Lichfield & District Residents: Your Country Needs You!
Negotiations with the EU are not going well. In less than three weeks, the UK and EU must decide whether to extend the Brexit transition period. An extension would allow the UK government to focus on fighting the pandemic and buy time to negotiate a trade deal that protects jobs and businesses in Lichfield.Boris Johnson has said our government will not ask for an extension and if the EU asks for one, he will refuse.
Every day I receive a handful of emails from pro-European campaigning groups pleading with me to write to my local MP urging him to press the government to apply for an extension.
I did write to Mr Fabricant and here’s his response:
As you will be aware, the UK left the EU on 31 January. A transition period has followed during which market access remains the same and the UK and EU are negotiating an agreement on their future relationship. The manifesto I stood on in Lichfield was clear that the transition period would not be extended beyond December 2020, and this has now been put into law.
The global outbreak of COVID-19 is serious and my ministerial colleagues are doing everything they can to tackle the virus based on the latest scientific and medical advice. Although many areas of the UK economy shut down in March, at the Government's instruction, talks between UK and EU representatives continued via video-link, with both sides showing a determination to meet the December deadline. Further such meetings will continue as scheduled.
However, if the EU remains unwilling to change its insistence on fishing rights in UK waters and that the United Kingdom will have to follow all future EU regulations as if we had never left the EU, that will obviously not be acceptable. No amount of additional time will resolve that. Moreover, the chief EU negotiator has now made it clear that any extension of the Transition period after 2020 will have to be accompanied by a major and further contribution towards the EU budget. That too, unless the EU concedes on a number of issues, would be totally unacceptable.
I hope this clarifies my position, and thank you, again, for taking the time to write.
From that you might conclude there’s very little point in writing to Mr Fabricant, though I wouldn’t discourage you from doing so. If you do decide to contact Mr Fabricant, use his web form https://www.michael.fabricant.mp.co.uk/contact/ He says, “Messages sent to other email addresses may not be seen”
Is there another local politician who might listen? How about Doug Pullen, leader of Lichfield District Council? Mr Pullen doesn’t have a vote in parliament, but he may have more credibility and influence than our “fun-loving celebrity” MP.
Mr Pullen is a working businessman employed in risk management. He holds positions on the Local Enterprise Partnerships for Stoke on Trent and Staffordshire and Greater Birmingham and Solihull. He’s a man who speaks his mind. Look at Mr Pullen’s reported comments on the Dominic Cummings affair:
“It’s quite extraordinary that an advisor is getting so much leeway from the Government. The Government has spent months building huge amounts of political capital, and appears to have lost it in a single weekend. Cummings should have gone as soon as these revelations came to light.”
Someone commented on Lichfield Live: “Increasingly he [Mr Pullen] represents the tone and presentation of the Conservative Party I support”.
Drop him a line at doug.pullen@lichfielddc.gov.uk
Emails don’t have to be long; shorter messages are more likely to be read.
Here’s a few templates that might inspire you:
• I’m a Lichfield council tax payer. As council leader and a businessman working in risk management, you understand the difficulties firms will face given a bad Brexit deal on top of a recession caused by the coronavirus. Please use your influence to ensure our government prioritises the fight against the virus and takes a pragmatic approach to Brexit negotiations. Getting a good deal with the EU will take time.
• I’m a father /mother of teenage children. We've left the EU, but it's not going to do anyone any good if we end up with no deal. Dealing with that on top of the coronavirus would be devastating. Jobs for young people, like my kids, will lost - including here in Lichfield. Please do everything you can as a senior Conservative Party politician in Lichfield to persuade the government that a close economic relationship with our European neighbours is the best outcome. Please tell the government to take the time for a good deal to be agreed with the EU after we’ve dealt with pandemic.
• As someone who falls into the 'vulnerable' category of people most likely to be severely affected by the coronavirus, I am worried that the government is concentrating on Brexit and not on dealing with the pandemic. Our NHS and our economy are already struggling to cope with the effects of COVID-19. This isn’t about whether people voted leave or remain. This is about doing what is in the national interest. We simply cannot deal with two crises at once. As one of my elected representatives please persuade the government to pause the Brexit negotiations and concentrate on ridding our country of this virus. I want to visit my friends and relations safely again.
• I’m a Lichfield resident. I’ve just seen a report from the Social Market Foundation on the double impact of Brexit and Coronavirus. I am very concerned for people in Lichfield who will be severely exposed to a double economic hit from Brexit and coronavirus if the UK exits the Brexit transition period without a good deal. Please use your influence as leader of Lichfield District Council and a board member of the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership to persuade government of the need to extend post-Brexit negotiations so we can get a good deal.
• As a local businessman and leader of Lichfield District Council you will understand that the disruption of Brexit is highly likely to slow our recovery from the pandemic. Unless the UK gets an extension to the transition period by the end of this month, the UK will be faced with a less-than-perfect trade deal with the EU or no deal at all. Extending the transition period would give us the time to get the best deal for Britain, give businesses time to adjust and give the NHS and our local emergency services time to recover. It’s ridiculous that the government is trying to deal with two crises at once. Please have a word with your party colleagues
