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Lately I’ve frequently found myself disagreeing with people I both like and respect. As the EU referendum campaign gets going I find myself more and more drawn to one side of the argument. I wanted to remain more or less neutral for much longer. I wanted to explore the merits …

“You can be like Norway […] and you can have full access to the single market but you have absolutely no say over the rules of that market”. In October 2014 there was a coordinated attack on the so-called “Norway option”, the model of leaving the EU which involves rejoining …

“The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.”  Friedrich von Hayek While it may be true that the sun never sets on the British Empire, the lights might go out at night. A new report commissioned by Lord …

“If the British cannot support the trend to more integration in Europe, we can nevertheless remain friends, but on a different basis. I could imagine a form such as a European economic area or a free trade agreement.” – Jacques Delors in 2012 If an ideologically devoted European federalist like …

There are a number of central claims to the Remain campaign. They are easily dismantled with the right analysis and the proper arguments. “3.5 million British jobs are directly linked to British membership of the European Union– 1 in 10 British jobs.” It is dishonest to say jobs depend on …

What do you think is the life expectancy for a 21st century Scot?  According to official statistics,  the latest averages are 77.1 years for a man and 81.1 years for a woman. What about a ‘generation’.  How many years do you think that might be?  I reckon somewhere between 25 …

I rarely if ever watch Reporting Scotland. Sometimes by chance I catch a clip of the Scottish Parliament debating. I immediately switch off. I dislike even the look of the place. The colour. The shape. The Nicola. For the same reason I don’t read the Press and Journal as I’m …

This isn’t a blog on religious belief.  I am sure it wouldn’t deter some readers, if it were but some don’t follow. No, this is about having faith in something a bit more tangible – the United Kingdom. I have lost track of the number of times, I have heard …

“This spectacle has surely been the perfect realisation of his prognosis for postmodern society: the point at which politics is completely supplanted by political communication.” David Cameron promised to reform the EU, he failed miserably. He promised to fundamentally change the UK’s relationship with the EU, repatriating powers and achieving …

How many superficial “eurosceptics” claim that they want to have a new relationship with the EU based on trade and cooperation, instead of political and judicial union? Many of these have claimed David Cameron’s fraudulent deal achieves this, which is a bad joke. Others are backing Remain claiming that a …

The EU referendum is about remaining or staying in a union. For those of us who live in Scotland there are obvious comparisons with the Scottish independence referendum. But there are differences too. Leaving the EU is not about creating an independent, sovereign nation state called the UK. We are …

Remain campaigners claim that on leaving political and judicial union with the EU Britain would immediately lose access to free trade deals with 51 states and would then have to renegotiate its own bilateral deals. Potentially, this appears to be a major problem. Currently the European Union lists 853 bilateral treaties on …

Sir Jeremy Heywood, Britain’s most senior civil servant has caused uproar amongst Eurosceptic MPs. His new ‘guidance’, banning cabinet ministers from accessing official documents and receiving briefings ahead of the EU Referendum in June, has been labelled unfair amid calls for full transparency in what is supposed to be a …

My position on leaving the EU is clear, as is the way I believe we should go about it. The new relationship I propose we negotiate to facilitate our “soft landing” in a phased secession from political and judicial union with the EU is both realistic and pragmatic. Crucially, it …

Each of us has made decisions in the past which have had profound and sometimes unexpected consequences. The subjects we chose to study at school or at university can have an influence on the job we end up doing. The people we meet, the person we fall in love with …

I believe it is a grave mistake to imagine that the referendum can be won on an anti-immigration ticket. It is for the most part only a minority of people that believe otherwise, yet they are an extremely vocal and aggressive group who are more politically active than many, giving …

Since the prime minister claimed back in October, during his concerted effort to smear EFTA/EEA countries, that Norway “accepts about three quarters of EU rules”, this untruth has become a commonly used argument from remain campaigners across social media. It is a favourite myth of remain politicians from all parties. …

It used to be said that Britain was the sick man of Europe. These days it could be said that Europe is the sick man of the world. Ongoing crisis in the EU regarding its monetary union are not going to get better any time soon. We can expect the …

The European Council Conclusions  are the sum total of years of promises from the prime minister. We were promised treaty change and we were promised a reformed EU instead we have neither and we are being taken for fools. The final agreement between the EU and the UK is being purposely …

Political Union is a process. It has been and remains the long-term goal of the European Union. This type of integration involves the passing of policy making and political process to the centralised government in Brussels, taking political power from national sovereign governments. Since the Treaty of Rome in 1957 …