UK EU Referendum

27.06.2017 Brexit

Vote Leave Bus Meme Generator #TakeControl

Years ago when I ran the Atheist Bus Campaign, a guy I’d never met made a Bus Slogan Generator, so you could see what your slogan would look like on the side of a bus. But what about that other,

02.03.2017 Brexit

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

21.02.2017 Brexit

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

20.02.2017 Brexit

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: https://x.com/lucycthomas/status/832488126996045824 Shortly before that an interesting discussion on Twitter ensued between Sunder Katwala and David Aaronovich, with

27.12.2016 Brexit

Some further thoughts on Andrew Marr and the Brexit debate

When I set out to dissect Andrew Marr’s “An optimist’s guide to Brexit” (his piece here, my fisking here) I had no idea quite what a reaction it would provoke. Whenever I write something about Brexit it ends up leading to some

16.12.2016 Brexit

The 10 laws of Brexit

Trying to talk to someone in the UK about Brexit? Don’t contradict the laws of Brexit! Brexit means Brexit The British are never to blame for Brexit or any of its consequences Anyone seeing any problem with Brexit is talking the

14.12.2016 Brexit

Residence for EU citizens in the UK post-Brexit, and healthcare

Another day and another “that can’t possibly be true, can it?” Brexit moment. This morning I read this in The Guardian, quoting Helena Kennedy and the House of Lords work on the rights of EU citizens to stay in the

13.12.2016 Brexit

Labour’s Brexit pledge card (fictitious, but could the idea catch on?)

Ask any Brits whose formative political years were the 1990s and they can answer you this question: “When will Britain join the Euro?” The answer, of course, is: “When the five economic tests are met!” The thing was that no-one

13.12.2016 Brexit

Short term anti-Brexit tactics: just oppose, oppose, oppose

I am often confronted with the line of argument that because something or other may or may not happen sometime into the foggy future, opposing Brexit is hopeless now. A Twitter conversation with Rachel Heyburn and A C Grayling this morning was a

09.12.2016 Brexit

Leave constituencies, Remain MPs? It’s more complex than that

“Brave MPs” was how Guido Fawkes described the 6 Members of Parliament who represent constituencies that nominally voted Leave in the referendum, but who voted against the opposition motion* in the House of Commons this week that supported the government’s

08.12.2016 Brexit

The UK government has promised a Brexit plan. But what does that mean?

Yesterday was a significant day for those who follow the minutiae of Brexit, for those of us who try to ascertain what is actually going despite the cloud of obfuscation and media distortion. For months the answer to what Brexit means

06.12.2016 Brexit

The challenge of Trump and Brexit for the “mainstream” – we’re being out-thought

I count a pretty senior UKIP person as a friend. Yet whenever I tell that to some liberal lefty pro-EU contacts of mine they are repulsed and perplexed. They assume the person in question must be a Paul Nuttall or Roger