Outside the system
Author: Chris Grey
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Brexit: Ten Long Years of Bitterness
A decade after the EU Referendum, British politics remains fundamentally poisoned by a project that produced no benefits, writes Chris Grey
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Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting’s Brexit Conundrum
As the tenth anniversary of Brexit approaches, the debate about whether to rejoin the EU is dominating the Labour leadership race, writes Chris Grey
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The EU’s Farage Clause’ Shows Reform UK’s Power
The EU is reportedly seeking a so-called Farage Clause in its Brexit reset negotiations with the UK. Under the proposal, Britain would be forced to hand over compensation to the European Union if a future UK government reneges on any deal struck now by Keir Starmer.
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The EU’s ‘Farage Clause’ Shows the Damage Reform Is Already Doing to the UK
As well as making us poorer each year, Farage’s Brexit is also making us more vulnerable to those who wish to do us harm, argues Chris Grey
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‘The Conservative Plan to Leave the ECHR Marks the Crossing of a Rubicon’
Brexit – although seldom mentioned in British political life – continues to influence policy on the right, writes Chris Grey
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The New Traditionalism: Targeting the ‘Enemies Within’
The consequences of the incompatible expectations created by the political right in the 1980s continue to be played out, writes Chris Grey
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Who, Really, Are the ‘Left Behinds’?
De-industrialisation has produced a distinctive social group that has become pivotal to today’s politics, writes Chris Grey. But how are their interests to be served?
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‘The Liberal Centre Must Find a Different, More Honest and Realistic Way to Talk About Immigration’
Instead of pandering to the hard-right’s framing of the issue – as the Labour Government seems to be doing – progressives need to find another narrative, writes Chris Grey
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Mythic Nostalgia and Unconscious Middle-Class Guilt Is Driving Labour onto a Dangerous Path
Keir Starmer’s embrace of a ‘Blue Labour’ strategy to serve the ‘real’ working-class and fight off Reform UK perilously ignores how society has fundamentally changed, writes Chris Grey
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Low Voter Turnout Challenges Populists’ Claims to Speak For the ‘Silent Majority’
As the recent local elections in England show, Reform UK candidates standing in most seats has not led to more people turning up at the ballot box, writes Chris Grey
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‘How Rapidly the Labour Government Has Been Disowned by the Liberal Left is Self-Indulgent and Irresponsible’
Keir Starmer has made more right calls than wrong – but his critics are too quick to forget the corruption and chaos of the Conservative Governments that came before him, writes Chris Grey
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‘Fiscal Nimbyism Makes It Far Harder to Fix Public Services’
Fed by an irresponsible media, neither voters nor political leaders are willing to accept the trade-offs inherent in fiscal choices, writes Chris Grey in his monthly column for the Byline Times print edition
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‘Labour Won’t Reverse Brexit But a Starmer Victory Will Lead to an Immediate Reset of Trust and Goodwill with the EU’
While we should not expect too much of an incoming Labour government, we should not forget just how dark the last few years have been, writes Chris Grey
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‘Panic, Misinformation and Hysteria About Freeports is Drowning Out the Real Concerns’
Chris Grey disentangles the myriad alarming claims being made about ‘special economic zones’ and freeports in order to focus on the real risks
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Outsourcing and Our Hollowed-Out State: A Story of Dependency Without Delivery
Scratch the surface of just about any public service failure of recent years and outsourcing features as a key cause, writes Chris Grey
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‘Lady Chatterley’s Brexit’
Not accepting or being able to discuss the damage caused by Britain’s exit from the EU leaves the country in a unsustainable position, writes Chris Grey
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Beware the Charter Cities Conspiracy Theory
Chris Grey explores the various claims around Freeports and Charter Cities – and whether they are an extreme manifestation of a libertarian Brexit
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Just Imagine if the EU was Behaving as the UK Is
Chris Grey poses a thought experiment around the Government’s plans to scrap part of the Northern Ireland Protocol
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Post-Brexit Britain: A Rotting, Corrupted State
Chris Grey explores why the UK’s departure from the EU cannot be separated from other challenging political and public developments in Britain today
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‘Fundamentally Meaningless’ – The Government’s Brexit Benefits Paper
Chris Grey looks at the untruths, half truths and vague aspirations of the 102 page report on the benefits of leaving the EU, and discovers a ministerial power grab and a glaring failure to account for any of the costs
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Out Of Control Brexit Britain Can Still Be Steered Clear of Chaos
Jacob Rees-Mogg at a Brexit rally. Photo: PA Images
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Subverting the ‘Will of the People’: How Brexit Sowed the Wind
Chris Grey explores the forces unleashed by Brexit and how they reveal the weaknesses of Britain’s unwritten Constitution – vulnerable in its reliance on norms and conventions to deliver representative democracy
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Measuring the Cost: Brexit Six Months On
The end of the transition period was merely a staging post within a process that will be long with us, says Chris Grey
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The Reckoning: Brexit and the Legacy of Lies
Chris Grey explains how Britain is only at the beginning of counting the mounting costs of leaving the EU
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Will the End of the Queen’s Reign be Britain’s Deepest Crisis Of All?
Chris Grey considers the potential impact on the fabric of the UK of the passing of its head of state, Queen Elizabeth II
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The Transatlantic Storm: How a US Trade Deal Will Batter Britain
Whether Biden or Trump wins the coming election, the logic of a trade deal will be another Brexit blow, argues Chris Grey
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Paradox of Victimhood: No Form of Brexit Will Ever Satisfy Brexit Ultras
Chris Grey explores the political psychology behind the increasingly extreme demands made around Brexit that satisfy one primary desire: not for sovereignty but of the constant need to feel robbed
