Exiting the EU

  • Courtesy Policy Exchange via Flickr

    Fisking “Common Market 2.0” (Revised)

    The “Norway Plus Group” of MPs have put forward a paper called “Common Market 2.0” as a possible alternative Brexit deal to current deal. I analyse how credible it actually is, in this long read.

  • Courtesy Tiocfaidh ár lá! via Twitter

    The government’s latest Brexit customs plan won’t be simple to deliver

    After its failure to settle internally on either the “customs partnership” or “maxfac” wheezes to avoid a hard border in Ireland, the government now envisages that the whole of the UK should remain in a customs union with the EU until such time as other solutions are found – a remarkable U-turn.

  • 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”. 

  • Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

    Brexit: now the difficult bit starts….

    Theresa May appeared at the dispatch box on Monday afternoon, trying hard to be joyful and triumphant, claiming that she was able to offer a Brexit that would please everyone.

  • Courtesy pxhere

    Having your fudge and eating it

    On Friday the EU27 and the UK published a joint report on phase one of the Brexit negotiations. Yet this deal fudges many key issues, and raises new ones. It has given rise to conflicting interpretations within hours of it being published.

  • 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 Flickr

    After a year, we are still no clearer

    Negotiations formally start today. The EU envisages around 22 four-week cycles to the negotiations in which each cycle addresses specific issues, with a week of preparation, a week of exchange of papers and explanation, a week of negotiation to find a deal and a week of reporting back to secure agreement with what the negotiators […]

  • Courtesy Vimeo

    Theresa in Wonderland

    The utter foolishness of Theresa May’s ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’ mantra when it comes to negotiating a new relationship with the EU is back in every speech by her and senior cabinet ministers as well as appearing in the Conservative manifesto. It can’t be emphasised enough that ‘No deal’ is simply not an option.

  • Courtesy wikicommons

    We have not passed the point of no return

    We go into this general election with the government claiming we have passed the point of no return, in that a notification under Article 50 of Britain’s intention to leave the EU cannot be reversed. They’re wrong.  Britain still has the right to change its mind. For a start, there is a clue in the […]

  • Courtesy Rama on Flickr

    Things are far from settled

    On the face of it, it’s clear. The referendum decided that Britain should leave the EU. And yet, despite this, there have been rallies across the country opposing Brexit, several million people signing a petition to Parliament urging it to vote against triggering Article 50, and the devolved Scottish government hinting it could block the process. So why is this?