EVERY major organisation says Brexit has reduced UK growth by £ hundreds of billions. At a time we need every £ more than ever, Rejoin is the biggest single lever Burnham can pull to create growth and to reduce low-contribution immigration.

BBC impartiality. The ONS says unemployment has fallen, but BBC Breakfast runs with the headline that job vacancies are down. It's time Lisa Nandy did her job, got a grip on this organisation, and cleared out the Tory henchmen @lisanandy @Ofcom @BBCBreakfast @BBCPolitics @BBCNews

In 2016 the Conservative Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said, "The only country that would like us to leave the EU is Russia" In 2026 the former Head of MI6 Sir John Sawers said, "Russia was very keen that the Leave campaign should succeed and that Britain should leave the European Union. Because that would marginalise Britain as a global player and weaken Europe in general" "That's the strategic opportunity the Russians spotted, and the leaders of the Leave campaign fell into it" My view: The warning was there before the referendum: Moscow had a clear interest in Britain breaking with Europe. A decade later, a former head of MI6 has explained why — a divided Europe and a Britain pushed to the margins would serve Russia’s strategic interests. It does show that the Kremlin saw Brexit as an opportunity to weaken both Britain and the European Union, and was keen for Leave to win. The damage was predictable: less British influence in Europe, more friction between allies and a weaker collective response to Russian aggression. Brexit handed Moscow the kind of division it wanted. The leaders of Leave may have believed they were restoring Britain’s power. In reality, they pursued a course that played directly into Russia’s hands, and the country is still living with the consequences: weaker, worse off, with escalated societal tensions.

I don’t think it’s accurate to say we voted for Brexit.

Brexit. Making life worse for the British people every day.

Something is going on here…

Nigel Farage claims Labour "dumped hundreds of illegal migrants" into Essex, that Reform's council is keeping residents safe, and that Operation Vanguard has been "a huge success." The public record contradicts all three, and on his Chelmsford walkabout he added a fourth claim: that Essex's chief constable is misleading the public. Wethersfield first took asylum seekers on 12 July 2023, under the Sunak Conservative government, which planned to raise numbers to 1,700. Labour has raised the cap from 800 to 1,245 bedspaces and plans to keep the site open beyond April 2027. That is fair to criticise. It did not create the site. "Dumped" is a waste metaphor that casts people as refuse. In practice the men live on a self-contained airfield and are bussed into the towns by day under a Home Office arrangement. "Illegal" prejudges claims still being processed. On safety, the council's own launch report records the Home Office view that there is no evidence of Wethersfield affecting crime levels. Chief Constable Rachel Nolan told the BBC that crime linked to the site was "very low": 15 offences since 2023 in which a member of the public was the victim and the suspect was identified as, or alleged to be, a Wethersfield resident. Essex Police added that of 23 arrests linked to the site this year, the majority were for "migrant-on-migrant offences". Every offence matters. But 15 in over three years, from a site housing hundreds of men, is what "very low" looks like. Farage's answer was to call Nolan "completely wrong" and "deeply misleading", citing statistics "from all over the country" that, as the BBC noted, he did not identify. He also said Wethersfield had "not been open long". It has been open for more than three years, which is the period her figures cover. He then claimed police have "given up" on shoplifters. Essex Police say they secured more than 4,000 shop theft charges over the past year. On "success", the patrols began on 14 September, one month into a three-month pilot. Farage said the guards had helped tackle shoplifting and one "quite serious" sexual assault. If they actually assisted a victim, great. But it's an anecdote from a party leader on a promotional walkabout, not an evaluation. The council says it will judge the scheme on incidents, police referrals and perceptions of safety. I could find no published figures on any of them. What has been independently reported is two guards browsing clothes on patrol, and a council motion to scrap the scheme. The contract costs £141,523 including VAT for six guards with no police powers. Councils do have a legitimate duty around fear of crime. Meeting it by paying for patrols that confirm the fear, while attacking the chief constable who says the risk is low, is the textbook case of disproportionality. The guards are licensed and contracted, so "vigilantism" overstates it. The real problem is a council giving official backing to the idea that asylum seekers in a town centre are, in themselves, a security matter. What Vanguard has demonstrably produced is the photograph attached to Farage's post: the party leader flanked by red vests. Essex has no power over asylum, so it built something that looks like a response. A feeling of threat is treated as fact, and a photo opportunity for a populist leader is treated as a result.

Superb investigation into the reality of Farage party

Lots of people are suggesting that because the British economy is outperforming some EU countries, Brexit has somehow been vindicated. It’s a ridiculous way to measure the economic consequences of leaving the world’s largest single market. The independent Office for Budget Responsibility estimates that Brexit will leave Britain’s economy 4% smaller in the long run than it otherwise would have been. Research from the Centre for European Reform also estimates that Brexit has reduced our exports to the EU by 12%, compared with remaining. And crucially, most of that damage comes from leaving the single market itself. Rejoining the single market would remove major barriers facing British businesses, strengthen trade with our largest trading partner and provide a substantial opportunity to increase investment and economic growth. Britain outperforming Germany or France in any given year doesn’t erase the economic opportunities we’ve sacrificed. Imagine how much stronger our economy could be if we stopped imposing unnecessary barriers between British businesses and their biggest market.

Larry hits the spot !

Small boat arrivals are at a 4 year low - Reform are lying, again.

On the day after @peterjukes & I broke the story of Arron Banks’s covert meetings with the Russian ambassador, I was invited onto @BBCr4today to discuss it. Big news! Finally the chance to break through to a BBC audience. Only the interview was cancelled because they needed ‘someone from the other side’ & the Russian ambassador wasn’t available. Facts don’t have a side. It meant the BBC never covered the story. And here we are..

EXCLUSIVE: Reform figures see social media engagement drop after strikes on Russia data centres thelondoneconomic.com/politi…

“drop in bot activity following Ukrainian strikes on Russian data centres…dramatic drop in activity around far-right German party, the AfD…On X, social media posts from Reform figures have taken an engagement hit in the wake of the great bot silencing.” thelondoneconomic.com/politi…

Former MI6 chief 'very confident' in Burnham's assertion Russia attempted to meddle in Brexit vote lbc.co.uk/article/former-mi6…

17.4 million voted to leave, 16.1 million voted to remain! Those swung by Russian interference, £350 million for NHS, reduced immigration, cheaper energy, cheaper food, clothes, world deals, control - If they hadn't believed lies only 650,000 had to vote REMAIN instead of leave!

So this is obviously the official pushback to the line on Russian interference & it’s the same nonsense that Boris Johnson spouted: ‘no successful interference’ is utterly meaningless. There’s never been any investigation & no definition of what ‘success’ means.

The @Conservatives and Boris Johnson also have some serious questions to answer about Russian interference in our electoral system. Especially since Boris Johnson was in receipt of large donations from Russian sources. Why did they suppress investigation?

Andy Burnham has now explicitly acknowledged that Russia interfered in the Brexit referendum and is using disinformation to undermine Western democracies. So how do people feel about the fact that Brexit, Trump, Reform/Restore etc and the wider rise of the far right all advance political outcomes that serve Russia’s strategic interests by weakening Western unity and dividing our societies? Who feels it's "patriotic" to be a part of the Russian misinformation machine? x.com/RestIsPolitics/status/…

Andy Burnham first PM to confirm Kremlin role in Brexit vote The prime minister has revealed UK authorities told him there was ‘clear evidence’ that Moscow meddled in the referendum observer.co.uk/news/national…