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Reposted by Andrew Hesselden

Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

1. The Schengen Area is one of Europe and the EU’s greatest achievements. It has transformed everyday life for hundreds of millions of people — and it works extremely well for people inside the zone. 🧵 Here’s a thread about how Brexit messed things up for millions of people:

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 8h

The next few months matter enormously. Political decisions taken now could lock Britain into a slightly softer Brexit for years — or open the road back to Europe. We should be clear about the minimum we want: Freedom of Movement of goods, services, people and capital.

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 9h

A Customs Union without Freedom of Movement would leave Britain outside much of what makes the European economy so powerful. Goods matter. But so do services, people and capital. Britain shouldn’t settle for fixing one quarter of the problem.

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 10h

We should stop asking how little of Brexit we can undo. Ask instead: what does Britain need to prosper again? Freedom of Movement of goods. Freedom of Movement of services. Freedom of Movement of people. Freedom of Movement of capital. That should be our starting point.

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 11h

Britain is approaching a fork in the road. One path leaves hard Brexit largely intact. Another adds a Customs Union and declares the problem solved. The ambitious path restores Freedom of Movement of goods, services, people and capital — and takes us back towards EU membership.

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 12h

The question facing Britain isn’t simply “Customs Union or hard Brexit?” That’s far too timid. The real question is how quickly we restore the freedoms Brexit took away: Goods. Services. People. Capital. And ultimately our place in the EU.

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 13h

The danger now is that Britain spends years negotiating a slightly less damaging Brexit. A Customs Union would be an improvement. But Britain needs far more. Freedom of Movement of goods, services, people and capital should be the minimum ambition.

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 14h

A Customs Union tackles only part of the damage. What about services? What about working across Europe? What about British businesses being able to recruit and operate freely? What about investment? Goods, services, people and capital. We need all four freedoms back.

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 15h

Goods. Services. People. Capital. The four freedoms are not an optional extra. Together they make the European economy work. Britain needs all four. The next few months could decide whether we settle for managing Brexit better — or begin reversing it.

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 16h

A Customs Union would help. But let’s not mistake it for the destination. Britain needs the Freedom of Movement of goods, services, people and capital. That’s the minimum needed to get things moving again — our economy, our businesses and our people.

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 21h

The next few months could determine Britain’s relationship with Europe for a generation. We can keep hard Brexit. We can settle for a Customs Union. Or we can start rebuilding what actually makes Europe work: Freedom of Movement of goods, services, people and capital.

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

For years, pro-Europeans have treated Freedom of Movement as the difficult bit we should talk about later. I think that’s backwards. It’s the argument we need to win FIRST. Win back public and political confidence in Freedom of Movement and the path towards rejoining the EU becomes much easier.

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Want to unlock the path back to the EU? Campaign for Freedom of Movement. Not eventually. Now. If politicians can become comfortable with British people once again living, working, studying and retiring freely across Europe, the biggest psychological barrier to rejoining starts to fall.

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

If we want to rejoin the EU, we need to campaign for Freedom of Movement now. It remains the great political stumbling block. Avoiding it won’t make it disappear. Winning the argument for it could unlock everything else. It’s time to deal with Freedom of Movement head on.

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Whatever MPs think Britain’s future relationship with the EU should look like, it deserves serious debate in Parliament. Ask your MP to attend the upcoming debate: www.europeanmovement.co.uk/contact-mp-a...

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

There’s an upcoming debate on the UK’s relationship with the EU. If you want your MP to take part, you can contact them here and ask them to attend: www.europeanmovement.co.uk/contact-mp-a...

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Parliament will be debating the UK’s relationship with the EU. Want your MP in the room? You can contact them here: www.europeanmovement.co.uk/contact-mp-a...

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Reposted by Andrew Hesselden

Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

They might do. But that doesn’t really matter. What matters is that these historic ones exist today and coexist with Schengen. So it proves such arrangements can be made if politicians want to. Then it’s up to politicians to decide if this something they want to do.

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

4. Bilateral agreements on visa waivers like the ones New Zealand, Canada, USA and others have. Most of these seem to be from pre-Schengen times but their existence proves their ongoing compatibility with Schengen. Some say they can’t be done. I disagree because most things can be made to work.

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

3. Third, a new agreement on FOM of people, rather like Switzerland has. Professor Diego Acosta wrote a paper on this suggesting it as a model for example for UK and Spain to try. Could solve many of the Gibraltar problems.

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

2. Second, rejoining the single market. Probably easier and it’s still Brexit but it’s Brexit without any of the problems Brexit has caused.

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

1. First, the big one: rejoining the EU. Solves a lot of problems.

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

Thread on solving the 90-in-180 day problem 🧵 The solutions to the 90-in-180 day problem are many and varied. Politicians really have **no** excuse for inaction. Any of the following provide models for solutions or are solutions in themselves…

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

A Freedom of Movement deal wouldn’t be Britain doing Europe a favour. It would be a reciprocal bargain: Europeans regain opportunities in Britain. British people regain opportunities across Europe. That’s the point. We get something enormous back too.

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

A British musician playing in Berlin. A consultant working with a client in Brussels. A builder taking a job in France. A retiree living in Spain. A student studying in Bologna. Stop trying to squeeze all human movement into the word “immigration”. It’s mobility. And it matters.

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

If your answer to Freedom of Movement is “but I don’t want to live abroad”, you’ve missed the point. You don’t have to use a freedom for it to be valuable. I may never live in Vienna. I still want the right to wake up one morning and decide that I will.

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Dean Morrison #FBPE #Breturn @deanmorrison.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Must be so deadly dull, as must be your existence as a 'lawyer, economist & academic' as must be all European media that the sole subject you are left with are the Brits & Brexit as reported in the Guardian. Why are you so obsessed with us? Niall 🤣

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Freedom of Movement wasn’t about everybody moving. It was about everybody having the choice. Most people never used it. But if a job, relationship, opportunity or adventure took you across Europe, the door was open. That door can be opened again.

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Here’s a strange definition of sovereignty: Your government gains the power to stop you moving freely to 27 neighbouring countries. You lose the power to do it. Brexit transferred control. Just not in the direction we were promised.

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Dean Morrison #FBPE #Breturn @deanmorrison.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Have a look at Luigi's posts. The same monomaniacal obsession about the Brits & keeping us out at Niall has. Claims to be a 'lawyer, economist & academic' but zero posts about those subjects or about life in Finland where he claims to live Nothing from anywhere but UK media. He's not a real person

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Dean Morrison #FBPE #Breturn @deanmorrison.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Sadly there are plenty. There's a whole little network of them. All pushing Niall's line, in exactly the same terms. Almost as if it's a concerted effort by someone. That's why I'm happy to call them out for what they are and bust the pretence that their real concern is the sanctity of the EU.

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Dean Morrison #FBPE #Breturn @deanmorrison.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Luigi isn't real he's a Niall sockpuppet. Every single post in his timeline is an attack on the UK & all who wish to Rejoin the EU. Quoting only UK sources. You'd think a 'Venetian lawyer & academic' living in Finland might have a wider range of interests & source materials to draw on? 🙄

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Europe used to be somewhere British people could move through life, not just travel through on holiday. A job offer in Amsterdam. A relationship in Barcelona. A retirement in France. No grand plan required. Freedom of Movement made opportunity spontaneous. Brexit made it bureaucratic.

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

A British teenager born today has fewer automatic rights across Europe than their parents had at the same age. That isn’t ancient history. It was a political choice. And political choices can be reversed. Restore mutual Freedom of Movement.

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Don't expect Labour to wake up one morning and suddenly fall in love with rejoining the EU. Expect a tipping point at which NOT moving towards Europe begins to look economically, electorally and politically riskier than moving towards it. That's the moment to create.

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Labour strategists will be watching one thing very carefully: When does being visibly pro-European start winning more votes than Brexit caution saves? Once that calculation changes, policy can change surprisingly quickly.

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Reposted by Andrew Hesselden

Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Brexit isn't just about trade deals or treaties. It's about thousands of small opportunities that quietly disappeared. Most people only notice when one of those opportunities was theirs.

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

For years we've been told the EU wouldn't want Britain back. Now European leaders are openly discussing a closer UK-EU relationship and the possibility of Britain rejoining. The conversation has changed. www.ft.com/content/3d43...

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

If you're campaigning to rejoin the EU, your audience isn't the people who already agree with you about everything European. It's the millions who might agree with you about one big thing. Broad coalitions are built by creating room for those people, not testing their ideological purity.

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Why settle for a halfway house? Reuters argues that full EU membership is the best destination for Britain — with a seat back at the decision-making table. I agree. www.breakingviews.com/columns/big-...

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Here’s my checklist for Andy Burnham

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

If you’re still undecided about UK rejoining the EU, would it influence you if you were to find out that - the EU referendum had been subjected to foreign interference? Or if - the referendum had not met the UK’s constitutional requirements in some way?

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Brexit promised to restore British sovereignty. Instead, Britain follows many European rules, enjoys fewer rights, faces more barriers and has less influence over the decisions affecting it. We did not take back control. We surrendered control and renamed the surrender “independence”.

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

1. Thread 🧵 Don't worry about the euro 💶. When the question of the euro comes, we'll have that debate honestly, openly and on its own merits. Today, the question is simply whether Britain belongs back in the European Union or not.

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

I’d like to get my recent video on freedom of movement in front of @andyburnham.bsky.social @savefom.bsky.social Can anyone help me do that? youtu.be/JYA3gVGxlnw

youtu.be

Andrew Hesselden: Unlocking the Brexit Impasse with Freedom of Movement

YouTube video by Andrew Hesselden

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Criticise the politics that produced Brexit. Criticise the lies. Criticise the governments that implemented it. But don't mock ordinary people who lost their European rights alongside everyone else.

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

As Gibraltar dismantles its border with 🇪🇸 Spain and the 🇬🇧 British territory becomes part of the Schengen zone, Brexit the Elephant was feeling confused. “Why, if this is such a good idea for Gibraltar, is it not also a really splendid idea for the rest of the UK too?“ #BrexitTheElephant #RejoinEU

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

10. I want British people to regain European Freedom of Movement. Not because borders don't matter. Because people mobility matters. For opportunity. For business. For families. For culture. For retirement. For love. Freedom of Movement is exactly what it says: freedom.

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

9. So the question shouldn't simply be: "Should we allow more immigration?" Ask instead: How much freedom should British people have to move around Europe — and how much freedom should we offer Europeans in return? That's a much more useful conversation.

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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

8. Brexit didn't simply change Britain's immigration system. It removed a reciprocal freedom from British citizens — a freedom millions of us had possessed to move around our own continent with remarkably little bureaucracy. That's a very different way of understanding what happened.

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