Brexit

Photek wrote:Personally this just makes me warm to our Taoiseach even more.

The Independant wrote:Boris Johnson and Michael Gove should be in prison for Brexit "lies", Apprentice presenter Lord Alan Sugar has said.

Lord Sugar, a former Labour peer who now sits with no party, said the pair should "100 per cent absolutely be thrown in jail for claiming the NHS would be £350 million richer if Britain left the EU.

"I mean, absolutely. Or at least they should have a criminal record," he told BBC Radio 5 Live's Emma Barnett show when asked whether the Tory ministers should be imprisoned

"I promise you in five years time - three or four years time - people will be kicking themselves for leaving the European Union. "

Lord Sugar also said Theresa May would be "fired" on his programme and that he would send Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on "a nice little trip" to Sibera - a reference to the location of Soviet work camps.

Mr Johnson and Mr Gove were both associated with the Vote Leave campaign - whose campaign literature falsely suggested the NHS would be £350 million a week better off after Britain left the EU. The campaign was cautioned by the head of the UK Statistics Authority over the false figures, but continued to use them.

"Absolutely, 100 per cent absolutely. Absolutely. Or at least they should have a criminal record, because the damage that is going to be caused will dawn upon people in two to three years time when they turn to themselves and say 'I don't like this being out of the EU business, I don't know why I voted out of it'," he told the programme.

"If you look at the statistics for who voted for leaving or remaining, it wasn't exactly a landslide.
"How many of the people who voted believed that lie about the £350 million ... that would be redeployed in the NHS. If you took the number that voted solely for that reason, we would not be leaving the EU.

"In three to four years' time, people will be kicking themselves for leaving the EU. Their lifestyle will change, their total lie will change, and that has been caused by a lie!"

Lord Sugar left Labour in 2015, after the party shifted slightly to the left of centre under Ed Miliband.

Quarter-mile queue as 'one-in-50 of town's population' stand in line for 'grand opening' of new Poundworld store

Locals in the seaside town of Rhyl in north east Wales, started queuing up at around 7am - three hours before the bargain shop opened its doors

Queues of shoppers stretched for around a quarter-of-a-mile as they stood in line for the grand opening of a new Poundworld store.

Locals in the seaside town of Rhyl, who predominantly voted Leave in last year's EU referendum, started queuing up at around 7am before the bargain shop opened its doors for the first time at 10am Thursday.

More than 500 people queued up for the grand opening, that's one-in-50 of the entire population of Rhyl, which is home to around 25,000 people.

The patience of the first 100 people through the door was rewarded with a free goody bag - with about £5-worth of items, including a note book, chocolates, cleaning items and colouring pencils.

Local Steve Massey wrote on social media: "Such a big crowd... for a poundshop!!"

Dave Wilson wrote: "Biggest queue ever in Rhyl... apart from the dole!"

"Poundworld is the equivalent of Harrods in Rhyl" said Anita Beer.

"2 Pot Noodles for a pound. I don't know how they do it" wrote Barry Bunson.

Brexit could leave Britain with a bare larder, farmers warn
NFU says UK produces only 60% of its own food and must increase production to avoid food insecurity after leaving EU

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Britain must increase home-grown food production and build stronger supply chains to face Brexit uncertainties, the National Farmers Union has said.

In an annual calculation to draw attention to the UK’s decline in food self-sufficiency, the NFU said the national larder would be bare this Sunday if Britain opted for a cliff-edge departure from Europe and imports became unavailable.

Such is the reliance on imported food that Britain does not even produce enough of staples including potatoes, beef, milk and cheese to feed the nation for an entire year,it found.

“Food self-sufficiency statistics have always been an important measure of the nation’s ability to feed itself. But since the UK voted to leave the EU, and with trade negotiations starting, the supply of British food is now seen in a very different light. Government recognition of farming’s enormous contribution to this country will be vital in the coming weeks and months,” said Meurig Raymond, NFU president.

The NFU has called on the government to grasp Brexit as an opportunity to reverse a steady decline in self-sufficiency over the past 30 years.

The farming union said that with the right support it would be easy to replace the salad mountain imported from east Africa, pork from countries such as Denmark and New Zealand, and beef and dairy from other EU countries such as Ireland.

“We’re not advocating a fully self-sufficient nation – we recognise the need for importing food which can only be produced in different climates. But what we should be doing is maximising on the food production we are good at,” said Raymond.

The NFU said 30 years ago the country produced 80% of its own food, but now it was 60%.

“If we carry on at that rate of decline we could easily be down to 50% in 10 years, and that is a pretty insecure place to be,” said Raymond.

“The two main responsibilities of any government are to defend its people and feed its people. We are already among the least self-sufficient countries in Europe and dropping to below 50% would be a very insecure position to be in,” he added.

With unseasonally cold snaps in places like Spain causing vegetable shortages this year and the threat of drought in big exporting nations like the US, over-reliance on other countries for food is a national security risk.

Raymond said he believed the public appetite was there for British food and “not ready for hormone-treated beef”, which is banned by the EU but could find its way on to UK supermarket shelves after Brexit under a trade deal with the US.

The NFU said farming was such an important contributor to the economy – generating 3.9m jobs and revenues of £109bn a year – that the government needed to recognise the sector’s needs.

The NFU said it wanted a clear transition period after Brexit, during which the UK will remain in the customs union, that the UK remained within the external tariff area, which would guard against the country being flooded by cheap imports of questionable quality.

Raymond said the environment secretary, Michael Gove, was beginning to recognise the importance of a transition period in behind-the-scenes talks with farmers, although “there is no commitment”.

The NFU plea came as 14 farming organisations, including the British Poultry Council, the Soil Association and the Country Land and Business Association, set out a list of Brexit demands.

They too want the government to manage the risk of Brexit and stay within the customs union during a transition period. They also want “a fully functioning immigration system” that recognises the reliance food producers have on EU workforces beyond the harvest season.

Raymond said the NFU also wanted the government to stop viewing these workers as unskilled but rather as highly competent workers on whom the food growing and packing industry relied.

Squinty wrote:My new favourite one is 'It was never about the economy'.

Lagamorph wrote:Farmers once again realising they've strawberry floated themselves over.

It's alright though, we'll have Chlorine covered chicken and Hormone fed beef full of antibiotics to live on.

Moggy wrote:

Lagamorph wrote:Farmers once again realising they've strawberry floated themselves over.

It's alright though, we'll have Chlorine covered chicken and Hormone fed beef full of antibiotics to live on.

No subsidies and Britain importing cheap crappy food from America. Good luck farmers!

lex-man wrote:

Moggy wrote:

Lagamorph wrote:Farmers once again realising they've strawberry floated themselves over.

It's alright though, we'll have Chlorine covered chicken and Hormone fed beef full of antibiotics to live on.

No subsidies and Britain importing cheap crappy food from America. Good luck farmers!

I would have thought they would be able to jack they're prices up as we'll pay whatever as we starve.

andretmzt wrote::|

Brexit could leave Britain with a bare larder, farmers warn
NFU says UK produces only 60% of its own food and must increase production to avoid food insecurity after leaving EU

-----------

Britain must increase home-grown food production and build stronger supply chains to face Brexit uncertainties, the National Farmers Union has said.

In an annual calculation to draw attention to the UK’s decline in food self-sufficiency, the NFU said the national larder would be bare this Sunday if Britain opted for a cliff-edge departure from Europe and imports became unavailable.

Such is the reliance on imported food that Britain does not even produce enough of staples including potatoes, beef, milk and cheese to feed the nation for an entire year,it found.

“Food self-sufficiency statistics have always been an important measure of the nation’s ability to feed itself. But since the UK voted to leave the EU, and with trade negotiations starting, the supply of British food is now seen in a very different light. Government recognition of farming’s enormous contribution to this country will be vital in the coming weeks and months,” said Meurig Raymond, NFU president.

The NFU has called on the government to grasp Brexit as an opportunity to reverse a steady decline in self-sufficiency over the past 30 years.

The farming union said that with the right support it would be easy to replace the salad mountain imported from east Africa, pork from countries such as Denmark and New Zealand, and beef and dairy from other EU countries such as Ireland.

“We’re not advocating a fully self-sufficient nation – we recognise the need for importing food which can only be produced in different climates. But what we should be doing is maximising on the food production we are good at,” said Raymond.

The NFU said 30 years ago the country produced 80% of its own food, but now it was 60%.

“If we carry on at that rate of decline we could easily be down to 50% in 10 years, and that is a pretty insecure place to be,” said Raymond.

“The two main responsibilities of any government are to defend its people and feed its people. We are already among the least self-sufficient countries in Europe and dropping to below 50% would be a very insecure position to be in,” he added.

With unseasonally cold snaps in places like Spain causing vegetable shortages this year and the threat of drought in big exporting nations like the US, over-reliance on other countries for food is a national security risk.

Raymond said he believed the public appetite was there for British food and “not ready for hormone-treated beef”, which is banned by the EU but could find its way on to UK supermarket shelves after Brexit under a trade deal with the US.

The NFU said farming was such an important contributor to the economy – generating 3.9m jobs and revenues of £109bn a year – that the government needed to recognise the sector’s needs.

The NFU said it wanted a clear transition period after Brexit, during which the UK will remain in the customs union, that the UK remained within the external tariff area, which would guard against the country being flooded by cheap imports of questionable quality.

Raymond said the environment secretary, Michael Gove, was beginning to recognise the importance of a transition period in behind-the-scenes talks with farmers, although “there is no commitment”.

The NFU plea came as 14 farming organisations, including the British Poultry Council, the Soil Association and the Country Land and Business Association, set out a list of Brexit demands.

They too want the government to manage the risk of Brexit and stay within the customs union during a transition period. They also want “a fully functioning immigration system” that recognises the reliance food producers have on EU workforces beyond the harvest season.

Raymond said the NFU also wanted the government to stop viewing these workers as unskilled but rather as highly competent workers on whom the food growing and packing industry relied.

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