Jim Grace Profile picture
Jan 21, 2019 70 tweets 22 min read
Brace for mega thread on "ALL THEM RULES INNIT"

There is a type of of brexiter who is motivated not by xenophobia, or Empire nostalgia, or buccaneering trade fantasies, but instead by "all them EU rules". Sadly they can never name a single one. So I have done some research...
The commons library looked at how many UK laws were influenced by EU laws.
researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/RP10…
4,514 out of 34,105.
And out of the EU laws that influenced the 4,514 ....Vote Leave discovered 72 that were forced on us against our will. 72! gallery.mailchimp.com/1026e6b00f7328…
...
So... what inequities were forced upon us, what degradation, what humiliations for a proud island nation?
Let's have a little look shall we?
I have put a link to each law we voted "no" to... and my own TLDR, if you don't fancy wading through the legalese....
(1/72) 29/03/1996 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: Food labels should say if Aspartine is present.
UK: Nonsense. Bloody red tape!

(Linked to cancer, headaches and seizures, even Pepsi USA stopped using it by 2015)
(2/72) 29/04/1996 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: Ban on livestock growth-boosters with hormonal, thyrostatic or beta-agonist effects (carcinogenic residue in meat).
UK: Aw come on - a little bit of cancer never hurt no-one.
(3/72) 03/06/1996 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: Safety advisers dealing with transport of dangerous goods on public roads etc must be properly trained and regulated.
UK: Bleedin elf'n'safety gorn mad. Wassamatta wiv a bit a toxic spillage across a playground?
(4/72) 27/06/1996 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: we need some conservation measures to preserve North Atlantic fish stocks.
UK: Ah Phooey. There's plenty o' fish in the sea. We've even registered on the website.
(5/72) 22/07/1996 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: additives to mineral water must be safe and labels must be honest (eg "spring water" has to come from an actual spring)
UK: This will kill our sales of Dell-boy Trotter's "Peckham Spring Water".
(6/72) 24/09/1996 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: posted workers must be given the same pay and conditions as local workers.
UK: You're kidding! The whole POINT of posted workers is to undercut the locals and undermine their employment rights.
(7/72) 09/12/1996 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: lets have a consistent approach to data collection on goods traded between member states?
UK: Hmm. That buggers up our carousel fraud schemes, somewhat.
(8/72) 17/03/1997 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: Lets tighten up on livestock health checks, paperwork and traceability.
UK: God, you're not still pissed about that mad cow thing? IT'S SORTED! Twust us - we's Bwitish.

( Soon after: 10M animals slaughtered during foot and mouth)
(9 & 10/72) 22/04/1997 & 26/06/1997 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: We still need to protect those fish stocks.
UK: Aww. Cant we just keep fishin'? There are so few left, we want to catch as many as we can before they are ALL gone.
(11/72) 22/07/97 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: OK folks: lets have a single set of rules about drying, powdering and labelling hops - instead of everyone making it up as they go along.
UK: We LIKE making it up as we go along. (Hopping mad now)
(12/72) 20/10/1997 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: Don't add tartaric acid to wine. And here's how tariffs on grapejuice from 3rd countries should be calculated.
UK: We LIKE adding dodgy things to wine. And the French, Spanish and Italian winemakers should do what WE say!
(13/72) 11/12/1997 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: firms from outside the EU may carry passengers between destinations in the EU (cabbotage) without needing a registered office in the EU.
UK (1997): Not happy.
UK (2021): Splendid idea.
(14/72) 16/12/1997 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: Lamb and sheep meat to be classified in a consistent way as soon as possible after slaughter.
UK: That violates the English common law principle: "you may as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb"
(15/72) 16/02/1998 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: Trucks for livestock journeys over 8 hours must have bedding, feed, water, ventilation, partitions and access for inspectors.
UK: Why spend all that money? Innit all just meat on the plate at the end of the day?
(16/72) 18/05/1998 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: This is a Gas turbine/nomenclature/tariff/temporary partial thingy-me-wotsit.
UK: If that's not worth dying in a ditch for, I don't know what is.
(17/72) 19/06/2000 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: We are going to intervene in the sugar market to create price stability and protect farm incomes.
UK: We don't like it. (Be really cool if you reformed this system in, ooh say, 2006...)
(18/72) 04/12/2000 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: These are our proposed subsidies for fruit and veg growers.
UK: We don't like fruit and veg… can you subsidise laxitives and Anusol instead?
(19/72) 29/01/2001 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: Let's increase the tonnage of bananas we take from ACP countries at the lower tariff rates?
UK: NEVER! You may take our blue passports, but you will never get your hands on our BANANANANANANANAS!
(20/72) 19/12/2001 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: After the mad cow thing and the dioxin thing... maybe we should tighten up on compound feed and how it is labelled?
UK: Knee-jerk regulation is the wrong mooooohve.
(21/72) 27/06/2002 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: South Korean State Aid for shipyards is undercutting our yards on LNG tankers; time for countermeasures.
UK: We couldn't care less about Danish shipyards; Thatcher destroyed all of the UK's about twenty years ago.
(22/72) 27/02/2003 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: we must ban the advertising of tobacco products in printed media, radio, TV, events sponsorship etc.
UK: just hang on a mo' - there's good money in those deathsticks, you know.
(23/72) 03/06/2003 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: we must set up an EU-wide computer system to combat evasion of excise duty on booze etc.
UK: but we like evading taxes…
(24 & 25 /72) 22/07/2003 assets.panda.org/downloads/gmos…
EU: Proper labelling of food that uses genetically modified ingredients - so consumers can decide not to buy them if they are worried.
UK: Bugger consumers! What they don't know won't harm 'em"
(26/72) 26/01/20014 eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/Lex…
EU: airlines should compensate passengers for delayed or cancelled flights.
UK: we don't support this proposal because ...um...because...we are just utter, utter bastards.
(27/72) 28/02/2005 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: In 2000 we dropped sugar tariffs for some Balkans countries and we want to row that back a bit now.
UK: NO! (We're sweet enough...)
(28/72) 07/05/2007 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_…
EU: Greece Italy and Spain are bearing disproportionate costs housing asylum seekers - everyone should chip in to help them?
UK: Sod the Greeks! They shouldnt have put their country so close to the Middle East.
(29/72) 07/05/2007 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: OK can you chip in to funding a programme to help asylum seekers return home?
UK: You 'avin a giraffe, mate?
(30/72) 23/05/2007 Solidarity and management of migration flows
EU: Another whip-round needed; to help member States in receiving, and in bearing the consequences of receiving, refugees and displaced persons.
UK: Why should WE help? A friend in need… can sod off!
(31/72) 30/05/2007 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: Common standard for emissions testing and what maintenance information vehicle manufacturers should provide.
UK: Aw - do we have to? I mean...air polution only kills 36,000 in the UK each year. kcl.ac.uk/lsm/schools/po…
(32/72) 24/09/2009https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/ALL/?uri=CELEX%3A32009R1107
EU: no pesticides that are; carcinogenic, mutagenic, toxic to reproduction, sensitising chemicals, very toxic, explosive or corrosive.
UK: EU spoil sports!
(33/72) 14/12/2010 publications.europa.eu/en/publication…
EU: we need rule changes to allow us to do development type stuff with middle-income countries (eg China, India & various states that don't meet the OECD criteria for "Official Development Assistance")
UK "no" 1st reading & "Yes" 2nd
(34/72) 17/05/2011 oeilm.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil-mobile/su…
EU: There's a potential period of legal limbo between the expiry of current fisheries legal framework and start of the next one. We need a temp. extension to cover the gap.
UK: ("Fish? FISH? - 'ad their chips, their chips, hawhawhaw!")
(35/72) 12/09/2011 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: Lets create a new agency, eu-LISA, to ensure 24/7 resilience in the IT systems that keep our borders safe (asylum database, visa database, security, fingerprints, criminals).
UK: We LIKE being flooded with crim's and asylum seekers.
(36/72) 27/10/2011
Apparently we voted against the EU budget for 2012.
Except this data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/S… says we voted FOR.
Whatevs.
(37/72) 30/11/2011 assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…
EU: We need a 5% increase in budget.
UK (and NL): No not a penny more!
EU: OK. How about no real terms increase, just inflationary uplift?
UK: Still not happy!
EU: Soz.
(38/72) 14/02/2012 europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.d…
EU: We've funded food banks since 1987. 13M people rely on them. Then SOMEONE blocked our budget increase last year. Can't we keep the funding going for another 12 months?
UK: NO! Let the plebs starve; the very sight of them affronts us.
(39/72) 09/03/2012 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: The European Refugee Fund needs more dosh, to help those countries that are bearing the brunt.
UK: Having taken moral and ethical advice from Voldemort, Sauron and Satan himself, our view is: TOUGH SHIT!
(40/72) 26/07/2012 EU: We need more cash. blogs.ec.europa.eu/ECintheUK/the-…
EU: Our budget was 1.2% of members' total GDP 10 years ago - now it's 1%. Come on, members? (your national budgets have all INCREASED as a %ge of GDP).
UK: Not a penny. & everything is your fault, & we hate you.
(41/72) 08/10/2012 register.consilium.europa.eu/doc/srv?l=EN&f…
EU: The Maritime Safety Agency needs re-organising & more muscle to punish oil spills from ships and oil rigs.
UK: (Gulp! Probs OUR oil rigs.) WE OPPOSE!
(42/72) 21/11/2012
EU: We need a bit more money - really.
UK: We don't care. This is an opportunity to grandstand for our euroskeptic electorate over really tiny amounts of money.
(43/72) 10/12/2012
EU: We need about £0.4Bn for 2012 (Or 4 DUP MP's, if you prefer)
UK: We don't care. This is ANOTHER opportunity to grandstand for our euroskeptic electorate over really tiny amounts of money.
(44/72) 12/12/2012
EU: OK we have trimmed it by about 10%.
UK. Still don't care!
(45/72) 26/02/2013 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: Canary Islands, Azores, Madeira etc are struggling due to their remoteness. Lets help them?
UK: Tough titty - their fault for being so remote. Can't they be tax havens like Cayman and BVI?
(46 & 47/72 ) 24/06/2013 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: We need prudential supervision of credit institutions and investment firms so that stuff like Lehman's and the 2008 crash don't happen again.
UK: Oh don't worry. If the bankers go bust again, taxpayers will bail em out.
(48&49) UK budget grandstanding on tiny amounts.

(50/72) 10/10/2013 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: we want to make some changes to the employment contract for EU staff.
UK: they're your staff - do what you wan….Wait! We oppose! (Dunno why….)
(51,52,53) More pointless budget grandstanding.
(54/72) 12/02/2014 data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/S…
EU: Fund our Hercule III programme to combat irregularities, fraud and corruption affecting the EU budget.
UK: Er…anti-fraud you say…hmm... WE OPPOSE! (Soz.. just got to pop out and make a call…)

see also: ec.europa.eu/anti-fraud/pol…
(55/72) 11/03/2014 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: Let's provide funds for the most deprived - these people are really suffering.
UK: Hey! We have been deliberately CAUSING deprivation with our austerity programme - now you want to undo all that work! WTF?
(56/72) 12/03/2014 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: we need to agree rules for funding stuff like development, democracy, human rights, European Neighbourhood.
UK: every one of those things is anathema to us.
(57/72) 12/03/2014 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: We want to establish an instrument to fund stability and peace in countries.
UK: Stability and peace?! Wipe me arse with them.
(58/72) 12/03/2014 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: Lets establish a financing instrument for the promotion of democracy and human rights around the world.
UK: Sod off! Lets establish an instrument to wipe out democracy and human rights in the UK. Call it "Brexit".
(59/72) 12/03/2014 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: Lets establish an instrument for co-operation with 3rd countries.
UK: Co-operate on THIS, mofo!
(60/72) 12/03/2014 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: Lets establish an instrument for development cooperation.
UK: Development. Cooperation. Aid. These words make our skin burn.
(61/72) 12/03/2014 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: Measures to reduce poverty, promote development, trade, education and science in countries that border the EU?
UK: SOD DEVELOPMENT! SOD TRADE! SOD EDUCATION, SOD SCIENCE AND SOD ALLEVIATING SODDING POVERTY!
(62/72) 12/03/2014 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: Help for pre-accession countries to get ready for joining the EU.
UK: SOD THE SODDING PRE-ACCESSION COUNTRIES! SOD 'EM TO HELL AND BACK!!
(63/72) 16/04/2014 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: Measures to give FOM workers protection from exploitation.
UK: But we WANT to exploit FOM workers - it helps keep our UK-born workers under the thumb.
(64/72) 16/04/2014 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: Boring bit of housekeeping re staff pensions, let's hope no eejit takes this as an opportunity for pointless, immature, grandstanding.
UK: Someone mention my name?
(65/72) 16/04/2014 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: Same again re staff pensions, let's hope that eejit feels he's made his point already.
UK: Do you ever get that feeling of déjà vu?
(66 & 67 /72) 30/09/2014 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: Now (Cameron) no political donations from dodgy Russians, Criminals or organised bicycle-seat sniffers. Farage? stop spunking your expense account on "other stuff"!
UK: Hey! political corruption is an UK tradition, immemorial.
(68/72) 13/10/2014 eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2014/1…
EU: Enhanced labelling for EU Agricultural products; not just nutritional info, but also food safety, traceability, authenticity, health, animal welfare, environment, sustainability.
UK: Less information consumers get, happier we'll be.
(69/72) More budget grandstanding for the Mail readers.
(70/72) 05/03/2015 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: These measures will protect National Statistical Authorities from interference by their National Governments.
UK: You think? Hahaha - one day we will put Rory Stewart in charge.
(71/72) 05/03/2015 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: Some rules about type approval of e-Call systems (they automatically call 999 in a car crash)
UK: More Euro-bollocks. Wouldn't have saved Diana, hawhawhaw.
(72/72) 23/06/2015 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
EU: The CJEU needs more judges to deal with a big backlog of cases.
UK: But we LIKE cases to wait ages. It means only the wealthy - who can afford to wait - can get justice.
FINISHED!
Cries of "VAT!".
a) My thread was "rules we opposed" not "rules we supported"
b) If a 15% floor is so intolerable, how comes our VAT is 20% and the lowest in the whole EU is 17%?
c) We could have listed sanitary towels at 0% VAT - like Ireland did - but HMG couldn't be arsed.
Oops: fix commons library link...
researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefi…
And for people looking for source of 72 defeats link...it is half way down this fullfact.org/europe/eu-fact…
In a link titled " 16 more votes"

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Jim Grace

Jim Grace Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @mac_puck

Feb 11
FT: "UK to make new offer on Northern Ireland in talks with EU"

ft.com/content/6b3106…

Oooooh what can it be?

1/
OK: “red and green channels”, in which goods that were clearly destined to remain inside Northern Ireland, would be exempted from border bureaucracy.

I am sure I have heard that somewhere before...
Oh yes! Maros Sefcovic's speech of 13 October 2021.

ec.europa.eu/commission/pre…

All he wanted was:
1. Labelling of NI-only goods (jeez - would it kill us?)
2. UK to man BCP's properly (as promised).
3. UK to grant EC real-time access to UK databases (as promised).
Read 4 tweets
Feb 11
@GeorgeMonbiot Both the Mail and the Telegraph are running attacks against smart meters today, in a clearly co-ordinated move.

It is vital for the fossil fuel industry that they spike smart meters and surge pricing NOW, before there is a significant number of EV's, which owners will charge at night ( or even sell back to grid in the evening) because effective demand side electricity management...
Read 6 tweets
Feb 8
There are 3 very simple measures the UK government could take and the vast majority of checks on GB goods entering NI would disappear overnight.

That they are NOT doing these 3 things shows HMG are DELIBERATELY causing the problem at the expense of NI business and consumers.
1/
The 3 things:
1. Separately label GB goods intended for NI market only. (Jeez, we print sell-by dates, would it kill us to print "GB not for export"?)
2. Give EU realtime access to UK goods movements database (as promised).
3. Properly staff our BCPs (as promised).

2/
HMG could grant these 3 wishes in an instant. The EU would then:
1. Allow express lanes for NI only lorries
2. Permit 1 certificate per lorry, rather than 1 needed for each of maybe 100 different goods in a mixed load.
3. Dramatically reduce the amount of information...

3/
Read 6 tweets
Feb 4
Who wants to play BorisLiesBingo ?

Rules Below

Coming up, 10 of Johnson's favourite PMQ's lies, and at the end of the thread, the master tweet to reply to with your entries!
Lie 1: Best Vaccine Rollout In Europe / World / This Spiral Arm of the Milky Way

(Reality: 15th in Europe and 38th in the World)
Read 12 tweets
Jan 23
Oh FFS. "Mutual enforcement":
a hard border between NI and IRL, but the border officials swap around - Irish check NORTHBOUND goods for compliance with British rules and British check SOUTHBOUND goods for compliance with EU rules.

Was there ever a more stupid idea?

1/
A. IT CREATES A HARD BORDER BETWEEN NI AND IRL.

Is a young nationalist firebrand, who objects to "Brits asking for papers" really going to be mollified by the check occurring on his southbond journey, instead of his northbound return?

I've never heard anything so dumb.

2/
B. It means asking the EU to trust the UK to enforce EU border controls. However, after 5 years of lying, lawbreaking, treaty-reneging, threats, insults & general f*ckery, the UK can be trusted to honour an agreement like you'd trust Jimmy Savile to give your daughter a lift.

3/
Read 8 tweets
Jan 22
By 2050 Brexit will have cost us TWENTY times as much as Net zero.

My workings:

A. Cost of Net Zero.
The OBR say it is £321Bn (roughly £10Bn per year, or 40p per person per day)

instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/pay…

Fair enough.

1/4
B. Cost of Brexit.

This has 2 components:
1. Hit to UK GDP
2. Cost of Brexit "red tape"

1. GDP
(The OBR say "4%"
obr.uk/forecasts-in-d… )

What does that come to by 2050?

Assuming £2.35Tn GDP in 2022 and 1.9% per year long term trend growth, it totals £3.6Tn by 2050

2/4
2. Brexit red tape.

In 2019 the UK had about £700Bn 2-way trade with the SM (EU + Norway + Switzerland + NI)

Richard Barfield has gleaned from Government sources that NTB's will add about 10/11% to costs.



With 1.9% trend growth: £2.8Bn by 2050.

3/4
Read 7 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(