markemuk.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

It is not impossible to align with an EU Directive but can't just be done at the push of a button or by pasting it into a statutory instrument. Directives (as opposed to EU Regulations) leave leeway to Member States and require political and organisational choices to be made around implementation.

submitted 2 hours ago • 0 comments

So am I. Britain is wonderful, for all its flaws. But so are the EU and its Member States, for all their flaws. And UK and EU would both be even better with UK back inside - which cannot happen yet, but will in the long term.

submitted 3 hours ago • 0 comments

Two people who are not going to be pleased about UK getting closer to EU are Putin and Trump. Which is enough almost to prove it's a good idea.

submitted 16 hours ago • 0 comments

Opposing a youth opportunity scheme on grounds EU has bigger population than UK so many more European young people will inevitably come to UK than Brits to EU misses a crucial fact: UK would be only one of over 30 countries where young EU citizens can go (EU+EEA+ Switz...)

submitted 16 hours ago • 0 comments

Looks like the EU and UK are going to recouple their electricity systems. This is important and has been overlooked. I argued for it here. www.cer.eu/publications...

submitted 1 day ago • 3 comments

“Brexit means we can make our own agreements with the EU, as we pick and choose!” - UK chooses to make agreement with EU on a handful of issues. “Brexit Betrayed!”

submitted 22 hours ago • 0 comments

The biggest Brexit betrayal was Boris Johnson betraying the interests of the British public to advance his own political career.

submitted 22 hours ago • 2 comments

It's Brexit zealots that let down fishing communities by falsely promising they could have UK waters to themselves while still being able to sell into EU markets without red tape. Today's deal is Johnson's deal but with the prospect of reducing some of that red tape.

submitted 22 hours ago • 0 comments

Brexiters were always good at surrendering...other people's money to advance their own daft dogma.

submitted 22 hours ago • 0 comments

No doubt there will be a chorus of anti-EU bloviating from right-wing politicians and tabloids over next few days. But most people have stopped listening.

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

Brexit was a betrayal of the UK national interest and of the interests of every British person except some very rich chancers. Today is a step towards putting things right.

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

'Betraying Brexit' is like 'betraying' an own goal by trying to score at the other end....

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

The coverage of this EU deal acts like the last five years haven't happened. Polls now show overwhelming support for a closer relationship with the EU, with even Reform voters backing things like the youth mobility scheme, and yet the coverage is still being framed about "betrayals" of Brexit

submitted 2 days ago • 103 comments

Enoch Powell was a (proud) racialist. Keir Starmer isn’t. When did we lose the art of calibrated and nuanced debate ? My column. www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/699...

submitted 3 days ago • 42 comments

Three certainties about UK-EU summit: 1/ It will be presented, with justification, by both sides as a success 2/ There will be some detail on defence and security 3/ It will list a whole swathe of issues - including youth mobility and a food safety deal - for subsequent detailed negotiation.

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Sarah Pochin can never be seen eating a salad now! It's got to be Reform-approved common sense volksfood all the way......

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

Translation 'Make me PM and I'll destroy UK growth and jobs, increase prices and make Britain’s name mud again'....

submitted 3 days ago • 3 comments

Fishing rights are nothing to do with defence and UK press has exaggerated the extent to which EU states have linked them. But they are to do with easing food trade red tape - a win for UK fishing as it needs to sell into EU. That's where the trade off lies.

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

Crucial sentence - 'France will also prioritise relationships with member states over the UK.' What is more, so will all the other EU member states....UK is no longer out in the cold but there will always be something of a chill in the air outside the EU

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Here you go. Your primer, plus loads of background reading suggestions, for the summit on Monday. Courtesy of @ukandeu.bsky.social You're welcome media.ukandeu.ac.uk/wp-content/u...

submitted 4 days ago • 1 comment

Three certainties about UK-EU summit: 1/ It will be presented, with justification, by both sides as a success 2/ There will be some detail on defence and security 3/ It will list a whole swathe of issues - including youth mobility and a food safety deal - for subsequent detailed negotiation.

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

With the UK-EU summit in May, our new report and blog reveal the impact of Brexit and how the UK-EU reset can enhance cancer research collaboration. “Beating cancer is a team effort. Whether as a family, as a community or as a continent.” (Ursula von der Leyen, 2024) bit.ly/42X88YE 1/9

submitted 28 days ago • 1 comment

Many in UK seem not to understand - or not to want to understand - that the final decision-makers in the EU are the Member States. Hence the late pre-summit negotiations within EU. Ironically, delusions that 'Brussels' takes all the decisions led to Brexit in first place!

submitted 4 days ago • 1 comment

I am wondering if the best way to explain the UK-EU summit to the public might be not to talk about defence, youth mobility and trade as if they were all separate but just to refer to a closer alliance for 'security, prosperity and opportunity', or something similar?

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Choose Europe....good motto ...and not only for science! ec.europa.eu/commission/p...

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

There are three stages to summits like Monday's UK-EU summit. Before the summit, the day of the summit and the aftermath of the summit. The day of the summit is often the least important in decision-making terms....but usually the most important in communication and media terms.

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

Before the Brexit referendum, Brexiters would pick a real or imagined flaw in the EU as a reason to leave it, even though it was far outweighed by the benefits. Now they hail every tiny win as a 'Brexit Benefit', even though it represents a minimal fraction of what we lost by Brexit.

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

UK scientists and businesses are again eligible to partner with EU counterparts in cutting-edge research projects under the Horizon Europe programme. That has mitigated one Boris Johnson Brexit disaster. Maybe Monday's summit will mitigate - it can't solve - some more? ec.europa.eu/commission/p...

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

UKICE's @jreland.bsky.social introduces his latest report on Regulating after Brexit. The report looks at: 1️⃣Why the UK has diverged so little from EU rules despite the freedom to do so after Brexit 2️⃣The regulatory challenges the current govt. faces Read in full here👉 ukandeu.ac.uk/reports/regu...

submitted 7 days ago • 1 comment

Interesting speech by the PM (of Spain) on immigration www.lamoncloa.gob.es/lang/en/pres...

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

The tension is not new but the gulf now seems ever wider between skills required to campaign for election - Tik-Tok, seat by seat polling, controversy- and skills needed to govern well - patience, thick skin, rigorous policy analysis...

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

For the umpteenth time, a reciprocal and time limited youth mobility scheme with the EU is not immigration.

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

She won't though, will she, because she won't get into power and even if she did there will be little support for reversing a reset that will have enabled at least some growth and opportunity. More likely will be appetite for more..given that getting back in single market would be real game changer

submitted 8 days ago • 1 comment

The benefits of a much closer relationship with the rest of Europe dwarf any deal with India or Trump. It’s time to get serious with the EU and consign Brexit era dogmas to the dustbin of history. 🇪🇺👍

submitted 10 days ago • 9 comments