The ERG is the sort of group that no one outside Westminster hears about but make no mistake they are a dangerous bunch of extreme right wing idiots numbering about 60 or so. They are Brexiteers in spades and want Brexit as hard and as soon as possible. The group was led at one time by Steve Baker now a junior minister in DEXEU. This should tell us all we need to know about the influence this group has.
Now led by Suella Fernandes MP for Fareham, the groups has no website or official position in the Conservative party but it is claimed that Mrs May and her ministerial team are more likely to listen to them than they are to real people with experience of cutting-edge operations. They have written a letter that is about to be published in a Sunday paper (HERE) this weekend urging the PM to deliver a hard Brexit. They acknowledge a transition period is needed but want to pay nothing into the EU budget or accept ECJ jurisdiction and have the right to sign our own trade deals. Effectively, this rules out any on off the shelf solution like the EEA or EFTA and means leaving without a trade deal would be almost certain.
This secretive group, apparently has very suspicious funding arrangements (HERE) – and what have been described as dubious arrangements with DEXEU minister and former leader, Steve Baker (HERE). They are a party within a party and are hell bent on delivering a hard Brexit regardless of the problems this might cause. The list of members is not known but I assume if the letter is published we may find out who they are. I wonder if Nigel Adams is one of them?
The CEO of Jaguar Land-Rover was on TV yesterday and was asked what it would mean for his company if the UK was to leave the single market and customs union in March 2019. "It would be a disaster", he said. This is what ERG are determined to bring about. One might almost imagine they were funded by a foreign power intent on damaging this country.
