Bruges Group (United Kingdom)

[1][non-primary source needed] The group is often associated with the Conservative Party, including MPs such as Iain Duncan Smith, Daniel Hannan, John Redwood, and Norman Lamont.

[3] Founded in February 1989, the Bruges Group's original aim was to promote the idea of a less centralised European structure than what they felt was emerging in Brussels.

It was established by Lord Harris of High Cross and Oxford University student Patrick Robertson in response to Margaret Thatcher's Bruges speech to the College of Europe in September 1988, during which she remarked that: I want to see us work more closely on the things we can do better together than alone.

The group was a rallying point for rebellious backbench Conservative MPs during House of Commons debates over the Maastricht Treaty in 1992.

[7] Lord Ralph Harris, who had been general director of the Institute of Economic Affairs 1957 to 1988, was chairman from 1989 until 1991 when he was replaced by professor Kenneth Minogue.

Lord Lamont of Lerwick, Chancellor of the Exchequer 1990–1993, remarked that the Bruges Group maintains 'a vital influence on the European debate and I hope others will support it enthusiastically.

John Redwood MP also remarked that the Bruges Group 'has set out many important points in the debate about the way Europe is careering towards a superstate and the way in which Britain needs a different and better relationship with our European partners.

[20] In 2021, the DUP's former Deputy Leader Nigel Dodds, Sir Bernard Jenkin MP, and James Webber of Shearman & Sterling, addressed the Bruges Group in a Waterloo Day webinar on 'The Future of the Union', on the issues of the Northern Ireland Protocol and how the Johnson government should renegotiate on the status of Northern Ireland.

These events have covered topics like the European Union, immigration, trade, and the euro, and they seek to inform decision-makers and opinion-formers, especially those in Parliament and the media.

[citation needed] Through events, meetings, and papers, the Bruges Group played a key part in the 2016 Brexit Referendum in which 51.9 percent of validated votes (37.4 per cent of the electorate) were in favour of leaving the European Union.

[27] The group's director, Robert Oulds, is sometimes quoted in the press and makes regular appearances on TV and radio discussing European issues.

Denis MacShane, a former Labour politician and convicted fraudster, remarked that the Bruges Group 'carries a great deal of anti-EU material but set within the bounds of reasonable discourse'.