The [’74] referendum was decisive: the country said yes to Europe and the Common Market by a margin of two to one. Europe: Them or Us? II Voice of the People
Europe had split Margaret Thatcher’s party and cabinet. ibid.
Everywhere you look the European Union is telling us what to do. Now, does this cucumber look reasonably shaped and practically straight? … EEC Regulation 1677/88 and be a Class 1 cucumber. Paxman in Brussels: Who Really Rules Us, BBC 2016
Who on Earth are these people? More importantly, what do they do all day? ibid.
Is the whole idea of sovereignty dead? ibid.
Britain and Europe start working out how exactly this conscious coupling will proceed and what Brexit actually means. Life After Brexit: A Newsnight Special
How did we get such a divided country? … The most fraught issue of all – the gulf between Inners and Outers. The new national divide. ibid.
How did it happen? And why did so few people in the establishment think it actually might? Brexit: The Battle for Britain, BBC 2016
For years concerns about immigration had been underplayed in polite political circles. ibid.
Several cabinet ministers told me they thought the campaign too negative. ibid.
The majority vote by Britons to leave the European Union was an act of raw democracy. Millions of ordinary people refused to be bullied, intimidated and dismissed with open contempt by their presumed betters in the major parties, the leaders of the business and banking oligarchy and the media.
This was, in great part, a vote by those angered and demoralised by the sheer arrogance of the apologists for the ‘remain’ campaign and the dismemberment of a socially just civil life in Britain. The last bastion of the historic reforms of 1945, the National Health Service, has been so subverted by Tory and Labour-supported privateers it is fighting for its life. John Pilger, Why the British Said No to Europe, 2016
It became the biggest event in modern British history: the Referendum. But it was really a family row – one raging in the Conservative Party for over half a century. Brexit: A Very British Coup, BBC 2016
Enter Farage: Vote Leave have refused to allow Nigel any part in their campaign. ibid.
‘I’ve been on the road a fortnight and most of my time has been spent in Labour areas ... There’s not much of a debate going on in Labour areas.’ ibid.
European Parliament: If you sit in on the sessions, they go round with the tea trolley. They serve everyone there cups of tea. Mark Thomas Comedy Product s5e2, Channel 4 2001
People think we had a referendum to decide whether or not we went into the EU – we didn’t. The decision was taken by parliament in 1972. Ian R Crane, lecture Birmingham 2016 ‘The EU Hokey-Cokey’
127,400. It’s the sugar coating on the cyanide … The legislation in the EU comes from a multiple range of sources … The bureaucrats … How many pieces of legislation – EU legislation – have been initiated since Britain was lured into the EU? … Ian R Crane, Alternative View 7 presentation, ‘EU Referendum: The Plan to Destroy the UK’
Europe is an agenda … To destroy the nation states of Europe … to create a mongoloid European state … ibid.
On 24th June last year Britain woke up to a political earthquake. The shockwaves spread across Europe. In Britain we are now consumed by what Brexit means for us. But for the European Union, Brexit is one crisis among many. This World: After Brexit: The Battle for Europe, BBC 2017
In almost every EU country there is now an anti-establishment nationalist-minded movement on the rise. ibid.
It’s in France where it might meet its Waterloo. ibid.
‘They have been wrong about everything for thirty years.’ ibid. Marie le Pen
Theresa May is about to push the button on Brexit and head off on a mission … For Brexiteers the dream is a quicky divorce. Brexit: Britain’s Biggest Deal, BBC 2017
A lot of money is on the table ... That potentially massive bill is for Britain’s share of existing EU spending commitments like the pensions of EU officials. ibid.
Our skies are governed right now by the EU with a myriad of European legislation. ibid.
They set themselves a new target of negotiating a trade deal within two years. On top of all that tricky divorce. ibid.
Tonight: will it be deal or no deal? The countdown to Brexit is on. Getting it right on trade: the biggest political test of Theresa May’s life. Tonight: Deal or No Deal? Brexit Britain, ITV 2016
The EU has said there’ll be a so-called divorce settlement which some say could cost us up to £50 billion. ibid.
700,000 people a year die from tobacco: and I am responsible for citizens’ health. Storyville: The Great European Cigarette Mystery, John Dalli, BBC 2017
Following a fraud investigation, EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy John Dalli has resigned with immediate effect. ibid. news
On his desk is the first draft for the new tobacco directive: it involved billions of Euros and thousands of lives. John Dalli wants a strict directive, so of course the tobacco industry is against him. Dalli has to drive it home but in October 2012 he gets called to the office of Jose Manuel Barroso – President of the European Commission. And then he’s fired. ibid. investigating journalist
The report shows that John Dalli has held a string of non-declared meetings on Malta with the tobacco lobbyists. ibid.
How was I to know that she [Kimberley] was a lobbyist? ibid. Dalli
Because what happens next is that OLAF [European investigators] plants a trap for John Dalli and they do this together with a lobby group which Swedish Match is a part of: ESTOC … So the EU sets a trap for its own Commission. ibid. investigating journalist
‘Massive’ lobbying power of tobacco companies diluted European regulation of cigarettes, study shows. ibid. online news headline
I am the victim of a set-up. ibid. John Dalli
Welcome to one of the most misunderstood institutions in the world – the European parliament. With Brexit looming it’s facing turbulent times. Carry on Brussels: Inside the EU s1e1, Channel 4 2018
751 MEPs from across the continent currently sit in this parliament. ibid.
The European parliament is vast. It has two voting chambers. 46 committee rooms. Over 1,700 offices. ibid.
The European parliament in Brussels is not the only parliament. For historic reasons the main voting chamber of European parliament has always been in Strasbourg. ibid.
‘That’s what it is – a joke.’ ibid. Gerard, UKIP
One of the most experienced players in this game is Ukip’s press officer Hermann Kelly. Carry on Brussels: Inside the EU s1e2
All MEPs belong to one of eight political groups. ibid.
The hostilities are now becoming personal. ibid.
73 [MEPs] from the UK will be made redundant. Carry on Brussels: Inside the EU s1e3
The European Union was created to hold a continent together; instead it’s faced ten years of turmoil. Inside Europe: Ten Years of Turmoil I: We Quit, BBC 2018
David Cameron tried to put to bed a question that had plagued British politics for generations; instead he found himself out of a job, his party torn apart and his country’s future hanging in the balance. ibid.
The pressure on Cameron was growing. In May the UK Independence Party enjoyed its best ever results in local election, largely at the expense of the Conservatives. ibid.
For the first time, Ukip topped the polls in Britain. ibid.
‘We’ve lost … and I’m going to have to resign.’ ibid. Cameron, cited Osborne
Europe has been racked by a decade of turmoil … ‘All they wanted was to bamboozle me’ … Europe almost brought down the world economy. Inside Europe: Ten Years of Turmoil II: Going for Broke, Greek premier
The markets stopped lending money to Greece … When the Greek prime minister told the world his country was on the verge of bankruptcy, the Euro itself was put in danger. ibid.