The long march to #Brexit : Part One

When I was an ten year old kid back in 1974 I got a first inkling that my country becoming a member of an international club might have some downsides. One evening, I overheard my Grandfather, a veteran of two world wars, and my Dad, an engineer, discussing ‘the common market’. They both had misgivings about it being ‘the thin end of the wedge’. I don’t recall many of the details, but the following year during the referendum campaign, I chose to wear an ugly yellow pin badge handed out by local Labour party campaigners which said ‘NO’ on it in black block capitals. My sister chose the pretty white badge with the flying dove carrying an olive branch on it which said ‘YES’; a much more positive message from that nice Mr Heath.

By the age of twenty, I was far too busy riding fast motorcycles, courting young ladies and climbing mountains to be interested in international politics. It wasn’t until I joined the Motorcycle Action Group that I learned about the increasing amounts of bureaucratic regulation emanating from Brussels which was affecting our lifestyle. This reached a head in 1992 when the Brussels commissioners sent a raft of new legislation called the ‘Vehicle Multi-directive’ to the European parliament for rubber stamping.

Buried in its hundreds of pages were new regulations which outlaw motorcycles over 100bhp, stop us tuning our carburettors, and force us to use whatever tyres we were told to. With the help of a motorcycling MEP we got the parliament to vote down the offending sections. Six months later the Brussels commissioners sent the legislation back to the parliament unchanged, and this time, the parliament rubber stamped it, because they never oppose the commission twice on the same issue. So much for EU democracy.

Being bikers, we organised a trip to go and discuss the matter with the EU commissioners directly, and one sunny Saturday some weeks later 35,000 bikers rode into Brussels and brought the city to a standstill.

We told the commissioners that if they didn’t ditch the anti-biker provisions, we’d be back to have the same argument once a month, every month, forever. They blinked, removed the offending provisions, and learned the lesson that with strong constituencies like the bikers, they’d have to introduce their diktat slowly, one little new regulation at a time. They’ve been doing it ever since, and have successfully reduced motorcycle use by making it tortuously difficult, agonisingly time consuming and eye-wateringly expensive to get on the road on any bike making more than 37 horsepower. Youngsters these days find it far easier to pass a car test and get straight into the hot-hatch of their choice.

In part two, I’ll recount the tale of the 2011 Lisbon climate conference and how the EU finally convinced me I’d have to get involved in politics, stand up for my country, and help get us out.

In the meantime, check out this website, and support us if you can. We’re going to march from Sunderland on the 16th and arrive in Westminster on the 29th to have the law upheld and leave the EU.