Deputy Mayor of London for Transport | Deputy Chair @TfL | Former MEP for London, Vice-Chair @ep_environment and Deputy Leader @labmeps | he/ him
Apr 8, 2021 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
I first worked in NI as a SpAd to the then NI Secretary. I fell instantly in love with it; the people, its landscapes and above all the overwhelming desire to move away from the past. There was always a minority threatening the peace, but a delicate balance existed. It worked.
And the awful truth is that balance has been disturbed by people in this government who didn’t - and don’t - give NI the slightest concern. Their Brexit project didn’t have time for such distractions and technicalities as the NI Peace Process.
Oct 16, 2020 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Just a smidgen of intellectual honesty would be good. But this man is incapable. He is a fraudster.
The UK is seeking a deal that keeps some of the benefits of being in the EU - whilst at the same time rejecting the rules that facilitate that.
“Australia” sounds great with beaches, sun and wallabies but *there is no EU-Aus deal - he is dressing up chaos*
“Canada” is a very basic FTA with terms that might work for a jurisdiction 6,000km from the EU but not for a country next door, where the EU is BY FAR its biggest mkt
Oct 13, 2020 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
This report concludes - rightly - that unless the EU and UK can reach an agreement on professional services it will do significant harm to the UK economy, and firms that export their services will have to rely on bilateral agreements between the UK and individual member states.
This places the UK service sector at a considerable disadvantage, whereby EU member states in which UK firms can currently freely compete face the mercy of national regulators to decide what level of provision they are able to offer. Some may be lucky, many will not.
Sep 17, 2020 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
As a Spad in the NI Office I sat in on a meeting between the SoS and families of the Omagh bombing victims. It’s one of the most moving experiences of my life to date, and it will stay with me always. They were determined that no family should go through what they did.
They didn’t harbour any resentment, hatred or confusion about what had happened. Stopping another atrocity, another unbearable heartache for someone else’s mother, son, brother, sister, daughter - that was their only mission. Peace in Ireland was everything to them.
May 15, 2020 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Few want to hear about “Brexit” and it’ll wash over many at a time like this.
But it’s important to read comments from Frost and Barnier.
“Level playing field” is b/c UK is bordered by EU and the flow of goods is *huge*.
The UK could realistically act as a significant back-channel for goods into the EU that do not meet its standards. That is not a realistic threat from Canada, which at nearest point is 3,000km from EU.
This is why the “level playing field” - no race to the bottom - is demanded.
Apr 16, 2020 • 19 tweets • 5 min read
The lockdown. In Ab Fab gifs.
Staying in isn’t so bad.
Feb 19, 2020 • 14 tweets • 3 min read
The UK is not Canada 🙄
UK has 2 land borders with EU (1 a tunnel) and its goods/ food often arrive via mega ports in EU such as Rotterdam. The Commission has never said UK wld copy Canada agreement - it’s always been clear that there would be additional benefits/ obligations 1/
The share of Canada’s trade with EU is barely 10pc of 🇨🇦 economy - whereas for the UK it’s almost half. In many regions of UK (“e.g. Red Wall”) the dependency on the single market is almost total. Often one large employer which has located in UK b/c of access to EU market. 2/
May 27, 2019 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Thank you for all the kind messages.
It is a huge honour to have been re-elected alongside @Claude_Moraes.
But this is not a good night for Labour and we have seen brilliant Labour MEPs lose their seats and excellent candidates not take up seats.
Those colleagues who lost their seats did not do so because of their record or their commitment to fight for Britain’s place in the EU.
They lost because our message as a party was not clear. We tried to fudge an issue that voters held paramount in these elections: Brexit.
Dec 19, 2018 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
The government is not acting in Britain’s interests. This is dog-whistle stuff and it stinks.
1. Ending free movement puts British citizens at a huge disadvantage (see my pinned tweet)
2. This is very stupid ahead of negotiations on future relationship
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politi…
The arbitrary limit on “skilled/ non-skilled” of £30,000 is not just offensive (think of the many brilliant people who *choose* to live in the UK, without whom vital services such as NHS would suffer hugely, who are paid much less) it also sets us up to fail in Brexit stage 2
Jul 7, 2018 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
We should all congratulate our PM on concluding 2 year bitter, acrimonious Brexit talks - with her own Cabinet.
But this is all completely, utterly pointless.
It doesn’t cover 80pc of the economy, keeps us aligned where we won’t have a say and won’t be acceptable to EU27.
It’s asking the EU27 to split the single market, which they won’t.
All of the stuff that was promised during the referendum: end to free movement, free trade deals, more money for public services etc are gone.
They’re not what I believed- but am always told “will of ppl” etc
Jun 25, 2018 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Unpopular opinion time!
Opposition to stopping Brexit is not because Brexit is a good idea - v few think that now.
It’s because people fear more division.
But far *more danger* in pushing ahead with communities finding themselves *worse off*.
Will collapse trust in politics.
People let down will see politicians who knew about the impacts of Brexit but who nonetheless failed to explain the realities and carried on pretending there’d be benefits, when they knew all along.
There’s no political gain in a policy of deliberate confusion and distraction.
