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‘Who counts as the “the European Union” here? Member state leaders have met within the framework of the European Council, but their agreement is in no way a document of the European Union, but a text of hybrid character, which is unspecified and not legally binding.’ Alexander Graf Lambsdorff is …

I have a dilemma.  Jacob Rees-Mogg and Boris Johnson have made it so. My OCD behaviour, I have noticed, is on the increase and I can often dwell upon the most minor of points.  Thankfully the annoyances are more than offset by the cleanliness of my home and my recent …

The EU boasts about having reduced your roaming charges and Europhiles market this like a crowning achievement, unsurprisingly it found it’s way into the government’s leaflet (which I will discuss in more detail in upcoming  posts) While it is clearly patronising to believe people would give up on our status …

There is an establishment in British politics. What I mean by this is that there is a political consensus, for I don’t want to personify the word ‘establishment’ in a way that is not true. It may be that at one time there was a group of powerful people sitting …

Read The Market Solution pamphlet in full Initially an integral component of the environment movement, from the late 1980s, climate change has emerged as a separate policy domain with its own body of law. Despite the EU’s heavy involvement in resultant policy, little change might be expected in the UK …

Read The Market Solution pamphlet in full More so than perhaps any other policy area, environment is an amalgam of international, EU and domestic measures, although new environmental legislation is still a shared competence. We might expect an independent policy to concentrate more on the national interest, although the Government’s …

We are told by some that having a plan is not necessary or helpful and that we are wrong to worry about “unnecessary detail”. Obviously, we couldn’t disagree more. The purpose of a plan is not so that the whole public should read it, but so that it gives our …

There’s something rotten at the heart of Scottish politics. We have our own parliament with extensive powers, including the ability to raise or lower taxes. This parliament may not be enough for some. It may be too much for others. But it is a reasonable compromise between Scottish independence and …

“Europe’s power is easy to miss. Like an “invisible hand” it operates through the shell of traditional political structures. The British House of Commons, British law courts and British civil servants are still here, but they have become agents of the European Union, implementing European law. This is no accident. …

Read The Market Solution pamphlet in full While there are aspects of the CAP which may be tolerable, at least in the short to medium-term, there are no redeeming features of the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). Limited reforms have been largely cosmetic and do not address the main flaws …

Read The Market Solution pamphlet in full The food and farming sector is important to the UK economy, with the whole food chain contributing £85 billion per year to the economy and 3.5 million jobs. In policy terms, it is dominated by the EU and its Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), …

Why do people choose to support leaving the EU? Why are others keen to remain? It might be that over the years we’ve all been weighing up the pros and cons. But I suspect this isn’t how most people reason. Rather someone who already supports remaining in the EU looks …

The last time Britain had a referendum on our membership of the EU, or the EEC as it was then, Edward Heath and his Government based their own “Remain” campaign on deception and fear mongering.   The campaign was underpinned by a phantom renegotiation and the pretence that our membership was …

What do you think it will take for the elite that are running Europe into the ground, to wake-up and recognise the existential threat that they have allowed to grow, in their own countries?  How many in Paris?  How many in London?  How many in Brussels?  How many in Madrid? …

Beware the Ides of March! So said the soothsayer to Julius Caesar in Shakespeare’s version of the Roman dictator’s March 15th assassination. George Osborne, who loves reading about historical political figures and who is, almost indisputably the current ruler of Westminster, would have been wise to ask his political rival …

Lately I’ve frequently found myself disagreeing with people I both like and respect. As the EU referendum campaign gets going I find myself more and more drawn to one side of the argument. I wanted to remain more or less neutral for much longer. I wanted to explore the merits …

“You can be like Norway […] and you can have full access to the single market but you have absolutely no say over the rules of that market”. In October 2014 there was a coordinated attack on the so-called “Norway option”, the model of leaving the EU which involves rejoining …

“The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.”  Friedrich von Hayek While it may be true that the sun never sets on the British Empire, the lights might go out at night. A new report commissioned by Lord …

“If the British cannot support the trend to more integration in Europe, we can nevertheless remain friends, but on a different basis. I could imagine a form such as a European economic area or a free trade agreement.” – Jacques Delors in 2012 If an ideologically devoted European federalist like …

There are a number of central claims to the Remain campaign. They are easily dismantled with the right analysis and the proper arguments. “3.5 million British jobs are directly linked to British membership of the European Union– 1 in 10 British jobs.” It is dishonest to say jobs depend on …