Unless something really unforeseen happens, the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill will pass the House of Commons in the coming weeks. This is where the fun might just begin. For it then goes to the House of Lords. Several peers have been vocal about their dislike of the Bill (not least Andrew Adonis) and the government, […]
A Christmas message for Brexiteers
It was a mixed year for the Brexit inclined. The general election was messy from a Brexit perspective: sure, one can say that given Labour’s hard Brexit stance at the time, 85% of the electorate voted for parties that supported not just leaving the EU, but doing so in the “cleanest” way possible. Yet given […]
I think I’ve finally figured out why Theresa May lost her majority in June – and why that’s still important now
There are many competing theories as to why May managed to lose her parliamentary majority in a snap election she called in order to increase the slim one she was sitting on. In my book “Apocalypse Delayed: Why the Left is Still in Trouble”, I had a go at few myself. Usually people surmise it […]
There are now two main tribes of Brexiteers. Here’s how that might play out
As talk between the UK government and the EU moves past phase one (the easy bit, which wasn’t particularly easy) onto discussions around the transitional phase (or implementation phase according to government semantics), people have begun to wonder how Theresa May will manage to keep both Remainers and Leavers in her party happy. I’ll go […]
What will “meaningful vote” actually mean in the end? The importance of tonight’s vote
David Davis and his ministers have already promised a vote on the deal the government strikes with the EU, ages ago now in Brexit terms. Only, it was never much of a concession: it’s take it or leave it, in the words of Steve Baker, meaning either parliament would accept the deal – or Britain […]
The new Brexit “deal” – and how the Customs Union fits in
Theresa May has managed to move the trade talks with the EU onto phase two. Whatever I have ever said to her discredit, I have to hand her that victory. It may have saved her premiership – although, as I’ve said many times before, I have my doubts about whether Tory MPs really would have […]
Here’s why the hardcore Tory Brexiteers are sticking with May – and will probably continue to do so
One of the strangest things about the current political era is that we have a prime minister who campaigned (however weakly) for Remain, yet has (in public rhetoric terms anyhow) become the one who has set out a hard Brexit path. It has been widely speculated that the reason hard Brexiteers have been relatively loyal […]
It may well come down to a choice between Brexit and keeping the Union together
One of the things about the whole Brexit dynamic that I fail to grasp, and by Brexit dynamic I don’t just mean the referendum held on June 23, 2016 and its aftermath but rather the whole of Eurosceptic thought since at least 2009, is the attitudes towards the Union shown by the Brexit passionate. Almost […]
Yesterday was a national embarrasment of epic proportions – so why is the coverage of it so muted?
Let’s unpick what happened yesterday. The British prime minister travelled to Brussels to have lunch with the president of the European Commission, over which it was planned that they would finalise the wordings that would allow the trade talks between the UK and the EU to move to the next stage. The big issue that […]
The Irish border issue cannot be fudged forever
As of this moment, it looks as if the UK government has got the EU to agree to move the trade talks forward based on an agreement that there will be no regulatory divergence between at least Northern Ireland and Ireland, meaning that there will be no hard border. Except it is a fudge, of […]