Labour MEP for Yorkshire & Humber
A new line of attack by eurosceptics came my way the other day: the claim that the EU ignored national democratic decisions when it came to the French and Dutch referendums on the proposed EU constitution, Ireland’s initial ‘No’ to the Lisbon treaty, and the Greek referendum of 2015. So what actually happened?
There are two main European angles to the ongoing debate over the future of the UK steel industry. Trade defence measures Europe acting jointly has the clout to put real pressure on the Chinese government over steel dumping — but our government opposed stepping up EU action. The EU has trade defence instruments to deal […]
I gather that Grimethorpe Colliery Band is to invite me to be their honorary president, which would indeed be a great honour. In any case, I was delighted to meet and learn about one of Yorkshire’s, and indeed Europe’s, top brass bands. It turns out that brass bands, rather like football teams, have a national […]
Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting a number of farmers who work in the “rhubarb triangle” — the area between Leeds, Bradford and Wakefield which leads the world in the production of “forced rhubarb”. This remarkable growing technique involves developing the plant’s root system for an extended period, then transplanting it into dark warm […]
I recently received a fascinating letter from a constituent, Eric Smith, which offers a unique perspective on the EU referendum and Britain’s historical relationship with its European neighbours. With his permission, below are the four pages of his letter. (You can also download the entire letter in PDF format by clicking here.)
I am still a little shaken by yesterday’s bomb attacks in Brussels. I had been at the station where the second bomb went off just a few minutes before. Brussels was a very tense city yesterday after the horrors of the attacks. The streets were deserted, all public transport was shut down, helicopters were flying […]
In recent weeks, I’ve been involved in more and more conversations about the UK’s place in the EU — with journalists, constituents, colleagues and political opponents, among others. As the debate intensifies, I continue to use this website and my app, Doorstep EU, to provide useful information and to signpost content elsewhere. Recent updates include: […]
Tony Benn famously proposed five questions to be asked of anyone who holds power of one kind or another. One of the many organisations to fail his democracy test at the time was the European Commission. But, since then, the EU treaties have been changed to increase the accountability of the Commission. How would it […]
Thank goodness the battle on TTIP is being fought at the European level, where many share the view that some things proposed are unacceptable. If we weren’t in the EU, this government would sign us up to a bilateral TTIP with all its worst features I’ve written several times previously on the proposed Transatlantic Trade […]
Today’s vlog is a discussion of the way eurosceptics are spinning ‘project fear’, especially with regard to migration.
“We should make our own laws in our own parliament” — this is a favourite slogan of the Brexit brigade. What’s the truth behind it? Of course, we do make our own laws in our own parliament — but that very same parliament has decided that some laws should be made jointly with our neighbouring […]
Today, eurosceptic minister Michael Gove gave an interview to the BBC in which he repeated Vote Leave’s opinion that Cameron’s new EU-UK deal was not legally binding. A similar claim was also made earlier this month in David Campbell Bannerman’s tirade of myth and negativity, where he suggested that the deal amounted to no more […]
I’ve just updated my detailed breakdown of Cameron’s deal and what it means. Read all the details here.
All eyes are on this evening’s crunch “summit” (European Council) meeting in Brussels, where David Cameron hopes to clinch a deal for his EU reform agenda. But how do these meetings really work? What happens if there is disagreement? Who will help broker the deal? I thought I’d give my behind-the-scenes insight (I used to […]
My latest vlog covers what to expect from the upcoming EU summit.