Why temporary EFTA membership is the UK’s quickest and best route back to the single market and rejoining the EU.
Fast track back to the EU?
Why temporary EFTA membership is the UK’s quickest and best route back to the single market and rejoining the EU
northwestbylines.co.uk
May 31, 2025 at 5:20 PM
North, together with his Dad Richard North (author of The Great Deception), formed the core of Team Flexcit aka The Leave Alliance back in 2016. They were considered 'Sensible Leave' at the time, despite being deeply unpleasant individuals.
March 8, 2025 at 6:23 PM
North, together with his Dad Richard North (author of The Great Deception), formed the core of Team Flexcit aka The Leave Alliance back in 2016. They were considered 'Sensible Leave' at the time, despite being deeply unpleasant individuals.
To explain, the proposal reads very much like the Flexcit proposals from a few years ago by Dr Richard North et al
This plan, in the same way, relies on the Union choosing to conspire in its own downfall. That member states would give up control for an untested proposal
2
Roland Smith
This plan, in the same way, relies on the Union choosing to conspire in its own downfall. That member states would give up control for an untested proposal
2
Roland Smith
August 10, 2026 at 7:01 AM
To explain, the proposal reads very much like the Flexcit proposals from a few years ago by Dr Richard North et al
This plan, in the same way, relies on the Union choosing to conspire in its own downfall. That member states would give up control for an untested proposal
2
Roland Smith
This plan, in the same way, relies on the Union choosing to conspire in its own downfall. That member states would give up control for an untested proposal
2
Roland Smith
Flexcit was never a runner, but the Norths were distinctive (esp RN), in being maybe the only leavers who engaged in the technical minutiae of Brexit. They had some influence at one stage, but in the end were just too weird and spiky. @rolandmcs.bsky.social knows this story much better than I do.
January 17, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Flexcit was never a runner, but the Norths were distinctive (esp RN), in being maybe the only leavers who engaged in the technical minutiae of Brexit. They had some influence at one stage, but in the end were just too weird and spiky. @rolandmcs.bsky.social knows this story much better than I do.
I suppose they have. They were a fixture on the other side for a while.
I resent that they gave a veneer of academic plausibility to what was economic and constitutional vandalism. The amount of times I heard Flexcit mentioned before and after the ref., when it was clearly never a runner.
I resent that they gave a veneer of academic plausibility to what was economic and constitutional vandalism. The amount of times I heard Flexcit mentioned before and after the ref., when it was clearly never a runner.
January 17, 2025 at 6:48 PM
I suppose they have. They were a fixture on the other side for a while.
I resent that they gave a veneer of academic plausibility to what was economic and constitutional vandalism. The amount of times I heard Flexcit mentioned before and after the ref., when it was clearly never a runner.
I resent that they gave a veneer of academic plausibility to what was economic and constitutional vandalism. The amount of times I heard Flexcit mentioned before and after the ref., when it was clearly never a runner.
Although various Leavers used to speak of a confirmatory/second referendum after the first, including Arron Banks, Dominic Cummings, Richard North (Flexcit) and Nigel Farage......
November 25, 2024 at 8:39 AM
Although various Leavers used to speak of a confirmatory/second referendum after the first, including Arron Banks, Dominic Cummings, Richard North (Flexcit) and Nigel Farage......
He was mainstream at that time and so was North Senior who worked the detail of rejoining EFTA post-Brexit (very much a mainstream sceptic view back then).
But both had 'previous' (and lots of 'subsequent') showing they were always ghastly. Flexcit was a passing exercise in intellectual superiority
But both had 'previous' (and lots of 'subsequent') showing they were always ghastly. Flexcit was a passing exercise in intellectual superiority
September 26, 2025 at 8:41 PM
He was mainstream at that time and so was North Senior who worked the detail of rejoining EFTA post-Brexit (very much a mainstream sceptic view back then).
But both had 'previous' (and lots of 'subsequent') showing they were always ghastly. Flexcit was a passing exercise in intellectual superiority
But both had 'previous' (and lots of 'subsequent') showing they were always ghastly. Flexcit was a passing exercise in intellectual superiority
I could never understand how Brexit tied itself to him as the intellectual beef in the sandwich. Flexcit was, nó offence Roland, always high grade nonsense.
Sprinkles and caramel sauce doesn't stop shîť being šhıt.
Sprinkles and caramel sauce doesn't stop shîť being šhıt.
December 4, 2024 at 11:39 AM
I could never understand how Brexit tied itself to him as the intellectual beef in the sandwich. Flexcit was, nó offence Roland, always high grade nonsense.
Sprinkles and caramel sauce doesn't stop shîť being šhıt.
Sprinkles and caramel sauce doesn't stop shîť being šhıt.
He was promoting a gradualist Flexcit Brexit involving maintaining freedom of movement for market access in 2014-16
September 26, 2025 at 8:43 PM
He was promoting a gradualist Flexcit Brexit involving maintaining freedom of movement for market access in 2014-16
Don't forget the Flexcit crowd
May 14, 2026 at 3:26 PM
Don't forget the Flexcit crowd
I remember Owen Paterson calling for Britain to leave the ECHR (in 2014), not least because it was part of the Richard North/Flexcit doctrine, which Paterson had paid a lot of attention to (North advised him) until 2015. This is also why OP also called for the UK to step out to a 'Norway' position.
My latest piece for the Spectator examines the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights in the Owen Paterson case (unsurprisingly his claim was ruled inadmissible)
www.spectator.co.uk/article/owen...
www.spectator.co.uk/article/owen...
Owen Paterson must regret his appeal to the European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights has thrown out a challenge by former cabinet minister Owen Paterson following a lobbying probe
www.spectator.co.uk
September 20, 2024 at 7:58 AM
I remember Owen Paterson calling for Britain to leave the ECHR (in 2014), not least because it was part of the Richard North/Flexcit doctrine, which Paterson had paid a lot of attention to (North advised him) until 2015. This is also why OP also called for the UK to step out to a 'Norway' position.
Why was Flexcit never a runner?
January 17, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Why was Flexcit never a runner?
Peter and Richard (son father) were both pro-brexit although Richard favoured Flexcit, leaving the UK in EFTA/EEA.
October 27, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Peter and Richard (son father) were both pro-brexit although Richard favoured Flexcit, leaving the UK in EFTA/EEA.
One can be highly intelligent and delusional and obsessive and bigoted. The Norths are all of those things. And yes, Flexcit was deeply flawed.
September 26, 2025 at 4:35 PM
One can be highly intelligent and delusional and obsessive and bigoted. The Norths are all of those things. And yes, Flexcit was deeply flawed.
To give him his due Richard North was very well informed about trade, the SM and the CU, even if his Flexcit plan was probably never realistic. But the low calibre of the Brexit debate genuinely shocked me and left me disillusioned about Westminster & the London media.
moneyweek.com/473803/why-d...
moneyweek.com/473803/why-d...
Why Dr Richard North, creator of “Flexcit”, thinks the PM must change her strategy
Theresa May has “blown it”, says Dr Richard North, the creator of “Flexcit” – an approach to Brexit that preserves as many benefits of the single market as possible.
moneyweek.com
December 6, 2025 at 1:06 PM
To give him his due Richard North was very well informed about trade, the SM and the CU, even if his Flexcit plan was probably never realistic. But the low calibre of the Brexit debate genuinely shocked me and left me disillusioned about Westminster & the London media.
moneyweek.com/473803/why-d...
moneyweek.com/473803/why-d...
Flexcit relied on Europe and its member states agreed to destroy themselves and their advantages. It was nonsense.
(worth a read now from a historical perspective as to what constituted Brexit thought)
(worth a read now from a historical perspective as to what constituted Brexit thought)
December 6, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Flexcit relied on Europe and its member states agreed to destroy themselves and their advantages. It was nonsense.
(worth a read now from a historical perspective as to what constituted Brexit thought)
(worth a read now from a historical perspective as to what constituted Brexit thought)
I remember Richard North (author of Flexcit) arguing that setting out a real Brexit plan would have given Leave a bigger margin of victory. But I'm not so sure, I think Cummings' instincts were right on the importance of Brexit being "all things to all men".
January 17, 2025 at 9:07 AM
I remember Richard North (author of Flexcit) arguing that setting out a real Brexit plan would have given Leave a bigger margin of victory. But I'm not so sure, I think Cummings' instincts were right on the importance of Brexit being "all things to all men".
I’m not saying FLEXCIT is viable but it at least has some semblance of accepting reality unlike the mad droolings of Mogg and Farage. Also little was made after the referendum of the Leave campaign saying there’s no rush. They rushed towards Brexit knowing if they didn’t they could lose their prize
August 29, 2025 at 9:03 AM
I’m not saying FLEXCIT is viable but it at least has some semblance of accepting reality unlike the mad droolings of Mogg and Farage. Also little was made after the referendum of the Leave campaign saying there’s no rush. They rushed towards Brexit knowing if they didn’t they could lose their prize
🟠 CVE-2026-1619 - High (8.3)
Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key vulnerability in Universal Software Inc. FlexCit...
https://www.thehackerwire.com/vulnerability/CVE-2026-1619/
#infosec #cybersecurity #CVE #vulnerability #security #patchstack
Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key vulnerability in Universal Software Inc. FlexCit...
https://www.thehackerwire.com/vulnerability/CVE-2026-1619/
#infosec #cybersecurity #CVE #vulnerability #security #patchstack
February 13, 2026 at 2:18 PM
🟠 CVE-2026-1619 - High (8.3)
Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key vulnerability in Universal Software Inc. FlexCit...
https://www.thehackerwire.com/vulnerability/CVE-2026-1619/
#infosec #cybersecurity #CVE #vulnerability #security #patchstack
Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key vulnerability in Universal Software Inc. FlexCit...
https://www.thehackerwire.com/vulnerability/CVE-2026-1619/
#infosec #cybersecurity #CVE #vulnerability #security #patchstack
Quoting Richard North again and again doesn’t really achieve much. Flexcit would have involved a vaguely coherent plan which the actual victors were incapable of producing and implementing, or at best unwilling to attempt. Last time I looked North still bitter that his big idea had been ignored.
August 29, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Quoting Richard North again and again doesn’t really achieve much. Flexcit would have involved a vaguely coherent plan which the actual victors were incapable of producing and implementing, or at best unwilling to attempt. Last time I looked North still bitter that his big idea had been ignored.
I think it was Gavin Barwell, May's former chief of staff, who said the Brexiteers were "high on their own supply". As we know, little serious planning was done for Brexit and those who had tried to think it through seriously, like Richard North with his 'Flexcit' tome, were sidelined.
August 25, 2025 at 12:45 PM
I think it was Gavin Barwell, May's former chief of staff, who said the Brexiteers were "high on their own supply". As we know, little serious planning was done for Brexit and those who had tried to think it through seriously, like Richard North with his 'Flexcit' tome, were sidelined.
Why would someone suggest that we trade real accountability, real democracy and true political power in the EU for what a democratically flawed system of lost sovereignty in pursuing a #flexcit Norway-plus Brexit? The answer is ideological zealotry. https://t.co/CpCxT35VWu
June 16, 2018 at 7:47 AM
Why would someone suggest that we trade real accountability, real democracy and true political power in the EU for what a democratically flawed system of lost sovereignty in pursuing a #flexcit Norway-plus Brexit? The answer is ideological zealotry. https://t.co/CpCxT35VWu
I think Flexcit, had legs? Though it needed chopping off at EEA stage. Of course depended on who inherited it , but leave abandoned anyway as didn’t believe it could win…? Johnson, despite his numerous other flaws, might have oven baked Flexcit nicely?
June 26, 2026 at 6:30 PM
I think Flexcit, had legs? Though it needed chopping off at EEA stage. Of course depended on who inherited it , but leave abandoned anyway as didn’t believe it could win…? Johnson, despite his numerous other flaws, might have oven baked Flexcit nicely?