Brexit

30.11.2020 Brexit

Why – if there is a Brexit Deal – Labour MPs should abstain

(The original version of this blog post assumed how ratification would proceed was known and clear – thanks to this excellent discussion with George Peretz QC, Nick von Westenholz and Brigid Fowler it seems that is not completely clear, and

22.11.2020 Brexit

Brexit negotiation delay – is it due to indecision, or is it by design?

As one of my sarcastic Twitter followers put it, are these Brexit negotiations sponsored by Microsoft Windows Autoupdate as they’ve been stuck on 95% for so long? Deadlines come and go. Even the supposedly firm one, EU side, at the

13.11.2020 Brexit

Brexit: where there is no consequence for those supposedly in control

“I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters” Donald Trump famously said. Unlike the United States, British politics and society generally shies away from arms. But a sense of deep

12.11.2020 Brexit

1 man. 7 days. Deal or No Deal Brexit. And yes, that man is Johnson.

There is scarcely a twist or turn in the Brexit story over the past 18 months I have not charted in my Brexit diagrams. The rationale is the same now as it was when I started: to work out what

10.11.2020 Brexit

The Internal Market Bill and Brexiters still unable to face the Brexit Trilemma

On 8 September Brandon Lewis uttered the now famous words: that the UK Government’s Internal Market Bill would “break international law in a very specific and limited way”. That set in train a series of events that even now, two

15.09.2020 Brexit

#BrexitDiagram Series 5 – Trade Deal or No Deal by the end of 2020?

For the past week I have had an awful sense of déjà vu. Shenanigans in the House of Commons about Brexit. Rumours about removal of the whip from Tory MPs should they rebel on votes. And the threat of No

09.09.2020 Brexit

Now we have seen the UK’s Internal Market Bill, the EU should walk away

(Please read this post as me giving my view on what the EU should do, for the sake of the EU. I am trying to set my view as a Brit for whom all of this has some minor personal

27.08.2020 Brexit

“Germany scraps plans for Brexit talks at EU ambassadors summit” Well, sort of.

I think this story in this morning’s Guardian (front page in the printed edition as well – but with a different title – more about that below) about Brexit is overblown. I tweeted as much late last night, but got

25.06.2020 Brexit

If Labour were to have a position on Brexit in the UK right now, what should it be?

Even the original timetable for Brexit was ridiculously tight – out by the end of March 2019, and then the future relationship to be concluded 21 months later, by the end of December 2020. Remember that trade negotiations with third

29.02.2020 Brexit

The indivisibility of the 52% as method in Brexit, even now

This week something interesting happened in matters Brexit: farmers at the National Farmers’ Union conference booed environment minister George Eustice (FT story here (€)). This was connected to the news that direct payments to farmers will be reduced by 25%

17.02.2020 Brexit

What happens if refusing to acknowledge the economic costs of Brexit is actually the UK Government’s tactic?

I’ve long been fascinated by how the pro-Brexit campaign’s lack of a plan for Brexit, prior to the 2016, actually helped the Leave side win that referendum. It gave Leave a sort of slippery quality in campaigning terms. “Oh no one

07.02.2020 Brexit

The political paralysis route to rejoin the EU

While I am still sceptical as to whether the UK would be ready to rejoin the EU any time soon, and likewise not convinced the EU should even have it back, an idea has been in the back of my