Tag Archives: article 50

  • Brexit Report February 2019

    Theresa May continues to kick the can down the road with regard to what to do about Brexit following the historic government defeat on 29 January.

  • Screenshot JPC

    BBC News Interview – Friday April 5

    Talking to BBC News about the extension of Article 50, European elections and the importance of having a confirmatory ballot on whatever deal emerges.

  • Rally against Brexit in Brussels

    Speaking to a lively crowd of Brits and other EU citizens outside the European Council building as the 28 heads of government considered the Article 50 extension request from the UK.

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    Fisking Theresa May’s Grimsby Speech

    Theresa May gave a speech in Grimsby today ahead of the second “meaningful vote” on her Brexit deal in Parliament on Tuesday. You can read her speech, with my comments inserted, here.

  • Courtesy Skeeze via Pixabay

    Hey UK, the EU’s watching you!

    Brexit has illustrated once again that the British press and politicians immersed in the notorious ‘Westminster bubble’ underestimate just how much their European colleagues understand them.

  • Brexit Chaos Continues

    Speaking in EP on the continued Brexit chaos as Theresa May cancels the meaningful vote on the Withdrawal Agreement that she expected to lose.

  • Sky News Interview – 25 November

    On the day that the EU Council agreed the Withdrawal Agreement and the text of the Political Declaration, I was interviewed by Adam Boulton on Sky News.

  • Courtesy Pixabay

    The Political Declaration: A Wishy Washy Wish List

    After nearly two years of wrangling, more between the rival factions within her own party than with the EU, over the manner of the UK’s mooted departure, Theresa May agreed last week to an unpopular Withdrawal Agreement. Then, like a disorganised undergraduate who realises the night before that a paper is due, she hurriedly threw […]

  • Courtesy JPC

    Deadlock on Brexit due to paralysis inside Tory Party

    Speaking in the Conclusions of the October EC debate as the UK government misses yet another deadline, leaving only a few months remaining to negotiate any Brexit deal.

  • Waiting for Theresa

    Whether or not the Prime Minister is having an existential crisis, the theatrics of the EU Withdrawal Bill going through Parliament cannot distract from the embarrassing fact that, yet again, she was turning up to a European Council summit with nothing to offer.

  • Courtesy PxHere

    The Dangers of a Skeleton Brexit

    The government could well be aiming for a Withdrawal Agreement that leaves all contentious issues to be solved only after Brexit, during the transition phase which in the meantime keeps the status quo.

  • Created by JPC

    Transition or extension?

    The realisation that any post-Brexit transition period will leave the UK still subject to EU legislation, including modifications to such legislation and new legislation, has given rise to the idea that Britain should extend its membership so as to serve any transition period as a voting member rather than as a “vassal state”. 

  • On whether the UK has the option to change its mind

    My reply to Sean Kelly MEP’s ‘blue card’ question.

  • Response to Donald Tusk & Jean-Claude Juncker statements

    Speaking in the European Parliament on the conclusions of the European Council meeting in December.

  • Courtesy Fabian Review

    The crunch point on Brexit is fast approaching

    Writing for the Fabian Review, I have outlined the where the UK stood in at the end of the phase one of the Brexit negotiations, and look at the immense challenges and risks facing us in 2018 if the government does not face up to reality rather than relying on rhetoric.

  • Courtesy Inha Leex Hale via flickr

    Is 29th March 2019 the date we leave the EU?

    The date of 29 March 2019 is never far from the lips of government ministers. As the two-year period for negotiating our departure from the European Union runs down, that day is heralded by leading Brexiters as one of the few certainties left in this chaotic Brexit process. But, as is often the case, reality is far less straightforward

  • Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

    No Deal? Nonsense

    The idea that, in order to strengthen its position in the Brexit negotiations, Britain must show that it is prepared to walk away without a deal, is a load of nonsense.

  • Courtesy Pixabay

    May’s Fudge in Florence

    Flying all the way to Florence, with a large entourage, pursued by an army of journalists, to give a speech that she could have given in London, Theresa May’s speech today was more about the show than the content.

  • Courtesy JPC

    Sky News Interview : Adam Boulton

    Talking with Adam Boulton about the many complex challenges with Brexit negotiations, the importance of protected food names for the British Economy and why we should remember that Brexit is ‘if’ not ‘when’, until we know what kind of deal is on offer.

  • Statement in European Parliament on the Brexit Resolution

    Today the 73% of the European Parliament agreed a resolution in response to article 50 being triggered. It is Labour’s responsibility to hold Theresa May’s government to account for their promise secure “exactly the same benefits”.

  • Image: Miron Podgorean

    Fabian Review | The Next Steps

    Fabian Review has launched a regular series of pieces looking at the view from Brussels on Brexit from the UK and EU politicians playing key roles in the negotiations, to which I will be regularly contributing.

    To start the series, I explain what the EU is planning while it waits for Britain to fire the Brexit starting pistol.

  • courtesy wikimedia

    The Brexit Bill: My response

    The government’s determination to push the European Union (Notice of Withdrawal) Bill through the Commons with such limited time for debate to consider the many implications of such a momentous decision, is a serious affront to the parliamentary sovereignty that they claimed to hold dear.

  • Courtesty jeffdjevdet via flickr

    What now on Brexit?

    The response to the referendum result is still playing out in both of Britain’s main political parties. While the last few weeks have given the appearance – in stark contrast to before the referendum – of a united Conservative party and a divided Labour Party, this could change significantly in the coming period. On the […]

  • courtesy flickr

    Some comments on the Brexit White Paper

    The following is a summary of the Government’s Brexit White Paper – together with my comments in red: Great repeal bill and control of UK laws “We will bring forward a White Paper on the Great Repeal Bill that provides more detail about our approach.” The first promise of this white paper is to promise […]

  • courtesy flickr

    My response to Supreme Court Judgment

    I welcome the judgment of the Supreme Court on the proper process for the triggering of Article 50. We live in a parliamentary democracy. Only Parliament, not the government, can decide on a matter that can affect the rights of UK citizens. Parliament must now seize the opportunity to take control of this process, to determine the best way […]

  • courtesy wikimedia

    Global Britain? More like Broken Britain

    There are no two ways about it: Theresa May’s intention to take us out — not just of the EU, but also out of the European Single Market, the Customs Union and indeed “all parts of the EU” — is deeply damaging, and not just in economic terms. Here are some of the key implications of her speech, which will […]

  • courtesy flickr

    May’s ‘clean’ Brexit can hide neither dangers nor dirty dealing

    Theresa May’s journey towards a bleak, deluded UKIP view of the world continued today as she abandoned key areas of potential negotiation over the Single Market (favoured by most businesses, trade unions and economists) and instead moved the battleground to an ill defined (and unlikely to be agreed) partial membership of aspects of the Customs […]

  • courtesy Flickr

    The Tory civil war will re-ignite

    The reason why Theresa May is so silent on her Brexit plans is because, as soon as she comes off the fence, the Tory party civil war on Europe will flare up again in public. The divisions between those who consider it vital that Britain continues to participate in the single market and those who […]

  • Brexit supporting press in a panic

    Interesting that, today, there are simultaneous attacks on me in the Telegraph, the Sun and the Express, all about amendments I tabled weeks ago to a draft report by Liberal MEP Verhofstadt in the Constitutional Affairs committee of the European Parliament. It’s clearly a concerted effort, especially as they all give the same distorted view […]