United Kingdom

UK TRANSPORT AND BREXIT NEWS & VIEWS NO. 102

03/06/2019

Join us, Top Articles, Top Featured Articles

Mark’s EU Week for Transport Last week’s pivotal European election saw the highest turnout in 20 years with renewed commitment of EU citizens towards pro-EU parties. Despite the pre-election narrative of a second anti-EU surge (the first being in 2014), the outcome of the elections a week ago, while appearing complicated, could not be more clear in its conclusions. Faced with the new prospect of the two biggest groups (the EPP and the S&D) no longer being able to form a…

UK TRANSPORT AND BREXIT NEWS & VIEWS NO. 101

20/05/2019

oliverkay

Join us, Top Articles, Top Featured Articles, UKTiE News

Mark’s EU Week for Transport It’s finally here, the elections that nobody expected would take place in the UK are happening in just 3 days time. Across the EU-27, the election campaigns are focusing on the future of the EU with anti-EU forces threatening to coalesce around a unified anti-EU group. However, as I argue in a new blog piece, while the narrative seems to be presenting a new surge of anti-EU MEPs, the reality is very different indeed. There is no denying…

UK Transport and Brexit News & Views No. 99

06/05/2019

oliverkay

Join us, Top Articles, Top Featured Articles

Mark’s EU Week for Transport Last week I wrote about how our focus would invariably shift to the UK local elections ahead of even more attention on the European elections at the end of this month. What has happened is a situation where Remainers and Leavers can point to the local elections, and probably the same will ring true for the European elections, and argue that the results prove them right. Are the local elections a bellwether for the European elections? Time…

UK Transport and Brexit News & Views No. 70

23/07/2018

oliverkay

General, Join us, Top Articles, Top Featured Articles, UKTiE News

Mark’s EU Week for Transport ‘Hope for the best, plan for the worst’ is a quote that has many parents but nicely sums up the latest twists and turns of our Brexit saga. In terms of planning for the worst, the European Commission issued a stark warning note on preparedness for the transport sector (see below) that irrespective of the scenario envisaged, Brexit will cause significant disruption for European citizens, businesses and administrations. It goes on to stress that preparedness is not just…

UK Transport and Brexit News & Views No. 69

16/07/2018

oliverkay

Join us, Top Articles, Top Featured Articles, UKTiE News

Mark’s EU Week for Transport Brexit talks are due to recommence in Brussels with UK and EU officials discussing the White Paper and Withdrawal Agreement. It will be an interesting meeting. The contrast in the reaction to the Chequers agreement and the White Paper on either side of the Channel has been stark. Almost no official comments from the EU, but meltdown in Westminster. Eight MPs in nine days have quit some role or other after Brexit policy was announced, including…

UK Transport News & Views from Olly, no 67

18/06/2018

oliverkay

General, Join us, Members' Resources, Sector News, Top Articles, Top Featured Articles, UKTiE News

Olly’s EU week for transport Hello all, Olly Kaye at the helm today, as my colleague Mark takes a break from News & Views this week. Today I’m giving a little more focus on what’s coming up in the EU on transport as we are about to head into the Austrian Presidency who will guide the Council of the European Union until 2019. Before I start on further news & views, a quick re-cap of what’s on in Brussels right now:…

UK Transport and Brexit News & Views No. 66

11/06/2018

oliverkay

General, Join us, Sector News, Top Articles, Top Featured Articles, UKTiE News

Mark’s Brexit Week for Transport Whilst the ‘backstop’ debate dominated the Brexit news last week you may be forgiven for missing the future partnership paper for transport published by DExEU, a paper UKTiE has been calling for for almost a year. I’m sure it is something we should all welcome. The position paper is a good start, but we still need much more clarity. Indeed it’s noteworthy not for what is in it, but what is not included. On rail…

UK Transport and Brexit News & Views No. 65

04/06/2018

oliverkay

General, Join us, Sector News, Top Articles, Top Featured Articles, UKTiE News

Mark’s Brexit Week for Transport With the UK Parliament back from recess, Brexit is now firmly back in the saddle and we’re hearing a lot of optimistic noises from DExEU. Nothing wrong with optimism, and the Micawber principle that something good will turn up sometimes holds true. But as a strategy to see us through Brexit and beyond it’s not enough, not least in the transport field where a culture of planning and risk based assessments has quite rightly replaced the early pioneers…

UK Transport and Brexit News & Views No. 64

29/05/2018

oliverkay

General, Join us, Sector News, Top Articles, Top Featured Articles, UKTiE News

Mark’s Brexit Week for Transport I detect the tectonic plates of Brexit are shifting, which will have a deep, profound and lasting impact on Brexit & transport. The focus has mainly been on the on-going struggle within Cabinet to reach an agreement on customs, which both avoids a hard border with Ireland and ensures UK sovereignty over trade and regulation. As reported below, the Head of Britain’s HMRC told MPs recently that the ‘Max fac’ customs option, favoured by Brexiteers…

UK Transport and Brexit News & Views No. 57

23/03/2018

oliverkay

Join us, Top Articles, Top Featured Articles, UKTiE News

Mark’s Brexit Week for Transport All parents on long journeys are familiar with the age-old question from the children in the back of the car, ‘are we there yet?’. And in the context of today’s, not just one but two, historic Brexit deals that question will no doubt be asked by the transport sector. But the answer is unfortunately an emphatic ‘no’. We are well on our way, but we have a long and tortuous road ahead, and above all…