David Rochester

Single Market membership would bring certainty, lower costs and give firs access to customers and supply chains without constant paperwork and delays. It would support growth in goods and services, not just tidy up the margins. This is the pragmatic route back to serious economic Join the Single Market.

The Single Market was responsible for 41% of the UK’s exports in 2024, and remains the largest trading bloc in the world. Rejoining would eliminate trade barriers for most goods and services, control consumer prices, and allow capital, goods and people to move freely.

Why would the people of Durham not vote Reform - what's not to like about increasing council tax, cutting £12.9m from services, having a Deputy Leader who posts AI lies or a Leader who ran two companies that went bust owing more than £500k in tax?

No ships at all going through the Strait of Hormuz

Anyway, here we have it black and white that because U.K. has a less significant currency, it needs to pay a much higher interest ras than France and Italy.

Should we be in the €-zone, we can save £30 billion per year on the interest payments on our £2.9 trillion debt.

NEW ANALYSIS: UK emissions fell 2.4% in 2025 as coal fell to a 400-year low. Incredibly, we used less coal last year than than in 1600, when Queen Elizabeth I was on the throne and Shakespeare was writing Hamlet.

All the details in our article: www.carbonbrief.org/...

EU UK Reset Efforts Urged to Accelerate in 2026 MEPs call for EU UK reset efforts to be decisively accelerated in 2026 as Brexit marks ten years and geopolitical pressures reshape European priorities.

"Brexit meant Brexit, but 10 years is a long time in politics and the geopolitical landscape has changed beyond recognition. It is time for the UK Government to recognise that the EU is its closest ally and its strongest partner. Progress has been too slow. The EU–UK reset must now be supercharged.”

FT comments section this morning - saying what everyone else is thinking, right?

BREAKING - Rachel Reeves on the need for closer relations with the EU 🇪🇺

"To go further in strengthening our global relationships, breaking down trade barriers and deepening alliances with our European partners for a more secured and connected economy.

Fantastic news, and will revolutionise European travel.

Green MP Ellie Chowns on the elections bill last night: "It is really quite extraordinary that the Thailand-based crypto investor Christopher Harborne has been allowed to donate £9 million to Reform UK. I notice that its Members are still not here" (2/3rds of the way into the debate)

"The trade was not that you were getting exposed to geopolitics when moving to Dubai."

A thousand flatterers sit within thy crown,
Whose compass is no bigger than thy head,
And yet, incaged in so small a verge,
The waste is no whit lesser than thy land.

Really concerned to hear the Defence Secretary refuse to rule out UK's involvement in future strikes on Iran.

Iraq lessons must be learned.
Further escalation in the Middle East makes us all less safe.

Starmer must rule out UK involvement immediately.

There's a lot going on on this front page, most of it disgraceful.

I am assuming that the answer to the question in purple font is "Stop reading The Daily Mail"?

For all its efforts, and all its dishonesty, the media could not prevent the Greens succeeding in Gorton & Denton. The revealed impotence of the media might be the most important consequence of the by-election.

Biden on Trump's SOTU speech: The guy talked for almost 2 hours, but never mentioned the anniversary of Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Not once. I’ve spent a lot of time in Ukraine. The incredible bravery of those people. Imagine how they feel, wondering,

Could a journalist ask her to explain her reasoning behind "plain wrong"?

There is always a tweet.

Reform asked voters of Gorton and Denton to 'channel their patriotic Blitz spirit'

And they did just that - by defeating fascists.

Thank god. A great win for Hannah Spencer and the Greens, for #GortonAndDenton and for progressive voters. Made even greater by the huge Reform sulk. And the fact that the hateful Goodwin got whooped.
Now Labour, look to your left because you will not win from the right. We’re sick of that failure.

This from @adilray.bsky.social made me cry ❤️

It’s a running joke in academia that Matt Goodwin is bad at maths.

This sort of thing is why: the combined Labour/Green vote could have split in any way possible and Goodwin would have finished 2nd or 3rd. He did not lose because progressives coordinated. He lost *in spite of them not doing so*.

Kevin Nguyen @knguyen ... Tried to add "12 Years a Slave" to Google Calendar and it created a 12-year-long event called "a Slave" • a Slave Tue, February 25, 8pm - Wed, February 25, 2026, 8pm Delete Edit event » 5:27 PM • Feb 23, 2014

It’s finally over

Reform UK plans to scrap Renters' Rights Act spark fury Reform UK has pledged to scrap the Renters' Rights Act if the party secures power. It has angered renters waiting for no-fault eviction ban.

Reform plans to rip up Renters’ Rights Act after tenants wait years for no-fault evictions ban

If Manchester elects Matt Goodwin an MP I don't think we should ever let them live it down

Great to see the Conservatives wanting to reform student loans. Would like to see an account for Osborne replacing maintenance grants with loans in 2015. This has left poorer students with bigger debts vs richer ones for a whole decade, compounding inequality between rich and poor. It’s scandalous.

Better still, grow up and rejoin.

Starmer's Brexit reset must go even further, says European Parliament president. The Telegraph, 24 February.

Europe wants us back in - it's time to listen, and repair our relationship with them to regain our place at the heart of the continent.

If we wake up on Friday to a by-election result like this, and particularly if a Labour-Green split means Reform win, then you'd wonder if the PR supporters within Labour might start wondering very hard about pushing for electoral reform in this parliament.