Happy non-denominational winter holiday of your choice

It's getting late on Christmas Eve and it's time for a few days off.

Here's hoping you have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukkah, Cool Yule, Special Solstice and Crazy Kwanzaa.

We'll be back in a few days.

Berlin lorry attacker shot dead by Italian police

Anis Amri, the man Tunisian behind the lorry attack on a Christmas market in Berlin, has been shot dead in Milan today.

Amri managed to travel undetected across Germany and through France and Switzerland to get to Italy thanks to the EU's open borders. He was eventually found in Milan where he got involved in a shootout with police and was shot dead by a newly qualified police officer.

Pictures of Amri have been published in Italian media showing him arriving in Italy posing as an asylum seeker in 2011. Shortly after arriving in Italy he burnt down a school and immigration reception centre and was locked up for 4 years. After being released from prison he wasn't deported but allowed to make his way to Germany where he was put on a danger list of suspected terrorists. He was arrested 3 times this year on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack but still wasn't deported.

Within minutes of being shot dead in Milan photos of his dead body were published in Italian media. A video of him pledging allegiance to ISIS was released by the group earlier today.

Manhunt for Tunisian asylum seeker thought to be behind Berlin lorry attack

German police have launched an international manhunt for a Tunisian asylum seeker who they believe was behind the lorry attack on a Christmas market in Berlin this week.

A Pakistani asylum seeker was initially arrested but found to have had no involvement in the attack. Tunisian Anis Amri's ID was found under the seat of the truck that was used to drive through crowds of people at Berlin's Breitscheidplatz Christmas market on Monday.

Amri came to Europe posing as a refugee and spent 4 years in an Italian jail for burning down a school. Whilst in prison in Italy he was convicted in his absence of aggravated theft with violence in Tunisia and sentenced to 5 years in prison there. Instead of being deported he was allowed to make his way to Germany where he unsuccessfully applied for asylum. He was put on a danger list of suspected terrorists and arrested three times this year on suspicion of planning terrorist attacks but was released every time.

Amri's German ID card was issued near the Dutch and Belgian border and a manhunt is underway in that region. The EU's open borders mean that he could be anywhere, passing undetected between countries to escape detection. There has been no mention of a link between Brussels and Amri but Belgian anti-terrorist police raided one of the Islamic districts of Brussels at the time the attack took place which strongly suggests there may be a link.

Angela Merkel has laid a rose at the scene of the attack but has still not taken responsibility for inviting terrorists into Germany.

Head of IMF escapes unpunished after being convicted of negligence over €404m fraud

Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the discredited International Monetary Fund, has been convicted of negligence related to fraudulent payments to a French businessman when she was French Finance Minister.

Lagarde failed to block fraudulent compensation payments of €404m to French businessman and former City Affairs Minister, Bernard Tapie, whilst serving as Finance Minister. This was judged to be an abuse of power by Lagarde and Tapie was ordered to return the money with interest. Tapie has a chequered past having been caught match fixing whilst president of Olympique de Marseille football club, convicted of corruption and subordination of witnesses and being banned from political office after being made personally bankrupt.

Although Lagarde has been convicted of negligently allowing hundreds of millions of €uro of fraudulent payments to be made to a former colleague she won't be punished after the court ruled that no criminal offence had been committed.

Berlin lorry attack death toll rises to 12, driver was a Pakistani asylum seeker

The presumed terrorist attack on a Christmas market in Germany last night has left 12 people dead and 48 injured according to official sources.

German police have described the incident as "a probable attack" and have confirmed that the passenger in the truck was Polish whilst news outlets are reporting that the driver was an asylum seeker from Pakistan who arrived in Germany in February.

The lorry belongs to a Polish delivery company, Ariel. The company said that they lost contact with the driver - a cousin of the owner of the company - at around 3pm GMT after he was turned away from his destination. They believe he may have been hijacked and that the passenger is their driver.

The American government have described it as a probable terrorist attack whilst Donald Trump - who was last night confirmed as the next president by the Electoral College - has been less equivocal and blamed it on Islamic terrorism.

The question on many peoples' lips isn't how or why did this happen because we already know the answer, but what more has to happen in Germany before the German people say enough is enough and force Merkel to stop facilitating the import of terrorism into Europe? ISIS are quite open about the use of the mass immigration of Africans, Arabs and Asians into Europe as a means of getting their people into Europe to carry out terrorist attacks and while the policy of European governments is to allow them in rather than facilitating them remaining safely in their own country we will all come under increasing threat from terrorism.

This disturbing incident highlights why it is increasingly important not to accept free movement of people with the EU as part of our exit negotiations. We must be able to control our borders and prevent the terrorists being invited into the continent from making their way here.

Russian ambassador shot dead in Ankara, truck driven into Christmas market in Berlin

The Russian ambassador to Turkey was shot dead earlier this evening in an Ankara art gallery by a gunman shouting Allahu Akbar.

Warning: video shows Andrey Karlov being shot.

Rusya Büyükelçisini vuran kişi: "Beldelerimiz güvende olmadıkça sizler güvenliği tadamayacaksınız, Halep'i Suriye'yi unutmayın." pic.twitter.com/tysdMO8LKG

— 140journos (@140journos) December 19, 2016

A short while ago, Belgian police put the Schaerbeek district of Brussels into lockdown while they carried out a security operation.

At around the same time, a lorry was driven into a Christmas market in Breitscheidplatz in Berlin killing at least 9 people and injuring at least 50 more according to social media reports.

Un camion a foncé dans la foule #MarcheDeNoel à #Breitscheidplatz à #Berlin Plusieurs morts et blessés #Allemagne
Chauffeur en fuite pic.twitter.com/AkhvO1vVYC

— ~Virginie (@virgini_c) December 19, 2016

On Friday 200 SAS troops carried out undercover public protection operations in key cities in the UK in response to intelligence from MI5 suggesting an attack was imminent.

Farage receives 5 death threats a week

In the two weeks since Paul Nuttal took over as leader Nigel Farage has received 10 death threats, he has told the BBC.

Despite no longer being leader he can't leave home without security because of the threats to his safety from the "progressive" left who think violence is an acceptable way of challenging those they disagree with. His security costs have to be paid for privately as the police refuse to provide him with the protection that other at-risk politicians receive.

The Labour leader of Bolton City Council has angrily defended his decision to use emergency powers to give £300k of public money to a firm of solicitors when confronted by a journalist.

Cllr Clifford Morris used emergency powers to bypass a council vote and make the £300k donation to Asons solicitors to pay for refurbishments to their offices. The firm owns the building which features a pool table, football table and smart TV in every room and their owner, Dr Imran Akram, has boasted on Twitter of buying his 6th Lamborghini in 4 years.

When confronted by a reported for Granada News, Cllr Morris claimed that he had done nothing wrong and would not be standing down. The leader of the UKIP group, Cllr Sean Hornby, has been joined by the Lib Dems and trade unions in calling for Cllr Morris to resign.

Sajid Javid's oath of Britishness could prevent me being a councillor

Originally posted on Stuart Parr for Brookside



Sajid Javid MP, the Communities Secretary, has proposed that all public office holders should have to swear an oath of allegiance to British values.

Local government and civil service is devolved so Javid is the Communities Secretary for England, not Britain. That means that if his proposals become law it will only apply in England and only people in England will have to pledge an oath of Britishness.

I consider myself English, not British and was a director and patron of the Campaign for an English Parliament until a few years ago. I would never make any pledge of Britishness but in the future that might find me and others banned from being a councillor. Is it really reasonable to expect people who don't have a British identity - SNP and Plaid councillors and MPs, people who identify as English, for example - to pledge allegiance to something they don't believe in?

If Javid really wants to promote community cohesion then he should stop trying to impose a one-size-fits-all Britishness on an unwilling population and end the divisive doctrine of multiculturalism. Acceptance isn't something that people can be forced into with laws.

Unemployment down again, Project Fear try to spin it negatively

Unemployment has decreased by a further 16,000 since July and remains at its lowest rate for a decade in the latest figures released by the Office for National Statistics.

The Guardian have added together the number of unemployed people and the number who aren't working or looking for work to contrive a 6,000 increase in unemployment and claiming it is a sign that the economy is slowing down because of Brexit. They've even rolled out their fellow Project Fear propaganda merchants, the CBI, to back them up.

During the same 3 month period that unemployment has gone down by 16,000, net immigration will have been around 84,000. That's also about the same number of people who came here in the last 12 months looking for work so from that we can infer that about a quarter of net immigration is unemployed people, or about 21,000 net unemployed immigrants in the last quarter. That means a real terms, net increase of about 37,000 jobs in the last 3 months.

The CBI knows this, of course, which is why they chose to gloss over the employment figures and criticise the 2.6% increase in average salaries which is higher than they predicted. The CBI says this is hitting works in the pocket despite inflation currently sitting at 1.2%, less than half the average increase in earnings.

The British Chambers of Commerce, which was officially neutral on the EU referendum but sacked its Chief Executive for privately expressing support for Brexit, has also chimed in to predict that unemployment will increase to 5.5% by early 2018 despite being on a downward trend throughout the period of uncertainty caused by the lack of planning for a Brexit vote.

Project Fear's "experts" have been getting it wrong for so long it's a wonder they're given any credibility whatsoever but with so much of the establishment media having staked their reputations on things going horribly wrong it's understandable that they're desperate for anything they can spin negatively to vindicate their discredited position on Brexit.

Lidl announces £1.5bn investment in post-Brexit UK

Discount supermarket chain, Lidl, is planning to open 250 new stores in London as part of a £1.5bn investment plan in the UK.

Lidl's investment plans include new stores across the UK, a new headquarters in Kingston and a recently opened new distribution centre in Southampton. The German supermarket already employs 19,000 people in the UK and will be increasing that number significantly.

With the unemployment rate at record lows and billions of pounds of new investment announced since the Brexit vote, it's time for Project Fear to apologies for their scaremongering and lies during and since the referendum campaign.

EU TALKING ABOUT BREXIT WITHOUT OUR INCLUSION. Open letter

Letter to those who are in control of our BREXIT:



Today the 27 member states that will be left in the EU have decided to hold a dinner and chat about BREXIT with out the PM present.

BREXIT is about Britain so we should be there to hear plans and other stupidities they are going to threaten us with.

My opinion is that they are blinkered in their hatred of the British people and our Democratic voice.

We hold all the cards.

Why you may ask.

Well.......

We can repeal the European Communities Act.
Tariffs are reciprocal under WTO trade rules and we have a trade surplus that is in our favour.
European Industries will not want high costs to trade with us.
Getting rid of the ECA would nullify all treaties signed since.
We have 27 other countries world wide that want to free trade with us.
Europe will have to come on board or be made to look petty.

The single market is not free trade. We pay to be in it and in the customs union via membership fees.

Plus Junker is on the back foot as the people of Europe are speaking out against the EU so just wants to try and punish us.

He has egg on his face no matter what happens.

So my opinion is that we should tell them to go ahead with their vendetta because it will harm the EU more than us.

Just repealing one ACT would make us quids in.

Remember this is just my opinion so please discuss your views on relevant social media platforms.

Jamie

Manchester Tory councillor arrested for child porn offences

A Conservative councillor and PPC in Manchester has been arrested for child pornography offences.

Cllr Matthew Sephton was Conservative PPC for Manchester Central in the last election and a former chairman of LGBTory. He has been suspended from his job as a primary school teacher and from the Conservative Party.

Despite being arrested yesterday there has been very little mention of it in the press.and certainly none of the rolling 24 hours news and front page headlines you'd expect if he was a UKIPper.

Aston Martin invests £200m in car manufacturing plant in Wales

Aston Martin is the latest company to make a significant investment in the UK since the EU referendum with a £200m investment in a new factory in St Athan in Wales.

The new factory in one of the MOD super-hangers in St Athan will be used to produce the company's new DBX model from 2020 and create 750 jobs.

We were promised a global economic apocalypse and an exodus of businesses from the UK if we voted for Brexit yet they seem to be falling over themselves to invest in our future.

Managing Director of Scottish Power Renewables wishes Nigel Farage dead

The leader of the UKIP group on Great Yarmouth Borough Council has demanded an apology from Scottish Power after the Managing Director of their Renewables division told a meeting of local councillors and businessmen that he was disappointed Nigel Farage hadn't died this year.

Scottish Power Renewables' MD, Jonathan Cole, paid tribute to the famous people who have died during 2016 and went on to say that unfortunately the list didn't include Nigel Farage.

Cllr Kay Grey, the UKIP leader in Great Yarmouth, walked out of the meeting in disgust and has demanded an apology. A spokesman for Scottish Power said that it was a joke.

Softbank headquarters $100bn investment fund in London

Japanese conglomerate, Softbank Group, has announced that it is headquartering its new $100bn technology investment fund in London.

Softbank is the 165th largest public company in the world and has its fingers in many pies including internet, telecoms, microchips, media and finance. The decision to move the high tech fund to London is another vote of confidence in post-Brexit UK.

Disqualified Dudley Labour councillor charged with possessing child porn

A Labour councillor in Dudley who lost his seat earlier this year after failing to turn up to a meeting for 6 months has been charged with possession of child porn.

Derrick Hemingsley was first arrested in November last year and released on bail pending an investigation. He was suspended by the Labour Party but refused to give up his council seat, pocketing around £4,700 in allowances before he was disqualified.

He will appear before magistrates in Walsall in January.

McDonalds moving non-US business to UK

McDonalds is moving its tax domicile from Luxembourg to London under a new holding company that will manage its non-US licensing deals.

This week the EU Commission launched a formal investigation into a tax deal between the Luxembourg government and McDonalds which allows the company to pay an effective corporation tax rate of 0%. The Commission has already decided they're guilty, they're just looking for the "evidence" to justify the fines that they'll want to impose.

When the EU Commission is in open economic warfare with the US it's hardly surprising that the American companies the EU is targeting want to escape their jurisdiction.

Article 50 case - The Final Day

Today is the fourth and final day of the Supreme Court hearing over whether or not the Government has the ability to Trigger Article 50 of The Lisbon Treaty to start the procedure to leave the European Union or whether it has to go to a Parliamentary vote.

The Government argue that they do not need to have a vote and can use The UK Royal Prerogative in light of the Leave vote at the referendum on 23rd June, a position that the High Court has already rejected.

The case, brought by Gina Miller, argues that Parliamentary Democracy needs to be upheld and as such the Government should be accountable – indeed, she has painted herself as somebody who is fighting for our democracy.

With that in mind, it is worth both Ms Miller and the judges looking at the following instances pertaining to the European Union –

1972 – UK Prime Minister Edward Heath used the RP to sign the treaty for the UK to join the European Economic Community (Common Market) without prior UK Parliament approval

1987 – UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher used RP to sign the Single European Act without prior UK Parliament Approval

1992 – Prime Minister John Major used the RP to sign the Maastricht Treaty without prior UK Parliament approval

1997 – Prime Minister Tony Blair used the RP to sign the Amsterdam Treaty without prior UK Parliament approval

2007 – Prime Minister Gordon Brown used the RP to sign the Lisbon Treaty without UK Parliament approval

2016 – November 3rd – UK High Court decides that Prime Minister Theresa May cannot use the RP to enact Article 50 – withdrawal from the European Union – without prior approval of the UK Parliament

Surely, ‘Stare Decisis’ should come in to play – the legal principle of determining points in litigation according to precedent. Indeed, many find it puzzling that the High Court did not come to this conclusion during the original case although , as highly qualified and respected Judges, they must have had their reasons.

It also begs the question – why are these ‘Champions of Democracy’ only acting now when Parliament has been bypassed using the legislation on previous occasions pertaining to the EU? Is it because this time they do not like the potential outcome?

However, last night saw a Parliamentary vote on the Government’s timetable for activation of Article 50 and came down heavily on the side of the motion by 461 votes to 89 – irrespective of the outcome of the case they now have the Parliamentary approval to push ahead, although worryingly they accepted a Labour amendment to the motion saying that Parliament would need to be informed of the details, effectively tipping our hand in negotiations with Brussels.

The Charade of Article 50

Whilst the High Court and Supreme Court cases, plus the Parliamentary vote itself, have produced hours of media coverage and masses of newsprint, this whole charade misses a major essential point.

Article 50 was put in to The Lisbon Treaty as a mechanism that was never supposed to be used. The Government only need to send a quick fax or letter to Brussels informing them that they wish to leave to trigger the proposed 2 year ‘negotiation’ period. During this ‘negotiation’, the remaining 27 member states decide what terms they wish to trade with us under upon departure – our own team can make suggestions but will not be involved in those negotiations. Effectively, we will be twiddling our thumbs waiting for what the EU deign to come back and give us.

If the Government do get their ‘deal or no deal’ at the end of the two years then it has to come back to Parliament to repeal the 1972 European Communities Act which took us in to the ‘Common Market’ (as it was then) in the first place.

If the Government genuinely want us to Leave with the best deal possible, they could impose a three line whip to repeal the Act now and negotiate afterwards from a position of strength. After all, in the worst case scenario we go back to WTO rules immediately which would cost the country half of what our EU membership does at the moment even if maximum legal tariffs were imposed – those tariffs, as a net importer from the EU, would harm them far more than they would harm a globally trading, outward looking and independent Britain.

We have nothing to lose and everything to gain by ignoring Article 50 and triggering repeal of the 1972 European Communities Act. The question is, does this Conservative Government really want to give the people what they voted for or do they wish to fudge and delay either to a watered down version where we remain in the European Economic Area (EEA) with continued payments to and regulation from the EU or even, dare I say it, a second referendum? If so, history and the ballot box will not be kind.

The Road to Freedom

If you would like further information on how we should leave the EU, we would highly recommend Gerard Batten MEP’s book, ‘The Road to Freedom’ – this can be purchased via the following link

http://www.bretwaldabooks.com/book.php?p=221

SNP Transport Minister caught driving without insurance

The Scottish Transport Minister has been caught driving without insurance.

SNP MP Humza Yousaf was stopped by police for a routine check whilst driving a friend's car when it was discovered that he was not insured to drive any car other than his own.

Yousaf claims that after splitting up from his wife he forgot to transfer her insurance policy into his name so that he was the main driver and thus able to drive any other vehicle. He says he will accept any punishment from the courts for the offence which is very magnanimous of him as the courts will no doubt take a dim view of the Transport Minister committing a serious motoring offence.

Lib Dems fined £20k and reported to police over £184,676 of fraudulent expenditure

The Lib Dems have been hit with the maximum £20k fine for making false expenditure declarations totalling £184,676.

An Electoral Commission found 307 items of expenditure from last year's general election we fraudulently split between local and national campaigns. They consider the offence so serious that they have also reported the party to the Metropolitan Police to consider criminal charges.

The Electoral Commission is also calling on the British government to give them more powers as they rightly point out that a £20k fine is peanuts when parties are spending millions on election campaigns. The Electoral Commission should be able to impose larger fines, recover fraudulent expenditure and issue court proceedings itself, including petitions to nullify election results. It is ridiculous that the body responsible for ensuring elections are free, fair and not corrupt is basically powerless to prevent corrupt practices.

MPs vote to trigger Article 50 in March

MPs have voted to respect the British government's timetable for Brexit in a compromise deal that saw the Conservatives vote for a Labour motion that Parliament will get to scrutinise any proposed deal with the EU in exchange for Labour voting for a Conservative amendment that says Article 50 will be triggered by March next year.

Although both sides are claiming it as a victory and a compromise it is really a capitulation by Labour. Any proposed deal with the EU would have gone before Parliament anyway because it would require primary legislation to transpose any treaty into domestic law and it would, by necessity, need to be discussed in parliament beforehand to ensure the primary legislation could be enacted and not delay any treaty ratification.

Assuming the Supreme Court throws out the ridiculous Scottish and Northern Irish claims to be able to veto Brexit tonight's vote pretty much nullifies the High Court judgement obtained by anti-democracy campaigner, Gina Miller as Parliament has consented to the government taking us out of the EU.

In the end 89 MPs voted against respecting the outcome of the EU referendum including all SNP MPs and the sole Green. Only one Conservative - Ken Clarke - voted against the motion.

Here are the MPs who voted to ignore our votes:

Candidate	Party
Ken Clarke	Conservatives
Rushanara Ali	Labour
Graham Allen	Labour
Ben Bradshaw	Labour
Ann Coffey	Labour
Neil Coyle	Labour
Stella Creasy	Labour
Geraint Davies	Labour
Jim Dowd	Labour
Louise Ellman	Labour
Chris Evans	Labour
Paul Farrelly	Labour
Mike Gapes	Labour
Helen Hayes	Labour
Meg Hillier	Labour
Peter Kyle	Labour
David Lammy	Labour
Chris Leslie	Labour
Ian Murray	Labour
Barry Sheerman	Labour
Tulip Siddiq	Labour
Angela Smith	Labour
Catherine West	Labour
Daniel Zeichner	Labour
Alistair Carmichael	Lib Dems
Nick Clegg	Lib Dems
Tim Farron	Lib Dems
Sarah Olney	Lib Dems
Mark Williams	Lib Dems
Caroline Lucas	Greens
Mark Durkan	SDLP
Alasdair McDonnell	SDLP
Margaret Ritchie	SDLP
Natalie McGarry	Independent
Michelle Thomson	Independent
Jonathan Edwards	Plaid Cymru
Liz Saville Roberts	Plaid Cymru
Hywel Williams	Plaid Cymru
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh	SNP
Hannah Bardell	SNP
Mhairi Black	SNP
Ian Blackford	SNP
Kirsty Blackman	SNP
Philip Boswell	SNP
Deidre Brock	SNP
Alan Brown	SNP
Lisa Cameron	SNP
Douglas Chapman	SNP
Joanna Cherry	SNP
Ronnie Cowan	SNP
Angela Crawley	SNP
Martyn Day	SNP
Martin Docherty-Hughes	SNP
Stuart Blair Donaldson	SNP
Marion Fellows	SNP
Margaret Ferrier	SNP
Stephen Gethins	SNP
Patricia Gibson	SNP
Patrick Grady	SNP
Peter Grant	SNP
Neil Gray	SNP
Drew Hendry	SNP
Stewart Hosie	SNP
George Kerevan	SNP
Calum Kerr	SNP
Chris Law	SNP
Angus MacNeil	SNP
John Mc Nally	SNP
Callum McCaig	SNP
Stuart McDonald	SNP
Anne McLaughlin	SNP
Carol Monaghan	SNP
Paul Monaghan	SNP
Roger Mullin	SNP
Gavin Newlands	SNP
John Nicolson	SNP
Brendan O'Hara	SNP
Kirsten Oswald	SNP
Steven Paterson	SNP
Angus Robertson	SNP
Alex Salmond	SNP
Tommy Sheppard	SNP
Chris Stephens	SNP
Alison Thewliss	SNP
Mike Weir	SNP
Eilidh Whiteford	SNP
Philippa Whitford	SNP
Corri Wilson	SNP
Pete Wishart	SNP

Immigration reaches another record high

The Office for National Statistics has released some inconvenient figures for the British government as immigration continues to spiral out of control.

In the latest set of figures for the 12 months to June 2016 net immigration was running at 335k, almost half of which was EU immigration. Gross immigration for the same period was 650k, again with almost half coming from the EU alone. A quarter of all EU immigration came from Bulgaria and Romania, proving Nigel Farage's warnings right.


NET IMMIGRATION

335,000 net immigration
189,000 from the EU
196,000 non-EU
82,000 EU immigrants arrived looking for work
54,000 Romanians



GROSS IMMIGRATION

650,000 gross immigration
384,000 from the EU
289,000 non-EU
130,000 immigrants arrived looking for work



NATIONAL INSURANCE

924,000 NINo numbers requested by immigrants
629,000 for EU citizens
195,000 for non-EU citizens



EFFECT ON LABOUR FORCE

454,000 more people in work between July and September
47% UK citizens
49% EU citizens
4% non-EU citizens
25% of EU immigrants were from Bulgaria and Romania

Supreme Court appeal against High Court Brexit judgment starts today

The Supreme Court is hearing the British government's appeal against a High Court judgement obtained by anti-democracy campaigner, Gina Miller, that parliament should have to vote to start proceedings to leave the EU.

David Cameron said that he was going to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty immediately if we voted to Leave but perhaps seeing an opportunity to drag things out he resigned instead leaving the whole process open to vexatious legal challenges. Theresa May - another Remain campaigner - has continued the prevarication, eventually allowing the process to be challenged in the courts.

The hearing will take place over the next four days with judgement expected in the new year. But that is unlikely to be the end of it because the Supreme Court is not, in fact, supreme. Ironically, the ultimate authority on if, how and when we leave the EU is the EU courts. If that doesn't underline the extent to which successive British governments have given away our sovereignty then what does?

You can watch the proceedings live on the BBC website.

Italians vote down constitutional reforms, Renzi resigns

The Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, has resigned after Italians voted against his constitutional reforms by a wide margin.

Renzi had wanted to change the constitution to take most of the power away from the senate and hand it to the central government and to replace the directly elected members of the senate with appointments from regional assemblies. It would have made the Prime Minister and his government very powerful and upset the careful balance established by the post-facist era constitution whilst establishing the primacy of EU law in the Italian constitution. It's all a bit Blairite but that's hardly surprising as he has been compared to Blair since first rising to the top of the Italian Democratic Party.

With most polls counted the country is divided roughly 60/40 against the proposed constitutional changes on a 70% turnout and Renzi conceded defeat this morning. The Five Star Movement - UKIP's main partner in the EFDD group in the EU Parliament - is putting itself on a war footing in preparation for early elections next year but it is likely that the President (himself a member of the Italian Democratic Party) will appoint a caretaker government instead.

Italy's debt to GDP ratio is 133% which is second only to Greece amongst €urozone economies, their banks are teetering on the brink of collapse and unemployment is through the roof. This is a major cause for concern in the €urozone given that Italy is their third largest economy.