To Booing in the EU Parliament:
| Nigel Farage: Well, thank you Mr Schultz. Isn’t it funny? You know, when I came here seventeen years ago, and I said that I wanted to lead a campaign to get Britain to leave the European Union, you all laughed at me. Well, I have to say, you’re not laughing now, are you? The reason you’re so upset, the reason you’re so angry, has been perfectly clear from all the angry exchanges this morning. You, as a political project, are in denial. You’re in denial that your currency is failing. You’re in denial … Well, just look at the Mediterranean. No, no, no. As a policy to impose poverty on Greece and the rest of the Mediterranean you’ve done very well, and you’re in denial over Mrs Merkel, or Mrs Merkel’s call last year for as many people as possible to cross the Mediterranean into the European Union has led to massive divisions between countries and within countries. The biggest problem you’ve got, and the reason, the main reason the United Kingdom voted the way that it did, is because you have by stealth, by deception, without ever telling the truth to the British, or the rest of the peoples of Europe, you’ve imposed on them a political union. You’ve imposed upon them a political union. | ||
| When the people in 2005 in the Netherlands and France voted against that political union, when they rejected the constitution, you simply ignored them and brought the Lisbon treaty in through the back door. What happened last Thursday was a remarkable result, it was indeed a seismic result, just just for British politics, for European politics, but perhaps even for global politics too. Because what the little people did, all the ordinary people did, what the people who have been oppressed over the last few years and seen their living standards go down, they rejected the multinationals. They rejected the merchant banks, they rejected big politics, and they said, “Actually, we want our country back. We want our fishing waters back, we want our borders back. We want to be an independent, self governing, normal nation.” That is what we have done, and that is what must happen.
So the question, the questions is, what do we do next? Now, it’s up to the British Government to invoke Article 50, and I have to say, that I don’t think we should spend too long in doing it. I totally agree with Mr. Juncker. The British people have voted. We need to make sure that it happens, but what I would like to see, is a grown up and sensible attitude to how we negotiate a different relationship. Now, I know, I know that virtually none of you have ever done a proper job in your lives, or worked in business, or worked in trade, or indeed ever created a job, but listen, just listen –
Nigel Farage: You’re quite, sir, you’re quite right, Mr. Schulz. UKIP used to protest against the establishment, and now the establishment protests against UKIP – so something has happened here. Let us listen to some simple pragmatic economics. We, between us, between your countries and my country, we do an enormous amount of business in goods and services. That trade is mutually beneficial to both of us. That trade matters. If you were to decide to cut off your noses to spite your faces, and to reject any idea of a sensible trade deal, the consequences would be far worse for you than it would be for us, and I, even no deal is better for the United Kingdom than the current rotten deal that we’ve got. But, if we were to move to a position where tariffs were re-introduced on products like motor cars, then hundreds of thousands of German workers would risk losing their jobs, so why don’t we just be pragmatic, sensible, grown up, realistic, and let’s cut between us, let’s cut between us a sensible tariff free deal and thereafter, and thereafter, recognize that the United Kingdom will be your friend. That we will trade with you, we will cooperate with you, we will be your best friends in the World, but do that, do it sensibly and allow us to go off and pursue our global ambitions in future. Thank you. |
