European Elections – Are they actually happening?
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Posts
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[quote quote=168211]Matt, It must have been hard for the parties to find candidates. It is like applying for a job where within weeks you know you will be handed a P45. No one else in the workplace expected you to be there and they all think your presence is completely pointed. I hope they are going to offer counselling to those unfortunate enough to be elected.[/quote]
I wonder whether MEPs who lose their seats in elections receive ‘resettlement’ payments (as UK MPs do) and, if so, what will happen to them when (if) the UK leaves the EU – will they get some kind of personal financial settlement from the EU and/ or from the UK? If so, that might be an incentive for people to volunteer as candidates.
[quote quote=168177]Careful GoM1…. your fulfilling your own ‘Leftie’ prophecy, if I don’t like what you say and you don’t agree with me, I will abuse you! when will you Lefite bedwetters ever learn?
sit back guy’s and lets watch for the steam….![/quote]
Yawn. “leftie” this, “leftie” that. Still no actual policies you disagree with from the EU, just that you disagree with “lefties”. No abuse and no bedwetting of any sort from me throughout this entire thread, I’ve just been defending myself and my viewpoint.
[quote quote=168181]Right I will start with my education, I enjoyed some subjects better than others. I’m not that well educated.
Piers Morgan, Tommy Robinson, Katie Hopkins. I have no interest.
As been racist, I have Polish family members, also I have worked with many foreign people no problem.
I voted not to join the common market as it was then known.
The EU has some good points, but I the think the bad points out way the good points.
And yes I voted for Brexit. That is my opinion, if you don’t agree with it I have no problem, everyone is entitled to there opinion.[/quote]Dagg, that’s a very sensible comment, we are entitled to our opinions indeed, and we’re not all going to agree. For the record, I didn’t say every leave voter was a racist etc. as I don’t believe that.
Can you tell me some of the bad things about the EU that you disagree with that outweigh the good so we can discuss?Free movement of people is overloading our infrastructure. Our NHS can’t cope, our surgeries can’t cope, a family member recently did teacher training in a classroom where only one child had English as a first language. Multiply that by 100’s if not 1000’s.
We train nurses, doctors & teachers many of whom relocate to Australia, New Zealand, USA & Canada. Who can blame them? How many people do you know who go into hospital & contract septicaemia nowadays? How long do you have to wait for an appointment at the surgery? Our children are leaving school not able to read & write.
Houses are being built on flood plains & green spaces. We are a small island & there is only so much we can take.
I do not have one racist bone in my body, I don’t care what colour or nationality a person is but enough is enough. We cannot cope with the increasingly larger population.
Knife crime & terrorism has gone up. Our laws are overruled by the EU. We cannot sent terrorists back where they came from because of THEIR human rights. What about our human rights?
Most of our main industries relocated to mainland Europe since we joined the EU. We are losing all our best brains to other countries.
Zinger, I can totally understand your points here, and thank you for engaging with me on this in a civilised way.
I understand that people want to hear if they are correct, but please hear me out here.
I think you may be blaming the wrong people. Free movement doesn’t only work one way after all, people come to the country and people leave the country. You’re right about the NHS not being able to cope, but that’s not because there are more foreigners in the country, it’s because it is hugely underfunded by the government.
The fact is, many of our trained professionals like doctors and nurses come across from the EU and across the globe. Not to steal the jobs (there are 40K nurses positions available at present) but because the positions are there for them. And yes, we train doctors and nurses who do end up going abroad, but why do we do that? In many cases, it’s because they aren’t very well paid by the NHS, isn’t it?
As far as the percentage of green space goes, 88%+ of the UK has not been built on. There is plenty of space.
Knife crime is a complicated social issue, that really doesn’t have much to do with the EU. Terrorism is a threat anywhere in the world, including people that were born and bred here, the UK’s very own IRA are terrorists, after all, no? If you’re referring to ‘suicide bombers’, then I would suggest that these people are here illegally and not from the EU in the main, leaving a trading block wouldn’t help solve that issue, in fact, it’s likely to make it much worse as we won’t have the ability to share information with EU police forces.
Industry relocation and losing our best brains to other countries, again, this is something that will only get worse if we left the EU, I’m sorry to say. Businesses need and want profit, you aren’t going to make as much profit if your materials/products are subject to an extra tax, are you? The deals we have in place currently are mutually beneficial, but some businesses are moving their infrastructure to somewhere cheaper to operate or just nearer their main customers. That’s been happening since the dawn of industry. Leaving the EU means renegotiation, and what have we got to negotiate with? We used to have natural resources, but the government has sold most of them off. People aren’t going to invest over here, because they may as well be throwing money down the drain. Even the top brains, inventors like Dyson and entrepreneurs like Branson have jumped ship because they know Brexit means economic suicide. Don’t you trust them over the likes of Farage?
Everything you have said is an issue, agreed. But don’t believe the lies that Farage, Johnson and others have peddled. The issues are mainly the fault of an inept, corrupt government, and not the EU. Those lies are designed to throw us off the scent and stop us from voting them out or worse.[quote quote=168277]Free movement of people is overloading our infrastructure.
I do not have one racist bone in my body, I don’t care what colour or nationality a person is but enough is enough. We cannot cope with the increasingly larger population.
[/quote]Zinger if overpopulation is what you are concerned with then Brexit is not the answer – well not a sufficient solution on its own – see more of a bandaid over a bullet wound.
EU Net Migration to the UK last year was only +74,000, which was a 6 year low versus non-EU migration which reached +248,000 which was at its highest levels since 2004.
It is interesting that net migrant influx coming from countries where there is no freedom of movement was over 3 x higher than countries where there is freedom of movement – suggesting that freedom of movement on its own is not exacerbating problems.
If you are that concerned about skilled people leaving the country then perhaps you would like to impose some kind of North Korea/Eastern European style prevention of people leaving the UK. Death to the defectors?
Other reasons for overpopulation of the country and strain on the health service and housing shortages is the undeniable ageing population – people are living far longer and putting strain on services and resources. Like how I’m not prejudicing foreigners for coming here and living in the country, I’m also not prejudicing the elderly for living longer. I am merely making a factual statement.
In 50 years’ time, there are likely to be an additional 8.6 million people aged 65 years and over – a population roughly the size of London.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/ageing/articles/livinglongerhowourpopulationischangingandwhyitmatters/2018-08-13#what-are-the-implications-of-an-ageing-populationFortunately there is a falling birthrate, so less sprogs to look after I suppose.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-46118103It would be absolutely absurd from a rational viewpoint to target one group of people who are increasing the population and not take the holistic view and look at other reasons why the country is suffering from overpopulation.
What proposals do people have for immigration control from NON-EU which is a far larger issue than Freedom of Movement?
What proposals do people have to deal with the need for increase in services and resources required for the ageing population? We can’t do Logan’s Run.
So if you are concerned about overpopulation then Brexit is a Dog and Pony show aimed at distracting the plebiscites of Britain in the short term from far graver concerns in the long term.
What the EU Has done has tangled the UK up in pointless Bureaucracy for going on 3 years now at the distraction of other stronger improvement goals for the UK.
For Brexit being right or wrong – instead of buggering about with deals etc… once Leave had gone through as the winning vote the UK should have immediately seceded itself from the EU and there’d now have been 3 years of progress one way or another rather than 3 years of horrible stagnation and bureaucracy. It’s a farce even Hard Brexiteers who say leave with no deal are being forced to create loads of laws and rules and documents just to leave on that score.
In a war situation or independence situation there is none of this legal paperwork nonsense. For anyone hoping to leave the EU within the next 5-10 years I feel sorry for you because it’s just not going to happen. Even if Brexit Party gets MEPs, they immediately become part of the EU system. Farage is the ultimate double agent of Europe – he’s been on their pay since for 20 years. He’s just playing a heel character. If there’s no idea or promise of Brexit then Farage has no purpose. He wants things to be drawn at as long as possible as any remainer does as it keeps his pay packet high and allows him constant access to the BBC so he can mouth off etc…
I’d like to just say, too, that I do not blame the people who voted for Brexit. I feel like those people (in the main, not everyone) have been hoodwinked by those ‘men of the people’ that I have mentioned. Anyone with a set of eyes can see that Farage and Johnson do not represent the everyman. They are posho bully-boys, but what they do have going for them is personality- they seem more relatable because they drink pints down the pub, or act like bumblers in the public eye. And then they shout the loudest- it’s really easy to point at all the crap and tell people how crap things are. What they don’t do, though, is provide any solutions. They don’t have the answer. They know Brexit isn’t the answer, but it’s a scapegoat. When it happens, and it goes pear-shaped, they will scarper, but unlike us, they have money to fall back on.
If you’re on the left (or even centre) you’re more likely to be even-minded, and if you dare have the courage to say something back, you get shouted down loudly (as this thread has shown). The alternative is to use the same tactics back, shout back, but if you do, you’ve undermined your own position, so you’re already on to a loser.
If Brexit doesn’t happen, we all need to come together to find solutions to the problems, rather than divide our country even further. Sounds corny but it’s true. If Brexit goes through, we’ll have to do the same thing, although we’ll be doing it in isolation. Our kids are going to have to clear up the mess.Also for anyone concerned about insufficient healthcare provision in Wales, we actually have a very easily solution for this. We have the power to raise income tax in Wales. 1p on the £1 on the basic rate would bring in an extra £200m a year, which you could arguably plough straight back into the Welsh NHS. Which would certainly go in a direction to help alleviate some of the healthcare services.
No party will raise taxes as its unpopular with voters – yet people swallow much larger council tax increases every year for less services.
10 years down the line or maybe less the NHS is going to reach crisis point (if it’s not already there yet) and people will have to decide between it becoming all or partially privatised having to pay for some of their care or get expensive medical insurance – like in the US – OR paying more tax in order to make it even remotely viable.
Surely a 1% or so increase across the board is something most people would find acceptable rather than the lottery of health insurance – there will be many cancer patients who find themselves excluded from coverage and won’t be able to afford the treatment to keep them alive and they will die – hey ho that might solve some of the overpopulation crisis! – which is where we start thinking like a Tory.
Good to see a debate taking place on this forum – thank you to wrexham.com. It is not happening elsewhere locally. The Lib Dems and the Greens have not put out any campaign material yet, which makes me wonder whether they have given up in Wales. The Conservatives only launched their campaign this weekend in a hastily arranged meeting in Bristol so they had better send out the flyers first class or they will arrive too late. Anyone noticed any campaigning on facebook that is actually about Britain’s relationship with the rest of Europe?
Are the public aware that the majority of people who man the polling stations are Wrexham Council employees who are given a days paid leave to do so?
They then get paid again for these duties so are effectively being paid twice for the day![quote quote=168304]Good to see a debate taking place on this forum – thank you to wrexham.com. It is not happening elsewhere locally. The Lib Dems and the Greens have not put out any campaign material yet, which makes me wonder whether they have given up in Wales. The Conservatives only launched their campaign this weekend in a hastily arranged meeting in Bristol so they had better send out the flyers first class or they will arrive too late. Anyone noticed any campaigning on facebook that is actually about Britain’s relationship with the rest of Europe?[/quote]
My opinion is,( no disrespect) the lib dems, greens and Plaid Cymru are a waste of a vote in the EU elections, Because I don’t think they would make any difference.
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