News and Opinion

The public expects Britain to crash out of the EU without a deal and a rising proportion now expects living standards to drop, according to a major new study. The survey, by the Policy Institute at King’s College London, in partnership with Ipsos MORI and the UK in a Changing Europe, reveals what the public […]

MITCH BENN has a simple message for all of those considering marching on Saturday – get on the bus and turn up! It can be tricky sometimes, when trying to spur one’s contemporaries into action (which appears to be pretty much my full-time job these days) to strike the proper balance between urgency and despair. […]

While People’s Vote campaigners prepare for one of the biggest political protests in over a decade just a dozen turned out for a ‘Save Brexit’ protest in London. Anti-Brexit demonstrators. Photograph: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images. – Credit: AFP/Getty Images The pro-Brexit protesters were chanting ‘bin the backstop’ outside Downing Street as the urged Theresa May to […]

A top health official has admitted concerns over medicine supplies after Brexit are keeping him awake at night. Sir Chris Wormald told MPs he also lost sleep about the impact quitting the EU would have on the NHS workforce as well as future arrangements about treating patients on their travels. The issues were the same […]

Former prime minister Sir John Major has attacked Brexiteers who told ‘vote-gathering fantasies’ during the referendum campaign. Delivering the Michael Quinlan Lecture in central London, Sir John said ‘it should not be forgotten that we ignore the EU, disdain it, or stand aside from it, at our own risk’ and added: ‘There is irony here: […]

Tory hardliners have been dealt a blow after a senior US Treasury department official warned that a hard Brexit could hurt global financial stability. David Malpass, Treasury undersecretary for international affairs, said the US was working with officials in the UK and EU to limit the risks of Britain’s withdrawal from the bloc. The admission […]

In a heated exchange on the Today programme John Humphrys said that Boris spoke ‘for a very strong powerful force of public opinion’. The Radio 4 presenter was debating with the Irish deputy prime minister Simon Coveney whether or not the proposed backstop would push Northern Ireland into deeper and closer links with the EU. […]

Margaret Thatcher’s former press secretary has urged Theresa May to ditch diplomacy in Brexit talks with the EU and claimed the Northern Irish “might be glad of a hard border”. Sir Bernard Ingham, who served as Thatcher’s chief spinner from 1979 to 1990, also bizarrely claimed that the Union’s “Franco-German bosses and their lackeys” were […]

A no-deal Brexit will wreck the economy, the SNP’s Westminster leader has warned. Ian Blackford slammed Theresa May’s government saying it would be ‘madness’ to leave the EU without a deal. His comments come as May prepares to address EU leaders in Brussels amid falling expectations and heightened fears the UK is set to spiral […]

BELLA FRIMPONG says the UK has benefited hugely from the freedom of movement. Here she gives a personal account of how it has helped her family. ‘Tell us an interesting fact about yourself.’ A question that sends a shiver down the spine of most normal people, forced upon us by ‘facilitators’ to make us acquaint […]

Brexit could be delayed beyond March to give extra time for a fresh referendum or another general election, a former EU official has claimed. The former Eurogroup president and Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem said that the deadlock behind negotiations may continue for some time. In a blog post on LinkedIn he said that ‘there […]

SOPHIA DEBOICK on one of the most spectacular musical performances ever staged The first years of Georgian England were ones of political intrigue against a background of beauty and grandeur. As the musical baroque reached its apotheosis, and new ways of thinking emerged, Europe stood on the threshold of the Enlightenment and the age of […]

Too often Jeremy Corbyn has shirked his responsibility to hold the government to account on Brexit – not today. Theresa May would have hoped the Labour leader might have given her an easy ride, he has in the past. But at this PMQs, finally, Corbyn had May on the ropes. Repeatedly she failed to answer […]

Donald Tusk has warned that no Brexit deal is imminent on the eve of a crunch summit. The president of the European Council said the only ‘source of hope’ was goodwill during a gloomy Brussels press conference. He added: ‘Unfortunately the report on the state of the negotiations that I got from Michel Barnier today, […]

Anna Soubry had the perfect retort for Brexiteers on Good Morning Britain – to simply ask for their solution to the Irish border problem. She was appearing on the breakfast television show alongside Vote Leave’s Gisela Stuart, who claimed that ‘you can find solutions’ to the issues surrounding Britain leaving the European Union. Humouring the […]

The return of a hard border in Northern Ireland would be a “political failure”, a former head of the Army has said. General Lord Richard Dannatt was commissioned into The Green Howards regiment in 1971, serving in Northern Ireland and receiving the Military Cross at the age of 22. His comments come days after reports […]

Comments like Brexiteer Boris Johnson’s letterbox remarks have fuelled hate crime, a Labour MP said today as it emerged it rose by nearly a fifth last year. David Lammy said politicians like the former foreign secretary must take responsibility for their language as police figures revealed there were 94,098 hate crime offences in total in […]

So you’re thinking about changing your sex. The good news is the government is thinking of making the process easier. The bad news is, it doesn’t look like they know what they’re doing. Currently, if someone wants to change their birth certificate from male to female or vice versa, they must have lived for two […]

#71: Jean Cocteau July 5, 1889 – October 11, 1963 The world has always had trouble accepting the true polymath. Even a person of great genius can take decades to excel in one genre, we harrumph, how can someone be a genuine success at a multitude of things? They’re chancers, people who haven’t paid their […]

Older people are significantly less informed about the potentially disastrous impact of Brexit on their pets, a survey has revealed. The poll for the National Office of Animal Health showed just 9% of pet owners over 55 believe that the health of the UK’s pets could decline significantly as a result of Brexit, compared with […]

Ford’s European boss has warned of the ‘disastrous’ impact of a no-deal Brexit. The motoring giant told Theresa May that crashing out of the European Union could leave the firm with no choice but to reconsider its ‘future investment’ in the UK. Steven Armstrong, Ford’s group vice president, said a hard Brexit was a ‘red […]

Following an Australian tour where ticket sales were less than expected, Nigel Farage has been trying to make a name for himself again in the UK. No, No, Now Don't, No, He's Trying His Best - L?e?a?v?e? ?M?e?a?n?s? ?L?e?a?v?e? Dogs Means Dogs! pic.twitter.com/6nZ4qV55Sw— Brexitshambles (@brexit_sham) October 14, 2018 But the latest crowd to greet him […]

Germany has demanded Theresa May ‘take responsibility’ in a sign the economic superpower is losing patience over Brexit. Ahead of a key EU summit and with Brexit talks deadlocked, Germany’s Europe minister Michael Roth said his message to May was: ‘Take responsibility and be constructive.’ Roth was speaking as he arrived for a meeting of […]

The very term used to describe the prejudice is itself born of prejudice. One of the most anti-Jewish words in the English language is anti-Semitic. In terms of the history of our language it’s a rather new word – no one used it until about 140 years ago. The term, as is well known, is […]

Theresa May is preparing to update her divided Cabinet on the Brexit deadlock as Brussels warned Britain is “more likely than ever before” to crash out of the EU without a deal. The prime minister has insisted an exit agreement is still “achievable” despite negotiations stalling just days ahead of a crunch summit. European Council […]

Nigel Farage has stooped to a new level of lowness as he told an audience full of Irish migrants in London that Brexit was comparable to their country’s fight for independence from British control. Farage joined a special edition of The Late Late Show recorded in London, which was celebrating the Irish living in Britain […]

Delia Smith and Deborah Meaden will help to lead this week’s march for a People’s Vote. The cookery show presenter and writer will sacrifice watching her beloved Norwich City at the football to help lead more than 100,000 people through central London at what is dubbed to be the biggest political march in over a […]

When a van drove into crowds outside a mosque in Finsbury Park BASHIR IBRAHIM’s brother was one of those injured. Here Bashir explains why the fight against Brexit is also a fight against racism. What are you doing this Saturday? I will be joining the People’s Vote March for the Future, with thousands of students […]