Whenever I talk to my left-wing friends who support the Remain campaign they're always very fast to remind me that I’m sat on the same side as Michael Gove, Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage (never mind reminding them that they are sat on the same side as the CBI, Jeremy Clarkson, David Cameron, George Osborne and the Mail on Sunday). “That’s who we’ll be voting for if we vote to Leave, we are just not at the right moment yet”. But let’s just remind ourselves that their power is

Immigration is where a person wishes to leave the country where they live to emigrate and throw their lot in with another country. They must agree to and accept the laws and economic ups and downs of their new home and respect the culture of that country including the language. They may become ‘naturalised’ after a period of residence. Refugees and asylum seekers are those whose lives are threatened in their own country. This is part of long established international law, tre

Ever since a teen-ager, I have supported the idea of a Socialist United States of Europe. As a UK government negotiator, I subsequently took part in many talks in Brussels. In my time, it was largely a case of detailed ad hoc bargaining: “You give me this and I’ll give you that” – the small change of international diplomacy. The results were not wholly bad, possibly even mildly beneficial for the UK. My own remit when in Brussels was to block any significant move by the EU

The 200 page report, released by the Treasury a couple of weeks ago, has been used as the basis for the claim, by both the Prime Minister and Chancellor, that there is a consensus amongst economists that Brexit would lead to recession (or even depression). However over-blown these claims, the Treasury Report has also been used by the TUC as the basis for their claim that withdrawal from the EU would hit the pockets of working people, and for suggestions that the retired will

Is David Cameron now moonlighting as a Brexit supporter? Speaking at the Confederation of British Industry recently, he said the following: “Some people seem to say that really Britain couldn’t survive, couldn’t do okay outside the European Union. I don’t think that is true. “Let’s be frank, Britain is an amazing country. We’ve got the fifth biggest economy in the world. We’re a top ten manufacturer. We’ve got incredibly strong financial services. The world wants to come and

In an astonishing turn of events, President Obama has clearly felt it necessary to give strength to the Leave campaign, particularly those Left-wing among their number. By saying that the UK would go to the "back of the queue" in any trade deal, Obama is signalling that Brexit could mean companies aren't given the power to sue foreign governments (including our own) if we should decide to halt the onslaught of privatisation on our vital services. Of course what Obama really t

Jeremy Corbyn is a hostage on the issue of the EU. His current 'warts and all but let's stay in please' posture is because he's been forced into such a stance by the corrosive spine of Labour MPs who opposed his election as leader, remain deeply hostile to him and have made the EU the issue on which they would revolt if he didn't bow to them. Nonetheless it's a shame he is making a speech the content of which he doesn't believe and which represents a horrendous about turn on

Andreas Karitzis, a former SYRIZA member and former member of its Central Committee and Political Secretariat, has recently published a very interesting article on what he calls the "Syriza experience" and what lessons we can all draw from it. One paragraph stuck out the most: "Today in Greece a ‘Left government’ is implementing austerity, leftwing people are confused and ‘The Left’ is turning into a pro-memorandum political force in people’s minds. Nationalists and fascists

June 23rd and the issue of #LEXIT (a left exit from the EU straight jacket) is an issue of democracy not just of politics or financial responsibility. At present, a vote for the EU is vote for surrendering your democratic rights to a group of unelected financiers hell bent on securing a fiscal discipline that will ruin many countries but ensure German exports remain competitive. Every day more and more powers are transferred to Brussels, whilst the Great British Public are le

Today Jeremy Corbyn, the left-wing leader of the Labour party, made a socialist case for remaining in the EU. It has been coloured by a reminder that he has been exceptionally critical of the EU previously, voting against joining the EEC in 1975, against ratifying the Maastricht Treaty in 1993, and concerned by the collapse of national power being subsumed into the Brussels-based bureaucracy. But let’s put all this to one side for now. Whatever he felt before, he is on the ot