News and Opinion

Britain’s plan for a temporary customs “backstop” to solve the Irish border issue is “not acceptable” and any fall-back option cannot be time-limited, the European Parliament’s chief Brexit co-ordinator has told MPs. Guy Verhofstadt said the government’s position that the backstop of continuing UK alignment with the EU customs union would cease by the end […]

Wearing Thatcher blue, a defiant Theresa May looked steely and confident as she walked into the Commons amid cheers from her MPs. Prime minister Theresa May speaks during Prime Minister’s Questions Photo: PA – Credit: PA Wire/PA Images But Jeremy Corbyn appeared determined as well – going on the Brexit dividend and asking ‘what taxes […]

Ireland’s premier has accused the UK of stalling progress in Brexit negotiations and warned of the consequences of not striking a deal on the border. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar suggested other countries would baulk at signing trade deals with the UK post-Brexit if prime minister Theresa May failed to honour commitments made to the EU on […]

Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson has reported the prime minister to the advertising watchdog over claims there would be a ‘Brexit dividend’ to fund a cash boost for the NHS. pic.twitter.com/Wbckeum5WH— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) June 17, 2018 Theresa May has claimed the NHS will get an extra £20 billion a year by 2023 with […]

Donations of £725,000 made by the official Leave campaign in the run-up to the EU referendum should have been treated as expenses, senior judges have heard. The Good Law Project (GLP) is bringing a High Court challenge against the Electoral Commission, arguing the commission should have taken action over spending by Vote Leave Ltd ahead […]

Brexit means there as a “very clear argument” for Gibraltar to have its own MP, a Conservative MP has said. South Thanet MP Craig Mackinlay claimed Brexit provided Britain with an “opportunity to build further on our relationship and to protect further the Rock’s rights and interests, and this is best guaranteed by a closer […]

A Labour MP has called on ministers to back moves to abolish the House of Lords following the latest defeat in the upper chamber for the government’s flagship Brexit bill. Frank Field – one of a small group Labour MPs to campaign for Leave in the EU referendum – has tabled a bill in the […]

Non-UK EU nationals make up more than a quarter of the construction workforce in London, according to official analysis. It found 28% of those employed in the industry in the capital are from one of the 27 other EU member states. Nationally, around one in 14 construction workers are non-UK EU citizens – referred to […]

Rebel leader Dominic Grieve has heaped more pressure on the prime minister as she attempts to avoid a potentially devastating Commons defeat. Tory Brexit insurgent Grieve has pushed Theresa May to agree to an 11th-hour deal to avoid the humiliation of defeat when a new Lords’ amendment on a meaningful vote is debated on Wednesday. […]

The UK will not be able to take part in the European Arrest Warrant after Brexit, Michel Barnier said today as he hit out at British politicians who sought to blame Brussels for the consequences of the Leave vote. The European Union’s chief negotiator said Theresa May’s “red lines” meant it was impossible to remain […]

A Labour shadow minister has backtracked on support for a vote on a final Brexit deal just 48 hours after pledging it. Shadow Northern Ireland minister Stephen Pound filmed a video message on Saturday in which he clearly and unambiguously backed a People’s Vote, saying there was a need “to have a cold evaluation”. But […]

At 7pm tonight, as the eyes of England turn to the World Cup opener against Tunisia, self-styled patriot Jacob Rees-Mogg is giving a speech. The hardline Brexiteer and Tory leadership hopeful will be speaking on ‘Brexit and beyond: Britain’s place in the world in the 2020s’ as part of Commons speaker John Bercow’s lecture series […]

Embattled Theresa May today channeled her predecessor John Major as she begged rebel MPs in her Conservative party not to tie her hands on Brexit. The prime minister insisted Parliament must not be able to “overturn the will of the British people” as she faced a fresh battle over her Brexit legislation. With the EU […]

Are protests in Jordan the precursor to more Arab Spring turmoil or an encouraging sign that the region might finally be moving in the right direction, asks PAUL KNOTT. The Middle Eastern Kingdom of Jordan has long been a beacon of stability and reasonableness in a region short on such attributes. But massive demonstrations have […]

Pro-European activists today unveiled billboards and ad vans in the constituencies of four leading Labour MPs they accuse of failing to oppose the Tories’ approach to Brexit. Pro-European youth movement Our Future, Our Choice (OFOC) displayed the ads in the constituencies of shadow chancellor John McDonnell, shadow home secretary Diane Abbott, shadow defence secretary Nia […]

There’ll always be two Englands, says Yasmin Alibhai-Brown. World Cup fever and hopes rise. Eng-er-land is hailed, cheered, baptized with anthems. Listening in on conversations on Tubes and buses about the team and its prospects gives you insights beyond football. The nation is nervy, unsure of itself, veering between optimism and grim pessimism, between being […]

In the second part of an exclusive serialisation of his book How Britain Really Works broadcaster and journalist STIG ABELL focuses on the NHS. The scale of the NHS The NHS is both a simple, fetishised ideal, and a complicated, borderline inexplicable bureaucracy. Its size – its comprehensiveness – is of course both its strength […]

The New European columnist CAROLINE CRIADO PEREZ on a scandal in the legal system that is allowing domestic abusers to torment their victims. Her abuser interrogated her in the witness box for three hours. He had raped and beaten her for six years. The trial was just his final flourish, overseen by bland-faced court officials, […]

ALASTAIR CAMPBELL: Paul Dacre is the worst of British values posing as the best One of my favourite polling factoids of the New Labour era is that our share of the vote among Daily Mail readers rose between our first election win in 1997, and the second four years later. This was despite the fact […]

National newspaper veteran LIZ GERARD on the legacy of the Daily Mail’s departing editor On St Valentine’s Day in 1997, the Daily Mail put a rogues’ gallery of photographs on its front page and accused five men of the murder of 18-year-old Stephen Lawrence, four years earlier. It was arrogant, bold, contemptuous. The very definition […]

In the audience for the Britain’s Got Talent final, EMMA JONES, has something akin to a religious experience. Celebrity and religion are very similar, according to umpteen showbiz reporters and the odd philosopher. Both are run like the Wizard of Oz. Only showbiz does it better. And often has an actual curtain. A few years […]

JAMES BALL deconstructs Corbyn’s economically illiterate talking heads If Brexit is the biggest issue affecting your life then you must be doing alright. I'm happy for you. Most people have to worry about more pressing issues than the UK's post-Brexit institutional arrangements. Stop confusing your only concern with the country's main priority — Matt Zarb-Cousin […]

Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership was built on democratic foundations, it’s time for him to give us a say on Brexit, writes Antony Thomas. As a long-time socialist and Jeremy Corbyn supporter (from the days when it was unfashionable to be one), I am mystified not just by Labour’s response to the absolute Tory chaos of Brexit, […]

The co-ordinated Twitter bashing by key Corbynistas shows what the Labour leader really thinks of Brexit, writes Jonathan Hendrick. https://twitter.com/mattzarb/status/1005410512522407936 The co-ordinated Twitter bashing of Remainers by several Corbyn surrogates ahead of this week’s big parliamentary votes leave us in little doubt what Labour’s leadership really thinks of Brexit. We’re told by Matt Zarb-Cousin, Aaron […]

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 organisers of the People’s Vote march are predicting the biggest Brexit demonstration since the EU referendum exactly two years ago. Campaigners will be calling on the government to agree to a People’s Vote on the final Brexit deal before a final decision is taken. The march will come just days after the latest showdown […]

Tim Walker’s diary focuses on the astonishing 168 films Boris Johnson has commissioned – starring himself, naturally – and asks if Bernard Jenkin will turn up fully clothed at Buckingham Palace for his investiture. Home Secretary Amber Rudd Photo: REUTERS/Neil Hall – Credit: Press Association Images Johnson’s film factory exposed After some goading from Mandrake, […]

Your editorials advocating a People’s Vote on whatever terms Theresa May may negotiate in Brussels are welcome but do not explain the democratic necessity for such a ballot. So here it is. The UK entered the common market in 1973. Heath pushed the decision through parliament. There was no national debate ahead of accession on […]