Brexit Archives - The Mind of Rowan

Breaking International Law for the sake of Brexit: Where on earth are we headed?

Personally, I think there are more important things to be discussing politically on here at present such as what appears to be out woeful efforts at combating and preventing the further spread of COVID-19. However, Brexit has reared its ugly head back into the public conversation recently and it prompts me to worry even more for the future of the UK. Why? Because a no-deal Brexit [Pictured above are Boris Johnson and Jean Claude Juncker last year; image from Business Insider] which last year which at the moment we appear to be heading for and which I would have labelled disastrous last year but to be coming to that scenario in the middle of a pandemic…I’m lost for words….

Why is it increasingly likely? The government brought forward the Internal Market Bill which aims to ensure that post-Brexit, the UK nations of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have the same standards and rules throughout. At first glance, that’s nothing contentious. It seems perfectly reasonable. However, the bill also says ‘Certain provisions to have effect notwithstanding inconsistency or incompatibility with international or other domestic law’ but also replaces parts of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement as elements of it “cease to be recognised and available in domestic law”. read more

General Election 2019: Boris Johnson must not win!

The first December election since 1923 is upon us and while my intents on this blog when discussing politics has to been to remain fair and impartial mostly; I have been keen in the past year to reflect the truth. Hence, the series of posts I’ve done entitled A Tory Said What. Those posts have been difficult to get on top of with the number of mistruths and spins spun by the Tory government. However, since Boris Johnson became leader in the summer the scale of mistruth and keeping up with it all has been virtually impossible.

So, with the country going to the polls, I make this impassioned plea…Please for the love of God, do not return Boris Johnson and his ‘new’ Conservative Party to Downing Street with a majority! read more

2019 General Election: Jeremy Corbyn’s Neutral Brexit Stance

As a Labour member and supporter, one thing I have been increasingly frustrated with the narrative of the party’s stance on Brexit has been portrayed. It’s confusing, it’s too complicated, they’ll argue against their own Brexit deal or they are not a Remain enough party. These are all criticisms that have been levelled at the leadership.

It is understandable. Whether you have for example Emily Thornberry on Question Time saying she’d campaign to remain in any future referendum leaving Fiona Bruce and co aghast, or Joh McDonnell on Peston refusing to say which way he’d campaign, it doesn’t add to a coherent picture. That’s why I was personally delighted to hear Jeremy Corbyn clarify it on the BBC Question Time Special debate a couple of weeks ago [Pictured above, image from ITV] when he said… read more

Lancaster House: unfulfilled promises and the national interest

This post has been long considered by myself. It has had many draft ideas. For example, it was nearly entitled ‘In defence of the enemies of the people’ after the backlash to the result of Gina Millar’s High Court case. However, the wording would be quite problematic as would accusing the government of being the real enemies of the people. I have decided to be above the language used by these media outlets and question who is at most damaging the national interest.

The post was aimed for publication last Wednesday to mark the year anniversary of the Lancaster House Speech though a recent family bereavement (I don't feel this is the right place to go into such detail) and dealing with it delayed its publication.

Since the 2016 Referendum regarding the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union and the ascension of Theresa May as Prime Minister vowing to deliver the ‘will of the people’, some of the language used in the press has been alarming. It has been the language of segregation, division and hate.

Judges have been labelled ‘enemies of the people’ by the Daily Mail for insisting the government needed an Act of Parliament to invoke Article 50. All other political parties, members of the House of Lords and in fact anyone that has disagreed with Mrs May have been described as ‘saboteurs’ purely for having different views on Brexit. Then, last month, a group of Conservative MP’s were named and shamed including their pictures as ‘malcontents’ for voting against the government on ensuring Parliament has a meaningful vote on the final Brexit deal reached between the UK and the EU. Though just why said newspaper quoted Nadine Dorries saying they should be ‘deselected’ is heavily ironic considering she faced calls to be sacked for going on I’m a Celebrity in 2012. read more

2017 Snap General Election: The Manifesto Comparison

I have been away awhile from this blog whilst working on job applications and in general taking a well-needed break. However, with Britain going back to the polls in a surprise General Election this week; there feels like no time like the present to get back into it…

In this post, as the title suggests, I will be comparing the election manifesto’s put forward by the two parties most likely to be in government come the morning of 9th June. That means it is a straight comparison of the Labour and Conservative Parties in the battle for the keys of Number 10 Downing Street.

Whilst I can be accused of being narrow-minded in only comparing these two parties and not a broad range as you have seen in the TV debates; I do have my reasons:
1. Since the EU referendum last year, UKIP have been a farce electing a new leader in Diane James before she lasted only 18 days in the job before resigned. However, even with a newly established leader in Paul Nuttall (who seems to want the job), they are now a spent force and their timing of their manifesto launch could not have been anymore distasteful; within 48 hours of the Manchester Arena attack.
2. Plaid Cymru and the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) only contest seats in Wales and Scotland respectively. Whilst the SNP won the majority of the seats in Scotland back in 2015; they do not contest enough seats to win a majority and therefore very unlikely to be in government
3. The Green Party finished the 2015 election with an almost equal share of the vote as UKIP but like the SNP and Plaid Cymru, they don’t have a realistic chance of being involved in government.
4. The Liberal Democrats under the leadership of Tim Farron were originally going to be a part of this comparison but my mind was easily altered after reading just the first two pages of their Manifesto. Farron was brutally honest in his assessment and deserves credit for that in admitting the party are unlikely to win the election and are merely competing to be the official opposition. However, for the sake of this comparison, I am not going to cover a party who is not aiming to win. read more

Labour Leadership Election 2016

11am and 1pm; these two hours tomorrow will potentially be a history deciding meeting for the Labour Party in Liverpool this weekend. Labour Party members including myself have voted for the future direction of the Party in the form of a straight choice between Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith. In this article, I will provide a narrative of how it came to this, compare the candidates as well as express my opinions on this election and what needs to happen afterwards.

The Narrative: How did it come to another Leadership election?

Last years Leadership Election: Jeremy Corbyn (far left), Yvette Cooper (mid left), Liz Kendall (mid right) and Andy Burnham (far right) pose for photographs after the televised debate at The Sage, Gateshead

The current situation the Labour Party finds itself in has its roots in the previous labour leadership election last year following the General Election defeat. For a long time, it seemed to be a three-way contest between Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendal until Jeremy Corbyn made it on to the ballot paper at the death. Corbin himself accepted some of the nominations he received were from fellow MP’s who did not necessarily support him and only did so in order to widen the debate. What these particular MP’s did not count on was a section of the membership and the general public who desired a real alternative; something different to what labour had been offering. Although there was speculation of infiltrators as the Labour membership surged from 200,000 to 300,000; the right people in my mind were weeded out such as Conservative MP Tim Leighton. Overall, 56,000 membership applications were rejected and the hostage ToriesforCorbyn trended on twitter in the aim of running the party. Obviously, this sort of people needed to go and the genuine applications accepted but it made no difference to the outcome as Jeremy Corbyn won in the first round of voting with a vote share of 59.5%. read more

EU Referendum Results: Analysis

On 23rd June, ballot stations around the United Kingdom were open for the In, Out EU Referendum promised by David Cameron in 2013. The polls opened, they closed, the votes were counted and announced as the results came in thick and fast during the early hours. For myself and many other friends of mine, the ‘All-Nighter’ was a depressing experience and for some, emotions of disgust as the UK voted to leave the EU by a margin of 51.9% to 48.1%.

You might be able to tell from my tone here and in my previous political posts that I was pro-remain. I still am all for remaining in the EU but that I not the purpose of this article and I will proceed in as neutral as humanly possible during it. If you have me on Facebook or Twitter, you will know how disappointed I was at the outcome of the Referendum and have held myself back on commenting on any possible explanations for the result until the emotions had died down. Now, almost two months on, now is the right time for me to discuss it and hopefully not lose too much of my sanity. read more