Democracy Impacts

UK Waters Down Brexit-Focused Tax Cut Plans

September 15, 2016

Following warnings from European colleagues that large corporate tax cuts would hinder Brexit negotiations, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond has downgraded plans to reduce businesses taxes to boost economic activity with an eye to post-Brexit economic uncertainty.
UK Labour Candidate Campaigns on Pro-EU Platform

September 15, 2016

The BBC reports that candidate for the leadership of the UK Labour Party Owen Smith has asserted that, if he becomes Prime Minister after Britain has left the EU, he would consider reapplying for membership in the bloc.
UK Politicians Call for Quick Brexit Trigger

September 15, 2016

Voice of America reports that leading proponents of the UK leaving the EU have called on British Prime Minister Theresa May to trigger negotiations over Brexit before the end of the year, arguing that waiting longer could lead to negotiators disavowing the will of voters who wished to see a hard break with the bloc.
Brexit Vote Grants Impetus to EU Defense Integration

September 14, 2016

Jonathan Marcus writes that EU leaders are using the UK vote to leave the bloc as an opportunity to work toward long-held plans, often stifled by Britain, to create common European defense structures supplementing their involvement in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Committee: UK Should Maintain EU Climate Targets

September 14, 2016

In spite of its prediction that the UK will not achieve EU-imposed targets for the country's shift to renewable energy sources by the year 2020, the UK Parliament's Energy and Climate Change Committee has called on the Government to maintain these targets even after it leaves the bloc.
Lawsuit Targets Juncker's Refusal to Negotiate Brexit

September 14, 2016

The Guardian reports that a group called Fair Deal for Expats has filed a complaint at the Court of Justice of the EU arguing that European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker's "presidential order" seeking to prevent officials from negotiating with the UK prior to the country's filing formal notice of "Brexit" is a fabricated device that has no force of law.
Official Presents Plan for Ramped-up EU "Battlegroups"

September 14, 2016

The Guardian reports that the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini has issued a policy document calling for increased use of Brussels as headquarters for European “battlegroups” that could intervene in crises and that would eventually develop into a "common European defence structure."
UK Opposition Leader Calls for Break with EU "Single Market"

September 14, 2016

The Telegraph reports that Leader of the UK Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn has called for the UK to maintain access to but not full membership in the EU's "single market," asserting that membership in the market requires acceptance of cumbersome "state aid" rules and the liberalization of public services.
UK Pledges Robust Post-Brexit Immigration Control

September 13, 2016

The Daily Mail reports that UK Government officials have proposed the post-Brexit replacement of free movement with EU member states with a work-permit regime that would only allow migrants who had already secured a job in the UK to enter the country and would not discriminate on the basis of country of origin.
Anti-EU Party Beats Merkel's Party in German Vote

September 13, 2016

Signaling the strength of the anti-EU, anti-Islam Alternative for Germany ("AfD") party in the run-up to next year's German parliamentary elections, the BBC reports that AfD beat out German Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU party for second place in an important state election in the northeastern part of the country.