Bruges Group Blog

The appointment of Chris-Heaton Harris as the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland was greeted warmly by unionists, ever hopeful that at long last we would have a Secretary of State who cared as much about protecting the rights of unionists as those of nationalists. Moreover, there was a great hope that this UK Government would break with the sy...

The Acts of Union is the present constitutional foundation of the United Kingdom. As the late Lord Trimble, the unionist architecture of the Belfast Agreement, said: The Acts of Union is the Union. The Northern Ireland Protocol "subjugates" (in the words of the Court of Appeal) Article VI of the Acts of Union, and therefore it follows that it subju...

This week has been another shocking reminder how far adrift today's Conservative Party are from the principles enunciated and implemented by its greatest peacetime leader Margaret Thatcher. To me personally, this has been dramatically emphasised by the loss of Westminster City Council to the Labour Party. Some thirty years ago as the Finance Chairm...

I spoke to former Labour MP for Vauxhall, Kate Hoey, now Baroness Hoey of Lylehill and Rathlin (County Antrim, Northern Ireland), after sitting for 30 years as a Labour MP and spearheading Labour Leave during the referendum and the subsequent years until her retirement from the House of Commons in December 2019, she was made a life peer i...

I caught up with former Brexit Party MEP, Ben Habib who now runs the pressure group 'Unlocked', campaigning for an end to lockdown and highlighting the economic and social damage of remaining in lockdown. You can watch the full conversation on YouTube, with links to the videos throughout or digest a condensed summary on each question and debate poi...

 Here is my speech to the Northern Irish Legislative Assembly on 25th January 2021 on the subject of The Health Protection Regulations. As a bit of context, it has been revealed last week that some 275 people had their red flag Cancer surgeries cancelled in Northern Ireland, due to COVID pressures. This is the reality. Patients awaiting time-d...

Two days ago, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office the Rt. Hon. Michael Gove MP made an extraordinary statement in the House of Commons. In his opening remarks he stated: "Throughout 2020, we have worked intensively to ensure that the withdrawal agreement, in particular the Northern Ireland protocol, will be full...

wIf the past few weeks have shown us anything it is that if the EU still sees itself as a peace project, then its view of itself is as misguided as it's regard for international law. As threats from the Commission, mainly Maros Sefcovic, to look at 'all legal options' against the Internal Market bill grew, you can easily pass over the fact that the...

Ian Gow: Eminent Thatcherites by The Bruges Group - YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwPRnfTdfVk&t=2s During these awful and bleak times, I felt it would be the perfect opportunity to take a closer look to the careers of some political giants who don't get the recognition or remembrance they deserve. One of my greatest interests is polit...