First, the UK doesn't believe the European project applies to it. Bluntly it was for the losers of WWII. Secondly, the UK is not culturally European. Europe is foreign. Always will be. And third, if the UK says the EU is brilliant ... immediately every MEP will be like "So why not join?!"

Duh

Comical.

The UK will do a deal on youth mobility, much as I resent it, and it will end up paying cohesion funds because the market benefits to the economy are understood.

But the UK will never go to Brussels and say the EU is brilliant. For a reason visible from space.

Easy win for stay out if the Euro, Free Movement and no rebate, plus schengen are the deal.

Key argument from Ipsos is this.

Any referendum would rip the country apart. Again. We are not doing this again. Its about cooperation, picking the areas where you can actually win over public opinion, and working on those.

You should've listened to Metsola today.

This is about the EU getting access to London's ecosystem for tech-startups. A reminder; 3rd largest AI unicorn population outside of the US and China.

Interesting @ipsosgroup.bsky.social presentation at the UK-EU Forum on attitudes in UK, DE and FR on the UK-EU relationship. To me, the complete lack of interest in the UK - compared to DE and FR - on easier mobility (we mean goods when we say trade) shows once again red lines must stay.

UK economy on ‘stronger footing’ than expected before energy shock after February growth surge.

Starmer and Reeves, cannot catch a break. If Trump hadn’t won that election, we would be well on the path to recovery.

Damn him.

UK economy massively beat expectations in February. Growth of 0.5% was well above estimates.

Be happy your third largest export market is doing well. Its in your interest.

Its for those who want to join the EU - not Starmer who does not - to explain why the UK should afford rights to a Slovakian it doesn't to an Australian.

And to be clear; Remain failed and Rejoin has continued to fail on this since 2016.

But fine. Make the argument. Stop hiding from it.

And yes, the current issues in the middle east will hit us hard. That's not a consequence of Brexit, its a consequence of how our economy is structured, but even then we'll have the same growth as saintly Germany. So again: what point are you making hmmm?

The data proves you demonstrably wrong doesn't it. That's why you're ranting. We are winning even outside the EU you claim we have no choice but to join. We are happy to trade. We're just not joining a future called Europe because we neither have nor want to.

The 2025/26 data actually breaks the "UK collapse" narrative when compared to the EU. In 2025, the UK (1.3%) outgrew Germany (0.4%) and France (1.1%). Our unemployment (5.2%) remains far lower than France (7.9%) or Italy (6.5%). Yields are up globally, but our fundamentals are beating key EU peers

Agreed. And its important to ensure EU nationals with no right to be in the UK are deported. As the HO has started.

Oh and your 18 month IMF clock?

The IMF’s 2025/26 reports actually praised the UK’s "fiscal sustainability" and upgraded growth forecasts to 1.4%. We’re the only G7 economy currently seeing debt-to-GDP fall. It’s not 1976; the data just doesn't back the drama.

Brexit works.

The UK isn’t alone; yield curves are rising across the US and EU as markets price in "higher for longer" rates globally. While UK gilts are at the higher end due to energy imports and sticky inflation, it’s a global trend, not a unique UK problem.

The UK isn't in a 2012-style Eurozone crisis; Greece lost 25% of its GDP then. Also, the OBR has legally provided 2 forecasts a year since 2011; it’s UK law, not an IMF mandate. Yields are high globally due to base rates, but the "Truss premium" is gone.

You lie because you can't argue with me.

We don't have to follow your rules on what we do in our tech sector. We have removed the cap on city bonuses. We align - meaning ECJ, cohesion, dynamic alignment - where it makes sense, and where it doesn't we don't. Nobody will notice, nobody cares. Brexit works.

We are literally making it work. We aren't a part of you. The UK is, compared to other EU G7 economies, doing ok.

And I am perfectly well aware of what it takes to secure an SPS agreement. I just don't care as long as our red lines remain intact.

And its not *all* SM rules; that's the point.

And you put 18 months on the UK needing an IMF bailout.

10 years since we voted to leave. No chance of a united Ireland and no chance of Indy Ref 2 either.

At some point you are going to have to accept you cannot force yourselves on us, as desperate as you are.

You have the TCA+

Make it work

The polling on the UK is clear. Barely 15% of Brits describe themselves as European. In Germany its 78%. There is no European identity in the UK. And that number has been consistent for decades. And its why Brexit happened. Its just not a sentiment that exists.

We don't care about accepting single market rules. We know thats required to get rid of the paperwork and aside from the weirdos on the Tory benches nobody cares. We'll also pay cohesion funds.

Here's what we will not do: free movement. Ever.

It's not just that Orbán losing inspires hope in other competitive-autocratic countries ruled by right-wing nationalist authoritarians. It's that his loss materially changes things in those other countries, because he's been operating as a headquarters and funding source...

Matt Goodwin’s sitting on his own in a Scruton cafe crying like a little girl and you’re laughing?

Good that Orban is gone. He was Putin's man in Brussels and with him out of the way the aid to Ukraine should be unblocked, plus the EU can go further on sanctions. Additionally, its another loss for Trump and the MAGA crowd; Hungary was their vision of a restored Europe. Now that's crumbled.

Shit. I knew he'd end up here. And for those of my persuasion he is uniquely difficult to argue with. I've wargamed a scenario where he invites the UK to take Ukraine's hand and re-join as Ukraine accedes and I don't like it.

We're not saying no to everything. We're saying no to anything that crosses our red lines and would see us subsumed. There is no mandate and it conforms to the manifesto.

Maybe you could explain why the UK should give up it ability to negotiate trade deals or control its borders?

The Telegraph just gave a convicted criminal a two-page spread to explain why he's pumping £4 million into Reform UK. They tucked his criminal record away in the small print. So as a former financial crime specialist I’ll do their job for them👇

Tell me you all saw what I saw

Worth having no right to prevent millions of economic migrants moving to the UK en masse?

No. Of course it isn't.

Yes, Brexit has consequences. Some negative, some positive. Thats what separation means. But on the whole, its working well and Starmer is taking the correct approach.

And on Poland, Poland’s progress is notable, and EU cohesion funding has clearly played a role, though it’s also worth noting that Poland has chosen not to join the euro.