Jeremy Corbyn tells it how it is about the Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s lies concerning the North of Ireland

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/embed/p07x3h95/50684881″>http://https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/embed/p07x3h95/50684881

Labour says Treasury document undermines notion of no border in Irish Sea

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Heather Stewart Political editor
Fri 6 Dec 2019 05.57 EST

Jeremy Corbyn has unveiled a 15-page leaked Treasury document that he claimed revealed the “cold, hard facts” about the impact of Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal on Northern Ireland.

The presentation, entitled Northern Ireland Protocol: Unfettered Access to the UK Internal Market, warns that “the withdrawal agreement has the potential to separate Northern Ireland in practice from whole swathes of the UK’s internal market”.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Corbyn said: “This drives a coach and horses through Boris Johnson’s claim that there will be no border in the Irish Sea.”

The document suggests that for trade going from Northern Ireland to Great Britain, the government cannot rule out several different checks, including on regulations and animal health.

“At minimum, exit summary declarations will be required when goods are exported from Northern Ireland to Great Britain in order to meet EU obligations,” it says.

And for trade going the other way – from Great Britain to Northern Ireland – there could also be tariffs, the document suggests.

A section headed “economic impact on Northern Ireland” suggests high street goods are “likely to increase in price”, and many exporters could struggle with the costs of border checks, which will be “highly disruptive”.

The prime minister has repeatedly insisted the Brexit deal he struck in November will not require border checks. He even told one business in Northern Ireland that if they were asked to fill in a form, they should ring him, and “I will direct them to throw that form in the bin”.

The shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer, appearing alongside Corbyn, said: “This document is significant because it is a Treasury document; this is the advice being given to the prime minister about his own deal – it’s not coming from us, it’s coming from the government.”

The document appears to have been drawn up to set out the economic and political implications of the government’s promise to maintain “unfettered access” to the British market for business in Northern Ireland.

Conservatives dismiss Andrew Neil’s demands for Johnson interview
That promise is made in the Northern Ireland protocol that replaced the backstop in Johnson’s Brexit deal.

At the event in central London, Corbyn also appeared to acknowledge that with less than a week to go until polling day, he was a divisive figure.

VOTE CONSERVATIVE AND GET WHAT YOU WISH FOR – NEVER FORGET THE MINERS STRKE AND MARGARET THATCHER

Asked whether he believed another leader could be more successful among working-class voters, he said: “I think Marmite’s really good for you; some people like it, some people don’t.”

Starmer, who has made few frontline media appearances during the campaign, confirmed that he would support remain in a second Brexit referendum, which Corbyn has promised to hold within six months. “I voted for remain last time and I’d do it again,” he said.

At a Conservative campaign event near Maidstone in Kent, the prime minister was asked about the documents. He said he hadn’t read them but that Labour’s claims were “nonsense”.

“What I can tell you is that with the deal that we have, we can come out as one whole UK – England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, together. We can do free trade deals together, we can take back control of our borders and our own immigration system.

“If you look at Jeremy Corbyn’s proposed deal, under no circumstances are he or his colleagues going to take back control of immigration.”

He added: “They should believe exactly what I say, which is that there will be no checks on goods going between GB to NI, or NI to GB, because we are going to come out of the EU whole and entire.”

With many thanks to: The Guardian for the original story 

Corbyn gets my vote to be next leader of Labour

IF JEREMY Corbyn had been Labour leader and prime minister in 2002-2003 instead of Tony Blair millions of Iraqis now dead or displaced would be alive and living in their home country.

Saddam would still be alive, still a dictator, and there would be no Isis, no American/British nightly bombing in Iraq/Syria if he had been leader and prime minister instead of David Cameron in 2011. There would not have been half-million tons of bombs dropped on Libya. Gaddafi would still be ruling Libya and it would still be a prosperous country not as it is today, a governless wasteland. The Africans would be employed by Gaddifi in Libya, so no boat people drowning in the Mediterranean; no deaths trying to reach the country of their tormentor and wrecker of their homes. Similar could be said re Africans in Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan. Oh that there were multiple Jeremy Corbyns in the past century. Certainly a Corbyn clone would not have allowed the Palestinians to be punished (as the British did) for other peoples’ crimes. I’m not too sure how he would have handled the Second World War. It is possible that if there had been no British Empire (which a Jeremy Corbyn would never have allowed) Hitler might not have got the same idea. No wars, no deaths, no terror and definitelty no trident. No Hiroshima, no Nagasaki and definitely no drones. The billions saved would have paid for welfare reform. I’m sure there would be a downside to a Corbyn government but at least a lot more human beings would be alive and the world would not target or hate the British for what they did worldwide with their military killing machines.

With many thanks to: Peter McEvoy Banbridge, Co Down. In a letter to The Irish News. Friday August 21st 2015.

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Haass proposals doomed to failure

The reason the British handed over responsibilty to Haass for the contentious matters is that there is no answer to the questions which unionists will accept

THREE weeks to go to Richard Haass‘s self-imposed deadline of Christmas. Unless, of course, it’s a misunderstanding and he’s talking about a different Christmas. Do you give him any chance of coming up with agreed proposals on flags, parades and the past? No? Nor does anyone else.

Fly the Irish Tricolour from Belfast City Hall

There are several worrying consequences about the current process some of which have already been looked at here. First, even if Haass were miraculously to pull even one rabbit out of his hat, legislation would be required. To further complicate it, the matter’s he’s concerned with all involve UK legislation at least. In the case of deaths and injuries during the Troubles the Irish government would have to be involved too. With the unionist parties already jostling each other about European election candidates, will they support the necessary legislation during the election campaign? No. As the British coalition government sees the election scheduled for May 7 2015 rushing ever closer the DUP will become more important. The treacherous lily-livered Lib-Dems will finally start to break away and oppose some Conservative legislation, particularly on economic and EU matters. Together with the Labour party they might defeat the Conservatives on some issues.

This is where the eight DUP MPs come in. Last week they were able to help the Conservatives defeat a backwoods Tory rebellion on plans to recruit reservists to replace full-time soldiers in return for raising the cap on numbers of recruits from the north. Watch the DUP come to David Cameron‘s rescue in 2014-5 if he dangles a bauble in frount of them. Even if Haass came up with something the parties at Stormont agree on, don’t expect it to go through Westminster unscathed. However, don’t hold your breath. The reason the British handed over responsibility to Haass for the contentious matters is that there is no answer to the questions which unionists will accept. It’s perfectly obvious that on the flags issue unionist leaders are too weak, cowardly and hypocritical to support a rational solution to flags on public buildings. Their hypocrisy stares them in the face every day at Stormont. As for anything vertical in unionist districts, there is no solution. It would be a cat and mouse operation with the police running around after loyalist squads replacing flags the police removed. Unionists do not accept the concept of a neutral space. They want to own Norn Irn. After all, didn’t the British give it them? Now they’re asking them to share it with Fenians on an equal footing. Hah.

There are wider consequences. Past experience has shown that only Westminister-legislated change will bring unionists to heel whether it was the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement or the 1998 Public Processions Act. This time there’ll be no Westminster legislation because Cameron might need the DUP in the short term. It’s not the first time a British government has bolstered unionist intransigence and it won’t be the last. It dosn’t matter what colour the government is; it depends on the proconsul for the time being. Peter Hain had little to recommend him but at least his threats of joint rule with Dublin or carving Norn Irn into three sub-regions concentrated unionst minds. This present government’s detachment and the rudderless performance of the present proconsul is sending republicans a dangerous message that unionists have a veto on all change, that Stormont as presently constituted does not function as a vehicle for change. The establishment of Haass as arbiter is not only evidence of British (and Irish) disengagement but is proof that by default they encourage unionist intransigence.The plain fact is that if unionists don’t like what Haass proposes they will be allowed to reject it and Sinn Fein can do nothing about it. Haass is there only because of the failure of the two governments to confront unionist resistance to change and their continual refusal to live on equal terms with the rest of the people on this island by recognising the legitimacy of the symbols and Irish identity of those in the north. The appointment of Haass is further evidence of Sinn Fein’s inadequacy as negotiators and their failure to see the big picture. The DUP is running rings aroud them.

With many thanks to: Brian Feeney, The Irish News.

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• Unionists reject Haass’s proposal for a new Northern Ireland flag (newsletter.co.uk)
• Unionists regret US envoy Haass’ call for new flag for Northern Ireland (VIDEO) (irishcentral.com)
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Britain’s Conservative Party has set out plans to escalate the government’s assault on welfare

Channel Islands Alternative Media Page

UK government set on deeper cuts to welfare

By Julie Hyland

20 July 2013

Earlier this week, Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps said unemployed parents should only receive benefit for their first two children, meaning entitlement to child benefit and/or income support and other financial aid could potentially be removed for any children above that number.

Shapps claimed that the plan would place the unemployed on an “equal” footing with working parents. Unemployed parents who decide to have more than two children should “know that welfare is not going to fund that choice,” he said.

He suggested further restricting entitlement to housing benefit by barring all unemployed under-25-year-olds from access to the rent subsidy. Again, Shapps claimed that welfare benefit provided an “incentive” for unemployment. The proposal would affect some 380,000 jobless under-25-year-olds, forcing them to live with parents/friends or face homelessness.

Shapps’s comments came as the government’s cap on the amount of welfare benefits claimed by any household was rolled out across the country.

The scheme, first piloted in four London boroughs—Haringey, Enfield, Croydon and Bromley—means that no jobless household can receive more than £26,000 a year in benefit and other entitlements. It is part of a further £11.5 billion of cuts unveiled by the government in June. This comes on top of the £155 billion austerity measures already passed by the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition since its election in 2010. The government’s Spending Round in June for the first time covered a single financial year—2015/2016. It therefore tied any future government (the general election is due in 2015) to the reduction.

Shapps’s statements were once again justified on the grounds that cutting welfare is motivated by “fairness” to taxpayers, as it ensures that no jobless household will receive more than the national average wage, regardless of its family size or circumstances.

The pilot cap has already caused great hardship. Haringey Council reported that 740 families lost income during the trial, with just 34 people finding employment. The government’s own figures calculated that up to 56,000 families will be hit, losing an average of £93 a week, while in London, some 7,000 households will lose more than £100.

London and the south are especially affected by the cap due to high housing and living costs. Families are being forced out of the capital and into accommodation in northern England where rents are cheaper.

Amid reports that Work and Pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith has requested additional time to legislate for further changes to welfare for next year’s parliamentary session, the government is said to be intending to reduce the benefit cap still further. Conservative MPs are reportedly demanding it should be cut to £20,000. In addition, the Forty Group of Conservative MPs—so-called because they represent constituencies with the slimmest majorities—is demanding benefits be withdrawn from teenage mothers and a host of other measures.

Teenage single mothers should no longer be automatically entitled to help with their housing costs, or be considered a priority for social housing, they argue. They propose deducting fines for school truancy from the child benefit paid to mothers, while restricting access to “repeat” abortions.

Those most affected by the cap—and the additional measures now being proposed—are children. According to the Children’s Society, children are seven times more likely than adults to face hardship as a result of the measures. Matthew Reed said 140,000 children, compared with 60,000 adults, “will pay the price as parents have less to spend on food, clothing and rent.”

The amount of money supposedly “saved” by such measures is paltry. Teenage single mothers account for just 2 percent of all single parents. Similarly, the benefit cap is estimated to reduce social security spending by just £110 million this year and £185 million in 2014, because the vast majority of people already receive far below the cap. Only in May, Duncan Smith was publicly reprimanded by the UK Statistic Authority for publishing misleading figures as the supposed success of the pilot benefit cap. In an open letter on behalf of the authority, Andrew Dilnot said Duncan Smith’s claims on the numbers finding work was “unsupported by…official statistics.”

The Tories’ moves are clearly punitive. They are aimed at stigmatising and punishing the unemployed, while legitimising a broader offensive against social rights—from welfare to education and health care.

Rolled out under the heading “Rewarding Work”, Duncan Smith once again sought to set “working” families, “paying their taxes”, against the jobless, arguing, “The days of blank cheque benefits and people milking the system are over.”

The measures have the wholehearted support of the media, which routinely demonises the unemployed and promotes propaganda blaming welfare costs for the squeeze on spending, enabling the Conservatives to claim that their plans are in response to “public” pressure.

Not a word is said about the criminal activities of the major banks and financial institutions, which are responsible for the biggest economic crisis in 70 years. Billions have been and continue to be paid out to the banks and super-rich, while the majority of the population are put on rations.

Unemployment is nearly 3 million, including more than 1 million out of work and not claiming benefits. Employment is scarce, with much of that available temporary and low-paid. That is why the majority of those on benefits are the “working poor”, those whose pay is so low they need additional state subsidies to survive. Even this bare minimum—which acts as a subsidy to employers—is now being scrapped as the ruling elite seek to overturn all the social gains made by the working class.

A central role is played by the Labour Party, which is committed to maintaining the coalition’s benefit cuts and introducing more of its own. It has jettisoned its verbal opposition to the benefit cap, arguing that it should be determined three years in advance and have a regional component.

This week, Labour attacked Conservative plans from the right, arguing that they were too soft on welfare. Labour’s Liam Byrne denounced the cap for not being hard enough because it would not affect those with very large families and would do nothing to prevent those “living a life on welfare.”

A single-tier “universal credit” comes into effect later this year, which will streamline existing benefits into one, with the obvious aim of further slashing welfare payments. Labour claims that design flaws will mean that single jobless households with seven or more children will “slip through the cap.”

Meanwhile, the Trussell Trust reported that the numbers of people being referred for food parcels increased in the three months since the government’s welfare measures began by 200 percent. The voluntary food aid network reported that more than half of the 150,000 people referred for emergency food aid between April and June were affected by benefit cuts and delays, and financial problems caused by changes to housing.

“The reality is that there is a clear link between benefit delays or changes and people turning to food banks, and that the situation has got worse in the last three months,” said Executive Chairman Chris Mould.

Related articles

• We’ll Cut The Benefit Cap By £6,000, Says Osborne (welfarenewsservice.com)
• The things Iain Duncan Smith believes (guardian.co.uk)
• UK government set on deeper cuts to welfare (rinf.com)
• Daily Mail corrects misleading benefit statistics as DWP prepares for MPs’ grilling (newstatesman.com)
• Iain Duncan Smith: Why he should look at himself before complaining about people living off the state (davidicke.com)
• No benefit for your third child if you’re on the dole: Tories unveil controversial welfare plan (thisismoney.co.uk)

Protest at Labour Party Centenary Event !

• • 27 May

• Clonmel Town Hall

• The Labour Party intend to hold a celebration to commemorate 100 years since the foundation of their party in Clonmel on the weekend of May 26 and 27. The Labour Party was founded by James Connolly and Jim Larkin, men committed to the ordinary people of Ireland. It was their intention that the Labour Party would protect the interests of the workers against capitalism.Today however the Labour Party is implicit in some of the harshest austerity measures Ireland has ever seen, working alongside Fine Gaelin a right wing government and destroying the lives of those very people who Connolly sought to protect. The current Labour Party bears no resemblance to the party founded 100 years ago.This is not strictly an éirígí event, other Socialistgroups will be there also . We would encourage all those who are opposed to this government and their austerity measures to come along to this protest and let their voices be heard. Would James Connolly and Jim Larkin have supported Austerity ? We know the answer ! Lets let the Labour party know .There will be a plaque unveiling on the 27th of May, in Clonmel Town Hall by Eamon Gilmore, thats when the protest will take place, not sure of the time yet but will let you know in advance .

 

POSTED ON BEHALF OF : Friend’s Event · By eirigi.midlands

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PETER HAIN QUITS HIS POST IN SHADOW CABINET !

Tuesday, 15 May 2012

Former Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain has quit front-bench politics.

The veteran Labour MP for Neath said he had stepped down as shadow Welsh Secretary to focus on making plans for a huge dam over the River Severn a reality. The project would create thousands of jobs around Port Talbot, Mr Hain said.

Labour leader Ed Miliband paid tribute to Mr Hain’s work in Northern Ireland, where he was Secretary of State between 2005 and 2007.

Mr Miliband said: “Peter Hain has made an enormous contribution from the front bench over the past 16 years.

“In Government, his ministerial career was extraordinarily diverse, including time in the Foreign Office, the Northern Ireland Office — where he played a crucial role in the Northern Ireland peace process — and at Work and Pensions.”

In a letter to Mr Miliband, Mr Hain said he intended to stay on as an MP and would fight Neath at the next General Election.

WITH MANY THANKS TO : BELFASTTELEGRAPH

Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/politics/peter-hain-quits-his-post-in-shadow-cabinet-16158816.html#ixzz1uvgAVDnO

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Christy Moore Tribute Artist , Liam Byrne LIVE + FREE entry

• • Thursday, 15 March 2012
  • 20:00 until 23:00

• The world’s number one Christy Moore Tribute artist , Liam Byrne, returns to Scotland by popular demand with his Christy Tribute show ‘Ordinary Man‘. Start your St Patrick‘s weekend in style!! All of Christy’s hits will be sung by this talented singer and musician who sings, plays, acts and even sweats like the real Christy. And best of all, the gig is FREE. Liam Byrne regularly wows venues near and far with this awesome act. So, if you want to go to Stuttgart with Joxer, have the DT’s, join La Quinta Brigada, meet an Ordinary Man, take a Voyage, be Back Home in Derry or hear The Fairytale of New York, Malones Edinburgh on Thursday 15th March is the place to be..start your St Patrick’s weekend in style!! And remember, don’t forget your shovel if you want to go to work…..

Malones Irish Pub, Edinburgh

Edinburgh, United Kingdom

View map · Get directions

POSTED ON BEHALF OF : Public Event for Scots, Irish and Welsh Folk music gigs in Edinburgh..and beyond. · By Sarsfield Proms

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Israeli propaganda officer boasted of taking UK Labour Students partying in Tel Aviv, deletes Tweet

Submitted by Asa Winstanley on Wed, 01/18/2012 – 15:50

Update, 16:30 GMT: Just after this story was published, fellow EI blogger Jala Abukhater pointed out to me that Vinson appears to have de-activated his entire Twitter account.

Since the story of the Labour party students officers who took an all-expenses-paid trip to Israel and its illegal West Bank settlements broke last week, they have been coming under increasing pressure from student activists. It has caused a strong negative reaction in the wider student body in the UK, which is generally sympathetic to the Palestinians, and critical toward Israeli war crimes and apartheid.

I understand that party members in one local Labour Students group are planning a no-confidence vote in an officer who took the free propaganda tour.

But strong evidence has now emerged the delegation spent a night clubbing in Tel Aviv with a spokesperson for the Israeli occupation army in the West Bank.

Captain Barak Raz, an Israeli spokesperson who energetically posts army propaganda on Twitter and Facebook, wrote that “partying is always fun too” and he had been “Honored 2b taking out young political leadership [sic.]” concluding with the hashtag #telaviv. The tweet was a reply directed at delegation member Joe Vinson, who had written of being “very glad” to meet Captain Raz.

Cocktails in Tel Aviv

In one of her now deleted tweets another Labour Students delegation member from around the same time, Ruth Brewer, mentioned “enjoying cocktails in Tel Aviv” (screenshot in previous article) although none of the students seems to have written about doing so with the Captain. She also boasted of a “short cut through the West Bank”. Palestinians are routinely forced to queue for hours on end at Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank.

I emailed Joe Vinson on Friday with a link to the tweet, and asked if what the Captain had written was true. Sometime between then and Monday afternoon, the tweet was deleted. But by then I had already taken the screenshot above.

Calls and voice mail to Vinson’s office enquiring if he had asked Captain Raz to delete the tweet have not been returned. Vinson previously described Captain Raz’s presentation to them as “unbiased”, despite the fact that he’s openly employed to do PR for the Israeli army.

With Many Thanks to : Asa Winstanley’s blog