News and Opinion

Half a decade after the referendum, the economic hit to the UK caused by Brexit is becoming clearer. But it will be years before the true impact is understood It has started already; you will have noticed it yourself; the pro-Brexit press is starting to write those articles we all knew were on the way… The […]

Many progressives are certain that the only hope for ending Tory rule is to replace first past the post. Polling expert PETER KELLNER is not so sure it is a good idea The case is made easily – and frequently: if we had a different method for electing our MPs, Britain would still be in […]

Bonnie Greer says the US president’s ambitious plans could see a break in the special relationship I still don’t know why I had my outburst about Ireland on that Question Time episode in 2019. I said then that Ireland owed the UK nothing at all. That in fact, the UK did not and still does […]

Dominic Cummings has explained why Tory officials prevented Boris Johnson from being interviewed by Andrew Neil during the 2019 general election. In the latest of his sustained war of words with his once long-standing ally, Cummings claimed the prime minister is a “gaffe machine” who is “clueless” on policy. During the 2019 December election campaign, […]

Concerns are quickly rising over the future of power-sharing in Northern Ireland after DUP leader Edwin Poots stepped down after just 21 days in the role. He becomes the shortest serving leader in the history of the party.  He resigned after an internal revolt against him began over a deal he agreed with Sinn Féin […]

We asked readers for their views on whether or not the Chesham and Amersham by-election demonstrated the need for a progressive alliance to stop the Tories.

The Queen had a brutal put down for Boris Johnson, reports Tim Walker.

Five years after the EU referendum, readers have their say on the Brexit vote.

A war of the words has broken out between Hungary and the European Commission over a new anti-LGBT law introduced in the country.  Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said she was “very concerned” over this legislation which bans content promoting homosexuality and gender reassignment in schools, and with people under the age […]

Just who the hell are the British? After five years of Brexit, 18 months of a pandemic and a year of Black Lives Matter, the country – and the world – still doesn’t know My life in the United Kingdom started in 1972 at the age of eight with a black eye. My brother, who is two years older, and […]

Readers add to the list of best European shows to stream I was very pleased you recommended some very top favourites of mine in your “Best 40 European shows to stream”. Some other excellent series are: I Know Who You Are (Spanish); Vanished by the Lake, Killer by the Lake, Fear by the Lake (French); […]

The UK exported more food and drink to outside the EU than into it in the first few months after Brexit as exports to the bloc nosedived. Sales to non-EU countries made up 55% of all UK food and drink exports in the first three months of 2021 compared to less than 40% a year […]

Boris Johnson’s Tories suffered a humiliating by-election defeat as the Liberal Democrats scored a historic win in Chesham and Amersham. Lib Dem Sarah Green is the country’s newest MP after winning the seat, which had been a Conservative stronghold since its creation in 1974. Sir Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, said the result sent […]

Pledges from wealthier nations to help vaccinate other countries are no more than token gestures It had all been going so well. The UK’s four-stage reopening – at a slower and more cautious pace than previous liftings of restrictions – had successfully completed its first three stages, and had done so without too much in […]

The champions of Brexit have gone particularly quiet since the UK left the EU - but are Remainers guilty of doing the same too?

Baroness Dido Harding has applied to become the next head of the NHS. The Tory peer has stood aside from her position as chair of NHS Improvement, which she took up in October 2017, while recruitment is underway, according to a biography on the NHS England website. She served as executive chair of the government’s […]

The trade deal between the UK and Australia should be subject to a vote in the House of Commons and Holyrood, Nicola Sturgeon has said. Scotland’s first minister has repeatedly raised concerns over the deal, which she says will hurt Scottish farmers and food producers as cheaper imports undercut them. The agreement was announced following […]

The week's weirdest news from Europe includes a drug mix-up in Poland, a trigger-happy pensioner in Germany and a violent squirrel in Turkey

The environment secretary is reportedly one of the cabinet ministers who could be demoted by Boris Johnson in the next reshuffle. George Eustice is said to be among those “due for the chop” after a disagreement over the post-Brexit trade deal with Australia, with the minister expressing concerns over the impact on farmers. MPs have heard […]

Searches from EU workers for jobs in the UK are down by almost half since the Brexit referendum five years ago, new research suggests. Interest has fallen most in lower-paid jobs in hospitality and retail, according to a study by jobs site Indeed. There has also been a decline in Europeans’ interest in higher-paid jobs, […]

Boris Johnson is a “massive supporter” of health secretary Matt Hancock despite criticising him as “f**king hopeless” in messages revealed by Dominic Cummings, a minister has claimed. Financial secretary to the Treasury Jesse Norman said the prime minister is “firmly behind” Hancock following the extraordinary revelation of private WhatsApps from his former chief aide. No […]

When Brexit redefined the UK’s place in the world, migrants were left out in the cold. But, disabled migrants fell through the cracks entirely.  “Can you spell your last name?” they ask. I’m used to it by now. In France, it’s an easy question: I just answer “Castres, like the city.” But there’s no Castres […]

The Liberal Democrats have claimed the Chesham and Amersham by-election is “neck and neck” as voters go to the polls in a by-election for the historically Conservative safe seat. The constituency in Buckinghamshire has been held by the Tories since its creation in 1974, but the Liberal Democrats have insisted it could “go down to […]

The medical protocols that helped saved Denmark’s Christian Eriksen are partly down to the work of one man, football doctor Michel d’Hooghe It was a Swedish writer, Erik Niva, who observed last Saturday: “Denmark lost but life won”. He reported on the collapse, the apparent death, and then the resuscitation that saved the Danish playmaker […]

Boris Johnson’s faults and failings are blindingly obvious, but the media don’t seem interested in that story It was a great question. “When the history books are written, will Boris Johnson still get away with it?” It was asked by a woman in the Q and A when I spoke at the Wimbledon Book Festival, […]

A reader points out how Brexit red tape is impacting Amazon order This is the amazing journey of a tiny cheap item of a pair of Creative Earbuds ordered from Amazon UK costing just £6.99 and the time this small package took as it travelled from Rome, Italy to Oxford UK. I have ordered these […]

Ian Blackford has kicked off parliamentary scrutiny of the government’s post-Brexit trade deal with Australia by asking the prime minister multiple questions on the subject at PMQs. The leader of the SNP used his questions to ask for more “details of the disastrous trade deal with Australia”. He said these details were “busy being celebrated in Canberra, but […]

The trade deal with Australia will act as a “stepping stone” to a wider trans-Pacific accord, Liz Truss said as she rejected farmers’ concerns about the agreement. The international trade secretary said the UK is looking at parts of the world where growth is expected in future as she defended the deal, which is forecast […]