The British Elite's Bad Ideas

The Brexit Blame Game, Daily Signal, June 23, 2023. "Brexit wasn’t so much a policy as it was a demand that Britain have the right and the opportunity to make its own policies. It’s won that right—but Britain has to walk through the door on its own. So far, it mostly has failed to do so—and the policies it’s chosen mostly have been mistakes."

Anglo-American Gabfests

In UK Relations, Biden Administration Substitutes ‘Declarations’ for Action, Daily Signal, June 12, 2023. "British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak—the U.K.’s third prime minister in the past year—visited the White House on Thursday in his first official trip to the U.S. This is the fourth time that Sunak and President Joe Biden have seen each other in the past four months. But familiarity isn’t breeding much in this relationship."

All Blacks or Black and Tans?

President Biden’s Visits to United Kingdom and Ireland Must Serve Prosperity and Peace, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #5311, April 6, 2023. "President Biden’s visit to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement comes at a crucial time. Northern Ireland’s governing institutions have been badly damaged by the European Union’s vindictive approach to the Northern Ireland Protocol, negotiated as part of the U.K.’s exit from the EU. In practice, the EU values its Customs Union far more than it values the Good Friday Agreement, and despite U.S. praise for the Agreement, the U.S. has backed the EU’s approach. The President should avoid making things worse, reject the half-truths and mythologies on which U.S. praise for the Agreement is often based, and focus on deliverables, especially a free trade area with the U.K."

Britain Has to Earn It

On 6th Anniversary of Brexit, UK Yet to Grab All of Freedom’s Opportunities, Daily Signal, June 22, 2022. "Six years ago, on June 23, 2016, Britain voted to leave the European Union. Above all, Brexit was about regaining the right of self-government, which is a fundamental value."

Global Britain After Brexit

Defining Britain’s Post-Brexit Role in the World, Centre for Brexit Policy, June 20, 2022. Uncredited contributor to the section on U.S.-U.K. relations.

Brexit Britain in the Pacific

How the U.S. Can Support the U.K.’s Return to the Indo-Pacific Region, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #5267, June 2, 2022. "The United Kingdom withdrew from major commitments East of Suez in 1968, but since 2019, Brexit Britain has returned to the Indo-Pacific region. While taking measures to restrict Chinese influence in the U.K., it has recognized China as a systemic competitor with values antithetical to its own, has built trading ties in Asia and the Pacific, and has developed new bilateral and multilateral security pacts in the region. The U.S. has benefitted from British initiative but has done little to encourage it. The U.K.’s return to the Indo-Pacific region is in the interests of the U.S. and the democratic world, and the U.S. should take steps to support the U.K."

Brexit Won't Work Without Economic Freedom

Post-Brexit Britain Gains Prosperity via Trade Freedom, but Tax-and-Spend Policies Threaten These Gains, Daily Signal, November 12, 2021. "In the months and years before Britain voted to leave the European Union in 2016, Brexit’s enemies based their case overwhelmingly on economic arguments. That is what they have always done. The reason is simple: The political case for the European Union in Britain is not popular, because it means subordinating the elected House of Commons to EU bureaucrats. So the EU’s friends in Britain talked about money instead of sovereignty."

Good for Bureaucrats, Good for Bugs

The European Union’s Biocidal Products Regulation Benefits Only Bureaucrats, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #6097, June 18, 2021. "The European Union controls the sale of biocides through its Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR). A biocidal product contains a substance that is designed to control or destroy a harmful organism, often a germ or virus. Unfortunately, the BPR is a one-size-fits-all model: It puts simple products containing everyday chemicals through a bureaucratic process more appropriate for complex products containing new substances. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the BPR restricted the supply of alcohol wipes inside the EU. The U.S. and the U.K. should press the EU to eliminate the non-tariff trade barriers the BPR creates. Both should oppose the broader EU model that prioritizes bureaucratic process over growth, jobs, consumer choice, and common sense."

The Prospects for a US-UK FTA

"Primary Spotlight on Political Risk - Interview with Ted Bromund Reviews Prospects for a US - UK Free Trade Deal," Primary Access & Research, May 19, 2021. Not available online. "There are four major obstacles on the U.S. side. First, over the past two decades, Britain has become, in the eyes of the U.S. political system, a conservative country. That doesn’t mean Britons would vote Republican if they had the chance. It means that conservatives tend to like Britain and want to improve Anglo-American ties, while liberals tend not to prioritize improving Anglo-American ties. This isn’t a black and white dichotomy, but it is a tendency. With a Democrat now in the White House, it would be surprising if the U.S. administration worked vigorously to complete the U.S.-U.K. FTA."

Brexit and Self-Confidence

World Sees Brexit UK’s Union Jack as What it Means to be Great Again - An American Writes, Daily Express, January 21, 2021. "In the Victorian Age, Britain’s confidence was based on its belief that it had a gift for government. The French cooked better food; the Italians wrote finer music; the Americans invented the telegraph. But as the rise of the House of Commons proved, and as Joseph Chamberlain put it, the British were “a great governing race.” That confidence endured, fortified by victory in two wars, into the late 1950s. But after 1945, popular expectations of Western governments changed. Governments were now justified in the people’s eyes by the benefits they provided and the economic growth they oversaw."

Accept the Brexit Reality

Brexit Is A Reality; The U.S. Must Act Accordingly, Washington Times, January 6, 2021. "Britain has left the European Union. Now, the United States faces a simple choice. It can either stand idly by as other nations make trade deals with Britain, or it can negotiate a free trade agreement for its own benefit. Brexit Britain has been astonishingly successful in negotiating trade deals around the world. Of course there is its deal with the EU itself, struck at the eleventh hour before Christmas, and already passed into law in Britain. The EU itself has accepted that Britain has left."

What Brexit Means for the U.S.

Brexit’s Three Key Implications for U.S. Policymakers, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #5031, January 31, 2020. "The U.K’s exit from the EU will have three major implications for U.S. policymakers. First, as the U.K. regains its full diplomatic independence and represents itself in functional international organizations, it will be essential for the U.S. to deepen its bilateral diplomatic engagement with Britain. Second, as the U.K. recovers its freedom to negotiate trade agreements, the U.S. must take advantage of this opportunity to negotiate a free trade area with Britain. Third, as the U.K. restores its democratic national sovereignty, the U.S. should recognize that the U.K. has vindicated the principle on which the U.S. itself is founded, even though the history of the Special Relationship shows that the U.S. and the U.K. will not always agree with each other."

The End of the Do Nothing Parliament

Boris Johnson’s Projected Victory in British Election is Profoundly Encouraging for US, Fox News, December 13, 2019. "For the U.S., the British results are profoundly encouraging. The fact is that Britain has rejected the pre-election, do-nothing status quo."

Boris's Brexit Deal

Boris Johnson Strikes a Brexit Deal, Daily Signal, October 17, 2019. "After days of optimistic leaks and rumors, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has done what the European Union said was impossible. He’s successfully re-opened the bad Brexit deal struck by former Prime Minister Theresa May, and won a new deal that is significantly better for Britain."

Get Brexit Done

It’s Crunch Time for Brexit. Here’s How It Could Happen, Daily Signal, October 2, 2019. "Within a month, Brexit will either have happened, or it will have been delayed yet again. It has now been over three years since the British people voted to leave the European Union, and the relentless delays imposed by the British courts, the Parliament, and the EU itself have been maddening."

Brexit in the Times (and Democrat)

U.K. Should Exit the EU, Times and Democrat (Orangeburg, SC), June 24, 2019. "It was the largest exercise of democracy in Britain’s long democratic history. On June 23, 2016, the people of the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. The best single reason for the U.K. to leave the European Union at the end of October is that this is what the British people voted to do."

It's Not No Deal

Why the U.S. Is Right to Back the ‘Mini-Deal Brexit', Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #4971, June 20, 2019. "The dichotomy between a Brexit governed by outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement and a “no-deal” exit is a false choice. A network of mini-deals among Britain, the European Union, and the U.S. is already in place. The U.K.’s economy has enjoyed unprecedented strength, and it is in an excellent position to leave the EU on the basis of this “mini-deal Brexit.” The U.S. can play a valuable role in facilitating Brexit by continuing to make it clear that it is ready to conclude an ambitious free trade area with the U.K., and by urging both the U.K. and EU authorities to conclude an agreement facilitating free trade after Brexit."

Another Constitution Bites the Dust

More Brexit Vs. Remain, Washington Times, April 1, 2019. "Contrary to popular myth, Britain does have a constitution. Unlike the American one, it’s not written down in one place. But Britain has Magna Carta, the 1628 Petition of Right, and the 1689 Bill of Rights. It also has centuries of precedent governing how business in Parliament is to be done. And Brexit’s opponents are trashing that constitution."

Dribbling Off Their Foot

Brits Have Their Own March Madness, Newsday, March 31, 2019. "In the NCAA basketball tournament, all but one team lose. In Britain, as the House of Commons votes and votes again on Brexit, having even one winner would be a novelty. The difference is that on the basketball court, unlike in Britain, the competition isn't between illusions."

Just Rip It Off Already!

Britain’s Brexit Delay is Ridiculous, Washington Times, March 15, 2019. "Britain’s House of Commons has voted to request a delay in Britain’s exit from the European Union. It’s like a kid who removes a band-aid slowly hoping it’ll hurt less. Far better to rip it off and be done with it."