Brexit rallying call to Nailsea

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North Somerset MP Liam Fox gave his ‘state of the Union’ address to a Brexit rally at Nailsea on Saturday.

A leading light in the ‘out’ campaign this was the third of five North Somerset rallies about the European Referendum Dr Fox is addressing.

The unforeseen clash with the FA cup final and the torrential downpour saw the audience numbers halved from the Clevedon date with approximately 60 people at the Scotch Horn leisure centre meeting.

Dr Fox maintained throughout his speech that he was ‘in favour of Europe’ but against the European Union which he saw as an unelected body of money wasters.

He said: “This is the most important decision anyone can make politically in our lifetimes.

“I want to leave the European Union for three reasons, I want to have control of the laws under which I live, I want to have control of the borders of my country and I want to have control over the money spent in my name.”

He cited the £350 million a week that the EU costs UK taxpayers.

Dr Fox then gave a brief outline of the history of the EU which was set up in the 1950s to stop further wars but has since become an outdated concept which is leadling to ‘a super national state’ with a single army, single currency and single legislative body.

The opinion of the late Margaret Thatcher was voiced at the meeting and he told of the many high-powered media interviews he has been briefing.

Dr Fox dammed the scaremongering of the ‘yes’ campaign and the intervention of US president Barack Obama for saying Britain would go to ‘back of the queue’ for a trade agreement which wasn’t the case during World War 2, Iraq or Afghanistan, he said.

Currently we don’t have bilateral treaty with our single biggest trading partner the United States, said Dr Fox.

Leaving the EU didn’t mean giving up our permanent seat on the United Nations security council or other important European or world bodies, he said dismissing the idea we ‘would be a poor sad little country if the EU isn’t there to hold our hand’.

He said it was like living in ‘an Alice in Wonderland parallel universe’ the topsy-turvy hopes then fears of inflation/deflation and falling/rising house prices.

Why does the Bank of England governor Mark Carney say membership of the EU is vital for economic well-being when we have the best employment figures especially for youth compared with member states? Dr Fox asked.

He said: “Yes, there are risks on leaving but please understand the risks of staying.”

Political tensions in Europe are leading to the rise of extreme views.

He added: “The best business to be in at this moment in Europe is selling barbed wire…if we leave the EU it will make the old men of Brussels think again.”

Of the handful of people who spoke during the Q&A session surprisingly the majority were in favour of staying in the EU including a former Nailsea School student who now works in commerce in Brussels.

Dr Fox holds his next rallies at Portishead and Weston-super-Mare on Saturday, June 11.

Voting is on Thursday, June 23.

The debate on leaving the EU is dividing people across political parties and even familes.

Wells MP James Heappey admitted on national television he hadn't even told his mother North Someret ward councillor for Nailsea Anne which side he is backing although he has made up his mind.

To view One Minute Fox the latest video by our MP on how to vote click below.