News and Opinion

Amid deepening global anxiety, microbiologist IGNACIO LÓPEZ-GOÑI offers some perspective Regardless of whether we classify the new coronavirus as a pandemic, it is a serious issue. Pandemic means sustained and continuous transmission of the disease, simultaneously in more than three different geographical regions. Pandemic does not refer to the lethality of a virus but to […]

A minister has claimed that no-deal Brexit preparations have made the UK ready for the coronavirus pandemic. Have your say Send your letters for publication to The New European by emailing letters@theneweuropean.co.uk and pick up an edition each Thursday for more comment and analysis. Find your nearest stockist here or subscribe to a print or […]

Hidden in Rishi Sunak’s small print of the budget is a revelation that all migrants will have to pay more for the NHS – including EU citizens who previously received it free at the point of care. Committee chairman Tom Tugendhat. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA. – Credit: PA Revealed on the day that the government vowed […]

Britain’s fiscal watchdog has claimed that real business investment is down by 20% compared to its forecasts before the 2016 EU referendum. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said that investment had ‘barely grown’ since the EU referendum, and as a result of ‘depressed’ business investment the UK’s economic output is down 2% compared to […]

MPs have been told that Boris Johnson is ‘prepared to crash the economy’ to deliver his ambitions. Have your say Send your letters for publication to The New European by emailing letters@theneweuropean.co.uk and pick up an edition each Thursday for more comment and analysis. Find your nearest stockist here or subscribe to a print or […]

CHARLIE CONNELLY explores the outbreak of the Spanish Flu and its reminder of mankind’s vulnerability. Red Cross volunteers fighting the Spanish flu epidemic in the United States, 1918. Photo: Apic/Getty Images. – Credit: Archant At 1600 Clifton Road in Atlanta, Georgia, lives a centenarian. To visit, however, one must don full protective clothing and breathing […]

A new science and research body championed by Dominic Cummings will receive at least £800 million from the government, the chancellor has revealed. Rishi Sunak said the sum would go towards a ‘new blues-skies funding agency’ modelled on the Advanced Research Projects Agency (Arpa) in America. Cummings has long been a supporter of the scheme, […]

With a colleague laid low with coronavirus, around 600 other MPs thought it was a good idea to crowd into a chamber with room for about half of them and ask some pointless questions In no other occupation would this happen. If an Asda worker in Stockport was laid low with coronavirus, the company’s reaction […]

Michael Gove was left looking foolish after saying the government would not produce Brexit impact papers as they would not be an ‘accurate prediction of the future’ – days after it published one about a US trade deal. Michael Gove pours water over the suggestion… and then his phone. Photograph: Parliament TV. – Credit: Archant […]

Elections chiefs have urged the government to consider postponing the local elections if the coronavirus outbreak worsens. The Association of Electoral Administrators (AEA) warned there may be insufficient staff to keep all polling stations open due to Covid-19 sickness or self-isolation. The group has written to constitution minister Chloe Smith outlining officials’ concerns about the […]

A red folder carried by Rishi Sunak has become an unlikely topic of conversation ahead of his first budget as chancellor. The Tory MP, who replaced Sajid Javid just weeks ago following Boris Johnson’s cabinet reshuffle, has perplexed Sky News viewers by appearing on screen with a traditional Treasury looking red folder – only for […]

Ministers will not be tested for cornavirus despite a number spending Thursday evening with Nadine Dorries to celebrate International Women’s Day. The Conservative MP said she has been self-isolating at home after testing positive, and her parliamentary office has closed following advice from Public Health England. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said […]

Boris Johnson has provoked a backlash amongst Tory MPs after nominating Chris Grayling in charge of parliament’s esteemed Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC). The Sun reports that Chris Grayling, dubbed ‘Failing Grayling’ for his failure as transport minister, is likely to get the job after Downing Street urged other Tory members on the committee to […]

Carrie Symonds, Boris Johnson’s fiancée, has denied media reports that the prime minister wants Dilyn the dog to be rehomed. The Times reports that the Jack Russell adopted by Johnson and Symonds from a Welsh rescue centre could be rehomed in the summer when the couple have their first child. The dog is said to […]

Twenty-one charities and organisations are calling for an inquiry into the 69 ‘avoidable’ deaths of benefit claimants struggling in the welfare system. Rethink Mental Illness has written to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) expressing ‘deep concern’ for people they say are being failed by the welfare system. The charity is being supported by […]

The government has finally admitted the next round of talks between the UK and EU over Brexit could be shelved due to the spread of coronavirus. Appearing in front of a House of Commons committee, minister Michael Gove admitted it was an on-going concern, but said he remained optimistic progress could still be made by […]

Tory Brexiteer MP Nadine Dorries has become the first politician in parliament to test positive for the coronavirus. Dorries, a junior health minister who overses patient safety, is not sure how she contracted the Covid-19 virus but officials are now scrambling to try and reach those she has met since she fell ill. The politician […]

Boris Johnson has just managed to survive the first Conservative rebellion of the new parliament over the involvement of Chinese telecoms firm Huawei in the UK’s 5G network. Conservative critics led by former party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith tabled an amendment seeking to ban ‘high-risk vendors’ from the system after 2022. 36 Tories voting […]

European Parliament President David Sassoli has said he will self-isolate at his home in Brussels following the lockdown put in place in Italy to tackle coronavirus. Sassoli said following the rise in cases of coronavirus in Italy the European Parliament has updated its health measures. He said: ‘Based on the latest situation in Italy, the […]

Nigel Farage’s recent media appearances telling Boris Johnson how to run the country and how to deal with coronavirus have annoyed readers. It’s a bit rich of Nigel Farage to lecture Boris Johnson on his leadership, or absence of it. I agree with his criticisms of Johnson’s tactic of hiding from the public and the […]

A sacked Tory minister has hit out at Dominic Cummings for ‘taking back control’ and seemingly using that power for himself. Appearing on BBC Politics Live, George Freeman claimed he was a supporter of Boris Johnson’s Brexit vision, but he says he fears that the prime minister risks not being able to deliver. Speaking about […]

The board of an Iodine company which millionaire Brexit donor Arron Banks is trying to join have urged shareholders to ignore his ‘self-serving’ demands. The New European previously reported how Banks was looking to take advantage of the coronavirus by joining the board of Iofina to steer the business in a new direction. The intention […]

Labour leadership contender Lisa Nandy has demanded an apology from Piers Morgan over his comments on transgender rights in a heated row on Good Morning Britain. Fellow guests and presenters looked awkward as Lisa Nandy and Piers Morgan row on-air. Photograph: ITV. – Credit: Archant The Wigan MP was repeatedly asked to say whether she […]

Iain Duncan Smith has claimed the UK will have a ‘stronger hand’ in Brexit talks, because they will be held in London. The Brexiteer MP, who sounded less than sure of himself last month when he claimed the UK now needs the help of experts, has claimed the EU is showing ‘weakness’. Speaking to talkRADIO, […]

The boss of Channel 4 News is stepping down after 17 years in the role, months after calling out politicians who tell lies. Dorothy Byrne, who was born in Paisley and raised in Blackpool, made headlines when she used last year’s prestigious MacTaggart Lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival to attack politicians who avoided public […]

Michael Gove has responded to an EU request for clarity by saying that the government has been perfectly clear about what it wants from post-Brexit trade talks. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen frustrated the government as she urged the UK to ‘make up its mind’ as she marked 100 days in office. Von […]

After a lifetime of listening, WILL SELF explains why he is no longer an addict of the Radio 4 drama Billy Connolly used to do a closer for his live act, in which he’d get the whole audience to bellow the theme tune to the long-running Radio 4 rural soap opera, The Archers: ‘Doo-d’dooo-d’doo-d’doo, doo-d’dooo-d’doo-d’dooooo!’ […]

Boris Johnson was told not to shake hands with dignitaries including the Queen over coronavirus fears and said the move sent a ‘subliminal cue’ about the importance of hygiene. Guests at the Commonwealth Service – the last appearance by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex as senior royals – adopted a range of greetings to […]