News and Opinion

Greater Manchester has been forced into following Tier 3 coronavirus controls after talks between the government and regional leaders concluded without an agreement. The region’s mayor Andy Burnham held last-ditch talks with Boris Johnson earlier on Tuesday aimed at securing additional financial support for his consent on new restrictions. But communities secretary Robert Jenrick said the discussions […]

Matt Hancock has come under fire from Downing Street after he was pictured not wearing a face mask while travelling in a ministerial car. According to new rules, anyone travelling in taxis and private cars are required to wear a face mask or be hit with a £200 fine which could extend to £6,400 for repeated breaches. […]

A Labour politician has lashed out at Boris Johnson and asked how he expected people to live on two-thirds of the national minimum wage if he struggled on his £150,000-a-year salary. Denton and Reddish MP Andrew Gwynne has slammed the prime minister for allegedly complaining about his salary. According to the Sunday Mirror, Tory MPs are gearing up […]

Diane Abbott has accused Sir Keir Starmer of plotting to become Labour leader while he was Brexit minister in Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet, and suggested the new leader had used the Remain platform to achieve his goal. The former shadow home secretary said Sir Keir’s ambitions were “fairly apparent” and accused him of running “a project of […]

A Eurosceptic MP has said Boris Johnson should consider cutting ties with the Church of England after his Brexit bill was heavily criticised by senior figures of the church. Former European Research Group chair Steve Baker said the prime minister should think about “paving a motion on the disestablishment of the Church of England” following opposition […]

Theresa May has branded Michael Gove’s claims over a no-deal Brexit as “utter rubbish”. The Conservative former prime minister repeatedly said “what?” in disbelief and appeared to mouth her thoughts as Gove outlined how the UK will be expected to boost its security outside the EU. Cabinet Office minister Gove claimed there are “many, many […]

Former House of Commons speaker Betty Boothroyd has delivered a devastating assessment of Boris Johnson’s government in a speech in the House of Lords. Baroness Boothroyd, who previously said she could not trust Johnson to even run a bath, said in 47 years in parliament she has “never seen trust in a government fall so far […]

The Royal Mint is to produce more commemorative Brexit coins over the next two weeks after MPs complained they were unable to get hold of them. More than two million of the special edition 50p coins – originally distributed on January 31 – will be produced for shops in the coming weeks, despite many restricting the […]

Boris Johnson is pursuing a “Narnia deal” with the EU, Labour warned as they urged the UK government to secure a trade agreement. Shadow Cabinet Office minister Rachel Reeves said the opposition expects the prime minister and his team to broker an arrangement to enable the UK to trade freely with the EU. Speaking in […]

A Labour MP has called for an apology from the government over its “false promises” of delivering an “oven-ready” deal with the EU. Appearing before Michael Gove at the despatch box, Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi said: “The prime minister promised the nation an oven-ready deal and it was avowedly the easiest trade deal in history to […]

DAVID KATZ talks to Chronixx, a Jamaican artist who has attracted comparisons with Bob Marley… and Frank Sinatra The problematic concept of the ‘next Bob Marley’ has surfaced at odd intervals ever since the reggae icon’s untimely death in 1981, with artists such as Ini Kamoze, Luciano and Buju Banton being saddled with it before […]

Recent developments in the Middle East do not represent a significant shift towards the settling of the fundamental problems that still blight the region, says PAUL KNOTT The recent agreements normalising relations with some small Arab states are a success for Israel. For decades, it has sought recognition from the Arab world while avoiding making […]

Boris Johnson’s controversial Brexit legislation, enabling ministers to break international law, has been branded “dangerous” and “baffling” in the Lords. Peers warned they will seek to overturn key parts of the UK Internal Market Bill, which has already cleared the Commons despite opposition from some senior Tories. More than 100 peers are listed to speak […]

A Brexiteer has been accused of “unintentional honesty” after he told a radio presenter that he believed the term “Australia-style” was designed to “pull the wool over voters’ eyes”. Trying to explain to James O’Brien why Boris Johnson was not using the term “no-deal Brexit”, caller Alastair said that it was just a continuation of […]

The EU expects the deadlocks over Brexit talks to last just a matter of days, with the expectation there will be a resumption next week. The Times says EU officials are briefing that a “time out” of no more than a week will give a “cooling off” period after the conclusions of the EU Council summit […]

Brexiteer James Dyson is set to sell his million-pound penthouse in Singapore at a loss – days after claiming people had “got it wrong” that he had abandoned Britain after the Brexit vote. Singapore’s Business Times reports that he is to sell the property at a loss after he accepted an offer of $62 million […]

Former Australian former prime minister Tony Abbott is set to attend his first post-Brexit trade meeting as the government’s new Board of Trade meets for the first time. The new-look panel of politicians, economists and industry figures comes as international trade secretary Liz Truss said it was a “critical moment for the UK and our […]

Labour MP Yasmin Qureshi said she has been admitted to hospital with pneumonia after testing positive for Covid-19. In a Facebook statement, the shadow international development minister said: “Two weeks ago, I began to feel unwell. I then tested positive for Covid-19, so my family and I immediately self-isolated at home. I have not travelled […]

A minister has finally conceded that an “Australian-style deal” is a no-deal Brexit, after claiming it was a “question of semantics”. Business secretary Alok Sharma appeared on LBC to announce plans to prepare the UK for the “Australian-style deal” which will leave the UK without a trade deal with the European Union. But questioned on what […]

The government is to launch a fresh Brexit campaign warning businesses about the likeliness of no deal Brexit at the end of the year. Downing Street’s message over Brexit is to move from “let’s get going” to “time is running out”, with HMRC writing to more than 200,000 firms to set out the new customs […]

A Brexiteer has attempted to pin the blame for Boris Johnson failing to secure a good Brexit deal on Remainers. LBC Radio caller Steve called David Lammy’s show was a Labour supporter but moved to the Brexit Party over its policy for a second referendum. Asked how he felt about the current situation, he said […]

The government’s controversial new Brexit legislation could set “a disastrous precedent” if passed in its current form, the UK’s archbishops have warned in a rare joint letter. The five senior church leaders, including the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, said the decisions implemented in the UK Internal Market Bill would “profoundly affect” the relationship between […]

John Sentamu is expected to get a life peerage imminently, it has emerged, after the government was accused of “institutional prejudice” over Britain’s first black archbishop not being automatically ennobled. It was expected that Sentamu, 71, who retired as the Archbishop of York on June 7, would be given a life peerage so he could […]

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called on Boris Johnson to deliver the “oven-ready” Brexit deal he had promised. Sir Keir told the BBC’s Politics Wales show the UK gGovernment should sit down and talk to the EU about differences on fishing quotas and state aid. “I think it is very important that the remaining […]

Former Tory prime minister David Cameron is reportedly trying to block the publication of a new book revealing details of his handling of Brexit, because of concerns it will “damage his reputation”. As The New European reported in August, a biography from the former cabinet secretary Jeremy Heywood is set to be published, written by his […]

Fresh newspaper reports have fuelled the belief that Boris Johnson will resign in the spring once he has achieved Brexit. According to the Sunday Mirror, Tory MPs are gearing up for the prime minister to step down, after privately complaining about the salary of £150,402, which is reportedly not enough for him to live on. […]

Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove has been challenged over his claim back in April 2016 that the UK will “holds all the cards” in Brexit talks. During a campaign speech, the Brexiteer had claimed: “The day after we vote to leave we hold all the cards and we can choose the path we want”, a clip that […]

Groups representing 190,000 businesses and seven million workers have made an urgent plea for a trade deal to be agreed before the UK leaves the EU. Industry leaders in sectors including automotive, aviation, chemicals, creative industries, farming, food, and pharmaceuticals said they were united in calling for a quick agreement for the sake of jobs […]

The mayor of Manchester has criticised a “group of southern” Tory MPs who angered Conservative colleagues by calling for him to “engage” with the government’s lockdown measures to prevent further restrictions in their constituencies. He said that the “we’re alright Jack” letter from 20 Conservatives whose areas are currently under the lowest form of coronavirus […]

The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has called on parliament to adopt an amendment to the Agriculture Bill which they say will protect UK food standards in future trade deals. The government won a vote in the Commons last week to reject the House of Lords amendment to the bill which would have required agricultural and […]

Former prime minister Gordon Brown has warned chancellor Rishi Sunak that the UK is heading for a double cliff edge of Brexit and an economic collapse caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Brown, who is the longest serving chancellor of the exchequer in modern times, said the impending double whammy would cost jobs. He said the chancellor, […]

Jennifer Arcuri has reportedly admitted having an affair with Boris Johnson after allegations he used his position as London mayor to get the businesswoman favourable treatment. The prime minister avoided a criminal investigation after the police watchdog found no evidence he influenced the payment of thousands of pounds of public money to her, or secured […]