Economics & Trade

Brexiters often say that the referendum result is a done deal and cannot be changed. But that’s not how our democracy works. Yes, the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 became law in June last year. The then International Trade Minister, Liam Fox, said at the time: “Lest anyone is in any doubt, the chances of […]

As an EU member, the UK currently participates in around 40 excellent free trade agreements with over 70 countries, with more on the way, on advantageous terms that Britain is unlikely ever to replicate after Brexit. Because the EU is the world’s richest, biggest single trading bloc, and the world’s biggest exporter and importer of […]

With the pound dramatically lower as a direct result of Brexit, many more Britons are now holidaying at Britain’s seaside resorts. And it’s thanks to the EU that 95% of our beaches are now clean enough to wade out into the sea. It wasn’t always like that. Back in the 1970s, we used to pump […]

A sobering article in today’s Financial Times by Camilla Cavendish, who assertively claims that, ‘Remainers have lost and must now accept defeat’. Her article opens: ‘Britain’s downhill slope towards leaving the EU is getting steeper; the slide into liberation-oblivion is coming closer.’ She claims, ‘A second referendum is vanishingly unlikely. Moderates who don’t want the UK […]

Andrew Cottey argues that the existing literature on EU foreign, security and defence strategy has paid insufficient attention to two basic prior questions: what is strategy? And what constitutes good strategy? Answers to these questions help us to understand why the EU struggles with strategy. The 2003 European Security Strategy and the 2016 EU Global […]

So desperate is Boris Johnson for the keys to number 10, that he has conceded all the demands of the far-right of his Tory party, who have said they will withdraw their support for him if he doesn’t do what they say. The Guardian reported today, ‘Eurosceptics in the party were increasingly turning the screws […]

Prime Minister, Theresa May, officially leaves office today, with many Tory candidates hoping to take her place. But a new Conservative Prime Minister doesn’t mean that their 2017 manifesto promises can be forgotten or forsaken. It was on their manifesto promises that the current Conservative party won power, regardless of who is their leader. The […]

When Boris Johnson became Foreign Secretary shortly after the referendum, he promised that Britain would get a great deal with the EU after Brexit, “of huge value, possibly greater value” than being a member of the EU. In an exclusive interview with The Sun published on 1 October 2016, Mr Johnson declared that he was […]

I don’t usually read the Nation.Cymru newspaper, but their analysis of how the Remain side lost in the EU election is spot on. Writing for the paper, described as, ‘A news service by the people of Wales, for the people of Wales’, Ifan Morgan Jones commented: ‘It was Remain that needed to use this election […]

On Tuesday 9 April, Brussels will host the 21st EU-China summit. This time around, the underlying tone of the meetings may be slightly different than before, following the recent “Strategic Vision” submitted by the Commission to the Council. In its relations with the People’s Republic of China the EU is said to be unable to […]