“Any retailer who imports goods – any manufacturer who imports parts, anyone who receives a present – from mainland Europe will have to process a mound of paperwork that the EU has completely done away with within the Union.” The post-Brexit future in miniature outside the customs union.
EU referendum
Don’t count on more powers post-Brexit
“If the UK Parliament, as part of the UK government’s ‘Great Repeal Bill’ measure, decides it wishes to amend the Scotland Act to specify that all, or some, of the powers returned from the EU will be reserved to Westminster, it has the power to do that.”
Poking Scotland in the eye on the EU
“The behaviour of May and her Brexit lackeys Davis, Fox and especially Johnson have won her few friends in Brussels, while Sturgeon’s smoother approach has started to pay dividends there and in Berlin too.”
The English question resurfaces
“For the kinds of free trade arrangements which many Brexiteers appear to favour are exactly the forces that have opened up the chasms between capital city and provinces, and between the networked and the ‘left behind’ which have done so much to bring a disaffected, political Englishness into being.”
Will Trump declare war on the EU?
“Even if he only believes half of it, that could be enough to destroy the EU, and at its most extreme, the stability and peace of all Europe. Maybe he won’t turn out as bad as I fear. But I would rather not count on that.”
You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone
“Behind this current, impoverishing turmoil lurks a similar, equally certain idea of English identity that’s clearly contradicted and compromised by the ideals of the EU. It may be that this sense of identity sees shame in accepting the need to collaborate internationally…”
EU citizens must keep rights to vote after Brexit
Voting is a founding block of citizenship. Mark Lazarowicz urges UK and Scottish governments to make a clear declaration on maintaining legal rights of EU citizens to vote in devolved parliaments and local elections after Brexit.
Sturgeon’s confederal Brexit solution
“Maybe, like Theresa May, she’s (Nicola Sturgeon) gradually realising that what party zealots want and the country needs are not the same. So perhaps her opponents should not be mocking her political incoherence, but encouraging her to edge closer towards a solution the majority of Scots might sign up for.”
Politically savvy and nigh impossible
“For Scotland to meet the obligations of EEA-EFTA membership, almost all areas of policy would have to be devolved – immigration, business regulations, employment law, competition policy, product standards to name just a few. This would not be a revision of the devolution settlement; it would be accomplishment of de facto independence via a murky and technical back door.”
Devo max, #indyref2 or holding op?
“Sturgeon’s paper is a serious in-depth piece of analysis. It respects the original Scottish Parliament vote by 92-0…The Scottish Government has followed up and respected that vote – but the politics has moved on. A differentiated deal for Scotland looks highly unlikely. And while the ball is now in May’s court – it is likely to be back in Sturgeon’s very soon.