Tel. +44 (0)20 7287 4414
Email. info@brugesgroup.com
Tel. +44 (0)20 7287 4414
Email. info@brugesgroup.com
The Bruges Group spearheaded the intellectual battle to win a vote to leave the European Union and, above all, against the emergence of a centralised EU state.
The Bruges Group spearheaded the intellectual battle to win a vote to leave the European Union and, above all, against the emergence of a centralised EU state.
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Bruges Group Blog

Spearheading the intellectual battle against the EU. And for new thinking in international affairs.
Brexit-Democracy

How Leaving the EU is the Only Way to Carry Out Democracy

By now we should have left the EU. Vast swathes of people are incensed. But it is evident that Brexit will only be delivered if the people move to enforce it by neutering an obstructionist parliament. Nothing good will happen until parliament is overwhelmed by the people's desire to leave. Left to its own devices parliament is too much the instrume...

  5294 Hits
Len-McCluskey

The EU, Workers' Rights and the Good Old Trade Unions

It's become a mantra, endlessly repeated by remainer unions: "Workers must not pay the price of Brexit." What price would that be? And how about acknowledging the price of staying in the EU? On 6 July 2017 Michel Barnier, the EU Brexit negotiator, addressed the EU's Economic and Social Committee. His words were noted and passed on to unions in Brit...

  4198 Hits
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It Isn't the Government's Job to Frighten the Public

The duty of government is to obey the will of the Nation. To paraphrase that which Professor Dicey said, referring to "the grand principle underlying the conventional precepts of the constitution, in "The Law of the Constitution[i]": "… neither the Crown [which I take to mean the Government] nor any servant of the Crown ever refuses obedience ...

  4434 Hits
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A Determined Prime Minister Can Take Us Out

Here is the fantastic Sir John Redwood MP's article first published on Brexit Central (https://brexitcentral.com/a-determined-prime-minister-can-ensure-we-are-out-of-the-eu-by-31st-october/) outlining how the right man can take us out of the EU by 31st October.  For too long we have witnessed this Parliament trying to delay or dilute Brexit. T...

  4297 Hits
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How Maggie Was Right About The EU Decades Ago

As the Conservatives elect their replacement for Theresa May over the summer, it's worth looking back to see how crucial it is for a leader that is in line with grassroots views, and currently Euroscepticism is the overwhelming grassroots position among members. Ever since the Maastricht Treaty was signed in 1992 there has been a battle for a refer...

  15450 Hits
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There is No Such Thing as No Deal

The withdrawal agreement is not only unjustified but also not required. In the event of the UK's departure from the EU without a withdrawal agreement the EU itself has put in place measures to keep trade open. These range from agreeing to equivalence in financial services, access for hauliers, the continuation of flights, and the transport conventi...

  6684 Hits
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Sovereignty is the issue

The issue at the heart of our contentious relationship with the European Union – and before that the Common Market – was sovereignty, rather than trade. Likewise, the debate over the Withdrawal Agreement: it has little to do with our trading relationship and everything to do with ensuring that sovereignty remains firmly with the EU, although techni...

  5638 Hits
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We Can Work It Out

 "Life is very short, and there's no time, for fussing and fighting, my friend." (John Lennon and Paul McCartney – 1965 "We Can Work It Out")We had one deadline - 29th March – for leaving the EU, which was inexplicably lost in the mists of political time. (Political time is like real time, but without reality, adherence to deadlines, or t...

  5245 Hits
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Why Sovereignty Matters

 The evolution of sovereign states around the world has been an uneven process. Some were founded on shared nationhood, language and culture. Some on lines drawn by colonial rulers. Others out of the chaos of war. But sovereign states have this in common: they are all that now stands between the peoples of the world and utter domination by the...

  4549 Hits
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Just Leave!

 Through the treachery of the government and MPs, Britain is in political and economic limbo. Instead of being free to taking back control, they have handed the future of the country over to the EU… Delay, and more delay. Britain is now going to be denied independence for up to 6 months longer, a total of three-and-a-half years after voting fo...

  4247 Hits
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Opinion: Secularisation, Individualism and #indyref2

 In 1964, the film Mary Poppins was released. It captured the mind of a generation and epitomised the sentiments of the turn of the century. Mary Poppins was not ultimately about a magical nanny or a singing chimney sweep, but about duty. It was about the duty of man to his family. Mary Poppins is the story of George Banks, who gives up person...

  4199 Hits
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Tell Us What Do You Want!

I have become increasingly annoyed over the last year by those people who decry the desirability of leaving the EU on WTO terms – commonly referred to as 'no deal'. As I have pointed out on a number of occasions (Swift, 2018a, 2018b, 2019a, 2019b, 2019c), an exit without an agreement would give us numerous advantages when dealing with the EU, in pa...

  4210 Hits

John Redwood's letter to the Attorney General about the Withdrawal Agreement

Below is John Redwood's letter to Geoffrey Cox. The Attorney General has not yet replied, and he needs to.Given the government's difficulty in replying to this, John Redwood is re-issuing it and encourage all to circulate it more widely. The conventional media refuse to ask these questions of the government and supporters of the Agreement.  De...

  5880 Hits

The Will of the Nation

Members of Parliament (with the exception of those who have not rebelled and refuse to renege on the promises made in the manifesto) voted to take "no-deal" off the table thereby revealing Parliament as hard-line remainers, all too ready to reject democracy in an attempt to subvert the will of the nation and to sweep aside legitimate politics. "Har...

  62043 Hits

The Long and Winding Road just got a bit longer

So we now know that the leaders of the other EU nations, doubtless pressured by the cabal of Eurocrats, have agreed to an extension of time before we can finally escape from the EU. They have, however, made this extension conditional on MPs accepting the PM's deal. Very clever. As I have consistently pointed out, Brussels does not want us to leave,...

  4319 Hits
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The sovereignty of the people trumps the sovereignty of Parliament

Labour supporters should ask themselves, what if Labour wins the next election by, say, 1.3 million votes or fewer? Would they mind if the establishment decided that it was not a valid victory, because it was too close, or because Jeremy Corbyn allegedly lied when he said that he might give more money to the NHS, or because there was, allegedly, Ru...

  8170 Hits

Democracy or Tyranny: Which will Members of Parliament choose?

There are only two forms of government – government with the consent of the People or government without the consent of the People.  Charles Moore wrote yesterday[1] : "On Thursday, I was interviewed by a mainstream Swiss newspaper. Switzerland, of course, is not a member of the EU. The reporter's first question went something like this: 'My c...

  5463 Hits

Ritual Humiliation in the New Theocracy

In my article "The Extreme Middle and a New Theocracy," I argued that supporters of the EU worshipped at the altar of a new Theocracy. As the arguments over Brexit grind on, nothing has changed my view. Indeed, I'm more convinced than ever that it is true. Forgive me for repeating familiar facts, but it is necessary. Following David Cameron's reneg...

  5003 Hits

Roll of Honour: Defying the Whips to oppose the bad deal

The 28 Leaver Conservative Members of Parliament who voted against Theresa May's 'Withdrawal' Agreement: Adam Afriyie Steve Baker John Baron Peter Bone Suella Braverman Andrew Bridgen Sir Bill Cash Sir Christopher Chope James Duddridge Mark Francois Marcus Fysh Philip Hollobone Adam Holloway Ranil Jayawardena Bernard Jenkin Andrea Jenkyns David Jon...

  4981 Hits

Who Governs and by What Right

  5884 Hits

The 'Withdrawal' Agreement is a Zombie Bill

Can the same Bill be re-introduced having once before been rejected by the Commons?  This question has profound implications for the future of our exit from the European Union. In normal times, when democracy appeared to be respected, if a Bill has been rejected it could not be reintroduced in the same parliamentary year. The overwhelming reje...

  6912 Hits

How the "Backstop" breaches international treaties

The backstop is illegal. When speaking with international lawyers they mention a number of difficulties that the EU will discover if they actually try to implement the backstop.   The competence of the 'Withdrawal' Agreement to establish the backstop exceeds its lawful ability, it is Ultra Vires.Given indications from the President of the...

  21156 Hits

Members of Parliament should be careful what they wish for

As we grind inexorably to the Brexit finishing line, we should remember what happened just under three years ago, since it is becoming increasingly obvious that many - in particular our MPs - have either very short or very selective memories. In June 2016, there was a nation-wide referendum when the then government asked the people whether they wan...

  7635 Hits

What a Parliament of pusillanimists / Our topsy-turvy politics of obfuscation and delay

You knew this was coming, but you couldn't make it up. A Prime Minister repudiates postponement but permits the Commons, no longer representing commoners, to defer departure. A Leader of Her Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition denies a second plebiscite, but announces that his party backs another ballot. An apoplectic electorate, at least beyond the M2...

  5393 Hits

Regionalisation

Some EU enthusiasts claim that our decision in 2016 was an aberration. In fact, whenever we have been given the chance to vote against EU policies, we have rejected those policies. Referendums across Europe showed that the EU was increasingly unpopular. In 2005 French voters rejected the European Constitution by 55 per cent to 45. Enthusiasm for th...

  5325 Hits

Political game play

There is no appetite to repeat arguments set out in a previous article presenting a four-partite political system based on the splintering of traditional parties. Seven Labour MPs resigned on 18 February 2019 to form an independent group focused on opposing Brexit. It is difficult not to draw parallels with the Labour split in 1981, but the impact ...

  4231 Hits

The Great Betrayal of UK Democracy

Whilst I would be the first to concede that everyone (including MPs) has the right to voice their personal opinion, those Members of Parliament who were elected to represent their constituents, must do so regardless of their own opinions when it comes to major issues of national importance such as Brexit. In other words, where an MP represents a co...

  5909 Hits

United States of Europe

The EU is not a market, it is a political project of becoming a single European state, the United States of Europe, as the powers-that-be in the EU have always wanted it to become. The three founding fathers of European union all called for a single European state. Konrad Adenauer said, "My dream is that one day we might be able to applaud a United...

  7813 Hits

The People are sovereign

May is still pushing her so-called Withdrawal Agreement, even though MPs voted it down by 432 to 202 on 24 January. She is demanding that MPs vote again on it, still using No-Deal as a threat not an opportunity. Her chief adviser Oliver Robbins said, in a staged leak, that she will give MPs a choice - her deal, or a 'long' postponement of Brexit. B...

  8780 Hits

Dull but desperate days

  4245 Hits

EU directives and the expression of opinion

The economic arguments for leaving the European Union are obvious, but there is also an overwhelming cultural case for Brexit which is discussed less often. Over the last couple of decades, there has been a noticeable increase in what is known as 'political correctness', which has accelerated in the last five or so years. It used to be the case tha...

  9985 Hits

Time to go on the offensive

People who have voted to leave the European Union have recently woken up to the reality that several political/economic figures in the United Kingdom and abroad are intent on stealing the referendum to ensure we remain in the customs union and abide by laws made in Brussels. Campaigns targeting MPs who are openly defying their party manifesto and t...

  4319 Hits

A Dangerous Legacy

In 20th century Continental Europe, democracy had a rotten time. Russia's attempt to frame a liberal constitution, described by W. E. Mosse as "the only time in modern Russian history when the Russian people were able to play a significant part in the shaping of their destinies," was snuffed out by the Bolshevik revolution. At first, the attempt to...

  4925 Hits

The Brexit Party: worrying the Westminster sheep? Interview with party leader Catherine Blaiklock

A new pro-Brexit party, approved by the Electoral Commission, has been founded in response to the reluctance of Parliament to honour the verdict of the EU referendum. Nigel Farage, former leader of UKIP, declared in the Daily Telegraph that if Britain's exit from the EU is delayed, he will stand as candidate in the European Parliament elections: 'I...

  4230 Hits

Politicians are in power to serve the people

Since Anglo-Saxon times, the Monarch has been required to rule for the benefit of the people. As with our law, our democracy is based on consent and has been evolutionary. Its genius is that as individual sovereignty replaced that of the monarch, the monarchy became the repository of the people's sovereignty. The people are sovereign and lend their...

  11621 Hits

An email to Joanna Cherry - my MP

1.Why are you plotting to thwart the democratically mandated instruction of the majority in the United Kingdom - to leave the European Union – its customs union, single market, court and ECB dictates? You lost the 2014 referendum. Scotland's people voted to remain part of the UK. You have a dictator's attitude to the people: twist their arm, nag an...

  6464 Hits

Dangers to National Security and Individual Freedom in Mrs May’s “withdrawal” Agreement

Warning! If voted through, this agreement will be irreversible. Parliament will have bound its successors to the EU, possibly into the next century.   The Outline Political Declaration prefacing this "deal" says we share basic values with other EU nations and reaffirms our commitment to the ECHR. This is supposedly the ideological basis for th...

  9626 Hits

Legal aspects of Brexit as the Brexit deadline of 29th March 2019 draws near

A no deal scenario is by no means a legal or economic vacuum. After the UK leaves as seems increasingly likely it will be in a similar relationship with the EU as is any country outside of the EU (referred to in the EU Treaties as 'third States' or 'third countries').  This research addresses some legal aspects of the Brexit process as it ente...

  5070 Hits

How Matters Now Stand

Parliament is not allowed to surrender law making to a foreign jurisdiction. Theresa May's withdrawal agreement seeks to hand our right to self-government to the European Union.     The foundation of our democracy lies in the answer to the question: where is the origin of power? The answer is that all power is vested in, and consequently ...

  6989 Hits

Operation Killing Brexit

A calculated campaign is underway to effectively nullify the 2016 referendum and keep the United Kingdom in the European Union for the foreseeable future. The latest development in this ongoing saga is the attempt by the Prime Minister to extend the transition period bringing it closer to the next General Election in 2022. We all remember that duri...

  5882 Hits

Democracy

Many of those who insist that the 2016 referendum was only advisory are now demanding a second referendum. If the first one was only advisory, how could a second one not be advisory too? What they mean is that pro-EU MPs and unelected pro-EU peers should make the important decisions in this country, not the uncouth British people, who can't be trus...

  5944 Hits

Perspectives on Reforming the European Union

  5621 Hits

The Draft Withdrawal Agreement: an analysis

Analysis of Theresa May's Brexit proposal.  Can the UK claim to be an independent state? Introduction The current draft of the agreement "on Withdrawal of the UK from the EU and EURATOM" (the "Agreement") can be found here... https://ec.europa.eu/commission/files/draft-agreement-withdrawal-united-kingdom-great-britain-and-northern-ireland-euro...

  12814 Hits

Binding

Oddly, many who insist that the 2016 referendum was only advisory are now calling for a second referendum, for a 'People's Vote'. If the first one was only advisory, how could a second one not be advisory too? What they mean is that pro-EU MPs and unelected pro-EU peers should make the important decisions in this country, not the uncouth British pe...

  4537 Hits

“Gimme Some Truth”

  4996 Hits

The Extreme Middle and a New Theocracy

The EU has accused one of its members, Hungary, of not upholding European Values. The EU parliament has voted to 'launch action' against the government of Viktor Orban. There are many charges, but according to Judith Sargentini, the EU parliament's rapporteur on Hungary: The main issue is that Hungarian citizens are losing out on an inclusive democ...

  6882 Hits

Brexit update videos

Steve Baker MP presents five videos updating Brexit and explaining its significance:  1 - Self-government and trade 2 - The Withdrawal Agreement 3 - What is possible: the internal market vs a Free Trade Agreement  4 - What's wrong with Chequers, the Government's plan?  5 - It is time to make an advanced FTA work for the who...

  5578 Hits

Addressing the Revolutions

The politics of Europe is such that we have in past centuries witnessed many revolutions of the kind which lead to conflicts.Today, once more, under the "leadership" of the EU we are witnessing another test.The British in their caution and concern are stepping away from the EU in the hope that Brexit will mitigate the creation of the Grand EU monoc...

  7926 Hits

Do you expect us to negotiate?

  7981 Hits

Perfect timing by the European Union

The way in which the EU goes about producing the laws that bind the rest of us - whether our politicians like them or not - can be difficult to understand. If you're not intimately familiar with it, don't worry. You're in good company. If really interested, you'll find it in Arts.288-299 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, a tur...

  6222 Hits

Outsourcing and the Death of Democracy

In 1989, events that led to the fall of the USSR overshadowed one that arguably would have an even greater economic, cultural and political impact. According to Poole College of Management, outsourcing was formally identified as a business strategy that year. The collapse of Carillon in January 2018, the loss of thousands of jobs and billions of po...

  7640 Hits

Jacob Rees-Mogg's letter to the Conservative Party constituent Chairmen with Briefing Note concerning the Chequers Deal

  5615 Hits

EU Militia on British Streets?

Of course the mere idea of armed foreign militias patrolling British streets sounds outlandish and is usually rejected by most Brits as absurd and impossible. However, let us consider the matter more closely. The EU's plan to eventually morph into a single European State was proclaimed openly by the founders, and even later by the likes of Helmut K...

  38192 Hits

Threatening his Lordship’s lifestyle

When Peter Mandelson was in the Labour Government and later a highly paid EU Commissioner, I was struggling running the small family business my late father had started in 1946. We just about survived the recession of the early nineties caused by the folly of the UK joining the EU exchange rate mechanism, which bankrupted a large number of small bu...

  4833 Hits

Representative democracy not bureaucratic dictatorship

  10491 Hits

Statement by Barry Legg - Chairman of the Bruges Group

 Contact your Member of Parliament Theresa May has decided to pursue a policy of Brexit in name only (BRINO). This arrangement will be worse than our current membership of the European Union as we will then be a vassal state. If this policy is implemented the electoral consequences for the Conservative Party will be dire. I urge all members of...

  24923 Hits

Populism is popular, and will overwhelm the EU

To state that a book is important may seem a cliché, but Frank Furedi's Populism and the European Culture Wars is undoubtedly so. Using Hungary as a case study, no writer has more clearly described the predicament of national culture and identity, set against the progressive EU goal of a borderless, multicultural continent. Yet the message is unlik...

  4927 Hits

Robert Oulds discusses Airbus and BMW's Brexit warnings, the economy and whether or not there should be another EU referendum

On the second anniversary of the successful Leave vote, Robert Oulds condemns Airbus, in receipt of £16 billion from the EU, and BMW, for choosing this day to advise the UK to stay in the single market and customs union. While the eurozone lurches from crisis to crisis, the UK has its highest rate of employment in history and we should look forward...

  5168 Hits
Habeas Corpus Rights Now Reclaimed - Govt. Reverses its Position on Extraditions with the 'Deal'

Habeas Corpus Rights Now Reclaimed - Govt. Reverses its Position on Extraditions with the 'Deal'

Today Great Britain stands at a crossroads; it is here where we must decide whether we will stand strong and boldly go forward or whether we will cower before a group of unelected bureaucrats thrust out from power in their home countries. Our Brexit negotiations have featured heavily in the news recently over the Government's supposed plan to stay ...

  6644 Hits
The EU's 'Punishment Period' Is An Affront To Our Most Fundamental Democratic & Constitutional Foundations

The EU's 'Punishment Period' Is An Affront To Our Most Fundamental Democratic & Constitutional Foundations

It is widely regarded as a sincere sign of immaturity for one to antagonise & hinder their victor - whether that be in football by accusing the referee of bias, in chess by refusing to shake their opponent's hand or indeed by frustrating the democratic will of a people by political and institutional means. In other words; being a sore loser suc...

  10550 Hits

How Brexit Affected Premier League Policies

​Britain's exit from the European Union, ushered by a majority of Leave votes, is an opportunity to build a better Britain. Not a better Britain, according to historian Bess Rhodes, but a kind and more caring Britain. Speaking at the Bruges Group's "Deal or No Deal" conference on Nov. 4, Rhodes admitted she voted to remain in the EU. After the resu...

  6081 Hits

Sugar Beets and the Pandemic of Modern Obesity

In my last blog post, I made my own personal views on transition clear and I also stated what the government had said that their views on transition were. To summarise, I personally believe that, if a free trade agreement (FTA) between the UK and the EU is agreed by midnight on 29th March 2019 and, if a subsequent transitional arrangement is deemed...

  6854 Hits

Brexit betrayal: Tories could lose Peterborough and other local authorities to UKIP

[pb_row ][pb_column span="span12"][pb_heading el_title="Article Sub Title" tag="h4" text_align="inherit" font="inherit" border_bottom_style="solid" border_bottom_color="#000000" appearing_animation="0" ]The SNP has abandoned ‘True Independence’ and Sturgeon is forcing Scotland to choose between a more powerful Scotland inside a Federal UK, or a les...

  10049 Hits
Scotland and the Opinion Polls

Scotland and the Opinion Polls

[pb_row ][pb_column span="span12"][pb_heading el_title="Article Sub Title" tag="h4" text_align="inherit" font="inherit" border_bottom_style="solid" border_bottom_color="#000000" appearing_animation="0" ]The EU is on the road towards a single state and is already largely there.[/pb_heading][pb_heading el_title="Date" tag="h5" text_align="inherit" fo...

  8008 Hits
How To Form A Brexit Panel Discussion

How To Form A Brexit Panel Discussion

[pb_row ][pb_column span="span12"][pb_heading el_title="Article Sub Title" tag="h4" text_align="inherit" font="inherit" border_bottom_style="solid" border_bottom_color="#000000" appearing_animation="0" ]The Supreme Court has no jurisdiction in preventing the Prime Minister from invoking Article 50 to leave to EU. Its ruling is wrong. Jurisdiction w...

  8360 Hits
Zemmour or more of the same?

Zemmour or more of the same?

Scotland’s former First Minister Alex Salmond and (then) Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in 2007, at the launch of Choosing Scotland’s Future – a White Paper on a possible independence referendum. Picture by The Scottish Government. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has commented on several occasions in recent weeks on the subject ...

  7718 Hits
Pro Birmingham And Contra HMG

Pro Birmingham And Contra HMG

[pb_row ][pb_column span="span12"][pb_heading el_title="Article Sub Title" tag="h4" text_align="inherit" font="inherit" border_bottom_style="solid" border_bottom_color="#000000" appearing_animation="0" ]The very purpose of the referendum was to establish a decision-making procedure for leaving the EU. This procedure was implemented by the June refe...

  8643 Hits
An Existential Crisis: We Are Threatened by a Parliamentary Coup

An Existential Crisis: We Are Threatened by a Parliamentary Coup

[pb_row ][pb_column span="span12"][pb_heading el_title="Article Sub Title" tag="h4" text_align="inherit" font="inherit" border_bottom_style="solid" border_bottom_color="#000000" appearing_animation="0" ]Article 50 will be triggered, and the UK will leave the EU[/pb_heading][pb_heading el_title="Date" tag="h5" text_align="inherit" font="inherit" bor...

  7616 Hits

Contact us

Director : Robert Oulds
Tel: 020 7287 4414
Chairman: Barry Legg
 
The Bruges Group
246 Linen Hall, 162-168 Regent Street
London W1B 5TB
United Kingdom
KEY PERSONNEL
 
Founder President :
The Rt Hon. the Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven LG, OM, FRS 
Vice-President : The Rt Hon. the Lord Lamont of Lerwick,
Chairman: Barry Legg
Director : Robert Oulds MA, FRSA
Washington D.C. Representative : John O'Sullivan CBE
Founder Chairman : Lord Harris of High Cross
Head of Media: Jack Soames