration, “a
Boris Johnson Slams Pro-EU Colleagues In Brexit Campaign Speech
Boris Johnson used a keynote speech on Brexit, in which he tried to expose the “systematic campaign of subterfuge” with which European Union (EU) interference is hidden from the public and make the “liberal cosmopolitan” case for Leave, to launch a thinly-veiled attack on senior colleagues. Using the occasion of Europe Day — the officially EU-designated day to honour the former French Foreign Minister and leading architect of the European Project, Robert Schuman — Boris Johnson delivered what was trailed beforehand as his “biggest intervention” in the referendum campaign to date. Making what he described as the “liberal cosmopolitan” case for Brexit, the former London Mayor explained that the “anti-democratic absurdities of the EU” meant he had evolved into someone “deeply sceptical” about the EU. As such he said he was first “excited in 2013 by the Prime Minister’s Bloomberg speech” but afterwards “quietly despaired as no reform was forthcoming.” Quoting at length from David Cameron’s 2013 speech, which Mr. Johnson said “savaged the EU’s lack of competitiveness, its remoteness from the voters, its relentless movement in the wrong direction”, he pointed out that the Prime Minister’s much-vaunted renegotiation of the UK’s terms of EU membership amounted to nothing, and to claim otherwise is “an offence against the Trade Descriptions Act”.
Angela Merkel Tells EU Leaders To Protect External Borders Or ‘Relapse Into Nationalism’
Faced with the ongoing migrant crisis, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned European Union (EU) leaders to protect the politico-trading bloc’s external borders or risk a return to nationalism. Chancellor Merkel was addressing a joint press conference in Rome, alongside the Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, when she made the comments. She called on member states to defend the EU’s borders “from the Mediterranean to the North Pole” in solidarity with one another. In Mrs. Merkel’s opinion, abandoning cooperation between member states by withdrawing the mutual support which promotes the effective protection of Italian, Greek, Maltese and Cypriot borders would cause parts of the EU to relapse into nationalism, reports Die Welt. Vowing to do “everything to solve the problem of migration” she still warned against closing internal EU borders, as allowing countries to adopt that approach would threaten the freedom of movement so cherished by her. Mrs Merkel went on to say that ramped-up border controls, of the sort under consideration in Austria in response to the onging migrant crisis, raise questions as to whether the passport-free Schengen zone can survive. Mr. Renzi specifically criticised the preparation for possible controls on the main crossing between Italy and Austria. Those moves are being considered in light of the closure to