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Recent Posts
referendum on Europe Archive
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Parliament still matters
Posted on 30/10/2016 | No CommentsIn parallel with the court case on whether parliament is required to authorise the departure of the UK from the European Union (read about it here and here), there has been an equivalent case in Northern Ireland. The High Court in Belfast has been asked […] -
Votes for prisoners comes nearer
Posted on 09/01/2014 | No CommentsEconomics and immigration are not the only battlegrounds in the debate about Britain and the EU. The rulings from the European Court of Human Rights that prisoners should not be automatically and absolutely deprived of the right to vote is another one. The ECtHR is […] -
Stab in the back
Posted on 08/01/2014 | No CommentsA persistent complaint from the eurosceptics is that the British people were lied to about membership of the EU. Joining wouldn’t reduce our national sovereignty, we were told, and we are suffering now as a result of this deception. There are three responses to this. […] -
Federal Union review of 2013
Posted on 31/12/2013 | 1 CommentThe overwhelming sensation from 2013 was that of waiting. Important processes have started and not yet concluded. There is a certain amount to be done in the meantime to shape them. But above all, we are waiting. David Cameron promised, in the summer of 2012, […] -
Grant Shapps’ feelings
Posted on 07/11/2013 | No CommentsThe latest stage in the saga of British departure from the European Union is struck today by Tory party chairman, Grant Shapps MP. The Tory plan is to put into law now, before the general election, a commitment to hold a referendum on revised terms […] -
An odd plan for a referendum
Posted on 07/10/2013 | 1 CommentRogue Tory backbencher Adam Afriyie – the man spoken of by his friends as a possible challenger to David Cameron or the British equivalent of Barack Obama – has exceeded either of those two in his ability to miss the point. He has called for […] -
It’s arrived!
Posted on 23/07/2013 | No CommentsThe first set of reports from the government’s Balance of Competences (BoC) review emerged yesterday after 9 months gestation to a joyous public reception. The fountains in Trafalgar Square and even Niagara Falls turned blue to celebrate this achievement of the Conservative party. Although, on […] -
The two faces of William Hague
Posted on 16/07/2013 | No CommentsThe traditional definition of chutzpah is the man who, on convicted of the murder of his parents, asks the court for mercy on the grounds that he is an orphan. After William Hague’s speech in the House of Commons in the referendum debate on 5 […] -
No end to the controversy
Posted on 23/01/2013 | 1 CommentBrendan Donnelly, Director of the Federal Trust and a former Member of the European Parliament, has commented as follows on Mr Cameron’s speech on Britain’s position in the European Union: “Despite the publicity that has surrounded it, it is very difficult to believe that Mr […] -
The Speech
Posted on 23/01/2013 | No CommentsSo we have finally heard The Speech. David Cameron spoke this morning to outline what Conservative party policy on Europe would be after the next election. (Read the speech here.) David Cameron wants to renegotiate the terms of British membership of the EU and put […]