Here’s How 90 – Brexit Implications




Here's How ::: Ireland's Political, Social and Current Affairs Podcast show

Summary: <br> <a href="https://twitter.com/GetBritainOut" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer">Harry Todd</a> is senior research executive at <a href="https://getbritainout.org/" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer">Get Britain Out</a>, previously worked as campaign manager for Conservative Party. He was also the national ground campaign manager for Leave means Leave. <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> I fact-checked some of the things that Harry said in the interview including that the EU required member states to maintain a VAT rate of a minimum of 17 per cent. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/vat-rates" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer">In fact the UK VAT rate is 20 per cent</a>, much higher than the minimum <a href="https://www.avalara.com/vatlive/en/vat-rates/european-vat-rates.html" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer">standard VAT rate that the EU allows, which is 15 per cent</a>. It is the UK government that chooses to set it at a higher rate.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> But that is the minimum standard rate, EU rules also allow member state governments to set lower rates for specific items, as low as 5 per cent, and that female hygiene products can be included in this much reduced rate, and there is a <a href="https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN01128" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer">specific proposal in the works to set this to zero</a>.<br> <br> <br> <br> *****<br> <br> <br> <br> I don’t like knocking<br> other podcasts, particularly other Irish podcasts, but I heard one thing a<br> while back that I’ve been thinking about, and just have to comment. You’ll<br> probably remember the Maria Bailey swing case against the Dean Hotel. The Fine<br> Gael TD sued the hotel because, she claimed, in 2015 she hurt her wrist when<br> she fell off a swing there. It’s clear that she had drink taken at the time,<br> and was holding drinks in both hands, this was confirmed because the hotel had<br> CCTV footage of the incident.<br> <br> <br> <br> However, Bailey<br> claimed that the hotel was negligent because the hotel had not provided staff<br> to supervise her drunken antics. Maria Bailey is certainly an idiot, but there<br> are lots of idiots in Ireland, so that’s not really worth commenting on.<br> <br> <br> <br> In Bailey’s legal<br> submissions she illustrated her injuries by <a href="https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/swingcase-td-maria-bailey-got-ministers-advice-on-claim-38341074.html" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer">claiming that she had not been able<br> to run at all for three months after the fall. In fact she ran a 10k race in<br> less than 54 minutes, a pretty impressive time, less than three weeks after the<br> fall</a>. And on a<br> subsequent interview with Seán O Rourke on RTÉ, she claimed that she had only sued<br> to recover €7,000 to cover medical expenses. In fact, <a href="https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/bailey-originally-sought-20k-from-hotel-in-swing-fall-case-939974.html" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer">she had claimed €20,000 from the<br> hotel</a>. Maria Bailey is<br> certainly a liar, but there are lots of liars in Ireland, and that’s not what I’m<br> focusing on in this podcast.<br> <br> <br> <br> Getting towards what I<br> am interested in here, Bailey is a<br> liar, sadly we expect that of politicians, but sometimes lies have<br> consequences. Bailey lied in the legal submissions she made to take her case.<br> In particular she exaggerated the extent of her injuries, presuming she had any<br> injuries at all, in the statements she gave, obviously to increase the amount<br> or the chances of her getting a payout.<br> <br> <br> <br> That’s a criminal<br> offence.<br> <br> <br> <br> Specifically that is<br> perverting the course of justice. And it’s not some esoteric, technical offence<br> either. Let’s look at our nearest neighbour, particularly because they have<br> pretty much the same law on their books.<br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Aitken" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer">Jonathan Aitken</a>,