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 summarise that blog it’s pretty clear that most of the “intellectuals” (quotes are on purpose) in Leave believed either: We would stay in the single market in a “Norway” style EEA model or We’d use our trade deficit with the EU to force a free trade deal Whether by cynicism or incomp ..read more

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? I’m afraid not. What is your position? Well, we thought we could go it alone… Well, no, you didn’t. We did, we told the public we could go it alone… Actually, with respect, you told the public that German Car Makers would force all 27 sovereign nations to agree to a UK deal, but let’s not spl ..read more

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 reality is Brexit is a truly terrible development for the UK.  It’s been driven by people who didn’t even understand how the EU operated and had no plan for it’s success.  Fundamentally, on every level and in almost every as ..read more

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 stands is likely dead unless Labour supports it as there’s not enough pro brexit Tory MPs to get it through the house.  That said, although it’s a moveable feast at the moment, economically, Labour policy is also Hard Brexit – namely no Single Market & no Customs Union ..read more

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 & have an impact on the economy There’s a weak majority in Parliament, so Labour support will be needed to pass any Brexit But Labour will have to justify supporting an economy and job damaging Brexit, difficult given their membership The great British public are fickle – they were promised a fre ..read more

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 raising straw men rather than discussing your own radically changed position (and, in my opinion, complete passivity) towards the brexit process. 1) I pointed out some of my concerns in this blog, I can't see that you've answered them. As regards your bloghttps://t.co ..read more

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 and articles matter. So perhaps it’s fairer to simply ask you directly, what has changed your mind so drastically in the past 12 months on Brexit?  Why did you pivot from fighting it to actively supporting it? You spoke, as we know, at the large “March for Europe” last year. That march was th ..read more

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 the whip” and voted in support.  There’s been much discussion about whether this was foolish, vain, badly timed or actually necessary at this stage, given that the Conservatives are widely seen to be under pressure & the Labour party is trying to hold onto a coali ..read more

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 Scandinavian states have similar left wing policies. This leads to the hope that either a) Corbyn isn’t really pro-brexit or b) as soon as he understands that he can nationalise the railyways or utilities or have a larger State under the Singl ..read more

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 Free Access” or in fact anything that isn’t “Stay in the Single Market”, then they’re lying to you. It doesn’t matter if it’s Theresa May, Boris Johnson, John McDonnell, Nigel Farage, Jeremy Corbyn or even Kier Starmer saying it, it’s a deliberate lie.   ..read more