On the Euro

On the Euro

Niall Ó Conghaille and Mike Galsworthy discuss the Euro and its role in the rejoin process. This is what I think.

While I agree, that for the UK to rejoin the European Union it is necessary for them to agree, in good faith, to join the euro. …

Your arguments in favour of the EU insisting that the UK agree to join the Euro do not address the embedded macroeconomic theory within the stability and growth pact.

The ECB has a mandate to pursue price stability before growth or employment. That is a choice, and one that should be taken democratically, not embedded in an almost impossible to change treaty.

The financial tests of the Euro are deflationary and currently many of the large countries inc. Euro members fail to meet the criteria because they, i..e the criteria are bonkers or to use a more professional term, the democratically elected governments, with time-limited terms have decided that it is not in the interests of, nor supported by their voters.

It would be useful if advocates of the Euro spoke of these disadvantages; you ask us to support the Euro, in fact suggest that negotiations will fail unless we agree to join, but austerity economics is high price to pay. It would help if those who agree said so and held out a prospect for change.  …

Working rights

Working rights

RTE report that the EU Commission, has issued a warning to Ireland, and seven other countries, for failing to fully adopt an EU directive on transparent and predictable working conditions.

The Commission statement states they have

“…  adopted two new reports on the Employers Sanctions Directive and the Seasonal Workers Directive , assessing efforts to ensure fair working conditions for third-country nationals, prevent migrant exploitation and tackle illegal employment. 

RTE continues,

“The European Commission said it has decided to open infringement procedures by sending a letter of formal notice to Ireland, Czechia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Portugal and Finland.

I wonder if the Commission has considered writing to HMG to see of the UK is infringing on the “level playing field” clauses of the TCA. The UK’s employee protection rights remain amongst the weakest in the OECD. I expect the Commission is currently too busy to pursue the UK on this issue. …

Changing up

Changing up

A nasty little piece by Mujtaba Rahman which contains the unstated assumption that the UK’s political direction and relations with the EU, are fixed and desirable. The other side of the coin is that the EU is about to change up; missing the boat would leave the UK isolated and poorer. The UK shouldn’t  apply to rejoin until its ready to be a good citizen and sees the EU as more than a trade club.

Rahman says,

The EU of 2026 is an organisation built increasingly on common borrowing, an assertive joint industrial policy and a growing role in security and defence

I ask who wouldn’t want that. The changing nature of the world’s international relations means we need reliable friends.

Let’s see what changes Burnham makes to the Labour Party, or what space he gives to its eu-phile majority. …

Happy Birthday USA

Happy Birthday USA

Congratulations USA, on your 250th birthday except, the constitution of the republic was ratified 4th March 1789 making it the 237th birthday; it entrenched slavery and excluded native Americans and women, blacks couldn’t vote until 1870 and women until 1920, although this was before the UK permitted women to vote.

They adopted what they saw as the results of the English Civil War albeit with an explicit separation of powers, and guaranteed local democratic powers invested in the constituent states and the people by the 10th Amendment.

The growth of political parties, and the designed unaccountability of the Senate and Supreme Court can be seen  today as critical weaknesses which one hopes are not copied by Europe’s constitutional reformers and that democrats in the US are able to fix. …

The Cruel Sea

The Cruel Sea

I went to watch the cruel sea on HMS Belfast on 13th June; the show consisted of the film followed by two selections from the Imperial War museums film archive. There was a question and answer session, chaired by James Taylor and Charlotte Ross of the IWM. During the Q&A, I made a contribution, and have transcribed my notes as a comment on the original article.  …

There’s no useful half way house

Earlier this month, Michel Barnier made a speech in which he suggested that the European Union would welcome the United Kingdom rejoining the EU even with some of the opt-outs previously negotiated. Barnier is very clear that he is only talking about Schengen and the Euro. The huge problem with the speech and the suggestion that opt-outs remain on the table is this will be interpreted by lukewarm supporters and political weathercocks as permission to haggle on the terms of re-entry.  

Michel Barnier – European Parliament cc 2019 BY

The unacceptability of UK opt-outs within the EU, specifically, staying out of Schengen and the Euro, is illustrated in a recent You Gov poll. Unfortunately, for rejoiners, the French and Germans will only accept a UK application if it includes Schengen and the Euro, while support in the UK falls if we do not rejoin on the terms we had. It would be interesting to note what people believe those terms to be, as apart from Schengen and the Euro, they include a partial opt-out from the justice pillar, together with the famous rebate.  

I am concerned that while a number of campaigners have been trying to prove their cleverness by suggesting there’s ways to rejoin without agreeing to the Copenhagen Criteria, others have been encouraged to consider EU membership as an a-la-carte process. It is not.

On the question of opt-outs, we, i.e. rejoiners need to show some leadership. Schengen comes with the right to freedom of movement. This is a popular and positive benefit of full membership of the European Union. Politicians, particularly Labour politicians should be showing some leadership.  The opt-outs are gone; there may be some technical reasons why Schengen and the Euro will take some time but being a net contributor is one reason why we’re wanted and full membership of the justice pillar gives each citizen access to the Court of Justice of the European Union acting as a backstop against the authoritarian instincts of the British State with judges appointed by the children of opponents of fascism and Stalinism. Being members of the Digital Single Market would have the benefit of defending our democracy against US Oligarchs and Putin.

I want my European citizenship back, I want to vote for MEPs and a Parliament that appoints a Commissioner and Judge, and has a seat on the European Council. And since this is a metaphor in common use, I want it in my lifetime. I also want to participate in improving the democracy of the EU to make it accountable to the views of citizens and residents.

Another reason for pace, is that the EU is about to move on in a big way. Many argue that its changed too much to rejoin anyway; it’s not yet true and just something that Brexiters say but if the industrial policy takes off, it will damage the UK’s ability to export and further damage supply chains. …

After Makerfield, what next?

Is winning in Makerfield a new dawn for Labour, or just that this time, voters chose Labour as the “Not Farage” candidate. Since they won in Runcorn & Helsby, Reform have failed in Caerphilly, Gorton and Denton, and now Makerfield, losing to Plaid Cymru, the Greens and now to Labour. It was a great victory for Burnham and Labour, but the question has to be asked together with has Labour learnt the lesson that to fight Reform, you need to fight it. (I think not!)

Source: No10@flickr 10th June 2026 CC 2026 BY-ND-NC

Having returned to the House of Commons, Burnham has forced Keir Starmer to resign and a time table for a Party leadership election has been declared.

Much has been written about why he had to go; I have been calling for it since February when the likely defeats in Scotland and Wales became obvious. On the day, Labour also lost three more London Councils.

Starmer’s resignation speech starts in the same way as his election campaign to be leader of the Labour Party, with lies. When Starmer inherited the Labour Party, it was in the strongest financial position it had been for decades and anyone who has closely read the Forde report and the EHRC report knows there is still work to do to eliminate racism from the Labour Party. The focus on macroeconomic statistics repeats the mistakes that Biden made. While I do not subscribe to the meme that “perception is reality”, perhaps it is truer in politics than in engineering. Claiming the credit for growth doesn’t work if income equality remains at the current miserable level and if the growth in the economy goes into the pockets of a few. If people don’t feel better off, then it’s pointless claiming they should. It’s also difficult to understand, how Starmer can claim credit for the abolition of the two child benefit cap when he initially suspended seven MPs for voting for that abolition.

Much has been written about Starmer’s weaknesses as a politician and Prime Minister. For a lot more words you can check out Jonathan Freedland in the Guardian, who focuses on personality and the politics of Downing St., and fails to mention Gaza and the Middle East, and alternatively, Phil Burton Cartledge, who does mention them, together with the dishonesty of his mandate within the Party. Phil also repeats his accusation that Starmer and McSweeney deliberately sought to break up Corbyn’s electoral coalition.

 Although some would seek to claim he’s been good on the world stage; this does need to be contrasted with his speeches and actions on Gaza, which is one of the primary causes for Labour’s loss of political support. Labour started the general election campaign with a poll score of 44%, finished with a vote of 34% which has since  collapsed to a score in the high teens.

Source: politico.eu – British polls 24 June 2026

It is expected that Burnham will be crowned as Labour’s new leader. If so he will be beholden to the fixers and not the membership and his retreats from his beliefs in order to win Makerfield are worrying because Labour and the country need a change of direction not a change of personnel.

The new leader also needs to turn Labour’s democracy back on. It is clear from the ending of Blair’s New Labour government that this Government and Labour leadership have run out intellectual steam; the Party needs debate and new ideas to sustain its relevance and energy.  We can also see by observing the last two years of the PLP what happens when MPs fear their whip more than their members and voters.

Clive Lewis, in an article entitled, ‘After Burnham’s Win in Makerfield, the Answer Cannot be Managerial Politics with a Different Accent’, speaks for me, when he says,

“Climate breakdown, war, energy insecurity, financial shocks, technological upheaval, and democratic decay are here. They will not wait for Labour to finish its management seminar.”

 …

On “Stop killing video” games

On “Stop killing video” games

The ECI “Stop killing video games” was accepted as having reached its one million signature threshold earlier this year. The initiative seeks to prevent the remote disabling of videogames by their publishers. They also say, this prohibition can be met by providing means for the game to continue functioning  independent of publisher. This article looks at the Commission response, the campaign’s next steps and questions the Commission’s strategy in responding to ECIs. …