Unionist and Conservative. Interested in politics, sport, financial markets and current affairs.
The United Kingdom
Joined December 2015
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Heart of the Union 🇺🇦🇬🇧 retweeted
Don’t be fooled by the boring diplomatic language in the leaked UK-EU draft statement. Under Point 65, Brussels is attempting a massive regulatory hijack of the UK’s highest-growth sectors—specifically AI, quantum computing, and advanced semiconductors.
Heart of the Union 🇺🇦🇬🇧 retweeted
“British exports to the EU in food and drink, live animals, plants, seeds, timber and all other products covered by SPS rules are worth £15bn a year; our imports from the EU in the same categories come to £51bn.
The EU is plainly the demandeur here. Indeed, it should be biting our arm off for a deal. Although its negotiators (and the self-loathing poseurs in this country who unhesitatingly side with them) are trotting out all their old clichés about cakes and cherries, the fact is that the EU can agree to mutual recognition of SPS. It has done so, for example, with New Zealand, on the sensible grounds that New Zealand’s food standards are in no sense ropey or barbaric.
So why have Eurocrats to agree a similar deal with Britain, thereby guaranteeing its farmers access to their largest export market? There is, I’m afraid, only one answer. They have been holding out for a British government despairing enough, demoralised enough and dogmatic enough to agree instead unilaterally to follow EU rules in perpetuity. To their delight, they have now got one.”
For the PM, reaching agreement matters more than what’s agreed – so he’s pretending every concession is a win
🔗 telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/11…
Heart of the Union 🇺🇦🇬🇧 retweeted
If the media won’t hold the Liberals to account for breaking Canada’s immigration system, I will.
Heart of the Union 🇺🇦🇬🇧 retweeted
No surprise!
As the Czech PM said when asked if he supported the UK rejoining the EU, "Yes, of course - we need more money."
Indeed, the membership fee could now be at least £35bn a year... 🙄
NEW
Britain would not get its £5bn annual rebate again if it rejoined the EU, the former Irish leader who helped strike the last Brexit deal has predicted
Leo Varadkar says in an interview with The Sunday Times that the famous 1984 discount which Margaret Thatcher secured would not be repeated.
It means that Andy Burnham faces having to sell EU membership terms worse than were rejected in the 2016 referendum if he really goes for rejoin.
(Varadker also said the EU would want Britain back, would wave demands to adopt the Euro / enter Schengen, and there'd be a chance of getting an emergency break on free movement - so positives there.)
Varadker's key quote: “The rebate was at a particular point in time. Back in the 1980s, it was Thatcher who negotiated that. The formula for how you contribute to the European budget is straightforward. It’s a mathematical formula. It’s based on your GDP and then there are some direct elements as well. I think it would be very difficult to make the case for that."
(It was Varadker who struck the terms-of-Brexit deal with Boris Johnson in 2019 that finally broke through the impasse, so he knows EU thinking here well.)
Interestingly, Michel Barnier, the former EU Brexit negotiator, has said the same to @bbclaurak this weekend - another rebate would be "off the table".
House of Commons briefing on the last year Britain fully paid into the EU budget (2020) spells out what that means. The rebate was £5.2bn.
Not having the rebate back then would have meant the UK paying £17.8bn more than it got out in 2020.
All a reminder of the big battle not yet up and running in this open Brexit "conversation" Burnham has triggered: The cost of re-entry.
(Remember, what was painted on the side of the big red Brexit bus in 2016? Not a message on open borders or bendy bananas but one big scary number.)
Full story: thetimes.com/uk/politics/art…
Heart of the Union 🇺🇦🇬🇧 retweeted
Exclusive: China’s ambassador to the UK was confronted by the Foreign Office over claims that embassy guards brandished illegal electroshock weapons at protesters,The i Paper can reveal.
Beijing’s embassy guards were accused of pointing the stun batons at protesters to intimidate them during a protest outside the embassy in central London.
The Foreign Office rebuked China’s ambassador to the UK Zheng Zeguang during a meeting on 8 July, five days after the demonstration outside the embassy in Portland Place.
He was told that all foreign diplomatic missions in the UK are expected to abide by British laws, and that if police find sufficient evidence to interview the guards, any request for diplomatic immunity should be waved.
The exchange was revealed in a letter seen by The i Paper that was sent by the security minister Dan Jarvis to his Tory counterpart @aliciakearns
She told The i Paper: “Chinese embassy staff brandishing weapons that are banned on British streets is not a diplomatic grey area, it is a brazen breach of UK law.
Kearns added: “Public flaunting of our laws demands a public response. If the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) sees no consequence for threatening peaceful protesters on our soil, it will conclude it can do so again.
“Deterrence is built on visible resolve.”
Story 👇
inews.co.uk/news/politics/uk…
Heart of the Union 🇺🇦🇬🇧 retweeted
Mass migration has torn apart Australia's social fabric and put enormous pressure on its housing and jobs markets. Albo's response? Blame British backpackers!
Heart of the Union 🇺🇦🇬🇧 retweeted
The UK-EU draft deal includes a quiet but costly concession on university tuition fees for EU students.
It’s being managed carefully so it doesn’t overshadow the November summit. Here’s what’s actually happening.
Heart of the Union 🇺🇦🇬🇧 retweeted
NEW
Britain would not get its £5bn annual rebate again if it rejoined the EU, the former Irish leader who helped strike the last Brexit deal has predicted
Leo Varadkar says in an interview with The Sunday Times that the famous 1984 discount which Margaret Thatcher secured would not be repeated.
It means that Andy Burnham faces having to sell EU membership terms worse than were rejected in the 2016 referendum if he really goes for rejoin.
(Varadker also said the EU would want Britain back, would wave demands to adopt the Euro / enter Schengen, and there'd be a chance of getting an emergency break on free movement - so positives there.)
Varadker's key quote: “The rebate was at a particular point in time. Back in the 1980s, it was Thatcher who negotiated that. The formula for how you contribute to the European budget is straightforward. It’s a mathematical formula. It’s based on your GDP and then there are some direct elements as well. I think it would be very difficult to make the case for that."
(It was Varadker who struck the terms-of-Brexit deal with Boris Johnson in 2019 that finally broke through the impasse, so he knows EU thinking here well.)
Interestingly, Michel Barnier, the former EU Brexit negotiator, has said the same to @bbclaurak this weekend - another rebate would be "off the table".
House of Commons briefing on the last year Britain fully paid into the EU budget (2020) spells out what that means. The rebate was £5.2bn.
Not having the rebate back then would have meant the UK paying £17.8bn more than it got out in 2020.
All a reminder of the big battle not yet up and running in this open Brexit "conversation" Burnham has triggered: The cost of re-entry.
(Remember, what was painted on the side of the big red Brexit bus in 2016? Not a message on open borders or bendy bananas but one big scary number.)
Full story: thetimes.com/uk/politics/art…
Heart of the Union 🇺🇦🇬🇧 retweeted
‘Meloni rightly fears that the EU — which bears the financial brunt of supporting the Ukraine war — risks being “condemned to irrelevance”.’
William Nattrass 👇 buff.ly/GncZ5Hh
Heart of the Union 🇺🇦🇬🇧 retweeted
1: UK taxpayers spent £4bn last year giving asylum applicants free accommodation, food, healthcare.
2: Those approved make up 15% of all homeless applications in Scotland for housing; 43% in Glasgow.
3: Councils must find them accommodation.
4: 71% of asylum seekers are male.
Heart of the Union 🇺🇦🇬🇧 retweeted
Garvaghy Road: Winning the Street, while Setting Fire to the Argument for a New Ireland…
The Orange Order’s right to walk the Garvaghy Road was upheld and loyalism stayed calm, but by following a dissident lead, mainstream nationalism hardened tribal l
sluggerotoole.com/2026/10/13…
Heart of the Union 🇺🇦🇬🇧 retweeted
(no paywall) @David_Goodhart in the @Telegraph: Shabana Mahmood is afraid to break the great foreign care worker taboo. Billions spent subsidising Boriswave immigrants could instead have funded local staff who speak English fluently and understand the culture. #ukpolitics #CANZUKmigration
telegraph.co.uk/gift/9c0c12a…
Heart of the Union 🇺🇦🇬🇧 retweeted
More than 500 charities lobbied for Labour to ditch its reforms to indefinite leave to remain. Many are bankrolled by the taxpayer. We are funding our own immiseration, says Joanna Williams
buff.ly/spGcRtP
Heart of the Union 🇺🇦🇬🇧 retweeted
The leaders of five EU countries have urged Brussels to “swiftly” sign a deal to let the U.K. back into the single market for electricity. vist.ly/5rt8e
Heart of the Union 🇺🇦🇬🇧 retweeted
They'll just bank it and use it as rhetorical leverage for reparations. Worth considering what the "benefits" of the commonwealth actually are before making sacrifices to retain them.
An apology for slavery will help build trust across the Commonwealth ft.trib.al/16J9wrD | opinion
Heart of the Union 🇺🇦🇬🇧 retweeted
A Sri Lankan migrant who sued the taxpayer for £7million claiming he needed round-the-clock care has been seen go-karting, going to the gym and doing the school run, a High Court judge has said.
Vengadeswara Raw Gopalakrishnan has been found to have 'deliberately fabricated' claims that he was housebound after he suffered 'serious and long-term psychiatric injury' while detained in a detention centre between September 2013 and February 2014.
He had come to the UK in 2010 before overstaying his visa and unsuccessfully claiming asylum. Gopalakrishnan was granted indefinite leave to remain in 2023.
The migrant later sued the Home Office for more than £7million.
Why is our legal system so open to be made a fool of by foreign scammers and cheats?
dailymail.com/news/article-1…
Heart of the Union 🇺🇦🇬🇧 retweeted
🇳🇿 New Zealand votes Saturday, November 7, 2026. Since 1996, NZ has used mixed member proportional (MMP) voting.
The interactive chart below shows why some voters split their vote — choosing a candidate from one party while using their party vote for a different party. #nzpol #NZelection2026 #CANZUKvotes
makeyourvotecount.nz/
Heart of the Union 🇺🇦🇬🇧 retweeted
🚨UPDATE: Secretary of State Sir Chris Bryant says the Sinn Féin delegation was late to today's meeting because they were holding a press conference.
👥He watched on as the delegation spoke to reporters ahead of the talks.
🚨👋NEW: 'I'm not kissing you...' - Greetings from the Secretary of State as party talks get underway at Hillsborough Castle
🎥🎤Chief Reporter @jamesgould23 has this report.
📍The Secretary of State is meeting Stormont parties at Hillsborough Castle today in another attempt to break the budget deadlock.
Seven months into the financial year, there's still no agreed budget.
The UK Government has offered an additional £525 million this year, but Executive parties insist a funding gap remains.
With public services under growing financial pressure, questions remain over whether the parties can reach an agreement.
More on-air and online.
Heart of the Union 🇺🇦🇬🇧 retweeted
How very kind of them to allow parcels going from one part of our own country to another part not to have to pay an extra levy!! Most people in NI have relatives in USA or Australia and Canada so will have to pay extra for any parcels coming from there What planet do the Dept of Economy civil servants live on ?
