UK takes the plunge: following EU standards & rules to attenuate the costs & red tape caused by Brexit. But so far only on agri-food standards. www.gov.uk/government/n...

The impact of Brexit on UK immigration - new research by @johnspringford.bsky.social & me for @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social & @ukandeu.bsky.social Brexit a) reduced EU-origin employees by 785K (2.3% of workforce) b) increased non-EU origin employees by 992K (2.95%) www.cer.eu/insights/imp...

Today on Women's Day, in memory to all those Iranian women slaughtered and imprisoned by the regime during the uprising of #WomanLifeFreedom and the #IranMassacre. The monsters will fall. You will not be forgotten.

What a thread.

Put Trump’s criticism of Starmer and other democratic leaders against his consistent syrupy praise for authoritarian, brutal leaders. Starmer is in good company. Just remind yourself how Trump praises authoritarian antidemocratic leaders in this thread. It’s an eye opener 🧵 1/

When Brexit was slammed for being an act of pure prejudice, all the Brexiters howled about ‘sovereignty’ and ‘taking back control’. Now, the very same people howl that we should just obey Trump and put our country in the firing line. They lied about everything. All of it. Every single part.

Echoes of the New Deal era, where FDR said 'the test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much, but whether we provide enough for those who have little' – the same struggle persists, now with Brexit's intergenerational impact.

On International Women's Day we remember that rights are never given, they have been fought for, and they must be defended. And there is now an axis of autocracy from Washington to Moscow, and including Reform and others in the UK, that seeks to undermine women's rights.

“Brexit.. caused the biggest voluntary loss of rights in British history, and economically was somewhere on the spectrum between a mistake and a disaster… The old voted to jeopardise the economic prospects of the young.” www.theguardian.com/inequality/2...

This from the Daily Mail is quite something The one tabloid that has done more damage to cultural cohesion, attacked diversity, migration, Islam, than any other, yet here they are praising the diversity of Dubai It’s the psychology that makes a difference 🙄

Exactly this. ⬇️ @jeevunsandher.bsky.social: "Members opposite promised us that by torching our relationship with Europe, it would make us richer and it would make us stronger. "They were wrong on both counts."

Trade, energy, security & youth mobility - four areas where Starmer needs to go faster & further with the EU reset. Our future lies with Europe. Always has, always will. But never as urgently as now. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

“Labour must stop channelling Reform and unite with progressives. That’s the lesson from Gorton and Denton” Sadiq Khan www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Today's by-election is another illustration of the problems with FPTP. The result may tell us less about what voters want to happen than whether they can game the system effectively to stop a result most *don't* want. The electoral system should not be an obstacle that voters have to work around.

Today saw Westminster Hall full with MPs ready to debate Stephen Gethins MP's debate on the impact of the 2016 EU referendum on the UK. Thanks to the 11,000 of you who wrote to your MP to urge them to attend, the debate proved one important thing - we are winning the argument.

Zelenskyy’s words are a powerful reminder that Europe’s strength lies in unity, with a shared commitment to peace and democracy. At a time when Russia continues their aggression, no European country can afford to stand alone - Britain must work together with Europe to support Ukraine.

We cannot let these vile fascists have space in our political system. They want to destroy lives just as tRump is doing in the US! Maybe bombarding @ofcom.bsky.social with complaints about the lack of honest coverage on #BBC & most of the ‘news’papers, will get somewhere?

These people are poison. They will unleash racist thugs on the streets of this country and call it security. They will subjugate us to the US and call it patriotism. They must be stopped. There is no more important task in politics.

Reform’s plans - ICE style agency, leave the ECHR, destroy rights, end the Equality Act, scrap unions.. None of these measures will solve anyone’s problems, but will create a terrifying cycle of anger & inequality & a country of division, blame & violence. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Political people love to debate who the worst modern PM in modern times was but it's unquestionably Cameron. 10 years ago this week he gambled the prosperity and fragile unity of the UK on a referendum on an issue that most people didn't even understand to placate back benchers and fucked us all.

*30%* ffs. I wonder what that figure would be by now if our media weren’t still almost exclusively populated by intellectually indolent wankers too pompous to admit that they never had the first idea what they were encouraging everyone else to vote for. (With a side of plums who deployed ‘balance’.)

A decade after David Cameron announced that the country would be going to the polls in the EU membership referendum, Stephen Gethins MP has secured a Westminster Hall debate next week to discuss the consequences of that fateful decision. This debate really matters. Write to your MP #EMUK

A reminder that when people imply that Brexit is over, it really isn't. Brexit is a drag anchor on the UK economy that we must cut away.

Our future lies with and in Europe. Always did.. & never so true as now. www.itv.com/news/2026-02...

New data shows #Brexit has lowered UK GDP by 6-8% in 10 years. Investment down 18%, employment down 4%. It's even worse than economists had predicted pre-referendum, because they thought there would be a bounce-back long term. "Economists were roughly right on the magnitude of the impact, but...

Should the U.K. join the EU? A clear difference between people who want to move society forward, and those who wish to drag us backwards.

Survey finds that 63% of the UK population would vote to rejoin the EU, compared with 37% who would choose to remain outside the bloc. Support is even more pronounced among younger adults: 86 per cent of those aged 18–25 say they would back rejoining, with just 14 per cent preferring to stay out.

Just gave a talk to a group of sixth formers from a state school in Shropshire. Many questions asked, along the lines of: will the UK rejoin? How can I work for the EU? etc. These young people had their future stolen from them by Brexit, and they want that future back. 💪

“We want to make Europe as strong as possible and that means not putting up the drawbridge” Didn’t Brexit detonate that drawbridge? Great if you want to rebuild it though. Not that great if your red lines mean your pace is glacially slow and has Farage standing by with more explosives. (Times)

Jim Ratcliffe, himself a migrant to Monaco to avoid paying his fair share of UK tax, and who supported Brexit which has so damaged the British economy, is yet another millionaire oligarch backing the far right to further line his pockets

Oh look. Brexiter Ratcliffe fuels division with irresponsible lies about immigration. Ten years on - so many lies told & so much damage done, but never held to account. These ppl should be so discredited as to be never given a platform. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

With a growing number of politicians calling for closer ties with our European neighbours, yesterday the Mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan, joined them. It is clear - there is widespread public support for repairing our relationship with Europe, and the Government must listen.

Good news! Centre-left Socialist José Seguro scores landslide over far-right populist André Ventura in Portugal’s presidential runoff in a blow to country’s rising populist right, handing the largely ceremonial presidency to a moderate figure promising stability after yrs of political turmoil

“Simply reducing friction doesn’t mean we are going to get the EU market back again. There aren’t empty spaces on the shelves with a label saying ‘waiting for British products’.” So much self inflicted damage that will take years to undo. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Post-Brexit sales of British farm products to EU fall by 37% NFU warn it could take years to restore Brexit losses despite efforts to smooth negotiations on farming and other elements of UK-EU reset www.theguardian.com/environment/...

The problem with so many of our top politicians - from Johnson, Mandelson, Farage - is that they all want to join the oligarch class. Whatever you think of Gordon Brown he is financially unbiddable www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

While not the “scandal of the century”, the root cause of this mess is because Starmer loaned out his political judgment to McSweeney, & alienated his core support. Where is the competent boring govt we were promised? Can we have that, but with some vision? iandunt.substack.com/p/starmers-m...

So you had a dual stitch up — the Russian/American oligarchs around Farage and Johnson, and the Russian/American oligarchs around Mandelson. Leave or remain, they didn’t want their contacts investigated. So Brexit went ahead.

“Every few years, our country has suffered a major scandal that shakes us to the core but from which lessons are never fully learned” & to this list add Brexit, where foreign influence & £ helped get the result which Epstein et al cheered as “the first step”. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

"The Post proudly adopted the motto “democracy dies in darkness” after Trump was first elected. Now the paper is an exhibit of his attempts to smother democracy in broad daylight." My Swamp Notes with @grimeslikedimes.bsky.social on oligarch destruction of US media. as.ft.com/r/f2dcdea9-a...

Rather than apeing the far-right with ever-harsher policies to deter immigrants, Europe's governments should take inspiration in the Spanish government's approach. Trying to be "tough on immigration" puts the UK on the path to deeper economic & social crisis. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

I’m old enough to remember the right wing press simply FYOOMIN that Starmer didn’t appoint Farage as ambassador for exactly the reasons that they now say are why Starmer has terrible judgement and should resign

There's been another outbreak of flag measles in Birmingham, so if you are local, please sign #BrumTogether

“Brexit was just the beginning” for Bannon, Epstein, Musk et al in their bid to fund & support the far right, to destabilize & rip Europe apart. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

OK this makes me extremely angry. Has everyone forgotten the massive profiteering from thousands of avoidable pandemic deaths?? The unconstitutional suspension of parliament to force through an act of nationalist destruction that cost our children their future??

Short clip from last night’s Unspun World @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social explains #BrexitDisaster @euromovescotland.bsky.social @ne4eu.bsky.social @leedseurope.bsky.social @oxford4europe.bsky.social @bbcstever.bsky.social

Johnson/Farage/Bannon lives on: Reform UK pioneered crypto donations; ally Gill pushed blockchain voting at Kremlin forum. Now Thiel's protégé JD Vance as VP extends the network! 12/12 bylinetimes.com/2026/02/03/i...

2018: Bannon told Epstein he met Johnson, Farage, Rees-Mogg to topple May. Wolff emailed Epstein as Johnson intermediary. 10/12

Epstein was Bannon's patron: Advised dodging scrutiny, gave transport/accommodation, smoothed Euro intros during UK hard-Brexit push. 9/12 bylinetimes.com/2025/11/19/d...

Post-Brexit, Epstein told Thiel: "Brexit is just the beginning" – eyeing crypto deregulation via right-populism. 7/12