The new Intergovernmental Relations and European Relations minister, Hamish Falconer, has suggested that rejoining the EU could be on the next Labour manifesto. That’s what they’re von der Sayin’…
Falconer said of Starmer’s ‘reset’ efforts that he wants “to consolidate some of that work, but we also need to see how we can go further.” More rule-taking…
Asked on Sky News about whether rejoin could be on the next manifesto, he said:
“Well, look, the questions for the next manifesto are not yet sorted, but I think it’s been absolutely clear from what the prime minister has said, and I share his views on this. Look, we had this vote 10 years ago. It was the will of the country. It was the will of my own constituency as well. We’re not backsliding from that. The world has changed since 2016. We need to make sure that our relationship with Europe changes, too. Europe and the UK both face real challenges.”
Pushed on the matter, he added: “We’re not talking about rejoin today. What we do in our next manifesto will obviously be a question for the Labour Party.” Lathering up…
Brussels has slapped Google with a whopping €890m (£759m) fine for supposedly shoving its own services in front of rivals in search results. According to the European Commission, the search giant violated the EU’s new Digital Services Act by restricting consumer choice and giving itself an ‘unfair advantage’ over competitors. Google isn’t alone – they also handed out a €120 million fine to Musk’s X last year…
The ‘Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for Technological Sovereignty, Security, and Democracy’ (still a ridiculous title) Henna Virkkunen said:
“After this decision, we want to make sure that there is more competition and also other companies are able to innovate…”
The reality is Google is now following other tech companies in restricting its services in Europe, rather than bothering to jump through all the ridiculous hoops Brussels tries to impose:
“To comply, we are having to strip away real-time Search features Europeans love – like instant pricing and direct availability for hotels, flights and restaurants – and dismantle safety protections on Google Play…”
OpenAI delays the rollout of its most advanced ChatGPT tools to Europe. Apple’s upcoming AI features won’t launch in the continent at all. Europe is a regulatory nightmare and it will get left behind very quickly if this carries on…
Fun sponge EU bureaucrats have effectively banned original Nintendo Switch consoles as part of a new raft of regulations on battery technology. Don’t hate the player, hate the game…
Brussels bigwigs just dropped “upcoming changes in European battery regulations coming into effect in mid-February 2027,” which affects the Lite and OLED models of the popular handheld device. The EU has mandated that all portable games consoles must have fully replaceable batteries by next year…
Gaming site IGN reported: “Nintendo will no longer sell to retailers hardware in the Nintendo Switch family of systems – specifically Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch Lite and Nintendo Switch – OLED Model“. An insult to old school gamers or anyone looking to get a bargain with a cheaper old-gen system…
Models without replaceable batteries can still be sold in the UK. Brexit benefit…
The EU is currently negotiating its ‘Multiannual Financial Framework’ or MFF – the bloc’s long-term spending plan. Member states pay in, the EU splurges the cash, the cycle begins again…
Incoming PM Andy Burnham let the mask slip when he was recorded saying he would like to see the UK rejoin the EU. He walked that back, but only once he’d been caught out and his comments blew up…
Under the current MFF proposals, if the UK were to rejoin, it would have to restart contributions to the EU budget. Brexit stopped those contributions….
The MFF for 2028-2034 will land at somewhere around a staggering 2 trillion Euros. Using the EU’s own MFF formula, given reasonable estimates, this would leave the UK contribution at around £37 billion in 2025 prices. If you make a liberal estimate of what the UK would ‘get back’ through EU spending programmes here, that results in a net annual contribution of £960 per household, £535 per resident or £720 per income taxpayer. Put it another way, that’s roughly 70% of the MoD’s day-to-day budget, or a quarter of the UK’s net debt interest. This would make the UK’s payments something like £500 million a week, so the Brexit bus was right, and would in fact be an underestimate this time around…
If Guido adds this to his previous estimate of Burnham’s bill – the uncosted spending proposals put forward by the incoming Labour team – it puts his tally at approaching £300 billion. What planet is Burnham living on?
At Labour Conference last year:
“I want to rejoin the EU. I hope it happens in my lifetime… I believe in the unions of all kinds. The union of the UK. The European Union, and the benefits it brought this country. Trade unions… People prosper more when they’re part of unions. That’s my belief, and I’ll say it clearly.”
“Look at the last decade – shouldn’t we start calling out the disaster that Brexit has been more directly? I think we should. We’ve been stuck now with sluggish growth, and all of our aspirations now are harder to achieve as a country. We are in a bad position, the growth isn’t there.”
In his leadership pitch with the New Statesman Burnham said Labour should be making “a stronger argument about Brexit having been a mistake.” Tell us how you really feel…
Makerfield voted 65% Leave in 2016 and was 75th most Leave-heavy voting seat. Labour’s majority in Makerfield in 2024 was 5,399 with Reform coming second at 12,000 to Simons’ 18,000. Another strongly held position Andy will have to pop back in the drawer for this by-election…
As Guido has long predicted, the BBC’s declining audience share meant that YouTube overtook the state broadcaster as the most-watched outlet by Brits earlier this year. YouTube is bigger than the BBC…
Now regulators are running to catch up. New ‘prominence’ rules being considered by Starmer after his ill-advised reset with the EU, the BBC could be given special treatment as an organisation hand-picked by ministers. Attempts are being made to ask social media platforms to change their display algorithms to give more ‘prominence’ to this content. In other words, some want to try to force YouTube and other video sites to give ‘prominence’ to the BBC over every other creator…
That’s ironic as the video sites themselves are massive net givers to the creative economy: YouTube alone contributed 7 billion Euros to the EU’s otherwise faltering media market in 2024. In the UK, that platform alone has added more than £2 billion to GBP…
State regulation of poplar platforms never works. Starmer’s internet crackdown is reaching insane new levels…
Lord Khan in the Telegraph: “I hope, and I say this in a non-pompous way, that the public service I do will bring rewards in this world and the hereafter,” he says. “I’m hoping the work I do is earning me Brownie points.”