Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris
Meanwhile, in the world of facts (as opposed to holiday season Lib Dem press releases), the UK has always been - oho! - crap at maintaining bathing water quality.
While things have vastly improved since the 1980s, by 2016 we were still comfortably below the EU average, despite, err, being in the EU and subject to its regulator. Graphs a-plenty here:
https://evonews.com/life/2017/may/24...-as-excellent/
I’m sorry Andrew but you’re going to have to try a lot harder to convince me that a supra-national body fining UK organisations and then spending the proceeds in the far-flung corners of Europe is a good thing for the UK in the round. Whatever the current failings of our environmental regime, it is, as a matter of democratic principle, a matter for UK politicians who are accountable to the UK electorate. |
I really don't think Andrew is trying to convince you of anything, I suspect that he knows it's a lost cause
Your use of the extravagant vocabulary ("supra-national body", " far-flung corners of Europe") is just distraction. The essential takeaway is that before 2016 we were legally required to maintain EU water quality standards and now with our new found "democratic freedoms", we are not longer made to enforce standards and so we don't.
The ultra-sovereign dogma trotted out when anyone raises the damage leaving the EU is amusing. Before 2016, no one cared about leaving the EU:
Only 1% of Brits cared much about the EU before the 2016 Brexit vote
Quote:
Market research firm Ipsos MORI has surveyed Brits virtually every month for decades to gauge their attitudes to various political issues. And as late as December 2015, just 1% of respondents said that Europe was the most crucial issue facing the country.
These monthly surveys show that apart from vocal Euroskeptics, the UK’s relationship with the EU was far from the most important issue—or even a major one. Before 2016, it was considered significant for generally a single-digit percentage of respondents.
|
The con job sold to the British public was off the chart, remarkable in how so many were persuaded to vote against their best interests. Of course, we always get: "yes but ... sovereignty" wheeled out but you can't eat sovereignty or go swimming in it