Peter Fane

District councillor 🔶 Shelford ward, County councillor, Sawston & Shelford. Formerly consultant on EU policy 30 yrs. Anglia Rural Consultants. Now on BskyB

[Peter Fane @PeterFane5]

UK can’t easily rejoin the EU. Tho the economic benefits would greatly outweigh the costs, it’s no longer up to us. UK can however rejoin the single market from outside the EU. That’s worth 3%+ on GDP, can be done in this Parl without a referendum or protracted Art49 negotiations

[Liberal Democrats @LibDems]

While Farage pockets millions as a "reward" for Brexit, the rest of us are left with soaring energy bills, deep political chaos, and a broken economy.

He only cares about himself and his wealthy donors. It is up to all of us to make sure he never becomes Prime Minister.

[Olena Rohoza @OlenaRohoza]

“AND YOU STILL DARE TO OPEN YOUR MOUTH…”

Sasha Legerman: This is too accurate not to share.

This Australian’s response to Trump’s rant that “NATO does nothing for America” is absolutely devastating:

“Mate. You run a country where 600,000 homeless people will sleep on the streets tonight.

A country where 40% of adults can’t cover a $400 emergency without borrowing money.

A country where insulin costs more than a car payment, and people ration it just to stay alive.

A country where medical debt is the number one cause of bankruptcy.

A country where women die in hospital parking lots because doctors are too afraid of abortion laws to treat miscarriages.

You imprison more of your own citizens than any country on Earth.
More than China. More than Russia. More than North Korea.

In the land of the free, 2 million people sit in cages, and a quarter of them haven’t even been convicted of anything.
They’re simply too poor to afford bail.

Your life expectancy is declining. You’re the only developed nation where that’s happening.

Your infant mortality rate is worse than Cuba’s.

Your children practice active shooter drills between math and English classes while you sell defense stocks to your friends.

Your minimum wage hasn’t changed in 15 years.

Your teachers work two jobs, your veterans sleep under bridges, and you just spent a trillion dollars flattening a country that never attacked you.

And now a convicted criminal — found liable for sexual abuse, defending a pedophile, sleeping with a porn star, and running the biggest dumpster-fire campaign since the Taliban — is thanking you for yet another disaster.

And you call Greenland badly governed?

Greenland has universal healthcare. Free education. One of the lowest incarceration rates in the world.
Nobody there goes bankrupt because they got sick. Nobody dies in a waiting room because insurance refused treatment.

‘NATO wasn’t there when we needed them.’

When exactly was that, champ?
September 11?

Because NATO invoked Article 5 for the first and only time in history FOR YOU.

Soldiers from dozens of countries deployed, fought, bled, and died in Afghanistan FOR YOU.

Australia wasn’t even in NATO, and we still showed up. For twenty years.

And then you left at 2 a.m. without telling anyone and left everybody else to clean up the mess.

You don’t care that a great nation is being terrorized by your friend, and you haven’t shown it a single ounce of sympathy.

So maybe before calling other countries badly governed, take a look at your own backyard, you aluminum siding salesman with a spray tan.

The only thing badly managed in this picture is your damn mouth.

And you still dare to lecture the rest of the world?”

[Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden]

"With 84% of the British public supporting mutual Freedom of Movement between the UK and EU, it is becoming harder to understand why the UK government remains so firmly attached to one of the hardest forms of Brexit. People increasingly want practical mobility arrangements that restore opportunities, connections and freedoms on both sides. British people already want to re-join the EU. When will politicians catch up?"

[John Cleese @JohnCleese]

This tragedy is all caused by Trump's support for Russia

[Peter Fane @PeterFane5]

Trump doesn’t call this a war (except occasionally when he forgets about the 60-day limit, or decides it doesn’t apply to him). He was advised he could call it an incursion, but mistakenly called it an excursion, which is a term more usually used for a picnic.

[Steve Hanke @steve_hanke]

Col. Doug Macgregor on Trump’s Iran misadventure:

“If there were a rational calculus in play, let's be frank, we would never have attacked Iran. No one in their right mind would have done so.”

[Peter Fane @PeterFane5]

@Partisan_12 It’s still possible for Trump to reach a deal with Iran which prevents them from acquiring nuclear weapons. Based on 2016, when IAEA verified that Iran had taken the steps to ensure their nuclear program remained exclusively peaceful. Didn’t need to go to war mid-negotiations.

[Kate from Kharkiv @BohuslavskaKate]

Rubio says that US-led peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine "were not fruitful." Not fruitful?

​Let’s look at the facts: your negotiators visited Russia seven times, and Ukraine zero times. You demanded concessions from Ukraine before negotiations even began, and throughout the entire process.

You pressured Ukraine by cutting off weapons support entirely, constantly badmouthing us, and showing up at our doorstep waving Russian "peace plan" you demanded we sign immediately.

​And now, after Ukraine stands more firmly on its feet without your support, you realize you can't pressure us anymore. So your excuse is that you are tired and leaving?

​How about, for once, you actually support the victim, which is Ukraine instead of terrorist Russian regime? Send your team to Kyiv, support our fight, and apply real pressure on aggressor.

Sanction Russia and seize their shadow fleet instead of handing out sanction waivers. Do that, and maybe negotiations will magically become "fruitful."

[Tymofiy Mylovanov @Mylovanov]

Blumenthal: In Ukraine, I've gone to drone manufacturing facilities. They're producing 1,000 drones a day. They get real time information from the battlefield and make adjustments as they are manufacturing. I don't know anything in our industrial base that is as agile. 1/

[Liberal Democrats @LibDems]

We all know a closer relationship with Europe would turbocharge our economy. Yet the Prime Minister's 'fresh start' is far too weak and unambitious.

It's time for a UK-EU customs union.

[Peter Fane @PeterFane5]

Any new leader / PM adopting this phrase / slogan “back at the heart of Europe” will need to start by dropping Starmer’s red lines, to which he remains committed. The first step has to be for UK to rejoin single market, which can be done during this parlt from outside EU via EEA.

[Mike Galsworthy @mikegalsworthy]

Starmer saying “Back at the heart of Europe”

…can only mean rejoining the EU.

[Mike Galsworthy @mikegalsworthy]

Lisa Nandy: “I don't think anyone in this country wants to reopen the Brexit debate.”

The Country:

[Farrukh @implausibleblog]

Piers Morgan, "If we discovered last week that Keir Starmer has taken £5,000,000 without declaring it from a crypto billionaire in Thailand, Reform UK would have gone absolutely berserk" @piersmorgan 👏

Robert Jenrick, "We're talking about a gift even before Nigel Farage was a member of parliament"

Fiona Bruce, "But you know you have to declare it in the 12 months before you become an MP"

[Igor Sushko @igorsushko]

🚨 BREAKING: Zelensky proposes a defensive military alliance that includes the EU + Ukraine, Turkey, Norway, and the UK.
This will enable control of the seas, skies, and land of all Europe as the United States withdraws from NATO.
The alliance will be stronger than Russia.

[Mariska den Eelden 🇪🇺🇳🇱 @eeldenden]

🇪🇺 Defence Commissioner Kubilius wants to replace US troops with Ukrainians and other Europeans through a new European Defence Union; 100,000 soldiers as the first leap toward a real European Army

[Peter Fane @PeterFane5]

A deal which merely “aligns Britain with the single market” has marginal economic benefit, it secures the constraints of the single market without the very significant benefits of single market membership, including frictionless trade with principal market. UK can rejoin SM now.

[dave lawrence 🐟🐟🐠 @dave43law]

Starmer 'considering EU deal to align Britain with single market' https://t.co/qGnXvcoo9z via @DailyMail

[Team Ossoff @TeamOssoff]

Ossoff: How much do you guys know about Jared Kushner, Ivanka's husband? He's on the Saudi payroll for $2 billion dollars. Did you know that? And now he's leading American diplomacy in the Middle East, apparently while at the very same time asking princes and sheikhs across the Arab world to give him billions more. If you're watching this online, don't take my word for it. Look it up for yourself.

Can you imagine, like a normal sitting U.S. ambassador just hitting up Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for billions of dollars? But he's a Trump, a royal, a princeling. The rules are for us, not for them.

[Peter Fane @PeterFane5]

Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves know that a step change is needed, but Starmer continues to allow his ‘red lines’ - long overtaken by events - to stand in the way of substantial progress in EU relationship. UK needs to rejoin Single Market, albeit via EEA, from outside EU for now.

[Jessica Simor KC @JMPSimor]

Approx 14% UK firms (circa 16.4k) that previously exported to the EU stopped after Brexit: CEP at LSE. Hundreds of small businesses reported having to "close entirely" as a result of new, costly red tape making trade with Europe impossible.

n.b 95% includes the local pub, cafe.

[Bill Kristol @BillKristol]

"The Europeans are coming to understand two rather different things. The first is that the fate of Ukraine is crucial to their own fate. And second, more European states are seeing Ukraine as a new center of gravity for European defense and security." https://t.co/6MQsOiNOCF

[Tymofiy Mylovanov @Mylovanov]

Stubb: Ukraine is killing 30–35k Russians a month; Russia can’t replace losses. About 95% of kills are by drones.

Ukraine is retaking ground and in March launched more drones/missiles at Russia than vice versa. This isn’t charity anymore — the West needs Ukraine’s know-how.

1/

[Peter Fane @PeterFane5]

“UK now has to choose between US and EU - Trump forces Starmer to reconsider his priorities.”
https://t.co/BMBsLySpNj

[Peter Fane @PeterFane5]

@LizWebsterSBF @Agaholic76 UK can and must rejoin single market now. That can be done within the rules, and from outside EU, by rejoining EEA - which nobody voted to leave.
Not only is that essential to GB economy and any realistic prospect of growth, it also key to rejoining CSDP for shared security.