Reports

In the United Kingdom, as elsewhere, Covid-19 has exposed deep rifts in society and devastated the economy. And yet, it has also brought families together, showed the value of immigrant communities and reminded people of what really matters. In our opening essay for our 2021 outlook series, Lord Alton of ...

Britain’s political parties have been fading in the 21st century in terms of membership, popular support and relevance to citizens. To many, traditional parties seem more a part of the problem than the solution. Can parties be salvaged? Do we still need them? David Alton, a member of the House ...

The British government’s posturing in talks with the EU is testing goodwill in European capitals. Apart from risking a no-deal outcome on January 1, 2020, it casts a shadow over Britain’s prospects for close security and defense cooperation with Germany and France after Brexit is completed. 

In reaction to a new national security law giving the Chinese government extensive powers over Hong Kong, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has offered residents of the former British colony an opportunity to settle in the United Kingdom. The gesture was a welcome show of leadership amid half-hearted reactions from other ...

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has allowed governments to enact authoritarian emergency legislation, with no guarantee that the curtailed civil rights will later be returned to the population. China’s example shows what could await European countries if the coronavirus crisis becomes a political tool to exert more control over ...

Leaving the high-cost, bureaucratized European Union is not enough for the UK to unleash its entrepreneur potential, boost its share in global trade and return to high growth. To bring benefits, Brexit would need to be followed by bold liberal reforms: cutting taxes, rolling back government spending and reducing excessive, ...

The UK Conservative Party and its leader, Boris Johnson, received from British voters a clear mandate and a comfortable majority in Parliament to try to turn their political vision into reality. The list of social, economic, organizational and political challenges that the country faces domestically and in the international arena ...

British politicians have been led astray by matters of identity and other fringe issues, alienating voters to the extent where many are abandoning lifelong party loyalties. Members of Parliament ought to address what matters to their constituents by reconnecting with fundamental British values.

The UK Parliament’s moves to block Brexit from occurring without a deal on October 31, 2019, has prompted some to say that Europe has reached “peak populism.” As the British case shows, though, societies remain polarized and democratic rules continue to be bent. What happens next in the UK may ...

British Conservatives must pick a new prime minister from two candidates: Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt. With the United Kingdom’s political leadership paralyzed and relations with the EU at an impasse, an enfant terrible might be the better choice.

British Prime Minister Theresa May finds herself in a tough spot on Brexit: Brussels is unwilling to make more concessions, but the British Parliament looks unlikely to accept the current agreement. It didn’t have to come to this, but a lack of pragmatism on both sides has brought us here. ...

Brexit will have a huge impact on the energy sectors of both the United Kingdom and the European Union. Britain’s energy system will remain deeply tied to the rest of Europe’s, but questions surround how differences in regulatory environments will be bridged. Regardless of whether Brexit is “hard” or “soft,” ...

Brexit negotiations between the European Union and the United Kingdom were supposed to be concluded at the EU summit on October 17. But the deadline passed with no breakthrough, and no plans for a new meeting. With the clock to a “hard Brexit” ticking down, this could be the salutary ...

Brexit negotiations are reaching a messy, contentious head. But it didn’t have to be this way. Going back years, European leaders have missed opportunities to take a more pragmatic stance that could have benefited both the UK and the EU. GIS experts have been pointing this out along the way, ...

Prime Minister Theresa May has bowed to economic reality and unveiled a Brexit model that would keep the United Kingdom close to the European Union. The move provoked an immediate cabinet crisis and the resignations of leading Brexiters. Fear of a Labour government will probably keep other Conservatives in line, ...

British Prime Minister Theresa May pointedly accused the Kremlin of attempting to assassinate a former Russian intelligence operative and his daughter in the United Kingdom. Ms. May also managed to persuade the United States and key EU countries to join in a huge retaliatory expulsion of Russian diplomats. Yet, will ...

Signs are accumulating that the preliminary divorce agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union is starting to unravel, and that a year from now, on March 29/30, 2019, we could witness a “hard Brexit” with no transition arrangements and chaos in areas hitherto regulated by the EU. The ...

Under London’s current proposal, the United Kingdom could quit the European Union at midnight on March 30, 2019 largely unscathed, leaving behind a smaller, but cooperatively disposed community on the continent and the outstanding, complex divorce issues for settling later on. But then, there is the “cliff edge” scenario with ...

British governments and prime ministers come and go, but since February 1952, H.M. Queen Elizabeth II has provided continuity and stability. Last month’s retirement of her consort, H.R.H. Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at age 96 serves as a useful reminder of the royal family’s centrality in holding together a fractious ...

British Prime Minister Theresa May is the first head of government to visit President Donald Trump after he assumed office. Her visit is significant in many aspects, especially in the context of Brexit and new policy orientations in the United States.

Great Britain’s greatest modern statesman, Winston Churchill, called for a United States of Europe in 1946. Now the British will have to make other arrangements. After Brexit, Prime Minister Theresa May could revert to the ad hoc coalition-building and power-balancing that has long been a British speciality in Europe. But ...

Britain's divorce from the European Union has frayed tempers on both sides. Now comes the complex task of negotiating future bilateral relations. EU leaders would be well advised not to give in to the urge to punish the British.

Doom and gloom! Voters in the United Kingdom have decided to leave the European Union. Markets are tumbling, Prime Minister David Cameron has announced his resignation and politicians around the globe have expressed deep worry. Leaders of the various EU countries, as well as those in Brussels, have voiced their ...

Days before the British referendum on European Union membership it remains totally unclear whether the United Kingdom will remain in the EU. It is equally uncertain what economic and political disruptions are in store; there are innumerable “ifs” and “trade-offs” that condition both possible outcomes. But some scenarios of post-Brexit ...