Croydon South Tory MP Chris Philp is to take part in a debate on Britain’s Brexit future.
Organised by the Coulsdon and Purley Debating Society, the event is being held on Wednesday, April 5 at the Coulsdon Day Centre.
Philp will be proposing: “This House is optimistic about our prospects after leaving the EU.” Ha! The debate had been due to be staged in January, but was postponed because of bad weather. Every passing day seems to make Philp’s loyal party “optimism” even more misguided.
Opposing the motion will be Labour councillor Andrew Pelling.
The debate will begin at 8pm at Grange Park, Coulsdon Road, Old Coulsdon, CR5 1EH.
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Andrew Pelling used to be, of course, the champion Conservative MP in Croydon, then he fell out of favour and decided that Waddon and the Labour Party would give him a better chance, having failed as an independent. Presumably he thing we woukld have been better off without BREXIT?
This is not about Conservative or Labour. I am a Conservative and I voted to remain in the EU. This debate is about Britain’s future after Brexit.
Both Conservative MPs in Croydon voted Remain and are now supporting the government’s position on Brexit. Ken Clark MP is the only Conservtaive MP to vote remain and oppose the government.
Though Mr.Pelling is not an MP (Conservative or Labour) he has always been and will be (I hope so) on the Remain side.
Though some Conservative members think that the party is the Brexit party, sadly the party is acting like a Brexit party with many members who still want to remain in the EU.
I hope grown up people can debate about the serious issues Britain is going to face after the article 50 is triggered and not about the people who are debating.
Although a “Remainer”, now that the Brexit decision has been made, I think we “Remainers” all need to stop crying over spilled milk, and urgently get on with looking at how Britain should use the new freedoms, and also take action to do the right thing……. the caring, British thing. For we are on the whole, one of the most caring nations in the world. We should be proud of that, and do our best to become even more caring. And that means English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish, Manx and Cornish.!
Here are two caring topics which we need to get right,
One of the top topics, surely, must be the Environment, and in particular the crying need for legislation to minimise / stop use of non -recyclable and non-biodegradable packaging. Britain–and the wider world– as we all know is drowning under an ocean of plastic, which is now becoming embedded into the flesh of fish and shell fish, in the form of micro-plastics. Yet the current situation whereby more and more UK supermarket produce is wrapped in plastic film is a national eco-disgrace. I wrote to my normal supermarket recently to ask which store I could take my clean polythene wrappings from pears, apples and other clean foods, so they can recycle it?. Answer–none. Sad response. But surely, now we are Brexiting, we can and should work out national policies to deal with this use of non recyclables, Thousands of tonnes every year. If it ain’t recycleable or bio-degradeable, surely the answer is to ban it, and substitute it with something that is OK. We need a UK waste and packaging Approval system, in my viw.
Likewise, farm animal welfare. We need clarity as to the way animals are raised, labeling that reflects this, and above all, a set of UK standards, and ideally the banning of battery chickens and raising of pigs in confined spaces on concrete, which is inhumane.
My big worry for our farming is that in an attempt to do a deal with the US, we will end up letting in intensively raised beef from the US . Most of their beef cattle are not raised in extensive ranches on grass, but in in small, fenced, concrete or hard packed soil areas called “feedlots”. This is (1) cheap as a mode of raising cattle (2) bad for the cattle as it stifles their natural behaviour and deprives them of natural grass and exercise (3) ecologically disastrous as the volume of waste is concentrated in small areas (4) unhealthy, for humans and animals, as these cattle are fed antibiotics and mineral supplements which are needed to keep pests at bay.
The EU has protected us against this sort of intensive farming –but will our own post Brexit negotiators really be able to stand up to the US agri-business ?. To let our produce in to the US, they will want theirs to come this way too. But the victims will be our farmers and animal welfare, as their US agri-systems are low on cost and low on animal welfare. Our much more humane systems are less cheap. In the market place, cheap talks loud. Which is why we need to have a rigorous set of quality and welfare standards in place very quickly, to protect our farmers, and their animals’ welfare.
And what about GM foods?
It is not going to be easy, when we are alone and vulnerable. It’s a globally warming, but business wise, a cold new world, we are now entering.
Lewis White