EU – Page 44 – Slugger O'Toole

Could the Danish model be applied to the UK?

David McCann on July 10, 2016, 6:07 pm

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Nationalist leaders have been wandering around trying to find possible ways to keep Northern Ireland within the European Union. There has also been considerable debate about an all island forum to examine possibilities. If we are going to look at something, Denmark might offer something for the UK and the Irish government to consider. Ulrik Pram Gad has penned an interesting article for the LSE as to how his own country’s experience might be useful for Northern Ireland and Scotland …

Westminster will find it hard to counter the Brexit case for Scottish independence

Brian Walker on July 10, 2016, 4:41 pm

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The UK Treasury chief who was at the heart of Project Fear during the Scottish independence referendum of 2014 is singing a different tune after the Brexit referendum. In an extraordinary article in the Financial Times (£) summarised here, Sir Nicholas McPherson sweeps away most of economic and financial problems associated with independence.. With the UK leaving the EU, there is a golden opportunity for proponents of Scottish independence to reappraise their economic prospectus. Clearly, membership of the EU will lie …

US Consulate: “We anticipate that a US trade and investment delegation will visit Northern Ireland in the first half of 2017”

Pete Baker on July 9, 2016, 8:07 pm

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The Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Theresa Villiers, has, in effect, called ‘bullshit’ on Martin McGuinness‘ claim that a proposed US investment delegation to Northern Ireland has been postponed “directly as a result of the vote” in the UK-wide EU membership referendum. Unlike the Northern Ireland deputy First Minister, echoed by his party colleague, Conor Murphy, the Secretary of State named the source of her information …Theresa Villiers said that the US Special Envoy Gary Hart had blamed the decision of …

Time for the Irish government to lay out their ideas on a “special status” for Northern Ireland

Brian Walker on July 9, 2016, 10:45 am

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The chronic weaknesses of both governments hardly assists clear thinking over Brexit. On the other hand there seems to be a general willingness to minimise the damage e.g. over a hard border and trade. Whoever is the new British PM we cannot expect much departure from Theresa Villiers’s minimalist approach to coordination with the Republic. On the other hand the British-Irish relationship and the North-South bodies are adequate in themselves without the minor splash of an all-Ireland forum at this …

Northern’s Ireland best chance of leverage rests inevitably at Westminster

Brian Walker on July 8, 2016, 2:18 pm

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Look guys, you’re knocking at an open door. Yes it’s not yet resolved as we haven’t got a new UK government. That will take on the outside 74 days. But the Republic had to wait 69 days for their new government so they know how to wait. What’s the alternative? It isn’t good politics to keep demonising the Tory government before they’ve devised a Brexit strategy and when there plainly isn’t any alternative. One Nation Tories will want to to …

#SluggerReport: Time to leave Remainia, and wave goodbye to dreamy Reverse Greenland…

Mick Fealty on July 5, 2016, 2:57 pm

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So, there’s been some bizarre stuff that’s happened since the UK narrowly, but decisively voted for Brexit. This morning I argued on the SluggerReport that the very unexpected nature of the result may have coloured an odd and confused response to the will of the people. For my money, the best and most sympathetic analysis I’ve seen of what followed was Rafael Behr’s long-form piece in the Guardian today which comes up with this little gem for understanding what went …

Wales now experiencing a mild dose of ‘buyer’s regret’?

Mick Fealty on July 5, 2016, 10:49 am

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Fascinating results from the Welsh Political Barometer poll. I doubt it was the taunting by Northern Ireland fans… More likely a post ref reminder that large parts of the post-industrial economy in Wales is sustained by EU structural funds now hang by a wafer thin Tory (neo-Thatcherite?) thread. Or just plain old morning after blues. Here’s the headline figures: Remain: 46% Leave: 41% Would Not Vote: 8% Don’t Know: 5% In his analysis, Roger Scully notes: …there is not much overall change. But that which …

“The Irish Government will not be negotiating on behalf of Northern Ireland”

Pete Baker on July 4, 2016, 9:22 pm

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In case you were wondering what the Brexit ’10-point plan’ was that the BBC reported the North South Ministerial Council agreed today, it’s in the final joint communique of 4th July [pdf file] FINANCIAL AND EU MATTERS [Implications of UK Referendum] 8. The Council had a detailed discussion on the potential impact of the UK referendum result to leave the EU. In order to optimise joint planning and engagement on key issues arising following the UK referendum result, the NSMC: …

So what comes after Farage for UKIP? Labour’s northern base?

Mick Fealty on July 4, 2016, 5:16 pm

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So he’s gone [Has he? Really? Gone, I mean? Like for good? – Ed] Who knows. But for now, Nigel Farage is planning to edge out the rest of his free Belgian beer time in his job quietly in Brussels. What comes after that? Well, the Telegraph is pitching Paul Nuttall and Steven Woolfe, two working class lads from Livepool and Manchester respectively. Nuttall in particular, has been instrumental in the growth of the party in working class areas in the …

Amongst Unionists, only AB voters were unambiguously in favour of Remain…

Mick Fealty on July 4, 2016, 12:12 pm

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Great graphic from Steven McCaffrey which tells us two important things about the outcome of the Referendum in Northern Ireland. One One, the DUP have performed a daring raid on the UUP’s support base exactly where it has been at its strongest after the wrecking ball of the St Andrews Agreement: which is out west and in the border areas. Effectively Leave grabbed C1s as well as the C2s, Ds and Es, with the three outliers (in Yellow) being where …

On parliamentary sovereignty and post-Brexit Britain

Gerry Lynch on June 30, 2016, 2:59 pm

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The latest phase in the stages of grieving for Remainers is the idea that parliament can save the UK’s membership of the EU. How would that play in blue-collar England? As 78% of the men on the Clapham omnibus, in the London Borough of Lambeth, voted Remain, we’ll need someone different to act as our ‘typical’ Leave voter. What about the man on the wonderfully-named Jump Circular bus, which really exists in the Borough of Barnsley (68% Leave)? The man …

Boris’ high profile role in Brexit referendum, a handicap for the race…?

Mick Fealty on June 29, 2016, 10:56 pm

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Times / YouGov graphic of who, hypothetically, Tory members wd vote for in 1st round and what happens in runoffs pic.twitter.com/4pkB04Y0LE — Sam Coates Sky (@SamCoatesSky) June 29, 2016 Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty

French President Francois Hollande :”The negotiations will be conducted with the United Kingdom, not with a part of the United Kingdom”

Pete Baker on June 29, 2016, 8:23 pm

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With the UK Parliament sovereign, and Sinn Féin’s calls for a border poll dismissed as an unwelcome distraction, quite where the “very special place” Martin McGuinness thinks Northern Ireland is in isn’t entirely clear. Nor whom he thinks he can press that “case” with in his attempt to ignore the UK-wide referendum result. He should remember, however, that neither he nor his party, alone, speak for the Northern Ireland Executive. He should also pay very close attention to the responses the Scottish First Minister is …

After Brexit: the options

Andrew Gallagher on June 29, 2016, 6:34 pm

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As time went on, speculation reached fever pitch. The internet was full of crazy theories about developments that would overturn everything we knew, seemingly convincing timelines of events that would soon unfold, and ingenious analyses proving that things were either nowhere near as bad as they seemed, or much worse than anyone imagined. I am of course talking about Game of Thrones. And in the end (no spoilers, I promise!) the vast majority of these excitable scribblings fell away, shown …

From selling fancy hankies to selling kids TV around the world – Sixteen South open new offices

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on June 29, 2016, 4:31 pm

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130 YEARS AGO One Clarence Street exported fancy hankies around the world, Today Sixteen South are creating kids TV shows that are sold to more than one hundred countries. Today they celebrated the opening of their new offices in Belfast, though a cloud of Brexit hangs over their industry.

Five quick Brexit observations

Pádraig Belton on June 29, 2016, 12:53 pm

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1. I’m increasingly willing to see the split verdict as wise: offered stay in EU as-it-is versus get out utterly, the GB public says: make another option. 2. Overheard yesterday in Dublin: ‘So the English are knocked out of Europe twice in one week. Once by Iceland, once by people who shop there.’ 3. #CelticPride: This was found pinned to the door of the Welsh Polish Association in Llanelli, South Wales yesterday morning. 4. Overheard: ‘I’ve just realised I’ve never seen a news …

The UK’s act of political and economic suicide means the future for Northern Ireland is incredibly bleak…

Brian O'Neill on June 28, 2016, 1:09 pm

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Wow, what a week in politics. Before the vote I was getting fed up hearing about Brexit. I went to bed on Thursday night safe in the view that no one would be crazy enough to vote to leave the EU. My politics are pragmatic, I detest ideologies. As someone who has been self-employed my whole life I can see the benefit of access to a free market of one-third of the world’s wealth. As our American friends would say, ‘it’s …

SDLP to feed a key NI perspective into the EU’s negotiations with the UK?

Mick Fealty on June 28, 2016, 6:46 am

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So what to make of the implications of Brexit for Northern Ireland? To get the big one out of the road first, no one is going back to war. In fact of all the parts of the UK Northern Ireland is probably the calmest and the least hysterical, and as Newton Emerson put it last night, least embarrassing. There’s been no substantive response from the administration. The Executive has yet to meet and figure out how it will respond. Sinn …

Theresa Villiers: “ultimately it is parliament’s decision whether we repeal the 1972 European Communities Act or whether we don’t.”

Pete Baker on June 27, 2016, 7:22 pm

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Andy’s valiant attempt at providing clarity on the role of the devolved institutions in the UK’s withdrawal from the EU doesn’t appear to have worked for some of our local representatives. The Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Theresa Villiers, couldn’t have been clearer. “In the weeks and months ahead we will be working with both the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive on all these matters,” [Theresa Villiers] told BBC’s Sunday Politics show. “But ultimately it is parliament’s decision whether we …

If Article 50 is the starting gun, how does the UK get there?

Mick Fealty on June 27, 2016, 6:33 pm

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Well, helpfully for the Tories, Labour is having a meltdown over their own lame duck leader and so (barring an uncanny and uncharacteristic lucky turn in fortunes) may be discounted as providing any serious drag on defining how the Article 50 process for leaving the EU might process. There’s a deal of scepticism as to whether Brexit will ever happen. That’s partly to do with the way it was sold (with everyone offering their own maximal vision of what could …