Experts clash over Brexit's impact five years on in The Independent's latest virtual event
The Independent 's latest virtual event explored Brexit's impact nearly five years post-EU departure.
Panellists included Labour MP Stella Creasy; Conservative MP Mark Francois; former Brexit Party MEP Claire Fox, Baroness Fox of Buckley; and Professor Anand Menon, director of UK in a Changing Europe.
Chaired by our chief political commentator John Rentoul, the discussion addressed reversing Brexit, economic implications, youth mobility, and public sentiment shifts.
To learn about our upcoming virtual events click here.
If you enjoy our virtual events, please consider supporting The Independent with a donation or by subscribing to Independent Premium.
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Scotsman
34 minutes ago
- Scotsman
Nigel Farage is a threat to the Union, warns Kemi Badenoch
The UK Tory leader hit out at Reform during a speech at the Scottish party conference in Edinburgh Sign up to our Politics newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Nigel Farage is a threat to the Union and his party will "let the SNP in", UK Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has warned. Mrs Badenoch told the Scottish Tory conference in Edinburgh that Mr Farage "would be fine with the SNP winning another five years in power". She said the Scottish people deserved better than the Nationalists. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Hitting out at Reform – which claimed on Friday to now have 11,000 members in Scotland – she said the union between Scotland and England is 'just not that important' to Mr Farage's party. Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch | PA "We know that when it really matters, like on gender or free speech or taxes, Labour will fold and vote with the SNP," she told party members. "And as for Reform, the Union is just not that important to them. "In April this year, Nigel Farage said he would be fine with the SNP winning another five years in power. "He's fine with another five years of higher bills, longer waiting lists, declining school standards, gender madness, and ultimately, independence. Reform will vote to let the SNP in, Conservatives will only ever vote to get the Nationalists out." Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Mr Farage previously told The Times he was 'not that worried about the SNP', adding: 'Yes, they're going to have a resurgence. Scotland is not going to leave the United Kingdom. It's not going to happen in a month of Sundays. We're not doing a deal with Labour.' Mrs Badenoch's speech came just over a week after a Holyrood by-election in which the Tories came fourth, well behind Reform in third. Meanwhile, an opinion poll has suggested Mr Farage's party could come second in next May's Holyrood election. The Tories have also suffered a string of defections, with more than a dozen councillors switching to Reform. Speaking to journalists, Mrs Badenoch said she was 'fine' with defections if they removed those who are not real Conservatives. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Reform are not a centre-right party,' she said. 'This is a party that is talking about nationalising oil and gas. This is a party that wants to increase benefits at a time when the benefits bill is so high. 'So if Nigel Farage is taking out of the Conservative Party the people who are not Conservatives, then I'm quite fine with that.' Asked if she considered Mr Farage an active threat to the Union, she said: "If he wants the SNP to have another five years, then that is a threat to the Union, so yes. 'He doesn't seem to care about the Union. We are the Conservative and Unionist Party. It's a fundamental belief, as I said in our speech." Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Elsewhere, she revealed she keeps in touch with Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay via WhatsApp. 'It's like a joint support group,' joked Mr Findlay. Mrs Badenoch added: 'Your words, not mine.' In her first speech to a Scottish Tory conference as the UK leader, Mrs Badenoch said the SNP 'remains obsessed with breaking up our country' at the expense of issues such as education and health. She accused the Nationalists of wasting millions of pounds on 'independence propaganda' and failed ferry projects, while introducing new hate crime laws and pursuing controversial gender reforms. Mrs Badenoch added: 'So, we need to bring about their electoral defeat. Because the Scottish people deserve better.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad She said Mr Findlay 'stands out at Holyrood because he's not part of the cosy left-wing consensus of the SNP and Labour'. In her speech, Mrs Badenoch accepted the Tories in power at Westminster 'didn't always get things right'. But she insisted her election, coupled with Mr Findlay taking over the Scottish party last year, meant they are 'under new leadership'. Adding that she is 'renewing this party', she declared: 'This speech isn't about looking back. It's about the future. Our future.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Part of that 'positive vision of the future' includes 'standing up' for the North Sea oil and gas industry, she said. Mrs Badenoch claimed that by increasing the energy profits levy – also known as the windfall tax – Labour is 'killing the oil and gas industry'. She said: 'Frankly if it is allowed to remain in place until 2030, as is Labour's current plan, there will be no industry left to tax. 'Thousands will have been made unemployed and all the while we import more gas from overseas – from the very same basin in which we are banned from drilling.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad She called on the UK Government to remove the energy profits levy, and said the Tories would also 'scrap the ban on new licences' for oil and gas developments. 'We will champion our own industry,' Mrs Badenoch told supporters. 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The Herald Scotland
39 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Bowie challenges Tories to ‘step up' against Miliband's ‘eco-zealotry'
Accusing the UK Government of 'overseeing the wilful deindustrialisation of this nation', Mr Bowie hit out at the 'frankly dangerous eco-zealotry of Ed Miliband', the Energy Secretary. Speaking at the Scottish Conservative conference at Murrayfield in Edinburgh Mr Bowie told his party: 'We must step up. Britain needs us more than ever.' The Tory insisted: 'The future of Scotland and Britain is at stake, our country's security depends on a strong Conservative Party to stand up for what is right.' He recalled how former US president Ronald Reagan had 'once said the first duty of government is to protect' – but added that 'on every front the SNP and Labour are failing to do that'. Attacking both Labour and the SNP, Mr Bowie, who is also his party's shadow Scottish secretary, said: 'They haven't protected everyone's economic security, by raising taxes, or ripping away their winter fuel payment, even if they are now apparently going to hand it back to them. 'They haven't protected our energy security by insisting on no new oil and gas developments.' The Conservative MP continued: 'We can all see what is happening in the world, there is more risk out there, we as a country are more vulnerable. 'That is why the decisions of this Labour Government are so gravely concerning. Their economic incompetence, coupled with their frightening ineptitude when it comes to our energy security is making the United Kingdom more vulnerable.' He attacked the Labour Government over its 'madcap drive to clean power by 2030', as he said ministers were 'actively accelerating the decline of our North Sea'. This, he said, was 'forcing us to become increasingly exposed to over-reliance on imports from overseas, imports that are shipped in diesel-chugging tankers across the Atlantic from America or from Norwegian wells'. The Tory said the opposition to new oil and gas developments meant 'investment is drying up, work is being put on pause, companies are literally shutting up shop and jobs are being lost'. But he added: 'This hostility for our oil and gas workers is not simply the preserve of the zealots in the Labour Party. 'The SNP have their fingerprints all over the job losses, the well closures.' Mr Bowie added: 'We need Conservative leadership because we know where the SNP and Labour will take us.' He also used his speech to attack the 'snake oil salesmen' in Reform UK, insisting that Nigel Farage's party do not 'care one jot for Scotland, or for our United Kingdom'. The Tory said: 'Let me be clear. Reform is quite simply not a conservative party, not a unionist party, frankly they are not a serious party.'
The Independent
42 minutes ago
- The Independent
Bowie challenges Tories to ‘step up' against Miliband's ‘eco-zealotry'
Tories need to 'step up' as Labour at Westminster and the SNP government at Holyrood are making the UK 'more vulnerable', acting shadow energy minister Andrew Bowie has said. The Scottish Conservative MP criticised both Labour and the SNP over their opposition to new oil and gas developments in the North Sea. Accusing the UK Government of 'overseeing the wilful deindustrialisation of this nation', Mr Bowie hit out at the 'frankly dangerous eco-zealotry of Ed Miliband', the Energy Secretary. Speaking at the Scottish Conservative conference at Murrayfield in Edinburgh Mr Bowie told his party: 'We must step up. Britain needs us more than ever.' The Tory insisted: 'The future of Scotland and Britain is at stake, our country's security depends on a strong Conservative Party to stand up for what is right.' He recalled how former US president Ronald Reagan had 'once said the first duty of government is to protect' – but added that 'on every front the SNP and Labour are failing to do that'. Attacking both Labour and the SNP, Mr Bowie, who is also his party's shadow Scottish secretary, said: 'They haven't protected everyone's economic security, by raising taxes, or ripping away their winter fuel payment, even if they are now apparently going to hand it back to them. 'They haven't protected our energy security by insisting on no new oil and gas developments.' The Conservative MP continued: 'We can all see what is happening in the world, there is more risk out there, we as a country are more vulnerable. 'That is why the decisions of this Labour Government are so gravely concerning. Their economic incompetence, coupled with their frightening ineptitude when it comes to our energy security is making the United Kingdom more vulnerable.' He attacked the Labour Government over its 'madcap drive to clean power by 2030', as he said ministers were 'actively accelerating the decline of our North Sea'. This, he said, was 'forcing us to become increasingly exposed to over-reliance on imports from overseas, imports that are shipped in diesel-chugging tankers across the Atlantic from America or from Norwegian wells'. The Tory said the opposition to new oil and gas developments meant 'investment is drying up, work is being put on pause, companies are literally shutting up shop and jobs are being lost'. But he added: 'This hostility for our oil and gas workers is not simply the preserve of the zealots in the Labour Party. 'The SNP have their fingerprints all over the job losses, the well closures.' Mr Bowie added: 'We need Conservative leadership because we know where the SNP and Labour will take us.' He also used his speech to attack the 'snake oil salesmen' in Reform UK, insisting that Nigel Farage's party do not 'care one jot for Scotland, or for our United Kingdom'. The Tory said: 'Let me be clear. Reform is quite simply not a conservative party, not a unionist party, frankly they are not a serious party.'
