News and Opinion

The SNP could gain 11 extra MPs at the general election, new polling analysis has found. A YouGov poll for the Times puts support for the Scottish National Party at 44%, up one point on polling in August. The Tories in Scotland are on 28%, up eight points from the last poll, while Labour remains […]

A former leader of the Conservative Party and prime minister has urged the public to vote against the Tory party in this election in a major blow to Boris Johnson. John Major, who led the party from 1990 to 1997, has given his support to three Tory rebels in key seats who have put themselves […]

The co-founder of the Brexit Party, Catherine Blaiklock, has said that the party is now ‘finished’. Catherine Blaiklock, who co-founded the party earlier this year with Nigel Farage, agreed when LBC host Tom Swarbrick asked her if it was all over. Farage’s party has lost several high-profile candidates throughout the election, with one citing homophobic […]

A candidate for the Conservative party has been branded ‘shameful’ after suggesting people with disabilities should receive less pay because ‘they don’t understand money’. Sally Ann-Hart, who is standing for the party in Hasting and Rye, shared an article about national minimum wage to her official Facebook page which suggested disabled people should be paid […]

The Tories have suspended an activist in Norfolk who sent a sexually explicit tweet about Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson. Steven De La Salle, a former Conservative candidate in the local elections and a former UKIP campaigner, tweeted a crude remark about Swinson in response to a tweet from the Daily Express. He wrote: “Swinson […]

After Boris Johnson reportedly confirmed he will not be doing the Andrew Neil interview, Michael Gove asked listeners to call the Downing Street office if they want to know why he isn’t doing it. Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, Gove was challenged on why the prime minister is ducking one of the fiercest interviewers, […]

During elections the electoral system tends to mean smaller parties get sidelined – but ANDREW TALBOT argues those like the VOLT party still have an important role to play. Until 2016 and the disastrous Brexit referendum result, I took two things completely for granted – peace in Ireland and my identity as a citizen of […]

Jeremy Corbyn has provided journalists with a document marked ‘official, sensitive’, which he claims provides the ‘cold hard evidence’ that Boris Johnson had been misleading people about his Brexit deal. Brandishing a document, titled Northern Ireland Protocol: Unfettered Access to the UK Internal Market, at a press conference in central London, the Labour leader said […]

The Labour Party has complained to the BBC’s director general that the corporation’s coverage has given ‘more negative treatment’ than the Tories during election campaign. In a letter to Tony Hall, Labour’s co-campaign coordinator Andrew Gwynne also raised concern about prime minister Boris Johnson’s “failure” to be interviewed by BBC’s Andrew Neil. Gwynne said the […]

Michael Gove has compared giving EU citizens the right to vote in a second referendum to fielding extra rugby players in a match. Gove, whose Vote Leave organisation was found to have broken electoral law during the 2016 referendum, said the move would go against a “principle of democratic fairness”. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s […]

Even the best-case scenarios following the impending general election could make for a bleak midwinter, says JAMES BALL. In (rare) moments of unguarded honesty, politicians and those campaigning for them are noting there are a large number of UK voters who seem to be wishing this was an election that everyone could lose. Voters might […]

More than 100 pro-EU groups have sent a letter to Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson asking her to back Labour in the prime minister’s constituency. The letter promises that if the Lib Dems step back in Boris Johnson’s constituency of Uxbridge and South Ruislip, the grass roots groups will then pile pressure on Labour to […]

Nigel Farage has claimed he is ‘not a walking encyclopedia’ when he was asked about some of the extreme views of his Brexit Party candidates. Farage was asked by BBC presenter Andrew Neil if he thought it was acceptable to call Islam a “child rapist death cult”, to which he responded: “No it wouldn’t be, […]

As a New European reader, you probably reckon you keep a close eye on the continent’s news. Test yourself with our quiz… Think you’re on top of what’s been going on across Europe in the past seven days? Take The New European’s tricky quiz and find out just how much of a Europhile you are…

The global market research company Ipsos MORI have predicted over a quarter of voters may change their minds before they cast their ballot on December 12. In their latest analysis, Ipsos found that while the Conservatives hold a 12-point lead over Labour in the final week of the election campaign, 27% of voters have said […]

James O’Brien has stepped in with an excellent point after a social media furore exploded over a disputed subtitle in which Boris Johnson was quoted as referring to ‘people of colour’. The clip in question was shared by Channel 4 News and subtitled Boris Johnson as saying to a crowd of supporters that he is […]

After a last minute bump in the polls suggesting a rise in support for Labour, bookmakers up and down the country have seen punters rush to put their money on Jeremy Corbyn becoming the next prime minister. Britain’s major bookies are still predicting that the Tories will win a comfortable majority with oddschecker giving 2/5 […]

Liberals may be appalled by Donald Trump and Boris Johnson, but they are merely a manifestation of our self-aggrandising age, say Hadley Coull and Chris Ogden. Each age forms its own dominant narrative – the story we tell ourselves, of who we are, what we value and where we are heading. Technological disruption of almost […]

The Liberal Democrats have pledged to strip the Home Office of responsibility for immigration and asylum if they win the election. Labelling the department as “not fit for purpose” after scandals such as Windrush, the party said it would move policymaking on visas, international students and asylum elsewhere on Whitehall. A “non-political agency” would be […]

Andrew Neil has used one of his last opportunities to call for Boris Johnson to appear before him to prove that the nation can trust him. At the end of his interview with Nigel Farage, Neil went on to look down the camera as he told viewers that it was the end of the scheduled […]

Nigel Farage has defended his remarks about moving to an insurance-based system for the NHS. Appearing in an interview with Andrew Neil, the Brexit Party leader reiterated that Britain should move towards a “private insurance-based system”, but he said that only applied to the country’s highest earners. “My view is that wealthier people should be […]

If Boris Johnson gets a majority, Brexit will only be the start of Britain’s problems. But he can still be stopped, says IAN DUNT. Sometimes fear can be a great inspiration. You could feel it at what seemed to be a big moment in the campaign, when YouGov last week revealed its ‘multilevel regression and […]

The Economist has decided to back the Liberal Democrats in the general election. The publication said that while Labour is attempting to solve 21st-century problems with 20th-century hard left solutions, the Tories have become a party of extremes, particularly on Brexit. The Economist’s statement recognised the unlikelihood of the party winning the election, but made […]

Boris Johnson will fail to deliver Brexit because he is ‘in with Macron’, according to an irate LBC caller. Karen, who called into Shelagh Fogarty’s show, said she wouldn’t vote for the Conservatives in the general election after seeing Johnson being “pally pally” with other world leaders during the Nato summit at Buckingham Palace. With […]

With the UK set to turn out to polling booths in their millions on December 12, we wanted to find out how you will be voting. The latest polls suggest the Conservatives are on track to receive the greatest number of votes, however, there is not a huge amount in it, and the impact of […]

The New European’s Editor-at-Large fears dark and dangerous times if Johnson is elected with his own mandate and majority. Boris Johnson with US president Donald Trump. Picture: Saul Leob/Getty Images. – Credit: AFP/Getty Images I have now reached the point with Donald Trump that when he comes on the television, I reach hurriedly for the […]

There has been an online backlash after Boris Johnson visited an upmarket knitwear company and received a scarf emblazoned with ‘get Brexit done’. Boris Johnson apparently made this 'Get Brexit Done' scarf at the John Smedley factory today (the oldest continuous textile factory in the world) pic.twitter.com/MSvILxcJkt— Matt Dathan (@matt_dathan) December 5, 2019 The prime […]

The phone that Boris Johnson used for his selfie with This Morning presenters was a Huawei device, despite ongoing security concerns around the Chinese company. Following his interview with ITV’s Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield, the Press Association has reported that the prime minister used what looks like a Huawei P20 for the photo op. […]