Trump’s embrace of Putin should….
The UK must accept that its economic and political interests now lean heavily towards Europe, argues Richard Barfield
The Red-Tape Curtain
Churchill said that an “iron curtain” had descended between the Soviet Union and Europe. Seventy-five years later, on 1 January 2021, a red-tape curtain descended between Britain and the EU.
Sir Keir Starmer’s Brexit blind spot
A successful relationship depends on mutual understanding and reciprocal benefits. Frustratingly, the UK Government often acts as if it has a Brexit blind spot, does not ‘get’ the EU, remains fixated on technical tweaks to the trade deal and seems to ignore the bigger picture. This is partly because the UK has not yet shaken off the win-lose…
March newsletter – Timing is everything
Welcome to the first newsletter from Brexit FactBase, as published on 31st March. Timing was indeed everything. In Sir Keir Starmer's speech on 1st April, he said that the UK wants stronger economic ties with the EU and that the next UK-EU summit will set out the direction. I hope you find the newsletter a…
The road to the summit runs through Switzerland
Switzerland recently reached new agreements with the EU, largely unreported in the UK. My article argues that if the UK wants a more ambitious relationship with the EU that preserves the government’s red lines — without rejoining the single market or customs union — the new EU–Switzerland agreements offer a realistic model. Published by UK…
April newsletter – Credit to the Suisse
UK in a Changing Europe kindly published my latest blog. In it, I explore whether a British version of the Switzerland-EU deal could provide a pragmatic road forward that keeps within the government’s mountainous red lines. The government says it wants an ‘ambitious closer relationship’ with the EU. However, with no mandate to rejoin, it…
May newsletter – perception and reality
The updated section on immigration reflects the latest ONS statistics for 2025 published in May. These show that the dramatic fall in net migration of 2024 continued in 2025. This led to a reduced total of under 171,000 for the year. This figure compares with over 900,000 at the peak in 2023. Asylum seekers arriving…
June newsletter – ten years after
The tenth anniversary of the Brexit vote has been a time to reflect. Various events, TV programmes, articles and books have marked the occasion. Most of these look back, but the story is all too familiar. I prefer the forward-looking approach of organisations like the European Movement and its realistic optimism. To mark the milestone,…
July newsletter – territories and treaties
Ceuta hit the headlines over the weekend as an estimated 69,500 people had moved from Morocco into the Spanish territory. Located in Morocco, Ceuta, normally has a population of only 84,000. By the end of today, most of the new arrivals had gone back. Meanwhile, two weeks earlier, the UK and the EU had signed…