This post originally appear on Encompass Europe. This is a good moment to reflect on one of the many paradoxes of Brexit: for something that has occurred under so much time pressure, there has always still been a summer break. That was true in 2017 and 2018 during the Article 50 negotiations and even last […]
Boris Johnson’s keynote speech at the Conservatives annual conference was most remarkable and shocking for what he didn’t mention. ▪ No mention of drivers having to queue up for petrol, necessitating the army to help. But he did say, “Isn’t it amazing to be here in person?” ▪ No mention that the cost of heating […]
The party may bear the same name, but Conservatives today are not the same as Conservatives of yesterday. The party has morphed into the Brexit party by deterring or kicking out any MP or Parliamentary candidate who supports EU membership. Or else, Tory MPs and government ministers who used to support Remain have simply transitioned […]
There’s nothing wrong with changing your mind. But there is something wrong with changing your mind and not allowing others to. That basically sums up those Tories who supported Remain in the referendum but then switched to Leave. They didn’t give much of an explanation for doing so, except to say it’s what ‘the country voted […]
The indebted states need to spend their fresh RRF funds wisely. The frugals need to acknowledge how they benefit from the euro and single market. Then mutual trust can be built. European integration is indeed one of the most fascinating social and political experiments in modern times. Like all experiments, it developed and continues to […]
At various points in the Brexit process I’ve produced trackers, primarily to capture interactions between the EU and the UK. that included ones for the negotiations on the Withdrawal Agreement and the Trade & Cooperation Agreement (and this), as well as the progress of UK enabling legislation. The aim has been to keep sight of […]
A reader commented that the result of the referendum was clear, and Labour was right to support it. I disagree. The result of the referendum was not clear, and Leave only won by lying and law-breaking on an industrial scale. Brexit has gone ahead on the say-so of a mere 37% of the electorate and […]
This is a version of a piece originally posted on Euronews. This summer has provided ample demonstration of the difficulties of the relationship between the UK and the EU. The constant rumbling of discontent over the Northern Ireland Protocol has been accompanied by periodic British threats to walk away from it. Last week’s State of […]
Britain is now a country adrift, without a continent, lost, alone and out at sea. Our government, without a proper democratic mandate, shunned our continent of Europe and is now looking for another. We’d have a wonderful trade deal with our cousins in the USA, was the promise. That’ll easily replace our trading arrangements with […]
The government has announced that it will bring in a new Brexit law to allow traders to scrap metric measurements and sell products and food in just pounds and ounces only. Do you know what 1kg of bananas is in imperial measurements? No, I didn’t think so. (It’s around 2 lb 3 ounces.) Since 1974, […]