Nigel Farage to MEPs: "most of you have never done a proper job"
It is not inconceivable that MPs could ignore the wishes expressed in the referendum and decide to keep Britain in the EU. After all, at some point the means of leaving has to be put to a vote of Parliament. If Brexit does not get through, it doesnt happen. Which bit of parliamentary sovereignty do people not understand?
But what is constitutionally possible is politically improbable. More likely, because this could secure a majority in Parliament and stop the UK cracking up, is that we leave the political bits of Europe and stay in the single market, perhaps by joining the EEA.
This might entail a deal on immigration, possibly a return to the original Common Market idea of free movement of labour, not of people. But our erstwhile EU partners would need to agree to change the rules; and it will mean seriously disappointing those who voted Leave thinking they would stop immigration outright. They will be angry. And where will they turn? We havent heard the last of Nigel Farage.
Nigel Farage first speech post-Brexit vote: You"re not laughing now
Nigel Farage has backed Donald Trump for US president and said he would never supportHillary Clinton, just days after the Republican congratulated the UKs decision to secede from the European Union.
Speaking to CNN from Brussels, UKIP leader Mr Farage praised Mr Trump but said he had far bigger problems than that of his counterpart.
Donald Trump dares to talk about things that other people want to brush under the carpet, he said.
My problems in politics are far greater than Donald Trumps. We literally have lost our sovereignty, we have lost our borders, lost our ability to regulate, he added.
The problem youve got in the US is illegal immigration. Our problem is legal immigration to half a billion people, he said, referring to the free movement between EU countries.
Mr Trump heard about the Brexit result on a visit to his golf course in Scotland, and claimed the UK had "taken back its country", echoing the words of Mr Farage.
Mr Farage, who was crowing over his EU victory last week, said that Mr Trump would be better for the UK than president Barack Obama, and thathe would not vote for democrat HillaryClinton.
There is nothing on Earth that could persuade me ever to vote for Hillary Clinton, he said.
She represents the political elite, its almost as if she feels she has the divine right to have that job.
While Mr Obama has said the UK would move to the back of the queue in terms of trade deals if it left the EU, Mr Trump has insisted the UK would remain at the front of the line.
Mr Farage"s comments comethe same day that he was widely mocked in the European parliament.MEPs booed and shouted over him as he tried to talk about EU-UK trade deals.
Lets stop threatening, lets stop being silly. You need us far more than we need you, he told CNN.
Since the referendum result on Friday, Mr Farage has admitted that he feels betrayed by members of the Tory government who appear to be backtracking on whether or not the UK can clamp down on immigration and still keep access to the single market.
Asked why he did not challenge his fellow Brexit campaigners" claims that leaving the EU would free up 350 million per week for the NHS, a claim that has since been widely discredited, he laughed:Im just too soft, too kind and too easy."
The UKIP leader was then asked how much damage to the EU and the economy he was willing to put at stake in order to leave the union.
Freedom, independence and democracy and not being slaves to anyone else - you cant put a price on that, he replied.
Nigel Farage Reacts To Global Turmoil After British Vote To Leave European Union - Cavuto
Amid the shocked dismay of Brexit on Friday morning, there was some small, vindictive consolation to be had from the discomfort of Boris Johnson as he left his handsome home in EU-loving Islington to cat-calls from inflamed north London europhiles. They werent alone in their displeasure at the result. Soon, a petition calling for Londependence had gathered tens of thousands of names and Sadiq Khan, Johnsons successor as London mayor, was being urged to declare the capital a separate city-state that would defiantly remain in the EU.
Well, he did have a mandate of a kind: almost 60 per centof Londoners thought the UK would be Stronger In. It was the largest Remain margin in England even larger than the hefty one of 14 per centby which Khan defeated Tory eurosceptic Zac Goldsmith to become mayor in May and not much smaller than Scotlands. Khans response was to stress the importance of retaining access to the single market and to describe as crucial London having an input into the renegotiation of the UKs relationship with the EU, alongside Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Its possible to take a dim view of all this. Why should London have a special say in the terms on which the UK withdraws from the EU when it ended up on the wrong side of the peoples will? Calling for London to formally uncouple from the rest of the UK, even as a joke to cheer gloomy Inners up, might be seen as vindicating small-town Outer resentment of the metropolis and its smug elites. In any case, it isnt going to happen. No, really. There will be no sovereign Greater London nation with its own passport, flag and wraparound border with Home Counties England any time soon.
Imagine the practicalities. Currency wouldnt be a problem, as the newborn city-state would convert to the euro in a trice, but there would be immediate secessionist agitation in the five London boroughs of 32 that wanted Out: Cheam would assert its historic links with Surrey; stallholders in Romford market would raise the flag of Essex County Council. Then there is the Queen to think about. Plainly, Buckingham Palace could no longer be the HQ of a foreign head of state, but given the monarchs age would it be fair to turf her out?
Step away from the fun-filled fantasy though, and see that Brexit has underlined just how dependent the UK is on Londons economic power and the case for that power to be protected and even enhanced. Greater London contains 13 per centof the UKs population, yet generates 23 per centof its economic output. Much of the tax raised in London is spent on the rest of the country 20 per centby some calculations largely because it contains more business and higher earners. The capital has long subsidised the rest the UK, just as the EU has funded attempts to regenerate its poorer regions.
Like it or not, foreign capital and foreign labour have been integral to the burgeoning of the world city from which even the most europhobic corners of the island nation benefit in terms of public spending. If Leaver mentality outside the capital was partly about resentment of rich London, with its bankers and big businesses handy targets for Nigel Farage and fuelled by a fear of an alien internationalism London might symbolise, then it may prove to have been sadly self-defeating.
Ensuring that London maintains the economic resilience it has shown since the mid-Nineties must now be a priority for national government,(once it decides to reappear). Pessimists predict a loss of jobs, disinvestment and a decrease in cultural energy. Some have mooted a special post-Brexit deal for the capital that might suit the interests of EU member states too Londons economy is, after all, larger than that of Denmark, not to mention larger than that of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland combined though what that might be and how that could happen remain obscure.
There is, though, no real barrier to greater devolution of powers to London other than the political will of central government. Allowing more decisions about how taxes raised in the capital are spent in the capital, both at mayoral and borough level, would strengthen the city in terms of managing its own growth, addressing its (often forgotten) poverty and enhancing the skills of its workforce.
Handing down control over the spending of property taxes, as set out in an influential 2013 report by the London Finance Commission set up by Mayor Johnson, would be a logical place to start. Mayor Khans manifesto pledged to campaign for strategic powers over further education and health service co-ordination, so that these can be better tailored to Londons needs. Since Brexit, he has underlined the value of London securing greater command of its own destiny.
This isnt just a London thing, and neither should it be. Plans are already in place for other English cities and city regions to enjoy more autonomy under the auspices of directly elected metro mayors, notably for Greater Manchester and Liverpool and its environs. One of the lessons of Brexit for the UK is that many people have felt that decisions about their futures have been taken at too great a distance from them and with too little regard for what they want and how they feel.
That lesson holds for London too 40 per centis a large minority. Boris Johnson was an advocate of devolution to London when he was its mayor and secured some, thanks to the more progressive side of Tory localism. If he becomes prime minister, it would be good for London and for the country as a whole if he remembered that.
