As the latest Brexit debate continues at Westminster, Policy Scotland offers a series of long-form reflections that provide deeper perspectives on the process of the UK leaving the European Union.
Sir Ivan Rogers’ lectures
Policy Scotland was pleased to host two lectures by Sir Ivan Rogers, the Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the European Union from 2013 to 2017.
In this position, he was the UK’s most senior negotiator with other Member States and the European institutions.
The full text of his lectures are available on the Policy Scotland website.
The real post-Brexit options
In May this year he spoke on ‘The real post-Brexit options’ at the University of Glasgow at which time he warned that “…we are now at a point where reality starts to bite on all sides. And it’s time soon to decide what are feasible outlines of solutions even if it then takes years, as it will, to fill in all the substance.”
See the full text of the lecture on ‘The real post-Brexit options’
The History and Origins of Brexit
This very popular lecture was given by Sir Ivan on ‘The History and Origins of Brexit’. He covered the deep origins of Brexit, and explained why, in his view, the Brexit crisis was “both a revolutionary moment and the product of a revolutionary movement” that had been “a long time in gestation”. He made a close connection between the referendum result and the UK’s transactional approach to its membership of the European Union.
See the full text on the lecture on ‘The History and Origins of Brexit’
Since then Sir Ivan has continued to share his expertise and knowledge on Brexit, and his latest lectures are also available online:
- ‘Brexit as a Revolution’ was a talk at Trinity College in Cambridge on 10 October 2018.
- ‘The Nine Lessons of Brexit’ was given at the Heseltine Institute for Public Policy, Practice and Place at the University of Liverpool on 13 December 2018.
Policy Scotland’s Brexit lecture series
Sir Ivan Rogers’ lectures for Policy Scotland at the University of Glasgow were part of a series of Brexit talks which has featured other prominent and expert speakers including:
- Lord Kerr on ‘Can the Brexit train crash be avoided?’
- Sir Martin Donnelly on ‘Britain after Brexit: the political and economic choices ahead’.
- German MEP David McAllister on ‘“Brexit: Where does the UK and Europe go from here?’
- Michael Russell MSP on ‘Brexit and the implications for higher education in Scotland’
- MEP David Martin on ‘Brexit: Who is taking back control?’
- Professor Anton Muscatelli, Principal of the University of Glasgow on Brexit and the future of the Scottish and UK economy
The full text of Professor Muscatelli’s most recent speech is also online, from when he spoke at Scottish Government Brexit Summit for Further and Higher Education in November 2018.
Upcoming event
Brexit in Historical Context: Sovereignty vs European Union
Professor Beatrice Heuser, Professor of International Relations (Politics) in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Glasgow will contextualise Brexit and the creation of the European Union historically in her inaugural lecture on Monday 21 January 2019.
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