Brussels has reacted to the UK General Election news in typical bureaucratic and calculated manner which has seen the negotiating power during the Brexit talks swing to rest firmly in the hands of the EU Commission. Whilst early indications from Michel Barnier fuelled hopes that the EU Commission would be willing to amend the timeline and be flexible, these wishes were quickly dismissed by President’s Junker and Tusk, both of whom struck a very hard line on the Brexit negotiations.   In the eyes of the EU Institutions, it was the UK’s decision to invoke the Article 50 two-year process […]

UKIP’s rise and fall could be considered the greatest phenomenon in modern British politics. Their rapid rise to success, and their even faster demise, makes their story unlike any of the other parties in the British political scene.   From its outset in the 1990s UKIP presented themselves as outsiders, different to the political elites of Westminster. In part, this was true, and their success as outsiders got several of them elected to comfortable seats in Brussels – where they have enjoyed large pay packets at the same time as they complained about the system (Nigel Farage is still an MEP). […]

Senior Consultant Diana Varley looks in more detail at the polling during this General Election campaign.   Until Theresa May called the General Election, the polls were relatively consistent. Last month the Conservative Party were miles ahead and Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party were struggling to keep up. UKIP were just behind the Liberal Democrats, polling at between five and seven percent compared to the Liberal Democrats’ 12 percent. Meanwhile the Greens were polling at less than three percent.   Then the Prime Minister called a snap General Election and all hell broke loose. In polling terms. The UKIP vote collapsed […]

Campaigning in the UK election is well underway again after the shocking terrorist attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester. The decision that was (rightly) made to suspend campaigning gave the nation time to grieve over a terrible act which specifically targeted young women and girls celebrating the many freedoms offered to them in the West. It is worth saying that whilst campaigning is back in full swing, for many families, the horrors of that night earlier this week is a constant worry and will not ease any time soon.   UKIP were the first to being campaigning again, […]

Don’t rely on the pollsters or the betting odds to predict the outcome of the General Election this year, here at Chelgate we’ve got a much better method of forecasting: the promise of champagne. Another General Election and so another opportunity for you to enter the famous Chelgate Election Competition.  We want to know who is the most politically astute or at least the most clairvoyant among our many partners, clients, contacts, in fact anyone in the industry. The winner will be richly rewarded with a case of champagne, so the stakes couldn’t be higher! We have been running this […]

In a period of huge political uncertainty with Brexit, Trump and other world leaders including Putin jostling for stronger positions, Prime Minister Theresa May has thrown her hat into the ring by calling a UK General Election. If she manages to get her surprise snap poll, announced in Downing Street earlier today, through the House of Commons it will be held on 8 June this year. Mrs May wants her own mandate to counter Opposition arguments that she’s unelected which she feels weakens her Brexit stance. The PM spoke of a unifying campaign, in stark contrast to the EU referendum when […]