News and Opinion

The UK has inflicted ‘unnecessary damage’ on itself with Brexit but would be warmly welcomed back into the EU at any time, the European Commission’s vice president has said. In a “love letter” to the nation, Frans Timmermans said Britain’s long-held scepticism of the bloc had “kept all of us in better shape” as he […]

The nation is reeling from this month’s election result. Whilst for some it’s a resounding success, for others it’s the confirmation that something we desperately wanted to avoid is hurtling at full speed towards us. For me, Brexit is not just something which I wish hadn’t happened. It’s deeper than that – it will affect […]

Boxing Day hunts have resumed as campaigners once again call on the Tory government to toughen laws to keep foxes safe. Fox hunting was banned in England and Wales under Tony Blair following the introduction of the Hunting Act 2004 – which came into force a year later. However, drag hunting – where hounds are […]

Brexit concerns have led to a drop in the number of animals taken on holiday this year, a ferry company has claimed. Brittany Ferries said it will have carried about 88,100 cats and dogs in 2019 by the end of the year – a drop of 8% on the previous 12 months. That is despite […]

Supermarket chain Morrisons has denied it has renamed its range of Brussels Sprouts in a bid to win over Brexit supporters. Pro-European social media users were angered after Brexiteer MEP Lucy Harris tweeted the observation that the chain had named its batches after the regions they were grown in, with one batch named “Yorkshire sprouts” […]

George Osborne has compared Boris Johnson to a Dr Jekyll and Hide character who is a ‘contradiction’. Despite his newspaper backing Boris Johnson, the Evening Standard editor, said that Johnson’s views were at odds with the former chancellor, and said that Johnson used Brexit to get to the top. Speaking to Ruth Davidson on LBC […]

Liberal Democrat acting leader, Ed Davey, has used his Christmas message to highlight the importance of love and hope over the festive period. Davey highlights that, even in darker times, love, joy and hope remain possible and that the teachings and values of Christianity still speak so powerfully to us all. He revealed that his […]

A poll of voters has found that shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer is the preferred choice to replace Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader. In polling carried out by BMG Research Sir Keir topped the list with 9% of favourability, just one point ahead of fellow Remainer Jess Phillips MP, and three points ahead of […]

The review into Labour’s election defeat should be talking to the voters and communities, one of its MPs has claimed. Lisa Nandy, tipped as a possible candidate to replace Jeremy Corbyn as leader, said a review set up by Labour Together was adopting the “wrong” approach, as it risked not listening to people such as […]

The prime minister will jet off to the private island of Mustique – favoured by the rich and famous. The Times reported Johnson and Symonds will be staying with the Von Bismark family – who are descended from the first German chancellor Otto Von Bismark – in the new year. Known for its white-sand beaches, […]

Boris Johnson wants to ‘reunite the country’ as he inflicts Brexit on us all – but what could it entail? Boris Johnson says that he wishes to reunite the country. I for one have a number of conditions before I would even consider the possibility. Here is a selection: – Legislation in 2020 to make […]

Remainers will need to do more than just campaign to rejoin the EU if we Brexit – they will need to help bring about democratic change. Since 2016, we have persisted with a major strategic blunder – to fail to explain and campaign that the referendum was a fakerendum. Instead, we campaigned against a hard […]

Reminiscing on her childhood, BONNIE GREER explains how the baby boomer generation were allowed to dream at Christmas. Childhood – the one we have now – was invented for us baby boomers. Edwardians and Victorians had childhoods too. But the boys back then were dressed as girls and the girls were dressed like little fairies. […]

FRANCIS BECKETT, a historian of the labour movement, on a figure from the left’s past who seems to have inspired the party’s calamitous current state. As soon as the exit poll was announced at 10pm last Thursday – and perhaps even sooner – the line came down from Labour’s high command: Blame Brexit. But Brexit […]

A series of spectacularly bad choices from Jo Swinson and the Lib Dem leadership sealed our fate. Capitulating to Boris Johnson’s demand for an early election was the first folly. Abandoning the wider Remain Alliance and the People’s Vote movement was the second, betraying all prospect of a second referendum. Following it up with a […]

Readers discuss who or what was to blame for Labour’s defeat at the general election – and who can take the party forwards. Part of Labour’s failure is that no one (with a few exceptions) attempted to actually explain to the Labour-voting Leave supporters the consequences to them – to their jobs, livelihoods, economy, workers […]

Readers continue to have their say on the general election result and what the future holds for the Remain movement. I am an EU citizen living in the UK, having done so since 1998. I have no right to vote. I have a British/Italian child but had no say over the future of the country […]

Former Commons speaker John Bercow should be given a peerage, his successor has claimed. Sir Lindsay Hoyle said Bercow had done some “great things” during his 10 years spent refereeing MPs’ debates and argued he should be rewarded in the same way other speakers had after retiring. Recent media reports suggested Downing Street was reluctant […]

Tory Brexiteers Mark Francois and David Davis are amongst those signing an internal Commons petition calling for Big Ben’s bel to be re-attached on January 31st to mark Brexit. Some 47 Conservative and 5 DUP MPs have signed the petition, which if approved, would see the bell that was disconnected in 2017 restored to mark […]

A new survey from the TUC have found that voters who switched from Labour to the Tories still want to safeguard the benefits the EU provides workers. The TUC said a poll of almost 3,000 adults also suggested widespread support for higher investment in public services. Three out of four of those questioned said the […]

The Tories are already plotting another landslide win at the next election by shaking up boundaries to win a 100-seat majority. Boris Johnson secured an unexpected 80-seat majority at the general election after his message of delivering Brexit cut through with voters in Labour’s traditional heartlands in the North and Midlands. Such a scale of […]

Enliven your Christmas dinner by cutting out our Brexit-themed jokes and inserting them in crackers for your Leave-supporting relatives. Why was Nigel Farage’s Christmas lunch so crap? He banned brussels and there was no turkey despite Nigel insisting it would be admitted to the table any minute now. How many Leave voters does it take […]

Leading anti-Brexit campaigner Steve Bray has a message for fellow Remainers – ‘don’t give up hope’. “Fears that the country is in thrall to a small cabal of dangerous populists remain valid.” Photo: DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images – Credit: AFP/Getty Images Bray, who has ended his daily campaigning outside the Houses of Parliament after 847 days, […]

The BBC’s political editor has raised eyebrows after saying she thought it was wrong for Remainer politicians to try to reverse the result of the EU referendum. Appearing on the BBC’s Brexitcast podcast, Laura Kuenssberg appeared to attribute blame for Labour’s loss on those in the party backing Remain for wanting a second referendum. While […]

Former Labour leader Ed Miliband will help head up an ‘inquest’ into the party’s disastrous election result. The review, set up by Labour Together, will include interviewing all 59 MPs who lost their seats during the crumbling of Labour’s so-called “red wall” of constituencies in the North, the Midlands and Wales. The commissioners behind the […]

Tory Brexiteer Andrew Bridgen has called on Boris Johnson to award Nigel Farage a peerage for his services to the pro-Brexit cause. Andrew Bridgen (left) and Nigel Farage (right). Photograph: PA/TNE. – Credit: Archant Writing to the prime minister the Brexiteer – who has previously claimed he is entitled to an Irish passport despite being […]

John Bercow will say that ‘democracy has come in for a pounding’ and call for ‘personal courtesy’ as he delivers the Alternative Christmas Message. The former Commons speaker, who stepped down in October after 10 years in the role, follows in the footsteps of Danny Dyer, Sharon Osbourne, whistleblower Edward Snowden and the husband of […]

A Sky Sports host has apologised after he intervened to stop discussion of a racist incident that occurred during a football match from turning to politics. The Premier League fixture was marred by accusations from Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger that he was the subject of racial abuse from a Spurs fan during the second half […]