BrexitCentral
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

BrexitCentral was a pro-Brexit news website founded by Matthew Eliott. It was active from 2016-2020. The website described its mission as "promoting a positive vision of Britain after Brexit". According to Buzzfeed News, "five of the site's seven staff members explicitly worked on the Vote Leave campaign, while its registered headquarters is in the same building as the campaign's was." By 2018, the website's offices were reported to be located in Millbank Tower, London. Its first editor was
Jonathan Isaby Jonathan may refer to: * Jonathan (name), a masculine given name Media * ''Jonathan'' (1970 film), a German film directed by Hans W. Geißendörfer * ''Jonathan'' (2016 film), a German film directed by Piotr J. Lewandowski * ''Jonathan'' (2018 ...
, who previously worked as Co-Editor of ConservativeHome and Political Director of the
TaxPayers’ Alliance The TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) is a pressure group in the United Kingdom which was formed in 2004 to campaign for a low-tax society. The group had about 18,000 registered supporters as of 2008 and claimed to have 55,000 by September 2010. However ...
. Isaby wrote for ConservativeHome in 2016 that "the establishment of BrexitCentral by the ever entrepreneurial Matthew Elliott, who headed the Vote Leave campaign and now returns to the helm of Business for Britain, is about giving those more than 17.4 million people a voice". The website also employed former Vote Leave employee Darren Grimes. Former Vote Leave staffer Shahmir Sanni has described the site as "part of a network of rightwing thinktanks – including the Institute of Economic Affairs, the Adam Smith Institute, BrexitCentral and others – that have the ears of cabinet ministers and MPs". These groups are all connected to 55 and 57 Tufton Street in Westminster, London, where "regular think tank meetings are chaired jointly by staff from the pro-Brexit website Brexit Central and low-tax campaigners the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA)", according to OpenDemocracy. '' The Guardian'' included BrexitCentral among a group of "ultra free market thinktanks hichhave gained exceptional access to the heart of Boris Johnson’s government." In 2017 it was reported that the website had been granted lobby passes, granting their employees access to parliamentary briefings. "It is pretty disturbing to see what is essentially continuity Vote Leave being given unfettered access to parliament," Labour's
Stephen Kinnock Stephen Nathan Kinnock (born 1 January 1970) is a Welsh politician who has served as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Aberavon (UK Parliament constituency), Aberavon since 2015. A member of the Labour Party (U ...
told Buzzfeed. In 2019, the BBC reported that a claim by BrexitCentral that all EU countries would be forced to adopt the Euro after 2020 was false. Writers for the website have included Claire Ainsley, former head of the
Joseph Rowntree Foundation The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) is a charity that conducts and funds research aimed at solving poverty in the UK. JRF's stated aim is to "inspire action and change that will create a prosperous UK without poverty." Originally called the ...
, and current Labour Party policy chief under
Sir Keir Starmer Sir Keir Rodney Starmer (; born 2 September 1962) is a British politician and barrister who has served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He has been Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) ...
. She wrote for the website in November 2016 that "Brexit presents us with the opportunity to transform the prospects of many who voted Leave". The website shut down in January 2020, as the UK finalised its Withdrawal Agreement from the European Union. Leftover funding for the website was used to award two £10,000 grants to young policymakers, "for a project which would make a meaningful contribution to the battle of ideas," according to Matthew Eliot. One of the prizes was awarded to Chris Barnard and the leadership of the British Conservation Alliance, the second to Dr Richard Johnson, Lecturer in US Politics at Queen Mary University of London.{{Cite web, title=Matthew Elliot: Unveiling the winners of BrexitCentral's £25,000 in policy entrepreneurship prizes, url=https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2020/12/matthew-elliot-unveiling-the-winners-of-brexitcentrals-25000-in-policy-entrepreneurship-prizes.html, access-date=2021-03-30, website=Conservative Home, date=22 December 2020 , language=en-US


References

Brexit–related advocacy groups in the United Kingdom