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Category: EU matters

IN (FEINT) PRAISE OF URSULA VON DER LEYEN

IN (FEINT) PRAISE OF URSULA VON DER LEYEN

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Who would have guessed that a month and a half after Britain finally left the European Single Market and Customs Union that it would be the European Commission President who is under the most pressure with some calls for her to resign? Or that German press could be leading with headlines like “the best advert for Brexit”? The EU’s vaccine debacle has certainly become the main international story which has led to a renewed focus on the politician who heads…

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BREXIT. Undoing (some of) the damage. Part 2: From Principles to Policies

BREXIT. Undoing (some of) the damage. Part 2: From Principles to Policies

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pic YouTube In Part 1 of this article, I proposed six principles which a future UK government should apply to the problem of improving future trade and political relations with the EU.  Those were: 1 No Fantasy; 2 Urgently restore friendly relations; 3 Understand the EU’s position; 4 Prioritise mitigating the most damaging of the new barriers; 5 Go for the easy wins in domestic political terms; 6 Move on from the obsolete framing of ‘Remainers’ and ‘Leavers’; 7 Be…

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BREXIT: Undoing (some of) the damage. Part 1: The Principles

BREXIT: Undoing (some of) the damage. Part 1: The Principles

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Just a few weeks in, and the practical effects of re-erecting the trade barriers which the UK spent 40 years helping to dismount are becoming more obvious by the day. Remarkably, it seems to have come as a complete surprise to the government that the EU rules which it had itself been enforcing up until Dec 31st in respect of imports from ‘third countries’ now apply to us.  Every day, new stories emerge of businesses cruelly throttled by the extra red…

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Crisis Management: EU-style

Crisis Management: EU-style

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An object lesson on how not to deal with a problem The EU Commission has given us a quite astonishing master-class in the last few days of how not to deal with a problem: panic, untrue or incomplete public statements, trying to negotiate in public, invitations sounding like threats, displays of wounded amour propre, petulant complaining, shrill demands, recourse to legal arguments, followed by peremptory action taken without proper consultation with those affected, only to be withdrawn – somewhat humiliatingly –…

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A British Gift – the ECHR

A British Gift – the ECHR

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What is it about the European Convention on Human Rights which so riles some on the right (and, if reports are to be believed, the PM’s closest advisor)? It cannot surely be its name. Can it? A belief that it is a Brussels creation imposed on a reluctant Britain? Some may think this but politicians should know better. Even the PM said – (in 2016 so he may now have changed his mind) – “Keep the European Convention, it’s a…

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An interim government would need more than just a PM

An interim government would need more than just a PM

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There has been much speculation in recent weeks about the possibility of the opposition parties and ex-Tory refuseniks coming together to oust this government and install an interim government, tasked with a very limited role of negotiating an Article 50 extension, promptly followed by a GE. (A variant of this proposal would have the interim government stay in office long enough to call a second EU referendum, but that seems vanishingly unlikely). Like many suggestions for resolving the impasse, this…

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The three post Euros polls have had three different parties in the lead

The three post Euros polls have had three different parties in the lead

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In the past couple of days there have been three Westminster voting intention polls from different firms each with a different party in the lead. This is unprecedented. Here's Deltapoll https://t.co/nsMGtujNI8 — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) June 2, 2019 Opinium has BXP ahead with the LDs in 4th. In its final Euros poll Opinium had the highest rating of any firm for BXP – 38% against the 31% that they actually got. It had the LDs on 15% 5 below the…

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The Tories wiped out in London as Mike Smithson wins his bet on the Lib Dems winning London

The Tories wiped out in London as Mike Smithson wins his bet on the Lib Dems winning London

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East of England, vote share: Brex: 37.8% (+37.8)LDem: 22.6% (+15.7)Grn: 12.7% (+4.2)Con: 10.2% (-18.2)Lab: 8.7% (-8.6)ChUK: 3.7% (+3.7)UKIP: 3.4% (-31.1) — Britain Elects (@BritainElects) May 26, 2019 There are just over 100,000 Labour Party members in London, which is 20% of Labour’s total London vote. pic.twitter.com/PWEtJI72hC — Tom Hamilton (@thhamilton) May 26, 2019 Lib Dems get a huge symbolic win in Corbyn's Islington https://t.co/d9Djsm968N — Adam Payne (@adampayne26) May 26, 2019 The Conservatives are on course to win their lowest…

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