‘Britain mulls Swiss-style ties with Brussels’ ran the Sunday Times headlines. Peculiarly, the date of publication was not 2017 but last weekend. ‘Senior government sources’ were claiming that ‘senior government figures’ are planning to put Britain on the path towards a revamped relationship with the European Union. Whether the sources and the figures were one […]
In March 2019, The Who’s lead singer Roger Daltrey was asked whether leaving the EU would be ‘bad for British rock music’. An incredulous Daltrey replied: ‘No. What’s it got to do with the rock business? How are you going to tour in Europe? Oh dear. As if we didn’t tour Europe before the f***ing […]
There is no doubt that the Northern Ireland Protocol has damaged trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as well as trade between GB and the Republic of Ireland. Liz Truss has been robust on wanting to make sure that damage is corrected as a matter of urgency for the people of Northern Ireland. It […]
The Conservative leadership run-off has not been short of striking policy pledges, but one of the most significant is Liz Truss’ promise to repeal or reform all retained EU law (REUL) by the end of 2023. Rishi Sunak has said he’ll review all REUL in his first 100 days in office and identify which laws […]
This is the full text of Lord Frost’s speech at the relaunch of Conservative Way Forward It’s a great pleasure to be here today at the relaunch of Conservative Way Forward. I’m honoured and privileged to be a member of CWF’s Parliamentary Board and look forward to taking forward our vision for the future of […]
There is, we are told, more joy in heaven over a sinner that repenteth so those of a Brexit-supporting disposition should raise a glass to Sir Keir Starmer for his recent speech. The general of Remain’s long guerilla war to stop the country leaving the EU has emerged, blinking like a Japanese soldier finally leaving […]
The idea of leaving the European Convention on Human Rights was once anathema. It is slowly becoming thinkable and even mainstream. Plenty of respectable countries are not members of any similar regional human rights organisation: think Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In the longterm, I doubt whether Britain’s democracy is consistent with continued membership of […]
In a widely publicised High Court judgment, freelance journalist Carole Cadwalladr successfully defended herself against a claim of defamation from the Brexit-backing businessman Arron Banks. Banks had claimed that Cadwalladr had defamed him by suggesting he had used secret Russian money to fund election campaigns in breach of electoral law. In return, Cadwalladr accused Banks […]
It’s been a punishment the EU inflicted on the UK for Brexit, a proxy for the Leave and Remain campaigns to continue their political struggle, and now the Northern Ireland Protocol is a key battleground in the Tory civil war. Today, the Government will publish its plan to address the Irish Sea border, and the […]
Over the last week there has much excitement about the views of Remainer Tory MP Tobias Elwood and Tory leaver former MEP Daniel Hannan that it would have been better for the UK to have stayed in the Single European market. They have claimed that doing so would have helped deal with the cost of […]
British Atlanticism is cringe. I’m sorry to say it, because I know it remains popular in Conservative circles – part of the intellectual package of nostalgia for Thatcher is nostalgia for Reagan. But for those of us born too late to remember the Cold War, the ‘special relationship’ is pure Boomer cope. Under its auspices, […]
The Foreign Secretary has announced legislation to allow the Government to override certain parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol that have been put into effect in national law. As I set out in my recent IEA briefing paper, the Protocol is costing NI and the UK as a whole hundreds of millions of pounds, and […]
In the aftermath of last week’s Stormont election, the Government has focused again on the Northern Ireland Protocol and its potential to derail the province’s devolved institutions. Sinn Fein is due to choose a First Minister on Friday, but the DUP insists it will not nominate a Deputy First Minister until the sea border is […]
Since the UK’s departure from the EU – facilitated by a referendum outcome where immigration was one of the main policy concerns among Leave voters – the debate over how open and tolerant a country we are has raged on. And it seems those Remainer sophisticates who would have you believe that Boris Johnson leads […]
A billion euros in aid to Ukraine, €35bn to Putin for his gas and oil. The insta-audit of the EU’s 2022 spending priorities raced around Twitter, last week and made even some die-hard Remainers see Brussels and Berlin in a very different way. Remember that tearful ‘This is our star, look after it for us’ […]
In Northern Ireland, the political settlement that brought stability to the province is threatening to unravel, thanks to the Northern Ireland Protocol. Some influential politicians believe that the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement, which is credited with bringing peace to Ulster, may now be effectively finished. With an election fast approaching, the power-sharing executive collapsed last […]
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