The dinner between Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen on 9th December seems to have done little to improve the chances of an agreement on EU/UK trading relations before the end of the transition period. Both sides have interest in achieving such an agreement and it would be premature [...]
Republished with kind permission by Jon Worth from his Euroblog. Image copyright: A nightmare before Brexit! by duncan c, licensed under creative commons licence CC BY-NC 2.0 OK, I might be jumping the gun – there may yet be a Deal between Britain and the EU – but as a result [...]
“The fabric of democracy is always fragile everywhere because it depends on the will of citizens to protect it, and when they become scared, when it becomes dangerous for them to defend it, it can go very quickly.” (Margaret Atwood) The deadline for ending the “transitional” arrangements for Britain’s relations [...]
17th December 2020 "Deal" or "No Deal"? A fortnight before the transition period comes to an end, there will be plenty to discuss on the topic of Brexit, in whichever situation the UK will find itself in. At this event our speakers took stock and offered their views and commentary [...]
Watch our Director Brendan Donnelly discussing why the choice which Johnson now faces between a poor Brexit "deal" and "no deal" are a fitting climax to the chaotic and incoherent Brexit process: You can also read his blog on this topic here: Johnson’s Brexit Dilemma: No good outcome in sight [...]
Shortly after the EU referendum of 2016, a “former Conservative minister” supposedly remarked that Brexit would force the Conservative Party to choose between destroying the country and destroying itself. Both the attribution and exact wording of this epigram may be questioned, but precisely this choice is the dilemma with which [...]
As discussions on an EU/UK trade deal post transition are now nearing the end, the City of London continues to worry about where it will be left from 1st January 2021. Financial services are not part of the main FTA agreement as had been hoped. Instead the City feels like [...]
“Time is running short.” This refrain was first expressed in June by Prime Minister Johnson and Commission President von der Leyen in their conference call, supposedly with the aim of injecting urgency into the ongoing UK/EU negotiations on their future relations after the end of the Transition Period. It has [...]
The National Audit Office released last week a report on preparations for the end of the transition period after Brexit. The report was critical of the government for the inadequacy of these preparations and in particular for its failure to foresee and respond to the predictable administrative consequences of Brexit. [...]
by David Quinn Former international civil servant One of the assumptions underlying the Brexiteers approach to Brexit has been the firm conviction that the UK, the world’s 5th largest economy, would have no difficulty in imposing a trade deal on the EU which would permit the country to maintain [...]
