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.
Bermuda

The AUKUS Agreement Isn’t Perfect

On Wednesday, September 15th, 2021, the United States, United Kingdom and Australia announced a new trilateral security agreement, 'AUKUS', which has the purpose of improving collaboration in the defense sectors of the signatory countries including collaboration on artificial intelligence, cyber security, quantum technologies as well as undersea ca...

  2762 Hits
Sunak-budget

To Stimulate Economic Recovery, We Need Low Tax Solutions

Hands up, who still thinks the Conservatives are a low tax party? If your hand is up, might I suggest you put it swiftly down and start writing some letters to the 321 Tory MPs who this week voted in favour of the biggest tax hike since the Second World War. Someone ought to inform them. Someone also might want to disband CCHQ come the next general...

  3620 Hits
Sturgeon-opinion-poll

Scotland and the Opinion Polls

Different opinion polls ask different questions. Survation's surveys of Scottish opinion ask, "should Scotland remain in the United Kingdom or leave the United Kingdom?" This question rightly offers both options. This follows the Electoral Commission's guidance that "A referendum question should present the options clearly, simply and neutrally." R...

  3495 Hits
Boris-and-Sajid-Javid

Barry Legg's Letter to The Telegraph on Tax Increases

SIR – Extra taxation on savers to fund the NHS and care-home fees is bizarre. Some paying the extra tax may have been motivated to save in order not to depend on the state in their old age. Now achieving that objective will be undermined. Others will be care-home residents, now having to make a higher tax contribution to fellow residents' costs.&nb...

  2840 Hits
Manley

In Conversation with John Manley OC PC - Former Deputy PM of Canada

I had the opportunity to speak to the Honorable John Manley, a long serving Cabinet Minister in the Canadian Government, having served in key posts such as Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, and Minister of Foreign Affairs – among others. John Manley is also known for having authored the Manley Report on Afghanistan in 2007 and having been...

  3376 Hits
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Scotland and Currency

Clearly neither Wales nor Scotland could create their own currencies: they would have to stay with the pound or join the euro. And since the euro is hugely unpopular in Scotland (only 18 per cent of Scots want to join the euro) - and would simply introduce dependence on Brussels - that would mean sticking with the pound. Yet Alex Salmond seems...

  2830 Hits
concert-1149979_1920

Nightclubs: The Latest Casualty in the Government’s War on Freedom

The claim that a dark and heaving nightclub delivers the perfect breeding ground for Covid isn't particularly contentious. Lots of people packed tightly together, snogging, singing and shouting in a confined space with poor ventilation is perhaps the Department of Health's worst nightmare. Now, if you want to keep clubbing in Britain, the governmen...

  3863 Hits
united-3026204_1920

Technology Sovereignty

 Economic victory in a free trade world will always go to the strongest economy – and the disparity is growing. Against this a new concept has emerged: technology sovereignty. This recognises that IT infrastructure lies at the heart of a modern society. And it's about far more than access to broadband. Networked computers are not only essentia...

  2418 Hits
BJUN

Zero Carbon?

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its sixth assessment report in August, setting off a chain reaction of apocalyptic responses. IPCC was set up in 1988 to scientifically understand human-induced climate change, its impact and possible responses. But every IPCC report since the first in 1990 has been accom...

  2424 Hits
US-Leaving-Afghan

America Retreats - What Next?

Is America's precipitous withdrawal from Afghanistan just a temporary setback, or does it signal a strategic retreat, an abdication from its role as world leader? If so, it will leave a gaping void, a vacuum that others will want to step in and fill. To be a world leader a country needs not only muscle (economic, military, demographic) but also a m...

  2845 Hits
vaccine-passport

The Fight for Liberty - No Vaccine Passports!

Since Boris Johnson was elected with a thumping majority of 80 events have over taken his premiership. It was assumed that the biggest political headache would be Brexit. That proved not to be the case and in less than 3 months Coronavirus was upon us and all that has entailed. Sadly we have just copied the actions of the Chinese Communist Party, w...

  3358 Hits
Coalition-of-chaos

A Coalition of Chaos

The failure of the SNP to gain a majority in the elections to the Scottish parliament has forced them into a huddle with the equally separatist Greens – and into a series of increasingly unpopular policies. Dubbed a 'coalition of chaos', the new alliance in August between the Scottish National Party and the Scottish Green Party has been born out of...

  2990 Hits
China

The CCP and the Taliban - An Unlikely Friendship

The recent withdrawal of the U.S. and its ally forces from Afghanistan has been nothing short of being consequential. The ambiguity of Afghanistan's future has already been deemed a loss for the U.S. thanks to extensive media coverage and the Taliban's rapid conquest of the nation, despite Secretary of State Antony Blinken declaring it a successful...

  2721 Hits
CP

In Conversation with the Hon. Christopher Pyne

Kendall O'Donnell and I, as contributors representing The Bruges Group, had the opportunity to speak to the Honorable Christopher Pyne, a long-serving former Cabinet Minister in the Australian Government, holding portfolios ranging from Education to Defence. We spoke on matters ranging from the domestic, such as Australia's Covid policy and the nat...

  3022 Hits
Eisenhower

Military-Industrial Complex Speech, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961

My fellow Americans: Three days from now, after half a century in the service of our country, I shall lay down the responsibilities of office as, in traditional and solemn ceremony, the authority of the Presidency is vested in my successor. This evening I come to you with a message of leave-taking and farewell, and to share a few final thoughts wit...

  3737 Hits
Diversity-Training

Time to Escape Orwellian Diversity Training

 It is sad that of all the members of the House of Lords, only two had the guts to make a stance against the enforced anti-bullying and sexual harassment training course which has been inflicted on all Peers. For the powers that be in the House of Lords, to insist all our Peers take part in this training, is presuming that all 800 or so member...

  2848 Hits
Xi

Why ‘Wolf Warrior’ Foreign Policy is the New Status Quo for Beijing

Xi Jinping's acceleration of the shift towards an increasingly jingoistic Chinese foreign policy reflects a strengthening of Xi's position in China. Throughout the past 12 months, Chinese foreign policy has changed course in an aggressive manner. China spread propaganda about Australian soldiers committing war crimes in the Middle East and lashed o...

  3580 Hits
Jim-Gilmore

Interview with Ambassador Jim Gilmore

Kendall O'Donnell and I had the opportunity to speak to Jim Gilmore, former US Ambassador to the OSCE, Governor of Virginia, and Chairman of the Republican National Committee, among other roles. We spoke on matters international, regional, and domestic, on topics stretching from President Biden's foreign policy, European security and the EU's role ...

  4737 Hits
coronavirus-4931452_1920

A Secular Religion

In 1988 the Victoria and Albert Museum in London described itself as: "An ace caff, with quite a nice museum attached." Today we seemed to have reached the point where the NHS would describe itself as “a great Health Service, with quite a nice country attached”.

Although there was some reason for the early panic about overwhelming health care this concern has now been extended by some of the more vociferous scientific advisors to a warning that a winter flu epidemic could overwhelm the NHS, so consequently we must all continue to live under strict regulations. Of course this begs the question of whether the NHS exists to protect our health, or whether the country exists to protect the NHS.

Unfortunately, rather as is the case with Remainers worshipping at the shrine of Brussels, many people treat the NHS as some sort secular religion, which must not be criticised, and whose demands for more and more resources must be met, whatever the cost.

The reality is somewhat different.

I yield to no one in my respect and admiration for the front line workers in the NHS, nor in my gratitude to them. However, as I, and others, including many doctors and nurses, have pointed out, the effectiveness of the NHS has been undermined by asinine changes made in the past few decades.

The ever expanding NHS bureaucracy, with its ridiculous number of so called managers, has absorbed a vast number of resources, which should have been utilised to improve front line services, without in any way helping patients. These pen pushers are absurdly overpaid, and overstaffed, resulting in the creation of pointless levels of administration. One nurse of my acquaintance tells me that she once had one level of management above her, which has become seven, the vast majority of whom do nothing but pass paper up and down to each other.

Another front line worker told me that, while they were constantly being told that money was short, Human Resources opened a suite of offices, which they could use for their endless, and fruitless meetings.

In my years as chairman of our office union, I encountered this non profession of HR, which converted personnel departments, who existed to assist staff, into an arm of management which rode roughshod over them, at the same time justifying their own existence by producing countless absurd policies which actually subverted the efficiency of the organisations involved.

The malignant effect of all this has been thrown into sharp relief by the fact that retired medical professionals had their applications to help out with vaccinations refused on the bureaucratic grounds that they may not have attended nonsensical courses on diversity, or even fire training. Bureaucrats put their preposterous concerns ahead of effective action. Many of these schemes arose because of the bureaucratic regulations emanating from Brussels, so are now no longer relevant.

In addition, in the past, nursing was a vocation, recruiting from a wide spectrum of society, yet now we are told that one must be a graduate to be employed. This is as ridiculous as is the need for policeman to have degrees. Fifty years ago a large number of professions were staffed by those who learnt through apprenticeships, and on the job training, yet now those who do not attend university are regarded as unfit for the very same jobs. When I was last in hospital in 1955 they were run efficiently by the matron and the ward sisters, but now they groan under the weight of useless jumped up clerks, while willing and capable nurses are lost due to unreasonable demands that they attend university.

We are all aware of the failures in basic hygiene in hospitals, which have led to the deaths, or serious illness of many people. One friend of mine went through six years of active service in the war without a scratch, but died a couple of years ago, when he caught MRSA in a ward, although he was otherwise recovering well. The manner in which fundamental tasks, such as cleaning wards, has been outsourced, has replaced those who were direct employees, taking a pride in their work, with frequently exploited casual staff, who are expected to do the minimum necessary for their employer to justify their fees.

I have personal experience of health care in Switzerland, which was exemplary, while I know from friends that the French system is also very efficient, and easy to access. No one wants the American system, where one’s treatment is based almost solely on one’s ability to pay. but the aforementioned systems are available on a sensible insurance basis, without excluding the poorest citizens.

To even venture the opinion that something is rotten in this particular State of Denmark is to invite opprobrium, but we cannot go on pouring more and more money into something that is not able to deliver. It is time that the whole NHS was reformed to meet the requirements of the 21st Century. However, given that the Left regard the organisation as a sacred cow, and that the Conservatives lack the courage to take action, no doubt it will continue just as before.

  3559 Hits
Boris-scone

The Government Must Stop Weaponising the Obese to Wreck Free Markets and Curb Consumer Choice

 With more scandal and sleaze gushing out of Westminster than the Sussexes press office, one could be pardoned for glossing over the government's latest flirtation with the supercilious head of nanny statism. Last week, the Department of Health confirmed plans are going ahead to restrict paid junk food advertising, in order to curb childhood o...

  3870 Hits
US Skyline

Why the United States Needs to Re-think Ideas Such as the Wolfowitz Doctrine When Thinking About Dealing with China

A new consensus: Why the United States needs to re-think ideas such as the Wolfowitz Doctrine when thinking about dealing with China  The U.S.A. is no longer in a position of primacy in the Indo-Pacific; to regain hegemony, it must alter its policies. U.S foreign policy, ever since the tenure of President Woodrow Wilson and his famous 14 point...

  4277 Hits
Nigel-Dodds

Waterloo Day Lecture - ‘The Future of the Union’

 Panelists: Barry Legg (Chair), Lord Dodds of Duncairn, Sir Bernard Jenkin MP, James Webber Lord Dodds, former Westminster Leader of the DUP: On the recent resignation of Edwin Poots: resignation provides the opportunity to "move forward…in a more constructive way"The imposition of the NI protocol has been the main contributory factor to ...

  3071 Hits
Sir-Bernard-Jenkin

‘The Future of the Union’, Sir Bernard Jenkin MP

Panelists: Barry Legg (Chair), Lord Dodds of Duncairn, Sir Bernard Jenkin MP, James Webber Barry Legg, Chairman of the Bruges Group: Our next speaker is Bernard Jenkin. Bernard is Chairman of the House of Commons Liaison Committee, on which all select committee chairmen sit. Previously, he was Chairman of the Public Administration Select Committee,...

  3216 Hits
eec

Europäische Wirtschaftsgemeinchaft Conference, Berlin

Europäische Wirtschaftsgemeinchaft conference Berlin 1942 and the Mitteleuropäischer Wirtschaftstag (MWT) This was the report and conference by the leading Nazi economists during WW2 which planned a European Economic Community: http://www.jar2.com/Files/Nazism/The_Europeische_Wirtschaftsgemeinchaft_Berlin_1942.pdf When I started looking i...

  2771 Hits
RC

The 'Build Back Better' Charter

The new Atlantic Charter, signed by the Prime Minister and President Biden as a 'reaffirmation' of the Special Relationship, is a somewhat mixed bag. The Atlantic Charter of 1941 envisioned a postwar world order we're all too familiar with, from respecting national sovereignty and democracy overseas to the aim of lowering tariffs. This 'New' Atlant...

  3222 Hits
Reagan-Berlin

"Tear Down This Wall": How Reagan Changed the World

Today marks 34 years since one of the most memorable and historic speeches ever made by a US President, and one that changed the course of history, it is of course when President Reagan stood in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and told General Secretary Gorbachev to "tear down this wall". Now as we face today's challenges, our leaders shoul...

  5332 Hits
P1014488 The freedom to travel has been restricted for too long. Photograph by author, all rights reserved.

Freedom lost

Three years before she became Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher addressed a meeting of the Exeter Conservatives. During her speech, she set out what freedom means. Among other things, she noted that it "is the right to move freely within a country - or to leave it."* It is not for me to presume what the great lady's opinion would have been on ...

  4260 Hits
20

Aurora - A New Dawn for Sterling with Benefits for All

A major City group has just published a report calling for an immediate development of an e-pound Britain could create a Western alternative to a Chinese digital/e-currency It is not generally appreciated that over 98% of UK transactional banking (by value) takes place in what is known as 'the wholesale market'. Less than 2% takes place in the reta...

  3214 Hits
EV

A Mission Impossible

 I have become seriously concerned about green issues. No, I have not suddenly become a tree hugging greenie wishing to revert back to the days of horse and carts and candles to light our homes, my concern is with the measures coming our way to enforce a Stasi like, totalitarian green regime upon us. Many people are living in ignorant bliss of...

  3505 Hits
Royal-Court

A Sad and Sorry Page for British Justice

Alexander Adamescu is to be extradited from the UK to Romania, on an accusation of having, with his late father Dan Adamescu, bribed judges in Romania in 2013, in a case concerning a construction company. He asserts that the real reason is political - that his father and he controlled an opposition newspaper, Romania Libera, and Romanian Prosecutor...

  3236 Hits
Newcastle-uni

In Defence of Free Speech at British Universities

A Bachelors, Masters and Doctorate. The three degrees which are considered a must have for a career in academia. Any person who knows the hard work and discipline it takes to receive a degree, will acknowledge how intense it is to gain all three. I am myself in my seventh year of university and in the second year of my doctorate. It really hasn't b...

  2824 Hits
Wind

Fish, Vaccines and Wind

By Professor James Blyth The Fishing Saga The story of the UK's fishing rights scarcely needs re-telling, but it is well worth remembering. They are part of the internationally agreed economic resources of the UK, and are located primarily within the North Sea and parts of the Atlantic Ocean. They fall within the UK's exclusive economic zone (EEZ),...

  2832 Hits
Billy-Vunipola-BLM

Why There's No Room for Politics in Sport

There are some things in life that should never mix, pineapple and pizza, baking soda and vinegar, but perhaps more than both of those examples is sport and politics! This last year has emphasised that more than anything, from taking the knee before every single sporting event to the supposedly controversial opinion of male athletes competing in wo...

  7064 Hits
Irexit

Coughlan Hollowing Out

The hollowing out of Irish independence: how the Irish people were made citizens of an EU Federation, by Anthony Coughlan, pamphlet, 16 pages, The National Platform, January 2021. The indefatigable Anthony Coughlan has produced another fine contribution to the debates about Brexit, Irexit and the EU. He is a lifelong campaigner for Irish independen...

  3081 Hits
Bitcoin

Biden, Cryptocurrencies, and the American State

 In recent days, the internet has been abuzz with the news of Joe Biden's proposed hike of federal capital gains tax to 43.4% for the highest earners. However, unsubstantiated rumours swirl of another, far more significant reform to American taxation: an 80% tax on cryptocurrency transactions. If true, it must be conceded that such a reform ha...

  2861 Hits
Abla---Twitter

The Cost of Scottish Independence - Currency Debate

Holyrood elections to the Scottish Parliament are now just days away and the debate on Scottish independence is predictably heating up once again, especially as now there is a second pro-indyref party in the form of Alba, led by former SNP First Minister, Alex Salmond. The debate often skirts around one issue, currency and it's rather a significant...

  3145 Hits
pexels-daria-shevtsova-3626745

The Future(s) of the United Kingdom

The Great Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008 has left many cadavers in its wake; zombified economies with under performing companies kept under life support by a presumed modern monetary theory, not too dissimilar to what Japan embarked on in the late 1990s. Quantitative Easing where the quantity is never enough, and the pressure is such that central b...

  3373 Hits
UVDL

von der Leyen’s Götterdämmerung

Twilight of the Gods" was Richard Wagner's last in the cycle of music dramas called, "The Ring of Nibelung," which is based on old Norse mythology prophesying war among beings and gods that results in the burning and remaking of the world. It is always deeply dissatisfying when a negative prediction comes true—especially predictions which are meant...

  3512 Hits
Duke-of-Edinburgh

In Remembrance of HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

Friday just gone marked the end of an era for not just Britain, but the whole world. The death of HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh will be mourned by people from all four corners of the world, for he was a staple of British society and a true great Briton. For such a staple of Britishness, and arguably the most recognised Briton after HM The Qu...

  4669 Hits
JPB

Obituary: Jens-Peter Bonde (March 27th 1948 - April 4th 2021)

By Morten Dam  The long serving eurosceptic stalwart and Danish MEP from 1979 until 2008 has passed away. After a time of illness he died in Arresødal Hospice in the north of Zealand, Denmark. Jens-Peter Bonde has been an influential eurosceptic voice for over a decade. He was a founder of Danish People's Movement Against EU in 1972 and has be...

  3422 Hits
dice-5012425_1920

How Can The UK Become a Worldwide Leader For The Online Gambling Industry

The online gambling industry is in a tricky situation across the world. Each one of the United States is coming up with its own set of regulations, the EU never had a centralised regulatory institution across the continent, and Asia doesn't look at gambling with a good eye either. Currently, online gambling operators settle in the Isle of Man or th...

  3721 Hits
Todd-Muller

Interview with New Zealand MP, Todd Muller: CANZUK and More

I had the opportunity to speak to Todd Muller, MP for the Bay of Plenty in the North Island of New Zealand, the Opposition National Party's Spokesperson (Shadow Minister) for Trade, Export Growth, and Internal Affairs, and the Former Leader of the Opposition. We spoke on matters international and domestic, concerning Britons, New Zealanders, and hi...

  2988 Hits
Derek--Spitfire

Travelling Through Time

The main character and inventor in the H.G. Wells book, 'The time Machine', decided to travel through time to 800,000 years into the future looking for a period without conflict. If I was given the opportunity to travel through time it would be into the past as the future looks increasingly to be a very unpleasant place to be. The way things are go...

  2844 Hits
John-Longworth-LML

'We Need Courage, Not Lockdown!' John Longworth

John Longworth was the Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce; he was also an MEP and co-Chairman of Leave Means Leave. A great problem with many politicians and most civil servants is that they don't understand business. The reverse is probably also true. The enterprise economy is alien to the political class and they tend ...

  3404 Hits
Rishi-Sunak

Pre-Budget Suggestions - No Tax Rises!

As the Chancellor prepares to deliver his Budget, we want to make clear a few brief advisories to Mr Sunak on what this historical Budget should contain. First of all, there has been plenty of speculation from countless newspapers and TV reports that the Chancellor is plotting tax increases, namely corporation tax and potentially freezing tax bands...

  4010 Hits
britishbingoball

Bingo! Why Brits Still Love To Play Bingo

Bingo originated in Italy, and as it touched the UK's borders, Brits fell in love with it instantly. The love affair resulted in the springing up of bingo halls and charity games all over the UK in no time. As a traditional game dating back to the early 16th century, it later became typecast by youngsters as a game that older people play. Towards t...

  2901 Hits
Boris-at-school

Why Children Need to be Back in the Classroom, with Liz Cole (UsforThem)

I recently spoke with one of the co-founders of 'UsforThem', Liz Cole, on what UsforThem is and why children need to be back in the classroom. What is UsforThem? "We have been calling for children to be prioritised in the pandemic response. In particular, we have called for children to be back in school, fully and normally as soon as possible. Thre...

  4255 Hits
flag-3370970_1920

Good News. The EU is Spiteful!

All except its acolytes knew (and accepted) that, but how spectacularly have the EU Imperialists lived up to expectations. In a recent article (Liberal Fascism's Last Hurrah?) I wrote: "The EU has never been interested in a mutually beneficial deal. To deal with that I offer something I learned in negotiating with a variety of corrupt countries' re...

  3343 Hits
Habeas Corpus

Unpicking the European Arrest Warrant's Violation of Habeas Corpus

On the matter of extraditions to EU member States, the new Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the UK and the EU, coming into force on 1/1/21, has added the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to the benchmarks of fundamental human rights. This opens new possibilities for contesting unjust and arbitrary arrest warrants from those States, as I...

  3425 Hits
Kate-Hoey

Kate Hoey: "Scrap the Northern Irish Protocol!" 'In conversation with Baroness Hoey'

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...

  7953 Hits
trade

The UK’s post-Brexit Role within the Indo-Pacific Strategy Debate

The term 'Indo-Pacific' first came into practical use by the British Government in the 1960s during the height of the empire's process of decolonisation. As a strategy, it sought to conceive what the UK's position within the region would be as the country gradually withdrew its influence there. The structural constraints of the Cold War—which had m...

  3276 Hits
Canary-Wharf

Free of the EU’s Stifling Legal System, British Financial Services will go from Strength to Strength

By Barney Reynolds  Like it, or loathe it, Brexit is an opportunity for Britain to reassert herself as a sovereign nation. For those of us who are optimistic about our post-EU future, we have only to point to the recent fiasco around the EU vaccination roll out as one example of how "taking back control" has already been beneficial. But t...

  3698 Hits
Priti-Patel-1

Freedom of Speech isn’t an Obligation to Listen - Why I'm Backing Priti Patel's New Hate Speech Reforms

We live in a peculiar new age of safe spaces and censorship. A world where the act of not adequately challenging somebody else's opinion can get you in trouble with the Metropolitan Police. We ended last year with a civic witch hunt (pun intended) against a writer of young adult fiction, for sharing her subjective feminine experience. We began this...

  4065 Hits
Uyghur

Our Product Consumption Should Not Come at the Expense of Uyghurs' Freedom

Many of us have been saddened to learn of the atrocious inhumane treatment by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to the Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang over recent months. Although constantly denied by the CCP, evidence of genocide is undeniable. The CCP claim they are offering 're-education camps' to Uyghurs, said to offer family planning programmes and...

  4240 Hits
Ben-Habi_20210211-002626_1

In Conversation with Ben Habib: Brexit, Lockdown and China

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...

  7303 Hits
President-Trump

With the Anglosphere Champion Gone from the Oval Office, We Shall Have to Lump it for Four Long Years

In November, Nigel Farage tweeted, "Biden hates the UK," https://twitter.com/nigel_farage/status/1325166010106851328?lang=en. That statement may have been deliberately unnuanced for effect, but it contains more than an element of truth. So too, many on this side of the Atlantic wonder if Biden, hell bent to roll back the policies of his predecessor...

  5316 Hits
europe-5271808_960_720

The EU Mask Has Been Ripped Away

 For years they were told that they were wrong, ignorant or xenophobes. They were excluded from power, and treated largely with contempt by the media. However, when the Second World War broke out the anti appeasers were totally vindicated, took over at the very top, and eventually saw the utter defeat of the barbarians running Nazi Germany. Al...

  3387 Hits
President_Trump_Travels_to_Arizona_50345550462 President Trump disembarking Air Force One. Photograph: The White House, Public Domain

What next for the Grand Old Party?

The 2020 Presidential Election, fraught and contested as it was, is over. Joe Biden is the 46th President of the United States and commands majorities in both chambers of Congress. At first glance, things look bad for the Republicans - but scratch the surface and a rather different picture emerges. For one thing, the much-vaunted Democratic ma...

  3549 Hits
EU-defence-

The Deal’s Backdoor Route to Defence Entanglement

The Government's deal with the EU coupled with last-minute law changes in Brussels produce a new set of legal obligations which will renew concerns about UK involvement in 'Military EU'. Why was the Brexit vote actually a reprieve for the remain campaigning establishment? Because it meant they would never have to explain the arrival of EU mili...

  4620 Hits
Shipbuilding

How a Legal Mystery Reveals the Continuing EU Threat to UK Shipbuilding

For years, politicians and industry associations have claimed that the UK can simply ignoring EU defence contract rules which require an international competition where the cheapest bid wins. If the rules were rigid, UK defence and shipbuilding industry would lose many UK Government contract overseas. But the rules are not rigid, they have always c...

  4236 Hits
Priti-Patel

History Reminds us of the Danger Posed by Political Correctness Gone Mad

Deep as we are into the new age of wokeism, one may easily forget that the first wave of what can only be described as political correctness gone bonkers actually started much earlier - and met its sharp end in May 2012. For those who need a reminder, it was in May 2012 that the nine British-Pakistani men who formed the Rochdale child sex abuse rin...

  5661 Hits
AstraZeneca

The EU’s Vaccine Nationalism Must Not Be Tolerated in a Global Crisis

For all the grand declarations of "new beginnings for old friends", Ursula von der Leyen's most recent assault on the British people again exposed the wolf behind the wool. Despite the midnight back-track, the fact that the European Commission had believed itself justified to announce plans for a vaccine export ban, cannot be easily forgiven. Those...

  7996 Hits
Jonny-Buckley-MLA

The Greatest Cost of COVID is Neglect of Cancer Patients - Jonathan Buckley MLA

 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...

  4550 Hits
1234

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

On Dec. 1st the Home Office stated to Parliament that, "There is no intention for extradition to any EU jurisdiction after the end of transition period to be made subject to a court ruling that there is a prima facie case." As I explained in https://www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/1372705/Brexit-latest-news-EU-laws-european-arrest-war...

  4410 Hits
Social-Media

The Case Against Government Regulation of Social Media and Tech

Many conservatives tired of having their views/content removed by Big Tech companies are advocating for more regulation in the hopes of coercing these companies to stop removing conservative content. Others advocate for using anti-trust to break up these companies. Conservatives have always stood for limited government and freedom. Now is not the t...

  3724 Hits
USA-election

Counting the Votes

Back in the late 1990's my then regular watering hole was closed for a full refurbishment, which was received with much dismay by the regulars as pub refurbishments always meant a complete revamp and the ruination of a favourite place to meet friends over a pint or two. During this period all the regulars set up home in the bar of a local hotel nea...

  3293 Hits
Barney-Reynolds

Barney Reynolds: Treasury Select Committee on the UK's Economic and Trading Relationship with the EU

On Monday 11th January The Treasury Select Committee discussed the UK's future economic and trading relationship with the European Union; Bruges Group speaker and friend, Barney Reynolds was invited to give evidence as a witness. Present at the meeting were Select Committee Chairman, Mel Stride MP (Conservative), Rushanara Ali MP (Labour), Steve Ba...

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lorries-at-Belfast-port

All at Sea

By David Scullion It's been a fortnight since the Northern Ireland Protocol was introduced and yesterday in parliament the DUP MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson secured an Urgent Question on the problems it has caused in that short time. Responding, Michael Gove (who privately hinted to Brexiteer MPs it would never be introduced) said that there had been "c...

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Sturgeon-and-von-der-Leyen

Sturgeon's Desperate Bid to Beg von der Leyen for EU Membership

By Richard Percival  Nicola Sturgeon has been pestering President of the European Commission (EC) Ursula von der Leyen and other Brussels officials with letters and emails in a desperate attempt to get Scotland to rejoin the EU, leaked correspondence seen by Express.co.uk shows.  About 25 letters and emails released under Freedom of Infor...

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UK-and-EU

Escaping the Sublunary World of the EU

If anything the hysterical clamouring of EU supporting re-moaners (now relabelled Re-Joiners) has increased since January 1. Those of us who had hoped that democratic realism might have inoculated the afflicted should not be surprised. The fanaticism of EU acolytes and collaborators is religious in its intensity and belief. Indeed, there is a paral...

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31st-January-2020

Making the Impossible Happen

Since becoming an active anti-EU campaigner in 1996 when I joined and was selected as a Referendum Party candidate, along with many of my fellow Eurosceptics, I have been called by the EU supporters of being: 'A little Englander', ' a xenophobe', 'swivel eyed','far right' a 'racist', and somehow or other even a 'monetary xenophobe'! None of these i...

  3059 Hits
Boris-Johnson

We Got Brexit Done!

The Bruges Group Statement on Britain's EU Exit  https://www.brugesgroup.com/blog/statement-on-britain-s-eu-exit ERG Star Chamber Legal Analysis The full text of the Star Chamber's analysis of the trade deal https://lawyersforbritain.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ERG-Legal-Advisory-Committee-Opinion-on-EU-UK-Trade-and-Cooperation-Agreeme...

  5183 Hits
Union-Jack-and-St-Andrews-cross

Unity!

Everybody in England, Scotland and Wales has the right to raise their voice on the issue of national unity, against our country's being broken up. A minority cannot take a decision which would impact on the whole of Britain. Should all of us in the rest of the UK have no say in whether our country is to be broken apart? The 2018 British Social...

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Michel-Barnier

The EU Has Outsmarted The UK At Every Turn

The standard mantra in EU trade negotiations is that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. Everyone knows this, except apparently British trade negotiators who have accepted the very opposite by acceding to the EU's sequencing of negotiations. First was the divorce bill. The UK agreed to pay a £40bn settlement when under international law t...

  3070 Hits
Bojo

Liberal Fascism's Last Hurrah?

As we approach December 31st and our exit from the EU, anti democrats are using the COVID pandemic as their last ditch assault on democracy. We should not be surprised. The so-called liberal left both here and in the USA have damaged democracy and restoring it is a monumental task. In the US the Democrats waged a four-year guerrilla war against Tru...

  3475 Hits
Boris-and-UVDL

Boris Must Keep The EU At Arm’s Length – Or He’ll Regret It

By Dr Lee Rotherham  Epicharmus, a Greek comic writer of the fifth century BC, had this maxim: "Stay sober and remember to be sceptical." It is as good a piece of advice as we are likely to deploy at present. We are at a time of flux and flex in the Brexit talks. Helpfully, Michel Barnier has reportedly now figured out how to get his Zoom work...

  3273 Hits
Michael-Gove-MP

Michael Gove on the Northern Irish Protocol - House of Commons

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...

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Brexiteer-MPs

Are Brexiteer MPs Happy?

By David Scullion There was expectation of a Brexit trade deal announcement on Sunday night, but then we were told the differences between the two sides were too great to bridge. Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen, the EU commission President, spoke on the phone and, we're told, asked both of their negotiating teams to work out what the big dif...

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Sammy-Wilson

Sammy Wilson MP: UK’s Trade Deal With The EU Must Live Up To Brexit Promises

By The Rt. Hon. Sammy Wilson MP - DUP Member of Parliament for East Antrim  As the U.K. edges toward a final deal on its future relationship with the European Union, it is important that we ensure the agreement delivers on what was promised. Already it is clear that last year's Withdrawal Agreement was fatally flawed. It leaves Bruss...

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Parliament

The Case For Democracy in the COVID-19 Pandemic

This book, written between March and May, during 'lockdown' in the UK, is a spontaneous analysis of a disturbing global drama that continues to disrupt normal standards of science, public health, human rights and medical ethics in ways few people thought possible at the start of 2020. Civil liberties have been cast aside by a handful of people obse...

  4128 Hits
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Sir-John-Redwood

Sir John Redwood: Biden, Brexit and Lockdown 2.0

Starting with the implications of the second lockdown, the former Cabinet Minister said it will be damaging for the economy though not as damaging as last time. The virus should be taken seriously – and treatments should be sought etc. – but let's get life back to normal for those free from the disease or not at much risk, he said. Sir John hopes t...

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Boris-Dilema

Unwanted Legacies

How we live today was shaped in the past over the course of our long history and the outcomes of various events. Had we lost World War Two life now would be very different indeed.If Winston Churchill had not become our Prime Minister at such a vital time and instead the Nazi appeaser, Lord Halifax, he would have made a peace deal with Hitler who wo...

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Great-Reset

The Great Reset: The Virus That's Transforming Government and Society for the Worse

Initial article on The Bow Group By Robert Oulds and Dr Niall McCrae  "You'll own nothing, and you'll be happy" (World Economic Forum, 18 November 2016). Covid-19 is a crisis too good to waste for UN agencies and other transnational bodies. The coronavirus pandemic has led to governments around the world signing up to the 'Great Reset' designe...

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MAGA

Why Donald Trump is on the Way to Another Victory

President Trump will win big since Republican voters are super energised and are turning out in massive numbers to vote for him, on the other hand Democrat voters are not enthused by the incompetent and senile 'Sleepy' Joe Biden. The polls that predict Biden is winning the US election so far, which is already underway, assume that there's...

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Boris-signing

The EU Deal Unmasked

Link to the full paper by the Centre for Brexit Studies By The Rt. Hon. Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP (Conservative Party MP), Martin Howe QC (Intellectual Property and EU Law; Chairman of Lawyers for Britain), Professor David Collins (International Economic Law, University of London), Edgar Miller (Managing Director of Palladian Limited;...

  6021 Hits
President-Trump-Union-Jack

Why the UK Needs a Trump Victory

As the US general election approaches, it is very much in our interests on who wins, there are some people in the Conservative Party suggesting it would be beneficial for Joe Biden to be inaugurated and to walk into the White House on 20th January, following the US general election next week. However, I think there'd be nothing worse than Mr B...

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Britain outside Europe; The need for a fundamental, multilateral based UK Indo-Pacific Policy

Britain outside Europe; The need for a fundamental, multilateral based UK Indo-Pacific Policy

By stating that the UK should prepare for a no-deal Brexit as both sides refused to compromise, the Rt Hon Michael Gove produced a shattering rebuke to Macron's hardliner posture over the negotiations. This change of tone from the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster exhibits an overdue realisation that Britain must have a plan for all eventualitie...

  4059 Hits
Boris-Whitty-and-Valance

The Cost of Lockdown and Then What We Do Next

Lockdown has absolutely crippled the economy and what for? We have a similar death rate to Sweden which never locked down, the average age of death from COVID in the UK is 82.4 when the average age of death for the UK as a whole is only 81.2. Not only that, what I would like to see published is the death rates from other illnesses such as cancer, h...

  5406 Hits
Best-of-British

We Face a Critical Choice: Global Britain, or the Mire of Protectionism

By Shanker Singham  As the Agriculture Bill makes its way through Parliament, the UK faces a critical choice in its international trade policy. It is widely understood in trade circles that agriculture is the gate through which all trade policy flows. Long the bugbear of world trade, agricultural sectors all over the world have rigidly op...

  3159 Hits
David-Frost-and-Michel-Barnier

The Solution to the Backstop: Article 349

By Jonathan Stanley  Downing Street would have us believe we are making progress on a free trade deal with the EU. Beyond trying to give away as much of our fish as possible for as long as possible I'm not so sure. Ultimately the Irish border remains a big issue and the recent Internal Market Bill, badly marketed by No.10, only confirms this. ...

  5084 Hits
GH-1

Shades of Fallen Empires

From Caesar to Hitler, why has every attempt to unify Europe failed? Indeed, the Third Reich only lasted seven years, while others endured for much longer, such as the Holy Roman Empire's reign, that lasted 1008 years. The idea of empires formed from different cultures is nothing new and has been around since Alexander the Great in 324 BC attempted...

  4174 Hits
Felixstowe Felixstowe

Independent Trade arbitration is a right, so why is the EU flouting it?

As negotiations began the week of an EU summit on the 15th October, there was talk of the EU pressing their chief negotiator Michel Barnier to insist on tough enforcement rules for any UK trade deal. This came as a result of their shock to the Internal Market Bill, yet while any dispute resolution mechanism is normal for any trade deal, the words '...

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UkK R&D UK R&D

The UK desperately needs a breakthrough in R&D, but Europe isn’t the catalyst for change

Perpetual doom and gloom for British science as a result of uncertainty with our relationship with Europe is the mood in the FT this week. The paper recently reported that research and development (R&D) collaboration by British businesses under the EU's research grant scheme has halved since 2016. But contrary to the FT's personal Project Fear ...

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The EU’s hypocrisy over the Internal Markets bill is clear, but shouldn’t come as a surprise

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...

  3356 Hits
The EU’s unlevel playing field; why Britain must re-secure the right to support it’s industries David Frost and Michel Barnier

The EU’s unlevel playing field; why Britain must re-secure the right to support it’s industries

The Covid-19 crisis has brought to light a fundamental flaw within the European Union – there is one rule for Germany's state aid regime and another for the UK's. As such there is a fundamental need in negotiations this week to redress this flaw. Data shows that Germany made up for nearly 10% of all EU-authorised State Aid requests from April ...

  3384 Hits
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The power of the City is a double-edged sword, but it is yet to be respected

Samuel Johnson famously said, 'when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life'. However, unlike S.Johnson, it seems that B.Johnson has succumbed to this, in light of the lack of news surrounding the future of our greatest financial asset, the City of London. Whilst the recent focus has been perpetually on State Aid and fishing rights, the City ...

  3305 Hits
img-2

Busting the Food Price Myth in a No Deal Brexit

By Catherine McBride  On Friday the BBC headline news included an item entitled: Shoppers could pay more after no-deal Brexit. The story was planted by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) who said that tariffs would add £3.1bn a year to the cost of importing food and drink unless the UK and the EU can strike a free trade agreement. This was a ...

  3961 Hits
IMG-123

Would a ‘No Deal’ Brexit Really Cost Three Times More Than COVID?

Link to initial article By Julian Jessop Brexit talks resumed this week with growing hopes that a trade deal can be done in time for the October EU summit. This follows speculation that the UK has softened its position after Boris Johnson was 'shocked by a London School of Economics report suggesting that no deal would cost Britain up to three time...

  3313 Hits
Scottish-Parliament

Scotland’s 21st Century Energy Policy

UK and Scottish Ministers were pressured by the Friends of the Earth to pass the Climate Change Acts. At Westminster, this was done in 2008 under New Labour, supported by all except 5 Ministers, and in Scotland, the following year. Again in December, the 2019 Climate Change (Emissions Reductions Targets) (Scotland) Act was passed - amending th...

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Ben-Wallace

Leaving The EU Defence Policy Will Be a Relief, But There’s a Sting in the Tail for British The Defence Industry

People have asked whether the UK remains under EU defence policy during the transition.The answer is yes, the UK remains EU Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) until 31st December 2020.  This policy is a general term which not only includes the common formation of decisions and strategy, it also describes the political-military stru...

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Contact us

Director : Robert Oulds
Tel: 020 7287 4414
Chairman: Barry Legg
 
The Bruges Group
246 Linen Hall, 162-168 Regent Street
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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