The Brexit no-one’s “accepted”

It's not about asking the same question over and over till we get the right answer, the problem with Brexit is no-one's asked the public the right question. I wrote this blog originally to talk about how the Brexit we are currently headed towards is one that not even the Leave Leadership were expecting.  To …

Those Brexit Negotiations – abridged

Summarised version of the UK approach to Brexit Negotiations. Hello, Mr Barnier, we'd like to begin Brexit Negotiations Excellent, as you know the clock is ticking, we need to draft our agreement so all 27 member states can absorb it and give sign off. All 27? Can't we just agree it here with a handshake? …

Labour Brexit Position? It’s easy

Much has been made recently of the Labour Leadership's confused Brexit position.  The general line from Corbyn supporters is "Brexit has happened, it can't be stopped, what can we do?".  Many Labour Remain supporters believe that the result must be respected, whatever the cost, and that therefore the Leadership is just respecting democracy. However, the …

The Corbyn/Remain Supporter Dilemma

Extended version of a twitter post. I've potentially been a bit obsessive about Corbyn & Brexit and many have said "why attack him, he's a decent stick, why not turn the fire on the Tories instead who are actually running Brexit".  It's a fair comment however the reality is Brexit (certainly hard brexit) as it …

Brexit is dying – don’t worry about how we finish it off

Firstly, to use a painfully overused phrase, let's be clear - Brexit is likely already dying.  This may not seem obvious right now for reasons I'll outline below but let's take a reality check: All Brexits are damaging - some, such as staying in SM & CU are less so but all will cost jobs …

Dear Owen…a response

Over the last few days I've potentially been one of the "vocal but unrepresentative minority of Remainers" who has given you a hard time over your brexit position.  I did give a tweet response to your article "Why I'm a remainer who accepts the result" as shown below, because I felt, and still feel, that you were …

Dear Owen….

Note: Owen responded to his critics which led to this follow on blog. Owen, I appreciate I and others have been giving you a hard time over the past few days.  I suppose if I'm honest I've been hoping to get an explanation, you are after all a considerable voice for the Left so your tweets …

Chuka & the Whip – a Logical Analysis

Who benefits from Labour's continuing ambiguity on Brexit? The country, or the party? A few days ago Chuka Umunna put forward an amendment to the Queen's speech with the aim of securing our place in the Single Market & Customs Union.  Jeremy Corbyn instructed his MPs to abstain on the amendment though 50 MPs "defied …

Why is Corbyn Pro-Brexit?

Jeremy Corbyn, despite what many supporters believe, has historically been opposed to the EU.  When this is discussed however generally rail nationalisation is raised as an example and it’s then pointed out that the EU doesn’t prevent state owned railways.  It's then also pointed out that Labour policies aren't really that radical and that many …

Brexit – “Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire”

There's a lot of confusion & mixed messages around hard brexit, soft brexit, open brexit, closed brexit however there's one very simple trick to cut through the deliberate fog. If you hear a politician talk about "Access to the Single Market", "Retain benefits of the Single Market", "Reform some aspects of the Single Market", "Tariff …