On the anniversary of the EU referendum, the party leadership needs an audit of what went wrong this month, and a plan for the Tory future in this Parliament.
The absence of tariffs comes last, not first. They are the end-point of a successful negotiation, not its starting-point. They are the icing on the cake.
The Government must try to build from the essentials out – security, legal certainty, frictionless trade. Zero tariffs would be the icing on the cake.
William Norton is a solicitor anc Conservative candidate for Birmingham Perry Barr. He has been an adviser on tax affairs and legislation to the Conservative frontbench and was a member of the permanent staff of the James Review on Taxpayer Value between 2004 and 2005. William was also the referendum agent for the victorious No […]
William Norton is a solicitor. He has been an adviser on tax affairs and legislation to the Conservative frontbench and was a member of the permanent staff of the James Review on Taxpayer Value between 2004 and 2005. William was also the referendum agent for the victorious No campaign in the North East Regional Referendum […]
William Norton is a solicitor. He has been an adviser on tax affairs and legislation to the Conservative frontbench and was a member of the permanent staff of the James Review on Taxpayer Value between 2004 and 2005. William was also the referendum agent for the victorious No campaign in the North East Regional Referendum […]
It’s the end of an era as the Grand Old Man of world revolution, Fidel Castro, announces he is to stand down after 49 years in charge of Cuba. So what does the future hold for this idyllic, happy, paradise island in the sun? To ensure that readers of Conservative Home have the very latest […]
This is the final part of a series on how to win a referendum by William Norton, referendum agent for the successful NESNO campaign. The UK law on referendums is a complete and utter mess. The Political Parties, Elections & Referendums Act 2000 (“PPERA”) is poorly drafted, being vague and littered with inconsistencies. At one […]
This is the fourth of a five part series on how to win a referendum by William Norton, referendum agent for the successful NESNO campaign. The best chance for the Yes Men to win a referendum on the Constitution-Treaty is to avoid any discussion of the actual hard details and instead try to fight on […]
This is the third of a five part series on how to win a referendum by William Norton, referendum agent for the successful NESNO campaign. Staffwork is what wins elections, and in any referendum on the Constitution-Treaty the No Campaign will have a massive in-built advantage: it will be a referendum about a specific document, […]
This is the second of a five part series on how to win a referendum by William Norton, referendum agent for the successful NESNO campaign. You’d be surprised how many people forget this, but elections are all about getting the most votes, and the idea therefore is to choose the campaign message which maximises your […]
This is the first of a five part series on how to win a referendum by William Norton, referendum agent for the successful NESNO campaign. A referendum is not a party political contest. To reach the 51% winning line a successful campaign will require the support of people who normally vote for different parties (or […]
William Norton was the Referendum Agent for NESNO, the designated No Campaign for the North East Referendum. William is writing the first in a series of Platform pieces from Conservative authors about the dangers and opportunities of LibCon co-operation. Tomorrow Robert Colville will look at the possible for co-operation on the localisation agenda. Click here […]
William Norton was the Referendum Agent for NESNO, the designated No Campaign for the North East Referendum. At the start of the campaign in September the opinion polls were giving an effective Yes vote of 67% to a No vote of 33%. In the end Yes received 22% and No received 78%. John Prescott is […]
There are some risks to trade, but they should be rationalised and addressed rather than overhyped.