Bruges Group Blog

Project Fear 3.0 has been in full swing since the summer as we approach 31st October 2019, the third date for leaving the EU. The unfortunate citizens of the UK who wish to leave the European Union have been fed wall-to-wall saturation coverage of how terrible Brexit will be. TV stations, newspapers, magazines and social media advertisements contin...

Initially published on 13th September and updated on 26th September  With the Brexit pea soup not looking any clearer whatsoever, Boris Johnson's hopes of an early general election are fading by the minute as I type this and of course Parliament being prorogued from the evening of Monday 9th September until 14th October. It's interesting to se...

It often thought that lobbying, the professional representation of private interests to governments and subsequent attempts to influence policy, was confined to industrial-like political powerhouses of Washington D.C., the capital of the free world, and Brussels, the de facto capital of the European Union. In the US, the currency within lobbying is...

Make no mistake about it, we are at war, and it is one of the dirtiest wars yet fought, in which the truth has been hijacked by the 'Remainers' and twisted to suit their personal agenda. Look at what has happened over the last three years, and especially over the last three months: those who never wanted to leave have stepped up their campaign of l...

Our fight with Brussels does not end on the 31st of October. This wider conflict that Brexit represents is between sovereign nations and supranational organisations, between self-determination and central planning of the most wicked intention. In order to capitalise on our departure, we must first recognise a weakening, Brussels is tightening its g...

We often hear much wailing and doom and gloom from those who, for various personal and mostly self indulgent financial reasons, why we should remain in the EU. These people, who many have big fat EU pensions or receive grants and other hand outs from the EU seem to care little for the democratic will of the British people who, by a majority of 1.4 ...

When the history of Brexit is written, two primary mistakes will stand out. One was the Conservative party's decision to appoint Theresa May as its leader and the country's Prime Minister. The second was by the 27 member states of the EU. They appointed a team of EU federalist fanatics, rather than pragmatists, to negotiate our exit. They saw the n...

In June 2016 a scandalised fellow academic asked me in a London restaurant why I was wearing a Leave badge. To my mention of the woeful lack of democracy in the EU he told me, as he would a backward student, that from my blinkered English position I clearly didn't understand the EU's fierce commitment to democracy. It was, simply a matter of being ...

As I outlined in my last article, my interview with the fantastic Alice Grant, that I am researching why people support Brexit, from all different backgrounds and in this edition of The Brexit Series, I spoke to campaigner and self-proclaimed 'royal superfan' Joseph Afrane. Many of you may have seen Joseph out and about in London and especially aro...

How the Commonwealth can invigorate Brexit Britain and return the UK and her economy to the top of the world and international politics. Brexit Doom-mongers in the media and politics will have you know that once we have left the EU, the UK will be cast away, reliant on a self-obsessed US president and unable to speak with confidence in the world. H...

Over the past three or so years, us Brexiteers have been labelled with all sorts of names such as fascists and racists, among others. There is an ever-growing perception that we are all over 80, own grand estates and are on the far-right wing of the political spectrum; let me tell you we are not! I have spoken to people from all backgroun...

 The following article and above PDF are speeches by Richard Tice MEP for the Brexit Party and also property businessman; Swedish-British billionaire businessman Johan Eliasch who is CEO of sportswear giant Head; Sir John Nott the former Secretary of State for Trade and Industry then Defence under Margaret Thatcher; Peter Lilley the former Sec...

Today we'll know who our next Prime Minister will be, and Wednesday will see the Maybot's last PMQT before she heads off to formally resign to the Queen at Buckingham Palace on the afternoon. No matter who our next PM will be, either Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt, we need to rebuild that special relationship with our closest ally, America.  We'...

The Scottish National Party's minority administration in Edinburgh is trying to contribute to the attempt to foil Brexit and the struggle to achieve sovereignty and independence for the whole of Britain. But it's not doing well… While efforts in the British parliament to halt our exit from the EU are being roundly defeated, pro-EU fervour has conti...

 Sir Austen Chamberlain, speaking about Germany's violation of the Treaty of Locarno, remarked: "It is not so long ago that a member of the Diplomatic Body in London, who had spent some years of his service in China, told me that there was a Chinese curse which took the form of saying, 'May you live in interesting times.' There is no doubt tha...

Having one's cake, eating it - demanding more, and eating that, has long been a feature of the EU Brexit negotiating team. A recent example of their hypocrisy is to be found in the wave of faux outrage over Boris Johnson's threat that if he became PM, he would refuse to pay the £39 billion that Brussels is demanding from us. In terms of the race fo...

Switzerland and the European Union have begun open financial war with each other as the EU tries to force the country to sign the proposed Framework Agreement covering all aspects of the country's relations with the EU. The EU has been forced into a hardball approach to Switzerland because with Brexit still unresolved it cannot afford to be weak. I...

The latest attempt by would-be Brexit wreckers was defeated in Parliament last week. But the job is not yet done. They will try again. We have to keep the pressure on untrustworthy Westminster politicians of whatever party. On 12 June the Labour Party led an attempt to tie the next prime minister's hands by ruling out no deal on leaving the EU. It ...

By now we should have left the EU. Vast swathes of people are incensed. But it is evident that Brexit will only be delivered if the people move to enforce it by neutering an obstructionist parliament. Nothing good will happen until parliament is overwhelmed by the people's desire to leave. Left to its own devices parliament is too much the instrume...

It's become a mantra, endlessly repeated by remainer unions: "Workers must not pay the price of Brexit." What price would that be? And how about acknowledging the price of staying in the EU? On 6 July 2017 Michel Barnier, the EU Brexit negotiator, addressed the EU's Economic and Social Committee. His words were noted and passed on to unions in Brit...

The duty of government is to obey the will of the Nation. To paraphrase that which Professor Dicey said, referring to "the grand principle underlying the conventional precepts of the constitution, in "The Law of the Constitution[i]": "… neither the Crown [which I take to mean the Government] nor any servant of the Crown ever refuses obedience ...

It is uncertain whether the UK will leave the EU on 31st October 2019. Even if we do, there is much work to be done to overturn nearly five decades of EU directives, regulations and rulings which have been imposed on the UK. One of the most egregious examples of such a law is the Climate Change Act 2008. (1) The Climate Change Act implements Direct...

Here is the fantastic Sir John Redwood MP's article first published on Brexit Central (https://brexitcentral.com/a-determined-prime-minister-can-ensure-we-are-out-of-the-eu-by-31st-october/) outlining how the right man can take us out of the EU by 31st October.  For too long we have witnessed this Parliament trying to delay or dilute Brexit. T...

Where Unemployment Really Is Before the referendum in 2016 we were told by George Osborne and the Treasury, among others, that 820,000 jobs alone would be lost as a consequence of a Leave vote, causing "an immediate economic shock" but here we are over three years later and unemployment is at its lowest for over 40 years. Those figures published by...

As the Conservatives elect their replacement for Theresa May over the summer, it's worth looking back to see how crucial it is for a leader that is in line with grassroots views, and currently Euroscepticism is the overwhelming grassroots position among members. Ever since the Maastricht Treaty was signed in 1992 there has been a battle for a refer...

The withdrawal agreement is not only unjustified but also not required. In the event of the UK's departure from the EU without a withdrawal agreement the EU itself has put in place measures to keep trade open. These range from agreeing to equivalence in financial services, access for hauliers, the continuation of flights, and the transport conventi...

 "Life is very short, and there's no time, for fussing and fighting, my friend." (John Lennon and Paul McCartney – 1965 "We Can Work It Out")We had one deadline - 29th March – for leaving the EU, which was inexplicably lost in the mists of political time. (Political time is like real time, but without reality, adherence to deadlines, or t...

 The evolution of sovereign states around the world has been an uneven process. Some were founded on shared nationhood, language and culture. Some on lines drawn by colonial rulers. Others out of the chaos of war. But sovereign states have this in common: they are all that now stands between the peoples of the world and utter domination by the...

 In 1964, the film Mary Poppins was released. It captured the mind of a generation and epitomised the sentiments of the turn of the century. Mary Poppins was not ultimately about a magical nanny or a singing chimney sweep, but about duty. It was about the duty of man to his family. Mary Poppins is the story of George Banks, who gives up person...

Below is John Redwood's letter to Geoffrey Cox. The Attorney General has not yet replied, and he needs to.Given the government's difficulty in replying to this, John Redwood is re-issuing it and encourage all to circulate it more widely. The conventional media refuse to ask these questions of the government and supporters of the Agreement.  De...

  Leave and the 'left' 2002-2017, 41 pages, News-watch This News-watch study found that left-wing arguments for Britain to leave the EU have scarcely been considered on the BBC's flagship news programmes. Only 1,198 words across the entire 30 surveys came from left-wing speakers making any sort of case for withdrawal, an average of 86 words pe...

The backstop is illegal. When speaking with international lawyers they mention a number of difficulties that the EU will discover if they actually try to implement the backstop.   The competence of the 'Withdrawal' Agreement to establish the backstop exceeds its lawful ability, it is Ultra Vires.Given indications from the President of the...

As we grind inexorably to the Brexit finishing line, we should remember what happened just under three years ago, since it is becoming increasingly obvious that many - in particular our MPs - have either very short or very selective memories. In June 2016, there was a nation-wide referendum when the then government asked the people whether they wan...

The EU is not a market, it is a political project of becoming a single European state, the United States of Europe, as the powers-that-be in the EU have always wanted it to become. The three founding fathers of European union all called for a single European state. Konrad Adenauer said, "My dream is that one day we might be able to applaud a United...

This article by JOHN PETLEY was published on February 13th 2019 by the Campaign for an Independent Britain The Norway model in defence integration Norway essentially has sub-contracted its security to the European Union. As the EU's defence integration programme has developed over the last two years, the rules for participation by non-member states...

Fundamental issues and Post-Brexit vision The United Kingdom is at a crossroad, one which will define its future for generations to come. Parliamentarian Brexiteers are playing a pivotal role in bringing about this change of paradigm by making sure the United Kingdom leaves the European Union.Brexiteers' avant-garde mindsets make them the architect...

The economic arguments for leaving the European Union are obvious, but there is also an overwhelming cultural case for Brexit which is discussed less often. Over the last couple of decades, there has been a noticeable increase in what is known as 'political correctness', which has accelerated in the last five or so years. It used to be the case tha...

As with a party conference, a lot of the interest in the Brexit circus lies in the supporting acts and side-shows. A recent instance of the latter arose from a spat between the Government and the Justice Subcommittee of the Lords' European Union select committee. This is worth a look, if only because a serious point of principle turns on it. When w...

Having listened to the ravings of the men from Brussels as they become increasingly afraid of a 'no deal' scenario, it is heartening to hear the latest outburst from a man who is supposed to show responsible leadership to the EU and the rest of Europe. I am outraged (but rather pleased) by the highly inflammatory comments that Donald Tusk made. I a...

Did you call me nebulous? The end of year festive cheer was in full swing as politicians exchanged pleasantries.Many pondered whether the leader of opposition called Theresa May a 'stupid woman' and Jean-Claude Juncker may have had equally kind words for our PM. It was rather a turbulent week in British politics - a vote of no confidence in Theresa...

By JOHN EAST 23 June 2016: The UK held a referendum on its membership of the EU, with the majority of voters choosing to leave (51.9% of the vote versus 48.1% voting to remain). 24 June 2016: Prime Minister David Cameron announced his intention to resign. 13 July 2016: Theresa May became Prime Minister. To fulfil the referendum Article 50 should ha...

The European Union is playing brinkmanship. It is making an offer of a 34-page composite "framework agreement", covering such matters as immigration, state aid, mutual recognition of industrial standards, agricultural products, air transport and land transport, where local rules would automatically adapt to be in line with EU law. The treaty would ...

The media is trumpeting a very scary tune about a 'no deal' Brexit. Perhaps it's the swansong in their dark and gloomy concert. There will be hurdles, but we in Britain, will use our initiative and people are always at our best when we have to use our initiative. For those who would like to rename 'no deal', the Bruges Group is welcoming suggestion...

Warning! If voted through, this agreement will be irreversible. Parliament will have bound its successors to the EU, possibly into the next century.   The Outline Political Declaration prefacing this "deal" says we share basic values with other EU nations and reaffirms our commitment to the ECHR. This is supposedly the ideological basis for th...

A no deal scenario is by no means a legal or economic vacuum. After the UK leaves as seems increasingly likely it will be in a similar relationship with the EU as is any country outside of the EU (referred to in the EU Treaties as 'third States' or 'third countries').  This research addresses some legal aspects of the Brexit process as it ente...

Parliament is not allowed to surrender law making to a foreign jurisdiction. Theresa May's withdrawal agreement seeks to hand our right to self-government to the European Union.     The foundation of our democracy lies in the answer to the question: where is the origin of power? The answer is that all power is vested in, and consequently ...

Amidst the political fallout in the UK following the government's controversial draft Brexit deal, an equally important development in Ireland went relatively unnoticed. During the ruling Fine Gael party's annual conference, foreign minister Simon Coveney confirmed that Ireland has no plans to prepare infrastructure for a hard border with the UK, e...

Analysis of Theresa May's Brexit proposal.  Can the UK claim to be an independent state? Introduction The current draft of the agreement "on Withdrawal of the UK from the EU and EURATOM" (the "Agreement") can be found here... https://ec.europa.eu/commission/files/draft-agreement-withdrawal-united-kingdom-great-britain-and-northern-ireland-euro...

The EU's backstop is not an insurance policy but a trap (Roger Kendrick in BrexitCentral, 22 October.) "The backstop is not an insurance policy which will never be needed or used. It is an ingenious device developed by the EU to create a comprehensive lock on the future trade and regulatory policy of the UK thereby ensuring that the UK would be und...

In the aftermath of both the Genoa bridge collapse and the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, left-wing politicians and media were quick to scandalise their political opponents, ranging from sociological critique of callous capitalism to blunt reference to the 'fascist' Italian government or a Tory cull of the poor. Coverage of the Genoa calamity in the ...

The 'silly season', they call it - when Parliament has closed for the summer holidays, and the newspapers scramble for titbits. Last week the media pounced on a commentary by the recently-resigned Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, the flaxen-haired politician pretending to be an essayist (or is it the other way round?). Don't ban the burqa, Boris wr...

On a grey winter day in 1972, Air Force One touched down on Chinese soil. Although little tangible benefit came of President Nixon's surprise visit to Chairman Mao and the impenetrable communist state, it was one of the most theatrical acts of diplomacy in modern history. And it was recognised in the opera 'Nixon in China' by John Adams. Perhaps Ad...

For a Brexit-supporting minority in academe, here is an illustration of what we're up against. Last year I was invited by the editor of International Journal of Nursing Studies to write a commentary on Brexit and the NHS. This would be published alongside a staunchly anti-Brexit argument, by Professor Martin McKee of the London School of Hygiene &a...

Dear members of Her Majesty's Government, In your efforts to ensure the UK's smooth transition away from EU membership, you have met more than one stumbling block. It's still unclear whether the European Court of Justice will maintain jurisdiction in Britain. The amount of money on offer to the EU to "settle your accounts" has only increased, and d...

In the months leading up to United Kingdom's 2016 European Union membership referendum, many "independent" think tanks espoused studies against Brexit. However, these UK-based, pro EU campaigners and their research remain closely linked to Brussels through financial funding. The European Commission's tactic of shelling out millions to pro-EU lobby ...

Donald Tusk gave Theresa May ten days (with less than a week remaining) to offer him much more money and also give him a solution that he likes to the Irish border problem. We should be relaxed about this and either give what is legally due the EU or nothing and sort it out after Brexit. This dictatorial deadline that conflates both the Irish borde...

£40 billion isn't enough. The EU, facing a gaping hole in its finances after losing its British cash cow, is extorting to the max. But even the most generous offer from our pathetic political leaders, in return for a few cake crumbs, won't guarantee a mutually-rewarding trade deal. The whole protracted and humiliating process could be voted down by...

Cars have always been more than four-wheeled transport; they're status symbols. Owners of a Ford Focus, a 'Chelsea tractor' or a quirky Citroen display something of their character, and their wealth. In the past, cars were also expressions of patriotism. A proud ex-serviceman would insist on a staid black or beige Austin or Hillman, but by the 1970...

​The Chancellor, the Right Honourable Philip Hammond MP, recently stated that he would not be providing funds to put in place contingency measures, to prepare for the outcome of the Brexit negotiations being "No Deal".He did not want to spend money that could otherwise be spent on hospitals, schools, defence etc on protection against a merely hypot...

​Conservative Member of Parliament for Wokingham, Berkshire, John Redwood discussed UK's stance on Brexit negotiations as well as Britain's future relationship with the EU after Brexit. Redwood affirmed that the UK will only make an agreement after examining all the issues instead of settling specific issues as a prerequisite to move forward with a...

​Britain's exit from the European Union, ushered by a majority of Leave votes, is an opportunity to build a better Britain. Not a better Britain, according to historian Bess Rhodes, but a kind and more caring Britain. Speaking at the Bruges Group's "Deal or No Deal" conference on Nov. 4, Rhodes admitted she voted to remain in the EU. After the resu...

By Niall McCrae

Chief commissioner Michel Barnier wags his finger at the media conference. An uprising in a major European country has forced his hand, as attacks on police and politicians lead to desertions and defections. Unlike the British government, which was pummelled into submission over the Brexit deal, these plucky secessionists are undermining the authority of the formidable Eurocrat. So he threatens to send in the EU Army.

It’s 2027, and the EU is more powerful than ever, yet also more detached. It reigns supreme in the cosmopolitan cities, in the financial centres, and on university campuses: Berlin, Heidelberg, den Haag, Frankfurt-am-Main, Gothenburg, Barcelona, Fiorentina. These islands of the liberal intelligentsia look condescendingly on the masses, whose unpredictable and uninformed votes put progress in peril come each election. The provincial hinterlands are stifled by backwardness, with rising tension between nostalgic nationalism and expanding ethnic enclaves. Among the commoners, rule by Brussels is at best tolerated, at worst despised.

Consulting historians, political commentators begin to see what the EU has become: a latter-day Holy Roman Empire. And Barnier and fellow commissioners are behaving like the ‘enlightened despots’ of the European past.

The HRE was a revival of the old Roman Empire, but with papacy to the fore. Founded in AD 800 when the Pope crowned Charlemagne as emperor, its domain comprised France, Germany and most of modern-day Italy. After the French left in the tenth century, and the Italian parts were given away, the empire centred on Germany. Successive emperors looked east to expand their territory; the pagan Prussians, Slavs and Balts were suppressed by brute force, and fiefdoms were established in Hungary, Poland and Bohemia. But the intent to rule Europe was confronted by the forces of national identity, the Reformation and Thirty Years War, and the HRE gradually retreated to a federation of principalities.

[pb_row ][pb_column span="span12"][pb_heading el_title="Article Title" tag="h3" text_align="inherit" font="inherit" border_bottom_style="solid" border_bottom_color="#000000" appearing_animation="0" ]Supporting Bombardier - Putting employment in Britain at the heart of economic policy.[/pb_heading][pb_heading el_title="Article Title 3" tag="h4" text_align="inherit" font="inherit" border_bottom_style="solid" border_bottom_color="#000000" appearing_animation="0" ]Robert Oulds[/pb_heading][pb_heading el_title="Article Title 3" tag="h5" text_align="inherit" font="inherit" border_bottom_style="solid" border_bottom_color="#000000" appearing_animation="0" ]25th September 2017[/pb_heading][pb_divider el_title="Divider 1" div_margin_bottom="30" div_border_width="2" div_border_style="solid" div_border_color="#0151a1" appearing_animation="0" ][/pb_divider][/pb_column][/pb_row][pb_row ][pb_column span="span3"][pb_image el_title="Article Image if required DELETE Column if not required" image_file="images/0916cseries.jpg" image_alt="Type text for SEO (example Bruges Group : Image Title)" image_size="fullsize" link_type="no_link" image_container_style="no-styling" image_alignment="inherit" appearing_animation="0" ][/pb_image][pb_button el_title="PDF Link : Delete this component if it is not required 2" button_text="Lobby your MP to help" link_type="url" button_type_url="http://www.brugesgroup.co.uk/lobby.php" open_in="new_browser" button_alignment="inherit" button_size="btn-sm" button_color="btn-primary" appearing_animation="0" ][/pb_button][pb_button el_title="PDF Link : Delete this component if it is not required 2 3" button_text="Government help? Vote online" link_type="url" button_type_url="/media-centre/polls" open_in="new_browser" button_alignment="inherit" button_size="btn-sm" button_color="btn-success" appearing_animation="0" ][/pb_button][/pb_column][pb_column span="span9"][pb_text el_title="Article Text" width_unit="%" enable_dropcap="no" appearing_animation="0" ]

We are determined that Brexit, if when it eventually happens in earnest, delivers the change we need. One of these new approaches can be in defending British industry, along with its jobs and innovation from unfair actions. But why wait for Brexit? It can begin now!

Bombardier, a major employer in Britain, a new entrant in the plane market, is being threatened by a trade complaint brought by Boeing designed to keep it out of the US market.[i] Theresa May’s government must show that a post-Brexit Britain will use its new-found independence to stand up for UK jobs. A policy area where we would not have to live with pan-EU rules any more. British taxpayers give Boeing hundreds of millions of pounds in defence deals, while at the same time they’re trying to close British factories. That’s not the action of a trusted partner for this country.

​Project Fear scaremongered more about financial services than anything else during the EU referendum campaign and this scaremongering has unfortunately continued after the Brexit vote. Remoaners and soft Brexiteers (those who want us to remain members of the European single market after Brexit) now tell us that the reason why there was not an imme...

Since Theresa May's Lancaster House Speech in January of this year, two new Project Fears have sprung up. The first (from The Labour Party, EFTA4UK, Liberal Leave, Leave HQ and Dr Richard North) states that “We need to remain members of the EU's internal market after we officially leave the EU”, even though there are over 50 countries outside of th...

In the latest round of Brexit negotiations, the European Union called on Britain to pay a hefty bill before commencing with trade talks.  Negotiators are asking the UK to commit paying 14 percent of the EU's budget until 2020, a pledge that could cost British taxpayers billions of pounds. Prominent reclaimer Gina Miller argued Britain sho...

This country's change from consuming sugar derived from sugar cane, which Britain historically purchased from its old colonial territories, to consuming sugar extracted from sugar beets from about 1973 onwards has slowly but surely greatly contributed to this country's obesity problem S Davies 2nd September 2017   I pose the question of w...

[pb_row ][pb_column span="span12"][pb_heading el_title="Article Title" tag="h4" text_align="inherit" font="inherit" border_bottom_style="solid" border_bottom_color="#000000" appearing_animation="0" ]This country’s change from consuming sugar derived from sugar cane, which Britain historically purchased from its old colonial territories, to consuming sugar extracted from sugar beets from about 1973 onwards has slowly but surely greatly contributed to this country’s obesity problem[/pb_heading][pb_heading el_title="Article Title 3" tag="h4" text_align="inherit" font="inherit" border_bottom_style="solid" border_bottom_color="#000000" appearing_animation="0" ]S Davies[/pb_heading][pb_heading el_title="Article Title 3" tag="h5" text_align="inherit" font="inherit" border_bottom_style="solid" border_bottom_color="#000000" appearing_animation="0" ]2nd September 2017[/pb_heading][pb_divider el_title="Divider 1" div_margin_bottom="30" div_border_width="2" div_border_style="solid" div_border_color="#0151a1" appearing_animation="0" ][/pb_divider][/pb_column][/pb_row][pb_row ][pb_column span="span3"][pb_image el_title="Article Image if required DELETE Column if not required" image_file="images/euobesityhelmutkohl.jpg" image_alt="Type text for SEO (example Bruges Group : Image Title)" image_size="fullsize" link_type="no_link" image_container_style="no-styling" image_alignment="inherit" appearing_animation="0" ][/pb_image][/pb_column][pb_column span="span9"][pb_text el_title="Article Text" width_unit="%" enable_dropcap="no" appearing_animation="0" ]I pose the question of whether this country’s change from consuming sugar derived from sugar cane, which Britain historically purchased from its old colonial territories, to consuming sugar extracted from sugar beets from about 1973 onwards has slowly but surely greatly contributed to this country’s obesity problem. It is popularly believed that despite us as a nation consuming fewer calories these days than was the case in the 1960's,  obesity has gradually become a real problem. So, is it the EU's forced substitution of sugar obtained from sugar beets rather than sugar obtained from sugar cane making us really fat? 
 
I suggest that the country's obesity pandemic is partly due to its switch to the creation of sugar from sugar beets, which came about after the UK entered the European Economic Community in 1973. The UK had historically relied upon sugar cane for its sugar, which was a state of affairs that hadn't changed since sugar was first introduced into this country and became more widely available from about the 16th - 17th centuries onwards. In fact beets were not discovered as an alternative to cane until the late 18th century and weren't used in manufacturing until the early 19th century, when they had to be cultivated to yield a higher sucrose content than that which they originally and naturally contained.
 
The difference in quality between the two types of table sugars is a matter of debate. From a culinary perspective, I personally find sugar derived from sugar cane to be a far superior substance. I find it crisper and that it gives a lighter result. There is no apparent taste to cane sugar, which is just sweet. I personally find that there is an ever so slight aftertaste or noticeable different texture to beet sugar. Cane sugar is the master baker's sugar of choice, whatever the chemists say about it supposing to be the same. Meringues made from sugar cane are crisper and far superior. Cakes don't flop as easily with cane sugar. Yet the scientists say that “sugar is just sugar” and that there is no difference between the two substances. 
 
So, what is the difference between sugar cane and sugar beets? To look at a 500 gram pack of Silver Spoon (beet sugar) and Tate & Lyle (cane sugar) next to each other, they generally appear to be of the same size, and have the same volume, so there can't be much of a difference regarding the physical density of the product. On closer inspection of the sugar grain or crystals, the beet sugar may seem less crisp and light than the cane sugar. However, I think that to appreciate the difference between them, one needs to look at how the two products are processed, the difference in production being necessary due to their respective botanical composition. 
 
Sugar beets and sugar cane must be processed differently to achieve apparently the same table sugar. Sugar beets, which are a root crop, are sliced and boiled to extract the syrup. This is then evaporated into crystals. Sugar beets produce two by-products: the beet pulp, from which the sucrose syrup has been extracted, and molasses. The beet pulp is dried into pellets and fed into the human food chain inasmuch as it's then sold on as animal feed. The sugar beet molasses is not fit for human consumption but can and is fed to animals.
 
Sugar cane, which grows in reeds above the earth's surface for several feet before it's harvested, is sliced and heated in water to extract the sugar syrup. Cane sugar also produces molasses as a by-product. However, this molasses can be used for human consumption - e.g. in the Caribbean it is utilised in the manufacture of rum. The bark or reeds of the sugar cane crop is then either defunct or can be used in the manufacture of baskets and mats etc.
 
The botanical composition of sugar beets is described on Wikipedia as follows: "The pulp, insoluble in water and mainly composed of cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, and pectin, is used in animal feed." The botanical composition of sugar cane is described as: "A mature stalk is typically composed of 11–16% fiber, 12–16% soluble sugars, 2–3% nonsugars, and 63–73% water." 
 
I suggest below that the more resinous nature of sugar beet may have a deleterious effect on the human liver. It must be ground down or processed to such a level in standard sugar production that it is then able to permeate the small intestines and enter the liver via the bloodstream. This can then act as a resinous mist on liver cells and affect their ability to act to their required capacity, so forcing the body to rely on alternative glucose-fuelling sources - i.e. cortisol from the adrenal glands. Perhaps cane sugar, having no inherent resinous qualities, degrades more easily, leaves no residue and is thus less taxing on the human body.
 
In attempting to explain my theory, I think that it's important to first go through the stages involved in the body's metabolism of food. The human body, and animal kingdom in general, are glucose-driven vessels who rely upon glucose as their primary source of fuel. This contrasts with the plant kingdom, whose primary source of energy is slightly different and is called fructose. This general blood sugar requirement is irrespective of whether the body ingests fat, carbohydrate or protein. 
 
I initially wondered whether it was fructose, which, as has been noted above, is not the animal kingdom's source of sugar. As a substance, it may impose a bit of a strain on the body because it is not broken down by insulin, as glucose is, and in the usual way. It must be processed in the liver after ingestion, before it's released into the wider bloodstream. It has been suggested that everyone is slightly fructose intolerant, with their ability to break down fructose varying in degree from individual to individual and associations have been made between fructose and fatty liver disease. However, my point here is that where one obtains the fructose or plain sugar from also makes a difference – i.e. whether it’s obtained from sugar beet or sugar cane. 
 
In fuelling the human body, it is of paramount importance to maintain blood glucose homeostasis - i.e. balance - and therefore blood glucose levels hover within a limited range, with a normal range being 70 to 110 mg/dl (milligrams per deciliter). The body will try and move heaven and earth to achieve this balance and therefore has more than one mechanism to ensure blood glucose stability. For immediate use, it will rely on the glucose stored in the liver. This is termed glycogen. Thereafter, glucose is stored in fat and muscle tissues. 
 
The body accesses glucose by synthesizing (i.e. creating) and using insulin, which is a hormone produced by the beta cells of the pancreas. Insulin mobilises blood glucose and ensures it reaches the body's cells and muscles. The pancreas also synthesizes another hormone called glucagon, which is something of a mirror-image to insulin. Glucagon senses when blood glucose levels are low and sends negative feedback messages to the liver that this is the case, so instructing the liver to release more glucose, whilst insulin mops up glucose in the bloodstream and either helps the body utilise it immediately or helps to store it as excess fat. 

If glucose or glycogen stores in the liver are low, the body can also produce a hormone called cortisol from the adrenal glands, which lie on top of the kidneys, to remedy the shortfall. However, the body's usual glucose reserves are stored in the liver. If the body is forced to rely on short-term cortisol from the adrenals to release glucose stores from the body’s tissues, this is not the preferred method and long-term use carries its own problems - e.g. high blood pressure, which is associated with an increased cardio-vascular risk, increased risk of stroke, increased risk of diabetes due to cortisol's glucose-raising effects. Cortisol is also associated with obesity because it slows down the body’s rate and generally deteriorates body tissue etc.
 
So, why would the body choose to use the cortisol hormone instead of the glucagon one? 
 
Simply because it feels that it has to, to maintain blood glucose balance. Either the alpha cells of the pancreas, which produce glucagon, have become impaired, or the liver's reading of and sensitivity to them has become impaired. The body is then moved into emergency mode and cortisol is forced to take over and aid the release of glucose into the bloodstream where glucagon left off. So, we need to ask ourselves whether the liver cells or even the pancreas cells are being caked up with a resinous substance that hinders its ability to detect blood glucose levels and whether this irritating substance is present in sugar beet.

By S Davies

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