8 10, 2020

The Red Wall – Myths and Reality

By |2020-10-09T12:29:14+00:00October 8th, 2020|Categories: Blog, Brexit, UK|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Photo credit: UK Parliament/ CC BY 3.0 by Baroness Quin Former Europe Minister and Labour MP         The biggest myth about the Red Wall is that it was all about Brexit and that the Red Wall seats, which had voted Leave in the 2016 Referendum, [...]

2 10, 2020

EU-UK talks look like “tunnelling” toward a fudged deal

By |2020-10-09T11:46:02+00:00October 2nd, 2020|Categories: Brexit, Europe, Trade, Trade & Financial services|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Will there be a No Deal Brexit or a Free Trade Agreement, of some kind, by 15th October 2020?  This was the date by which UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson insisted an accord should be reached or, as he put it, Britain would simply walk away. Regaining British sovereignty? Given [...]

1 10, 2020

Don’t just blame Johnson, blame the Brexit he enabled

By |2020-10-09T11:24:51+00:00October 1st, 2020|Categories: Brexit, Europe, Europe|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Photo credit: Steve Nimmons / CC BY There is a celebrated passage in Marcel Proust’s “Sodom and Gomorrah” where the narrator sums up the nature of a character, Charles Morel, who in some sense encapsulates all that is vile in the values of his milieu. Morel, we are [...]

29 09, 2020

Brexit: The worst is yet to come

By |2020-10-27T15:31:23+00:00September 29th, 2020|Categories: Brexit, Europe|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Barry Davis / CC BY In recent weeks Michael Gove has admitted to the House of Commons that the end of the transition period could lead next year to queues of “up to 7000 HGVs in Kent” and that a system of “Kent Access Permits” would be necessary [...]

29 09, 2020

Brexit and Northern Ireland – a Different United Kingdom

By |2020-11-16T12:34:35+00:00September 29th, 2020|Categories: Brexit, Devolution, Europe, UK Devolution|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Northern Ireland will mark 100 years of its existence on the 3rd of May 2021. Meantime the Government of the Republic has launched a radical new policy calling for “A Shared Island”. This new emphasis on SHARING points to a United Ireland as an aspiration rather than a policy. In [...]

29 09, 2020

In search of equivalence – why “no-deal” would be bad for the financial sector, on both sides of the channel

By |2020-10-09T10:52:12+00:00September 29th, 2020|Categories: Brexit, Europe, Trade & Financial services|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

With the deadline for a deal being reached now centring around the 15th October European Council meeting, there are some signs of greater willingness to compromise on the two major issues of fishing rights and state aid.  If that is so it may also pave the way to making progress [...]

25 09, 2020

The European Investment Bank: we will miss it when it is gone

By |2020-10-09T10:36:54+00:00September 25th, 2020|Categories: Brexit, EU Policies & Institutions, Europe|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Photo credit: European Investment Bank Authors: Sir Brian Unwin, former President of the European Investment Bank (1993 – 2000)     Professor Iain Begg, Academic co-Director of the Dahrendorf Forum at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Professor at the LSE’s European Institute     [...]

15 09, 2020

Brexit: The choices become clearer

By |2020-09-17T13:22:12+00:00September 15th, 2020|Categories: Brexit, Europe, Europe|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Mr Johnson’s decision last week to bring in a bill which will contravene a critical portion of the Withdrawal Agreement has at least had the merit of clarifying the real nature of Brexit and thus of the proper path by which it must be opposed. Former Prime Ministers John Major, [...]

9 09, 2020

Brexit: Little lies have long legs

By |2020-09-17T14:42:32+00:00September 9th, 2020|Categories: Brexit, Europe|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |

One of the more optimistic interpretations placed by some commentators on Boris Johnson’s crushing victory in the General Election last year was that his new large majority would make it easier for him to negotiate rapidly and effectively with the European Union in 2020. His large majority, it was hoped, [...]

2 09, 2020

Level Playing Field, Lopsided Logic?

By |2020-09-02T12:35:02+00:00September 2nd, 2020|Categories: Brexit, Europe, Trade, Trade & Financial services|Tags: , , , , |

When the United Kingdom (UK) finally left the European Union (EU) earlier this year, it did so on the basis of a Withdrawal Agreement, attached to which was a Political Declaration. This latter text included within it a shared goal of establishing a Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The two parties [...]

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