Category: Europe

  • Policy Exchange and Ireland

    Originally posted on Patreon on 6 July 2017. The London-based think-tank Policy Exchange this week published a paper by Ray Bassett,the former Irish ambassador to Canada, arguing that Ireland should follow the UK out of the European Union. This is a marginal viewpoint in Ireland and the intervention was widely criticised as a diversion from the…

  • Could there be a progressive pact against Brexit in Northern Ireland?

    The Irish News is this morning reporting that Sinn Féin and the SDLP have held talks at Stormont in the context of a possible electoral pact. This is something that Sinn Féin have canvassed at previous elections. In 2010, SF unilaterally stood down in favour of the SDLP in South Belfast. The SDLP held the…

  • Brexit Terms and the Commons – The Numbers for Round Two

    Back in October, I looked at the likely voting numbers in the Commons ahead of Labour’s motion for a parliamentary debate on Brexit strategy. Despite a notional Government majority of 16, the Government elected to accept Keir Starmer’s opposition motion on 12 October, suggesting that they feared defeat. I have updated the figures below ahead…

  • Brexicon – Defining the terms of negotiation

    On the BBC this morning Nick Clegg hit back at the ‘remoaners’ label for pro-Europeans, by labelling advocates of a hard Brexit ‘breniers’. I wondered if I couldn’t do a bit better. Apologies in advance.

  • Brexit terms and the Commons – a quick back of the envelope calc

    Are there enough MPs willing to force a vote on the terms? Below is a quick first look at the numbers. I will try and update it as developments unfold.

  • Parliament should accept the Brexit mandate, but test its limits

    It was pointed out before the EU referendum that having a popular vote to defend parliamentary sovereignty was something of a quixotic exercise.

  • Brexit and Irish nationalism

    Only two years after the narrow defeat of Scottish independence in the last major referendum in Britain, nobody should be surprised that the vote for Brexit has opened up new questions about the territorial integrity of the UK. The Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said she will begin preparing legislation for a second independence…

  • Referendum night links

    A few links that may be of interest to those following the referendum results on Thursday night. Estimated declaration times around the UK from the Press Association: The list in time order is most helpful for following events. To find your local area use the list in alphabetical order. For a good steer on what those declarations…

  • A common concern – Brexit and the Irish border

    It is not often you see a Government intervening directly in a domestic political debate in another country, but the potential impact of Britain's EU referendum on Ireland has seen the usual protocols thrown out the window – no doubt with the discreet approval of the Cameron Government. The Irish Government has made a strong effort to…

  • Bilderberg 2013

    My piece for Spinwatch earlier this week on the Bilderberg meeting in Watford: A remarkable collection of politicians, diplomats, industrialists, bankers, royalty and other notables assemble in Watford today for the 61st Bilderberg meeting, a discreet high-level transatlantic policy forum that has met almost annually since 1954. In recent years Bilderberg has taken to publishing…