Today in Parliament, Prime Minister Theresa May said: “We are committed to delivering on our commitment to having no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, and that we have as frictionless trade as possible with the European Union.” She added: “There are a number of ways that can be delivered.” The best way […]
First a German journalist, then a French one, asked the Prime Minister, Theresa May, the best questions after her keynote Brexit speech in London on Friday. Kerstin Leitel from the German business daily newspaper, Handelsblatt asked Mrs May if Brexit was all worth it? The Prime Minister answered: “If that was an attempt to say […]
The Good Friday Agreement was a landmark achievement that completely opened all the borders between Ireland and Northern Ireland. This remarkable initiative brought peace at last at the turn of the millennium. That peace is now threatened by Brexit. The Tory government is hellbent on a hard Brexit, meaning the UK will leave the EU […]
At Prime Minister’s Questions this week, the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn didn’t ask one question about Brexit. Of course, it’s quite right that his questions should have been dominated by the dramatic collapse of Carillion, the company that the government awarded contracts to worth billions of pounds even after they had issued serious profit warnings. […]
Unless a solution can be found on the question of avoiding a hard border post-Brexit between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, then the UK will be staying in the EU Single Market and customs union. That on the face of it appears to be the outcome of last night’s frantic talks to reach […]
Just two days before last year’s EU referendum Theresa May insisted there would have to be border controls with Ireland if the UK voted to leave the European Union. She said then that it was “inconceivable” that there would not be any changes on border arrangements with the Republic of Ireland if Brexit happened. As […]
The European Union consists of 28 member states. All treaty changes or enlargement of the EU require the unanimous consent of every single member, however large or small. The Union of the United Kingdom consists of four member states: England, Scotland, Wales and the province of Northern Ireland. In the referendum, two of them voted […]
Today’s big news is that Northern Ireland could get a special relationship with the EU to enable no-border with Ireland. It’s being called “regulatory alignment” between Northern Ireland and the EU. Nobody is yet sure what that means. But in any other name, it might be called staying in the EU Single Market. Or in […]
UACES and Ideas on Europe do not take responsibility for opinions expressed in articles on blogs hosted on Ideas on Europe. All opinions are those of the contributing authors.