Tag Archives: EU Referendum

In the concluding months of 2017 there was much disarray and confusion within Westminster, within the UK, and within the Conservative party about Brexit. However the question must be asked , “Has there ever been a time in the past two years when Brexit has not been a source of …

Broadcasters say the Russians bent Brexit but about 78% of the tweets came after the Brexit vote on 23 June 2016 There is no doubt that Eastern Europe and Russia offer cheap social media campaigns. My own experience suggests that the Remain campaign use Ukrainian social media trolls, amongst others, …

It has been some time since I blogged.  I have been somewhat distracted by Twitter and this has provided an outlet enabling responses to fast-moving events.  But… Twitter can’t be used to convey my current thoughts on the EU “negotiations” and the state of play in UK politics. Firstly, the EU “negotiations”.  I …

It’s a pity Walter Scott is so little read nowadays. Waverley (or ’tis sixty years since) is not merely a station in Edinburgh it is the key to understanding everything in Scottish history and if you understand the past you understand the present, for history is not about what was, …

There has been endless complaint since the UK voted to leave the EU a little over a year ago. Not from voters mind you. The vast majority of Remain voters have simply got on with their lives and accepted that they lost the argument. Owing to the fact that the …

Apparently the Irish Taoiseach wants the UK to remain in the EU. He is trying to keep the door open to the European Union and if that door fails, then he wants Britain to at least remain in the European Single Market and Customs Union. The Republic of Ireland is …

Did anything happen this week of consequence? Nicola Sturgeon turned up in the Scottish Parliament and said something about delaying indyref2. If this meant that we would have this referendum in a couple of years’ time, then what she said would have been of small consequence. What does it fundamentally …

In the aftermath of an election emotions are high, levels of spin even higher and judgement barely there at all. Politics in Britain has become uncertain. This is the third election in a row in which we have woken up to a surprise and not only one surprise but sometimes …

A few months ago there were two main strategic challenges facing Britain. How to leave the EU successfully and how to keep our country intact? There are in addition, of course, the usual challenges facing any government. How to keep the economy growing? How to earn more than we spend? …

Recent experience has taught everyone with an interest in politics not to rely too much on opinion polls. However, the present General Election campaign is unusual because there has been an actual poll which has acted as an hors d’œuvre to the main course on June 8th. We don’t know …

Cynical, calculating and alarmist MPs are undermining faith in democracy with their conspiratorial anti-Brexit shenanigans “A voter registration site that crashed in the run-up to last year’s EU referendum could have been targeted by a foreign cyber attack, MPs say”, screeches the BBC. The Guardian, spurred by its anti-Brexit bias to …

A genuine opportunity for democratic renewal – if we can keep it Many believed – either through arrogance or hopelessness – that this day would never come. Article 50 Day: the day that the British government triggered Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty and formally signalled to the European Union our decision …

One of the most overrated and overblown reasons for folk voting out of the European Union last summer was immigration. There existed within the Leave vote a substantial contingent that advocated retaining membership of the single market and pursuing what is called the ‘EEA option’. There was a large rural …

I have in recent days found myself dealing with perpetual criticism of the Vote Leave campaign’s use of the ‘£350m’ figure during last year’s EU referendum campaign. Scores of Twitter followers and individuals I know in person have, it seems, converged on me, telling me that our figure was either …

One of the best bits from Tim Shipman’s book “All out War” is when he describes David Cameron’s attempt to negotiate some sort of deal with the other EU leaders. The account feels already like another country as if we could look back on those days from a perspective of …

Introduction Following the EU referendum on 23rd June 2016, the British people voted to leave the EU, i.e. NOT to be a member of the SEM. The government tell us that Brexit means Brexit, but not what Brexit means. This is an attempt to set out a negotiating position. Article …

To give Scotland a different EU status to any other part of the UK would in effect be to give it independence.  It might be the case that the UK would continue to exist in some odd way still technically united, but for how long could such an arrangement last? …

Most self-described citizens of the world are actually no such thing. They might enjoy the company of very similar people in increasingly similar global cities, but they probably couldn’t think of a single thing to say to somebody of different socio-economic status from a smaller town twenty miles down the road Pete …

Yesterday I listened to bits of the Supreme Court hearing and some of the post match analysis. Something I have never understood in this whole business is that in 2015, the House agreed by a vote of 6:1 in favour that a referendum be held in the UK to determine the mandate …

https://youtu.be/Rn3vuKEgTbs Let’s all take a moment to savour the defeat of former Conservative MP for Richmond Park, Zac Goldsmith, in the by-election which he foolishly triggered after following through on his word to flounce out of the Conservative Party if the government finally took its boot of the neck of …