Labour Party's Betrayal of Northern Labour Voters.

In the Brexit referendum, scores of Labour-voting people in Labour's Northern Heartlands voted to leave the EU.

Northumberland, Cumbria, Yorkshire, Lancashire.... all voted to leave the EU. All are counties where Labour do well. Former industrial and mining areas.

All betrayed yesterday by Jeremy Corbyn and his policy to stay in the customs union. Pandering to his London-centric Remain Champagne Socialist Labour clique.

Labour will say that even though their heartlands voted leave, it wasn't the Labour voters (the majority) that did that, it was the nasty Tories (the minority) that somehow conjoured a referendum winning vote. So they're actually giving Labour voters what they want. They can believe that Bullshit all they want to excuse their trachery, but it just doesn't wash. Gordon Brown got it wrong when he called Gillian Duffy a bigot for her comments on immigrants. Jeremy Corbyn has just done exactly the same.

This should be as momentous for Labour voters as Maggie Thatcher crushing the miner's strike: this is Labour sticking two fingers up to the working class. Again. And this time you can't say it's Teflon Tony Blair the Tory in disguise, or Gordon Brown trying to be Tony Mk2. This is jeremy Corbyn, self-styled Trotskyite, man of the oppressed workers of the UK. This is inexcusable.

Of course the Chelsea Socialists say it's all about protecting worker's rights. It's nothing of the sort. It's protecting corporate interests and the influx of cheap unskilled Polish and Romanian workers. It's about keeping wages suppressed. With all that cheap labour on tap, wages for the rest of us stay low and working conditions poor. It's keeping profits flowing to low-tax countries with no penalties and avoiding paying tax in the UK.

After all, if we start to mention improvement of wages or working conditions, then all the business can just let us go and employ a foreign worker on high agency rates but getting paid minimum wage.  Huge margins for the corporate fat-cats. That's who your Labour party is actually working for.

If Labour truly wanted to improve the wages and working conditions of the working class of the UK, then the cheap labour tap would be turned off.  Out of the customs union and out of free movement.

Staying in "a", "the" or even "New" or any fucking flavour of  customs union automatically means free movement of people  i.e. no control over immigration. The EU provides no alternative on this. you cannot have one without the other. The tap cannot be turned off.

Staying in a customs union also means adherence to EU-negotiated trade deals. The UK would not be free to negfotiate on our own. Non-negotiable according to EU negotiators.

Membership of "a" customs union for anything longer than an interim period is a betrayal of those votes how voted to leave the EU. Permanent membership of a customs union goes against the will of the majority of people who voted to leave the EU and it's control.

Unless.... what Labour are saying they are aligning with Boris Johnson and his "have our cake and eat it" policy, where we choose to be part of a customs union, but are free to negotiate our own trade deals, part of a customs union and free of the ECJ, part of a customs union and not allowing free movement of people. ALL OF WHICH HAVE ALREADY BEEN REJECTED BY EU NEGOTIATORS.

You cannot have membership of "a" or "the" or any customs union without the baggage that comes along with it like subservience of UK laws to the Court of European Justice.

You cannot have membership of "a" or "the" or any customs union and stop the influx of cheap unskilled Eastern European labour.

You cannot have membership of "a" or "the" or any customs union and stop huge corporations from banking profits and declaring corporation tax in other countries. Free movement of people and goods also means free movement of money as well.

You cannot have membership of "a" or "the" or any customs union and negotiate trade with other countries at the same time. You are tied to deals done by the EU.

You cannot have membership of "a" or "the" or any customs union without betraying the huge swath of Northern Voters that voted to leave.

The sad thing is that now UKIP have crashed out of UK politics in any meaningful way, there is no alternative party for the Northern working class Labour voter to vote for. That's why Labour have done this now. They know the working class have no alternative to vote for. Bastards.

If ever there was a time for a proper democratic people's party, for the working class and  free from the Westminster bubble and it's corrupt corporate influence, that time is now.

Can we just grow up and accept that Brexit means leaving the EU, the Customs Union, the Single Market, the primacy of UK courts, closure of our borders, the ability to trade freely with other countries and start to talk on those terms. The longer Politicians of all flavours push the customs union model, the bigger the crash at the end of it when the EU refuse our requests.

Spinning otherwise (because that's all it is, spin) is dangerous and devisive. Right now businesses should be planning all future trade with EU countries on a "fully out" model. To do otherwise would court disaster for the company. That's what good governance is all about and should be working towards.

The game politicians are playing is a dangerous one and costly for the UK. That our own politicians are working against us should also prove the need for an alternative party that puts the UK people first. After all there is a historical precedent: every now and then Parliament has needed a nudge from the people to show 'em who's boss.

Brexit: the unending Transition

I'm hearing more an more of the details of the so-called "transition period" to be imposed after the article 50 deadline. It seems very likely that the Soft-Brexiteers are winning the day and that there will be a form of membership of the customs union while supposedly transitioning to fully independent status.

Membership of the Customs Union implicitly includes adopting all the rules the EU doles out and subservience to the ECJ (which enforces the rules) and unable to talk to other countries to negotiate trade. We will still be reliant on the EU for trade terms with China and the USA.. However, being outside the machinery of the EU which decides the rules, puts us in the status of "Vassal State" as Jacob rees-Mogg puts it, or far better to call it waht it was originally called in the referendum debate: "Associate Membership".

Associate membership was on of those ideas bandied about at the time David Cameron went to the EU with begging bowl trying to get connessions on immigration. Associate membership was the term used by those that wanted us to stay in the EU. They said if we wanted less EU, then Associate membership would allow us to not be at the forefront of the EU, but we would be tied to EU rules without representation. The worst of all worlds. But what they failed to recognise is that we the people didn't have any formal representation anyway hence why the majority voted to leave. The EU structure is anti-democratic, allowing us to only vote for the EU Parliament, which has no real law-making powers. The comission, appointed as it is, is nowhere near democratic.

So, assiciate membership (to give it it's true label) seems to be the game in play at the moment, because the Remainers want us to be scared. They want us to have to pay all the usual bills, be subject to all the rules, have no say in the rules and crucially have to power to negotiate trade deals outside of the EU. The worst of all worlds.

Far be it from me to suggest that once we accept associate membership that the EU change the rules to make life difficult for so called associates. The EU negotiates new, better trade deals? Not for you associate, you're not allowed to benefit for 3 years. Want to stay an associate? We've just voted that you have to pay twice as much to stay in the customs union. Sorry, you're out of the EU so don't have any say on what rules we come up with.

No-one would want that would they? So why are we being forced, by our own government to accept such a poor deal?

Of course they will say it's only for a short transitional period, but will it? Is the ploy to have such a shit deal, with chaos, bills and no power to sort it out? Just to show us how bad Brexit is? How long will it last?

They say two years. Pah! I reckon just as long as it takes for the public to start bleating that they want back into the EU. Two years, ten years, the fear of dropping out of the precious customs union will be ramped up mercilessly. Then there will be a miraculous change and we'll be invited to join the fold with no rebate and the Euro as our currency. Fast tracked, but with a bit of humble pie served on the plate. Certainly worse than we are now.

Of course we could just have the clean break, if necessary joining EFTA and trading on the same basis as Norway. Out of the customs union and free to negotiate trade deals with anyone we like. I work in a company that trades with Norway on a daily basis. No problems getting parts there, okay the parts are subject to local Norwegian tax and import duty. But then parts traded inside the EU are subject to VAT anyway, so the prices become similar.

The only thing is that inside the EU the shipping costs are lower. In the great scheme of things the difference is not that great and certainly not big enough to put people off ordering stuff from the UK.

So why the push to stay in the cutoms union and handcuff ourselves to the EU? The worst possible scenario.

Better ask your politician that question....