MINOR INCREASE: France has seen a significant increase in unaccompanied foreign minors crossing the French-Italian border illegally in recent years - from 174 in 2014, to over 5,000 in 2022.
Some are putting this down to the "Meloni Effect"
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FR 🇫🇷 - Le Monde
JOBS HIGH: France recorded a further fall in unemployment in Q4 2022 to 7.2%, which is the lowest it has been since Q4 2008.
UK unemployment stood at 3.7% in December 2022.
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FR 🇫🇷 - Le Parisien
UNDER THE KNIFE: Influenced by social media and a fear of rejection, more 18-34 year olds in France now undertake cosmetic surgery, than those in the 50-60 age bracket.
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DE 🇩🇪 - Tagesspiegel
VERBOTEN-WAGEN: Despite a lack of charging stations and infrastructure to support the move, the EU on Tuesday voted to ban the sale of new cars which emit greenhouse gases from 2035 onwards - thus signalling the end of the combustion engine in the EU.
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DE 🇩🇪 - Rheinische Post
FORD JOBS: Germany is to see over 2000 jobs lost, in cost cutting measures from the car manufacturer Ford, over the next three years.
The plants in Cologne and Aachen are believed to be heaviest affected.
UK is also expected to lose 1000 jobs.
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AT 🇦🇹 - Der Standard
9.1 MILLION: With confirmation that the population of Austria breached the 9 million mark in 2022, comes the acknowledgement that if not for high levels of immigration, the population would've shrunk in 2022.
Over half of migrants were Ukrainian.
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• • •
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I have collated 50 tangible Brexit benefits, fully evidenced and demonstrably true.
Some may not like that they exist - but that doesn't change the fact that they do.
👇Scroll down to see them in this megathread 👇
#BrexitBenefits2024
[ 1 ]
As one of the larger economies of the EU, the UK was a net contributor to the EU budget - which means that it paid in more each year than it received in return.
The UK was responsible for 12.5% of the annual core budget of the EU, which in 2024 was €189 Billion - which would in turn have resulted in a gross contribution from the UK of around €24 Billion, were it still to be a member.
This would have meant a likely net contribution of around €14-16 Billion in 2024 - money that can now be spent in the UK instead.
As an EU member state within the Customs Union, 75% of all customs revenue (it was 80% at the time the UK voted to leave) goes into the budget of the EU.
Now outside of the EU, the UK HMRC receives 100% of that revenue, to spend on public services - currently estimated at around £2-3 Billion extra a year.
In March 2022, I was asked to provide 10 "Tangible Benefits" of leaving the EU. So over the course of a lunch break I wrote a list of 10 and sent it over.
Since then it has been shared thousands of times, and even made the press.
Since that time in March 2022, as more benefits came to fruition, I have done the research - and those where I was able to confidently demonstrate and verify a true Brexit benefit as existing, I added to the list.
Today I’m adding the 30th item onto the list. Triple the original challenge.
So to celebrate the task having been delivered many times over, and to reflect that time has passed and some items in the list needed updating as to current status, I have decided to rewrite the full 30 items in a new post - so please, sit back and enjoy.
Also worth noting that I have been asked many times to back up these claims, and many times I have provided the evidence – but this time through I will include the source material within the tweets, so you can see it for yourself.
Link: The original thread -
Link: The “One Year Later” thread -
Link: The Daily Express article:
Before I proceed to the list itself.
This is not intended to be an exhaustive list - merely one which I can say that I have fully researched and can defend as being truly a benefit of leaving the EU.
That is not to say that disbenefits do not exist - merely that benefits *definitely* do.
Oh and credit where it is due to all of you who have helped over the last few years in cultivating this list, and thanks to for the one or two AI images used in this opening.
With the CPTPP accession now signed and awaiting ratification, and the India FTA wrapping up the final tough nuts to crack, what else is going on with UK international trade?
Plenty!
Here's a quick rundown 🧵
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The negotiations that are known by me to be in flight right now:
CPTPP Accession (Ratification)
Canada FTA Upgrade
GCC FTA
Greenland FTA
India FTA
Israel FTA Upgrade
Maldives FTA
Mexico FTA Upgrade
Switzerland FTA Upgrade
Switzerland Fin Svs Agmt
USA State Specific MoUs
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UK 🇬🇧 -🌏🌎 CPTPP Accession
✅Agreement in Principle: 31 Mar 2023
✅Signed Accession Protocol: 16 Jul 2023
📅 UK Ratification: 2024
📅 CPTPP11 Ratification: 2024
📅 In Place: October 2024
This graph has really wound me up today. Not because it was saying something surprising - I don't think anyone would be surprised that the age category in question is more supportive of EU membership.
The reason that it has wound me up, is because it is a LIE.
Earlier this evening on GB News, the outspoken political commentator Marina Purkiss appeared on the Jacob Rees Mogg programme "State of the Nation" to debate the topic of the so-called "culture war".
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People can of course make their own minds up as to the overall quality of the debate, and I would recommend if you are genuinely interested, in actually watching it for yourself.
In the 9 minute segment, they each made 5 statements as fact - but are they actually fact?
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MP Statements:
1. Children are getting a poorer education 2. UK has the highest energy bills on the planet 3. JRM voted to stop people protesting "if it was annoying" 4. Austria has one of the highest inflations in the world 5. Austria GDP is billions, UK is trillions
Apologies for the delays, I haven't had chance to post one of these frontpage rundowns for a few days.
Lets have a look and see what stories were making the front pages of newspapers across Europe this morning.
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BE 🇧🇪 - Le Soir
NUCLEA-YAH: According to data gathered by Le Soir - their "Great Barometer" - the Belgian people are not only in favour of extending the life of existing Nuclear power stations, but also want to build new ones as well.
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FR 🇫🇷 - Le Monde
INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY?: To counter the rise of China, Joe Biden and the USA is promoting a proactive policy. But what is the strategy for the European Union?