Tag Archives: Brexit

Britain’s Return to Europe: A Vision Rooted in Purpose, Not Nostalgia

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Across the United Kingdom, a quiet reckoning is underway. Eight years after the Brexit referendum, the promise of a bold new chapter outside the European Union lies in tatters. Instead of renewed sovereignty and global resurgence, the country finds itself diminished: economically weaker, diplomatically isolated, and socially fragmented. For many, it is no longer a question of whether we should rejoin the EU, but how, and when.

Yet to speak of rejoining is to confront difficult truths. The journey back will not be quick. It will demand political leadership, public engagement, and diplomatic humility. But for a nation with Britain’s history, talents, and spirit, the path, though long, is both viable and vital. What lies at the end of that path is not simply a restoration of past privileges, but a reclaiming of our rightful place among Europe’s community of nations.

The first step must be political courage. While public opinion is shifting, particularly among younger generations and those long unconvinced by the false dawn of Brexit, the political establishment remains hesitant. The shadow of the 2016 referendum still looms large. Yet true leadership does not bow to ghosts; it charts a course forward. A future government must be willing to speak frankly to the British people: about the costs of Brexit, about the realities of international cooperation, and about the immense benefits of restoring our partnership with Europe.

Equally crucial is the task of restoring trust, both at home and abroad. The manner in which the UK left the EU, marked by bluster and broken commitments, left scars in Brussels and beyond. If Britain is to re-enter the fold, it must do so not as a reluctant exception-seeker, but as a committed and respectful partner. There can be no return to the days of opt-outs and special deals. We must approach accession not with entitlement, but with earnest intent, ready to meet the responsibilities of membership and contribute fully to the shared European project.

Legally and procedurally, rejoining would require a formal application under Article 49 of the Treaty on European Union. This would involve, in principle, a willingness to engage with all facets of membership, including the euro and Schengen, even if transitional arrangements are negotiated. There can be no illusions of a “lite” version of membership. The EU today is not the same bloc we left, it is more integrated, more self-assured. Britain must return on terms of mutual respect, not exception.

But if the process is demanding, the rewards are profound. Economically, the toll of Brexit is undeniable. The Office for Budget Responsibility estimates a 4% permanent reduction in GDP, an astonishing figure that translates into stagnating wages, struggling businesses, and faltering public services. Rejoining the Single Market would ease the friction that now stifles trade; full membership would restore investor confidence, supply chain resilience, and long-term economic momentum.

The argument is not merely about pounds and pence. On the world stage, Britain has not become more powerful post-Brexit, it has become peripheral. While we remain a respected military ally through NATO, our absence from the EU’s decision-making tables has cost us influence on climate policy, digital regulation, and global standards. In an era defined by democratic backsliding and geopolitical rivalry, our values: openness, rule of law, multilateralism, are best defended as part of a European alliance, not apart from it.

There is also a human dimension to this story, one often lost in policy debates. Brexit severed the everyday connections that bound us to our neighbours: the right to study in Paris, to work in Berlin, to fall in love in Lisbon without visas or barriers. Young Britons have had opportunities stripped from them. Scientists and artists find collaboration curtailed. Rejoining is not just an economic necessity, it is a moral obligation to restore the freedoms our citizens once took for granted.

And we cannot overlook the unity of the United Kingdom itself. Brexit has aggravated constitutional fault lines. Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to remain. The subsequent fallout, particularly around the Northern Ireland Protocol, has exposed the fragility of our Union. A return to the EU would not solve every issue, but it would provide a stable framework in which our nations might rediscover common cause, rather than drift further apart.

This journey will take time. It may begin with small, confident steps: rejoining Erasmus, aligning regulatory frameworks, re-entering common programmes. But these must be steps along a clearly signposted road, not gestures to nowhere. The destination, full EU membership, must be embraced not as a retreat to the past, but as a leap toward the future.

Britain belongs in Europe. Not just because of shared geography, but because of shared values: democracy, dignity, justice, and peace. We left on the back of a broken promise. We can return with purpose. And when we do, it will not be as the Britain that left, but as a Britain renewed, ready to lead once more, not from the sidelines, but from the heart of Europe.

Nigel Farage: The Pint-Sized Prophet of Populism (And Other Tall Tales)

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If there were ever a political equivalent of a pub bore who mistook volume for vision and nostalgia for nationalism, it would surely be Nigel Farage. A man who has turned the art of saying nothing loudly into a long-running solo act, Farage now finds himself back on the national stage, pint in one hand, populist outrage in the other, like some Poundland Churchill with a hangover and no sense of irony.

Farage is not so much a politician as he is a walking sentiment, equal parts grumble and grin, a one-man Brexit tribute band who simply refuses to leave the stage, even though the audience has changed, the tune is out of key, and most of the band have long since sobered up and gone home.

His comeback tour, cleverly rebranded as “Reform UK”, is less a political movement than a support group for people who think the country went downhill the moment rationing ended. Armed with a spreadsheet of cherry-picked grievances and a deeply suspicious love for “common sense,” Farage has returned to Westminster as if he’s just popped into the nation’s living room to remind us that he’s still very angry, and that he can still somehow get on telly.

Let’s rewind. This is the man who has never won a seat in Westminster in seven tries, and only managed it on the eighth, Clacton, bless its confused heart, where enough voters were presumably just hoping he’d shut up if they gave him something to do. For years, Farage has been like that one bloke at a barbecue who says he doesn’t want to run the country, then spends three hours explaining why everyone else is doing it wrong and how it used to be better when “you could still say what you liked.”

What does he stand for? That depends entirely on what week it is and who’s paying attention. Europe? He hates it, except when he’s drawing a salary from the European Parliament, where he famously turned up just enough to wave little flags and scowl like a teenager dragged to a family dinner. Immigration? Terrible thing, until you remember he’s married a German and once declared he’d happily take in Ukrainians (as long as they were “the right kind” of refugee). The monarchy? Loves it, but isn’t above throwing shade at King Charles if it means a few more headlines in the Mail.

Farage is the kind of man who could declare war on Brussels at breakfast, have a ‘fish and chip’ photo op by lunch, and be caught on a yacht with a Russian banker by dinner. He’s not consistent – he’s theatrical. His is a politics of performance, not policy. Ask him how to fix the NHS and he’ll answer with a Churchill quote, a puff of smoke, and a vague suggestion that if only people stood up straight and sang the anthem more often, all would be well.

And let’s talk about the pint. That ever-present glass of warm bitter isn’t just a prop – it’s practically a political philosophy. It says, “I’m one of you,” even as Farage hobnobs with hedge funders and flirts with conspiracy theories like they’re going out of fashion (spoiler: they aren’t, at least not on GB News). The pint is the mask, just as every Farage rant is the distraction. He rails against elites while being one. He promises change while offering the same tired menu of scapegoats and slogans.

His greatest trick, of course, was convincing half the country that Brexit was an answer, not a 12-part question to which no one has yet written a coherent reply. And when things inevitably began to unravel: when farmers panicked, fish rotted, and red tape multiplied like rabbits on a cider binge; Farage did what any master of misdirection would do: he changed the subject. Now it’s the “deep state,” or “wokeism,” or electric cars. Anything to keep the engine of indignation running.

Farage’s real superpower is survival. Like a political cockroach, he outlives scandals, failures, party collapses, and logic itself. Reform UK isn’t about reforming anything; it’s about reforming Farage, again and again, into whatever new flavour of rage the market demands. One week it’s immigration, the next it’s Net Zero, the next it’s some obscure rant about meat taxes or metric martyrs. The man reinvents himself more often than Madonna, and with even more eyeliner, if you count the smugness.

And now, astonishingly, he wants to be Prime Minister. Farage, who has never run anything larger than a press stunt, now fancies himself as the captain of HMS Britain. It’s like giving the keys to your house to the bloke who just finished yelling at the manager in Wetherspoons.

Britain deserves better than Farage. They deserve leaders with ideas, not just outrage. With plans, not just punchlines. And with principles that go beyond “whatever makes the headlines.”

But perhaps the biggest joke is that Farage is no joke at all. He’s a very real symptom of a very real problem: a political culture where volume trumps vision, and media clout outweighs moral clarity. He may make Brits laugh, roll their eyes, or rage, but the real danger is when we stop noticing the sleight of hand behind the show.

So enjoy the circus. But don’t buy the popcorn.

A Strategic Reset: Is the UK’s 12-Year Deal with the EU a Trial Run for Rejoining?

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In a move that may mark the beginning of a new chapter, or even a slow reversal, in post-Brexit Britain, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government has signed a sweeping 12-year deal with the European Union. Spanning trade, fisheries, defense, energy, and youth mobility, the agreement is being sold as a pragmatic step toward economic stability. Yet, for keen observers of European geopolitics and domestic UK policy, this isn’t just about cutting red tape or smoothing customs formalities. It’s about direction, intent, and trajectory; a trajectory, some might argue subtly, but surely points back toward Brussels.

Let’s be clear – this is not rejoining the EU. The UK retains its formal sovereignty, its independent trade policy, and its seat at the World Trade Organization. Yet, in practical terms, this agreement represents a partial realignment with the European regulatory and political sphere. It’s a détente, but one that many suspect could serve as a trial run for re-entry.

Trade and Regulatory Alignment: Quiet Integration
The most immediate impacts will be felt in trade. The deal includes a new sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement that significantly eases checks on animal and plant products, long a point of friction for exporters. British sausages and cheeses can once again cross the Channel with ease, and exporters have been granted breathing room after years of customs chaos.

The price? The UK will align dynamically with EU food safety rules and standards. Not only that, but the European Court of Justice (ECJ) will have an oversight role in this domain. It’s a politically delicate concession that the previous Conservative government would have balked at, but it is one that Starmer is positioning as an economic necessity rather than a political capitulation.

This kind of soft alignment, regulatory cooperation without full membership, mirrors the arrangements held by countries like Norway and Switzerland. The UK isn’t there yet, but it’s moving in that direction, and the economic benefits are likely to reinforce the case.

Fisheries: Symbolism and Compromise
Few sectors embody the emotion of Brexit like fisheries. The 2016 Leave campaign made maritime sovereignty a powerful symbol of national self-determination. Now, the UK has agreed to extend EU access to its waters for another 12 years, hardly the full “taking back control” once promised.

However, the government insists that the deal does not grant additional quotas to EU vessels, and preserves the right to annual negotiations. To offset the political fallout, £360 million is being invested into modernizing the UK fishing industry, a sweetener aimed at skeptical coastal communities.

Yet symbolism matters. This agreement effectively freezes the reassertion of full UK control over its fisheries until 2038. That’s long enough for an entire generation of voters to become accustomed to a cooperative status quo.

Energy, Climate, and Economic Integration
Perhaps the most telling element of the deal is its ambition in energy and carbon market integration. The UK and EU will link their Emissions Trading Systems (ETS), smoothing the path for cross-border carbon credit trading, and exempting British companies from the EU’s incoming Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). This could save UK firms an estimated £800 million annually.

In strategic terms, it brings the UK closer to the EU’s climate governance framework, and represents a quiet, but firm repudiation of the “Global Britain” fantasy that post-Brexit Britain could thrive on deregulated free-market exceptionalism.

Security and Mobility: A Return to Practical Cooperation
Defense is also back on the table. The UK will participate in the EU’s PESCO initiative for military mobility, signifying renewed cooperation on troop and equipment movements. Intelligence sharing and sanctions alignment are also included, moves that suggest an increasingly coordinated foreign policy framework, even outside EU structures.

Meanwhile, UK travelers will soon regain access to EU e-gates, reducing airport queues, and negotiations are underway for a youth mobility scheme. The return to the Erasmus+ student exchange programme, in particular, is a major symbolic step, reconnecting young Britons with continental Europe in a way that had been severed post-2020.

A Trial Run for Rejoining?
Viewed in isolation, each element of the deal appears pragmatic and limited. Viewed together, however, they amount to a re-entangling of the UK within EU institutions and standards. The length of the deal, 12 years, is conspicuous. It places a review just past the midpoint of what could be two Labour governments, opening a window in the 2030s for a possible reapplication for membership.

Critics argue that Starmer is “Brexit in name only,” effectively undoing much of the substance of the 2016 vote. Proponents counter that he is offering economic stability, and international credibility without rekindling the divisive debate of formal re-entry, but no one should be under any illusions: this is a serious recalibration. For a generation of younger voters who never supported Brexit, it might just feel like the first step toward righting a historic wrong.

In this light, the 12-year deal may be best understood as a proving ground. It allows both the UK and the EU to rebuild trust, test cooperation mechanisms, and create the legal and political scaffolding that could one day support full re-accession. Starmer may deny it, and Brussels may downplay it, but history has a way of turning such “interim measures” into new norms.

For now, the UK is not rejoining the EU, but the doors, long thought closed, are no longer locked. And the steps taken in this agreement may well be remembered as the start of the long walk back in.

Sources
• BBC News: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czdy3r6q9mgo
• Sky News: https://news.sky.com/story/uk-eu-trade-deal-what-is-in-the-brexit-reset-agreement-13370912
• Al Jazeera: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/21/will-eu-deal-make-food-cheaper-add-12bn-to-the-uk-economy
• Financial Times: https://www.ft.com/content/66763def-d141-465d-ba96-31399071bf3b
• The Times: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/starmers-done-no-better-with-the-eu-than-may-8l37jm2sf

The Cameron Comparison: Will Danielle Smith Trigger Her Own Political Exit?

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Danielle Smith’s political gambit with Alberta sovereignty bears an uncanny resemblance to David Cameron’s fateful decision to call a referendum on the United Kingdom’s membership in the European Union. Both leaders, faced with mounting internal pressures and populist insurgencies, sought to contain nationalist sentiment by giving it a structured outlet. In so doing, each gambled with the stability of their broader political project. Cameron, convinced that a plebiscite would put the Brexit question to bed and silence his party’s right-wing flank, ended up catalyzing the very crisis he had hoped to avoid, leading to his own political demise. Smith may be following the same treacherous path.

At the heart of both movements is the seductive notion of “taking back control”, from Brussels in the case of Brexit, and from Ottawa in Smith’s Alberta. The appeal is emotional and immediate: a narrative of betrayal by distant elites, a promise of restored autonomy, and the fantasy of economic self-sufficiency. Cameron allowed that narrative to play out on a national stage, legitimizing it with a referendum. Smith is doing something similar through legislation and rhetoric, invoking Alberta’s right to ignore or nullify federal laws under the guise of defending provincial jurisdiction.

Yet here lies the danger. Like Cameron, Smith has chosen to weaponize the language of sovereignty without a clear or viable endpoint. Her Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act is not a roadmap to secession, but it flirts with the logic of separation. The very act of mobilizing this discourse strengthens the hand of more radical forces in the province; those who see confederation not as a partnership, but as a prison. If Smith cannot deliver meaningful change within the framework of the Canadian constitution, and she likely cannot, she risks being outflanked by the separatists she once sought to co-opt. Just as UKIP’s rise drove Cameron’s decisions, the Maverick Party and other Alberta-first voices are shaping Smith’s hand, perhaps more than she realizes.

Politically, the parallels are striking and cautionary. Cameron misread the electorate and overestimated his ability to control the narrative. He expected the rational case for Remain to win out but failed to grasp the emotional and symbolic power of “Leave.” When the vote went against him, he resigned, leaving his party and country in turmoil. Smith may also be underestimating the Pandora’s box she is prying open. If public expectations are raised for a decisive break with Ottawa, one that cannot be delivered through mere provincial legislation, she may find herself either forced to escalate into unconstitutional territory or retreat in humiliation.

Moreover, Smith’s strategy could fracture the broader conservative coalition in Alberta. Urban moderates and business conservatives, critical to her electoral base, may grow weary of perpetual constitutional conflict, especially if it begins to affect investment, interprovincial relations, or federal funding. Meanwhile, the more extreme nationalist voices she has tried to placate will grow disillusioned if her sovereignty agenda produces no tangible results. Like Cameron, Smith is dancing between factions with incompatible goals, and she may end up satisfying none.

The tragedy of Cameron’s Brexit lies not just in the decision itself, but in the hubris that preceded it; the belief that one could flirt with nationalist fire and not get burned. Smith now faces a similar moment. In reaching for short-term political gain through an aggressive assertion of provincial autonomy, she may be sacrificing long-term credibility and coherence. The lesson from Brexit is not just about consequences, it’s about the limits of strategic populism. Smith, like Cameron, could soon discover that once sovereignty becomes the language of politics, it is no longer possible to control who speaks it, or how far they want to go.

The Brexit Quagmire: Britain’s Long March to Nowhere

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I wrote this piece a while back when it became clear that the Labour government wasn’t going to acknowledge the mess that Brexit has left the country, and then planning on doing something about it.  

It’s been more than eight years since the UK voted to leave the European Union, and the country remains tangled in the wreckage of that decision. Those who championed Brexit—promising economic renewal, restored sovereignty, and an end to Brussels’ supposed meddling—have either slunk away from public life or now conveniently blame everything, but Brexit itself, for the country’s dismal state. Meanwhile, the UK economy limps along, its political class is in shambles, and its global standing is diminished.

Let’s start with the economy. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has repeatedly confirmed that Brexit has shaved at least 4% off the UK’s GDP—a staggering hit equivalent to the cost of COVID-19, but without the excuse of a global pandemic. Investment has stalled, businesses struggle with trade barriers, and the labour market is in disarray. The much-touted trade deals—supposedly the jewels of an independent Britain—have been underwhelming at best. The Australia deal, for example, was so lopsided that even its Conservative architect, George Eustice, admitted it was a mistake.

Meanwhile, Britain’s political leadership is paralysed by the Brexit-induced culture war that still defines Tory policy. Rishi Sunak, the latest in a conveyor belt of weak Conservative prime ministers, finds himself hostage to the hard-right fringes of his party, who still cling to Brexit as a nationalist totem. Labour, under Keir Starmer, tiptoes around the issue, unwilling to reopen old wounds but acutely aware that Brexit is a disaster.

And then there’s Northern Ireland. The supposed “solution” to the Brexit border dilemma—the Windsor Framework—hasn’t ended unionist resentment or calmed the waters. Businesses in Northern Ireland enjoy a unique advantage of dual access to UK and EU markets, but politically, the province remains deeply fractured. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) continues to throw tantrums over Brexit’s impact, while the broader UK-EU relationship remains one of managed hostility rather than genuine partnership.

In short, Britain is poorer, politically broken, and increasingly irrelevant on the world stage. The great post-Brexit “Global Britain” experiment has failed, leaving a country adrift, governed by a party unable to admit its mistakes and an opposition too cautious to offer real alternatives. And yet, despite mounting evidence of economic self-harm, Brexit remains a political third rail. No major party dares to say what most people now quietly accept: Brexit was a colossal error, and the UK is paying the price.