debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
Since last week, a sizeable number of commentators have been arguing that UKIP’s surge just made Britain a more European place. The reasoning? Farage and Co are part of a phenomenon that exists EU-wide, apparently. You can almost hear the thought-process of the euro-enthusiasts writing this stuff. What better way to discredit the anti-EU party [...]
It is a measure of the state we are in that the latest quarterly growth number for the UK, at 0.3% (1.2% annual rate) for 2013Q1, should be regarded as a political plus for the Chancellor. [See postscript at end.] So here is the first chart: This extremely weak growth from a starting point of a deep [...]
ECFR’s Europe at the crossroads project aims at examining the state of the debate on the euro crisis and the future of the UK’s relationship with Europe. This is a guest blog post by John Palmer, the former European Editor of The Guardian and founder of the European Policy Centre in Brussels. The British capacity to be unhappy [...]
Many obituaries, from both political supporters and opponents of Margaret Thatcher have made the point that she “re-made the political weather” in Britain and that she decisively “moved the centre ground of British politics to the right.” So she did. But claims that her ideological “Jihad” in support of unfettered free markets, wholesale privatisation of [...]
Last week The Guardian reported that the EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, László Andor, cautioned David Cameron about stigmatizing immigrants from other European countries as taking excessive and gratuitous advantage of British public services (Guardian, 25 March 2013). In an article in the right-wing Sun newspaper on the same day, the Prime [...]
In recent years, the EU has moved its focus away from enlargement towards greater integration, especially in fiscal matters. This also comes at a time when the UK is seeking to renegotiate its relationship with the EU, and as the likelihood of Turkey joining the EU as a full member is increasingly remote. In light [...]
In a party political broadcast of the UK Labour Party (see below), Labour leader Ed Miliband announces a tougher stance on immigration. Stating that the last Labour government got it wrong he called for ‘maximum transitional controls’ for new EU member states. This has to be seen against the backdrop of the irrational campaign that somehow [...]
Many of us rightly complain about the damage austerity politics is doing in both the UK and the US. However, in terms of simple numbers, this is nothing compared to what is happening in the Eurozone. The table below, based on numbers from the latest OECD Economic Outlook, may look a little complicated, but it clearly establishes this [...]
This may well turn out to be the low point in the political fortunes of George Osborne. Of course the loss of Moody’s AAA means nothing whatsoever. Not for the first time, his opposite number Ed Balls gets it right: It would be a big mistake to get carried away with what Moody’s or any [...]
I do not regard today’s event as firing the starting pistol for a referendum campaign because there is a lot of water to flow under the bridge – including the holding of a general election – before any point of decision is reached on that. But the point is, for far too long, those who want [...]
I have taken a rather active part in the first fifty years of Britain’s somewhat eccentric debate about our role in the world and our role in Europe. The debate now is not the same as it was when I began my political career. We face a much more complex world, a more complex Union. It is obvious [...]
With all the heat being generated by the current debate about Britain’s place in the European Union, it would be both easy and reckless to leave to one side the serious debate that we as a country must have. That is why it is so important that the Centre for British Influence through Europe is being [...]
All Content