Can Brexit be stopped

 Progressive European Party

If you have a local group and would like a speaker from pEp please contact us on our website. I was asked to speak at the Suffolk EU alliance meeting this morning but this was not confirmed so I will not now be there. This is the speech that I would have been giving

Can Brexit be stopped Fellow Citizens, firstly thank you for inviting me, you probably would have not heard of my party before now, seeing as we are new and in fact this is our first official engagement so please excuse the nerves. Just to give you some background, the word was on the ether, that a new and eurocentric party was needed in the face of Brexit and the political incompetence of our existing parties. Organising in secret with an invitation only group on Facebook we have based ourselves on the previous progressive party that had some success in local government in the 1990’s. Not a just a mirror image of UKIP, not a party with just one aim, we would sweep aside the existing system and have something new and functional in its place that works for everyone. 
Bringing myself to today's problem, can Brexit be stopped. I don’t necessarily think it should be. It goes without saying that we must never stop putting on the pressure, campaigning, demonstrating and putting our arguments forward. Using the one weapon that they can never use, we can tell the truth. But I think Brexit will still happen. A second referendum is much talked about, I think it is the worse of bad ideas. Because it would not solve the real problem that we have. Supposing we did have another referendum and the leave won once again by a small margin, it would be game over, no turning back, we can put away our EU flags and just go home. And if the opposite happened and remain were the winners the leave campaigners would be up in arms, the country would be even more divided than it is now. And that is our real problem, not Brexit itself but the divide in our society that has us all at each other's throats over this issue. 
This is all our fault, when were we in parliament square waving our EU flags in celebration of our European citizenship before the referendum. Never is the answer. Whereas the EU sceptics have been moaning away in the background for years with very little rebuttal from the rest of us. The EU has become the whipping boy for what is wrong with our society whereas the ones really responsible are getting away with it scot-free. Isn't it suspicious that at the same time as the EU is introducing the Corporate Tax Reform Package that Brexit should happen. The Conservatives used the financial crash as an excuse to bring in austerity measures because public debt was proclaimed as being at the heart of our problems. They were wrong, it is private debt that is the problem and austerity has made that worse, it has increased the use of payday loans and credit cards and rent and mortgage arrears. In addition to austerity they have manipulated the benefits system to force the unemployed and disabled into low wage jobs and cynically pronounce high employment as a great achievement. Ignoring the food banks and the homeless sleeping in doorways which is a direct result of their policies. Who benefits from a high employment low wage society you should ask yourself, the same people who fund their party and UKIP with millions of pounds every year that's who. There is a word for this, it's called “slavery”. In face of such political measures and, because of globalisation the loss of jobs that gave workers a sense of worth, has made the perfect storm when looking for who to blame. Blame the outsiders, blame the EU. Brexit is not the problem, it is the symptom. But it could also be the strong medicine that is needed to cure the sickness that we as a nation are suffering from. 
The real problem is the divide in our society and not one just based on wealth either. Could you imaging that any of the leave voters feel European, they don’t, what they do feel, whether they understand it or not, is that their national identity is being threatened. No one gave a thought to the psychological impact of us joining. In the past we were in a far larger alliance of nations with the British Empire. With our Empire all the other members were subservient to us. This has a long lasting effect on the national psyche. With our EU membership we are being imposed upon by eurocrats who make up little rules that affect our lives over which we have no say in and all those foreigners are coming over here and taking our jobs. Not factual reality but it is how it is perceived by many of our fellow citizens. Long before the EU became the receiver of our projected national shadow I have had conversations where I was told that when foreigners come here they get a council house and benefits prioritising them over the locals. No politicians have ever tried to set the record straight on this urban myth. I suspect because it is so absurd they would not take it seriously. But you need to take it seriously because people actually believe it. And all these people have a vote. This negativity with regards to immigrants was easily transferred to the anti EU vote especially amongst the older voters. We have done little or nothing to give our population any pride in being a part of such a great diverse and successful alliance of nations. Why don’t we have the euro, why don’t our school children learn to sing the EU anthem, why is the EU money that is spent on projects locally not publicized. I tell you, you have to be a real Sherlock Holmes to find that information out. We have never until now tried to celebrate our European identity. Even the farmers, who are the ones who probably get the most benefit from EU subsidies, we are told, mostly voted to leave. So what can we do now to heal the divide, how do we change the EU from being a perceived threat into being seen as the benefactor that it really is. A nation comes together in times of national crisis, when we all have one shared problem one shared advisory. We need to switch the rhetoric so it is Brexit that takes the blame for all the problems that are almost certainly going to emerge from our leaving the EU. When we start to feel the pain we should engage with the other half of our divided nation and try and take them with us advocating the EU as a solution to the many problems that Brexit will surely bring. Let's turn Brexit against the Brexiteer’s and use it as a weapon to change us into not just a EU member state but into true Europeans. Let us show that a continued or renewed membership is the only thing standing in the way of the super rich becoming super super rich while the rest of us have to work long hours for low wages long after retirement age just to survive. Our EU membership is the only thing that would stop the partial privatisation of the health service and police force. Would stop Labour from plunging the country into even greater debt to finance their antiquated policies of the 1940’s. Let us grab victory from the jaws of defeat and use Brexit as a catalyst for change Let us help everyone in our society feel European

Philip Notley

Progressive European Party Manifesto 2017

 Progressive European Party

Foreword by Philip Notley

People with money have power.

They use their influence to manipulate the media and to shape the political landscape to their own ends. This counter-democratic activity is our enemy. It has tricked voters into believing that the EU is the source of all their problems.

In fact, the real culprits are those who operate behind the scenes whose money and power the EU is beginning to curb.

In our manifesto, the Progressive European Party proposes a system of direct democracy which will give us all an equal say in the decisions that affect our lives.

No longer will big businesses manipulate the media, control public opinion and influence government policy. You, the people, will decide the issues on the basis of factual arguments and informed comment.

We shall also build social and private housing to end the disgraceful blight of homelessness. We intend to introduce a citizen's income that will put an end to poverty and encourage altruism by recognising and rewarding the contributions that we all make to our communities.

The universal citizen's income will make it possible to levy a fairer, flat-rate of taxation. Both the rich and the less well off will pay the same percentage of their earnings back into society.

Businesses, too, will pay the same flat-rate on their profits. The many other taxes that are now paid by businesses, even when they are making a loss, will be abolished. A tax based solely on profits, coupled with a guaranteed income for all, will both encourage startups and, at last, breathe new life into our high streets.

It is easy for a party that does not yet have political power to make exaggerated claims about what they expect to achieve when in government. Over the years, successive governing parties have failed to fulfil the promises of their pre-election manifestos.

I am confident that we shall be able to avoid these pitfalls. All of our policies are logical, rational and, for the most part, achievable in the short term.

It would be an understatement to say that, at present, the future of our country is looking decidedly gloomy. The combined effects of bad policies, bad leadership and the influence of vested interests on successive governments have taken their toll.

What, then, are the alternatives?

Some of the other parties claim that they are progressive. In reality, however, they offer only a recycling of old ideas: nationalisation of industries, a penny on income tax to fund the NHS and more borrowing to finance outdated policies.

The Progressive movement is very different. We are not controlled by big businesses or by the trades unions. We are not encumbered by rigid and outmoded ideologies.

I would say that pragmatism is our only ideology.

Help us, therefore, to move the United Kingdom forward into the twenty-first century with a political system that is fit for the twenty-first century.

Help us to build a Britain and a Europe of which we can all be proud citizens.

Philip Notley

It looks like the purpose of the Brexit campaign was to turn the UK into a European North Korea complete with the nuclear weapons

 Progressive European Party

This is very easily achievable if we followed Nigel Farage's advice and just leave the EU today. Just walk away and forget about a deal and don’t pay any compensation. That would not only ruin our trade with the EU it would also turn us into a pariah that no one else would want to trade with either. We would still have to trade with the outside world to avoid starving, we can’t grow all our own food. It is unlikely though to be any trade that would be to our advantage, we would have to sell what we have at less than its value in order to get what we need to survive.

A slightly watered down version of this is being implemented by the Conservative Government. Since the start of their austerity program, they have been degrading public services and by the manipulation of the benefits system forcing people into low wage jobs. They are then cynical enough to present low unemployment as a great achievement. Ignoring the homeless sleeping in doorways.

“There are 120,540 youngsters living in temporary accommodation – up 73% over the past six years, official figures show.” a Daily Mirror article tells me.

Who benefits from this mean and callous, deliberate restructuring of society you may ask yourself. There is only one group who can benefit from high employment and low wages, the company owners and investors.

If you are old enough to remember British rail you will know how bad it had become after years of Government under investment. The way of "saving" it then was to bring in private companies, to sell it off, to sell what we as taxpayers owned so rich investors could become even richer. Is there not a parity here with what is happening to the Health Service, the Police force and Fire Service etc. 14 of our prisons are contractually managed by private companies. Anything could potentially be sold off. After first running it down because we can’t “afford” to pay for it anymore out of Taxation. Which at the same time allows investors to pick it up at bargain basement prices. This at the same time coupled with a low wage society making the investment even more attractive.

Am I painting a picture for you here? Upscale the British rail scenario to the whole of the UK and to Brexit. The underinvesting in public services and the weakening of our position on the world stage that Brexit is bringing us could potentially put everything up for grabs. The super rich will become super super rich and the rest of us will work long hours at slave wages well beyond retirement age just to survive.

I think it matters little now if you voted leave or remain, we are all going to be in the same boat when it comes to #Brexit, stop this power grab by the far right. Take back real control by having real a democracy, put the Progressive party in power and your and everyone's voice will be heard guaranteed

Philip Notley

party leader

The Progressive party’s housing policy

 Progressive European Party

The Progressive party’s housing policy

It has been reported that some conservative MP’s don’t like new social housing to be built because they think it will create more Labour voters. That is an inhuman point of view, or though it does have some logic to it if you care more about who is in power than the welfare of the citizens they are supposed to be representing. The New Labour governments of Blair and Brown built fewer council houses than the Thatcher Government and this was in a boom time when we could easily have afforded it. What excuses do they have? In today's Britain homeless people are sleeping in doorways, families with children are stuck in bed and breakfast hotels. Yet we are constantly reminded that we can achieve anything because we are the world's fifth-largest economy. If this situation is not ringing the alarm bells and showing that our political system is broken and not fit for purpose it is hard to imagine what else could.   

        
The Progressive Party has a solution to the housing crisis, a solution that would house everyone in need from singles to large families in high quality social housing. And at the same time provide homes for all the first time buyers waiting to get on the housing ladder. This would be done without any cost to the taxpayer. How can we house everyone without it costing any money? When you drop the old ways and are no longer encumbered by party politics and pressure groups these things become possible.

(The full details of pEp housing policy is in section 6 of our manifesto).

There is also the not so small point that the government is at present spending £25 billion a year on housing benefits. To put this into context our net contribution to the European Union is only £8.6 billion a year. The Progressive party by providing housing for everyone would in the end also save the £25 billion that housing subsidies currently cost and that money can, in turn, be used in a more productive way. The savings are even greater than what is saved by ending housing benefits when you consider that the civil service machine administering housing benefit would also no longer be needed. Forget the politics of Left and Right become pragmatic, become Progressive

Join our party today and become a part of the politics of tomorrow

Join the Progressive European Party

  Progressive European Party

Our party was formed in January 2017 as a reaction to the lack of any clear leadership in British politics and to oppose

the catastrophic decision to leave the European Union.

We will be making our official launch on the 1st September 2017. If you join now and you can have lifetime membership for just £20. Your £20 will give you lifetime membership of the Progressive European Party, and a regular members newsletter.

Our manifesto proposes a major reconstruction of the tax and benefit system. The provision of social housing for all citizens who require it without any cost to the taxpayer and an end to poverty. Our policies will bring about social change without social upheaval and create a business friendly environment. Become a part of real progressive politics and join the only political party that will keep the United Kingdom in the European Union

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