Boris Johnson has penned a 4000 word piece about Brexit for The Telegraph (Update: now posted to Facebook as well). It’s a premium piece on their site for some reason and you have to hence register to read it – I did that, and have read it, and this blog […]
Tag: Brexit
EU: prepare for greater political instability in the UK (and that will impact Brexit)
A few short weeks ago when Theresa May called a General Election there was only one question on people’s minds: how big will her victory be? Faced with a Labour Party trailing in the polls, assumed to be demoralised thanks to Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, and perceived to be too left […]
Feeling rather calm about the Article 50 notification
“How do you feel after Brexit day?” a friend messaged me on Wednesday night. “You’ve closed that chapter already, haven’t you?” “I’m fine” was my response. The friend that sent me the message was right – I have closed that chapter. While the Article 50 notification was a significant and somehow […]
The chasm between the public perception and the reality of EU Freedom of Movement in the UK
Ten days ago this tweet caught my eye: More @BritainThinks: public don't agree NHS will suffer without immigrants. It's a chance for British nurses! (This shocked me) — Antonia Bance (@antoniabance) March 9, 2017 (the tweet is part of a series from an event – see the rest here) Then yesterday […]
Brexit and the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) – known unknowns
David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, gave evidence to the Brexit Select Committee today. Right at the start Davis was asked by Hilary Benn what would happen to the European Health Insurance Card in the UK in the case of a no-deal Brexit (i.e. crashing out of the EU – more […]
My new, less tolerant approach to Twitter
In mid January I was more or less offline for a fortnight as my laptop had a serious problem (more about that here). Yes, of course I have a smartphone, but I tend to access social media the old way through a web browser, and Twitter through Tweetbot on my Mac. […]
What if crashing out of the EU without a deal actually becomes the UK’s plan?
This week in the FT (€), Philip Stevens recalled the EU negotiation advice of Douglas Hurd, the UK’s Foreign Secretary under John Major. There is more to be gained from conciliation than from shouting argued Hurd, a sentiment I echo after years observing EU business. Yet this week something akin […]
On rights of EU citizens in the UK post-Brexit, detail matters – so the House of Lords is right to fight
So the House of Lords, with a pretty solid majority, voted to unilaterally protect the rights of EU citizens resident in the UK post-Brexit, passing an amendment to the Article 50 notification bill with a majority of 102. Even a few Tories voted for the amendment. But – surprise, surprise […]
The two versions of the £350 million for the NHS slogan
The lines in Iain Dale’s blog post about the EU referendum yesterday started to gnaw at me. Here are the lines in full: They don’t even really take on the argument that the £350 million a week “promise” wasn’t in any way a promise. The words on the bus actually […]
Do I “accept” that Britain is leaving the EU?
Iain Dale has penned a pretty flimsy piece trying to justify May’s current Brexit course in light of what happened before the referendum here. I am not going to revisit why that argument is weak as I have already dealt with post-referendum reinterpretations here. Instead he rolled out the old line […]
The Remainers – the instinctive insiders
After Tony Blair’s Brexit speech last week, former Deputy Director of Britain Stronger in Europe (and now Edelman exec) Lucy Thomas tweeted this: Not all former Remain campaigners agree with this. #Brexit was democratic vote & need to work for best possible version not fight it. https://t.co/5rvPKvh3wX — Lucy Thomas […]
Where does the Brexit vote leave the cause of an independent Scotland in the EU?
tldr; “…it is easier for an independent Scotland to join the EU, than for the UK to leave it…” – thanks @odtorium on Twitter. But if you do want the detail, read on! Back in 2012, prior to the Scottish Independence Referendum, I wrote a blog post entitled Answering how […]