News and Opinion

The Andrew Neil Show is one of the casualties of the BBC cuts, it has been confirmed. The political programme, which has been off air during the coronavirus crisis, will not return to screens. A BBC spokeswoman said: ‘We remain committed to Andrew Neil’s in-depth interviews (as well as the Budget, US Election and other […]

The leader of the opposition should use results day as one of his first opportunities to connect with young voters, argues MARTYN SLOMAN. Mainstream Labour members have every reason to be delighted with the Party’s direction of travel. Keir Starmer’s thoughtful and intelligent approach, and the absence of evidence of any past indiscretions on his […]

A Commons committee has called it ‘troubling’ that Priti Patel could not detail how many people with coronaivrus have entered the UK since March 23. The home secretary was fronting a home affairs committee when she told panellists her department did not keep tabs on the number of infected people entering the UK from abroad. […]

Sir Keir Starmer has accused Boris Johnson of spurting ‘rhetorical nonsense’ over a question on the government’s plans to save jobs during Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs). Prime minister Boris Johnson criticised the Labour leader for scrutinising his government’s policy to keep employed through the coronavirus crisis. Taking a question on why Downing Street had not […]

Boris Johnson has suggested he hasn’t read the report detailing a report commissioned by his own chief scientific adviser warning about the risks of a second wave of coronavirus this winter. Asked at Prime Minister’s Questions if he had read the report which shows a ‘reasonable worst-case scenario’ of 120,000 deaths, Johnson said he was […]

The business secretary has faced a new ‘cash for favour’ accusation after he met influential Tory donors whose planning application needed the minister’s consent. Alok Sharma sat next to two Russian businessmen at a Tory fundraising dinner this year where it is understood the pair discussed a plan to build a £1.2 billion pipeline under […]

So precipitous has been the government’s fall in popularity that Boris Johnson would lose an election held tomorrow, says expert pollster PETER KELLNER. Boris Johnson would lose an election held today. Despite holding a steady four-point lead in recent polls, the Conservatives would lose around 70 seats. They would remain the largest party in parliament, […]

A report has found that government ‘shortsightedness’ over Brexit could lead to a long-term export slump for UK businesses. The findings, made by the National Audit Office – which audits parliament spending, shows government departments lack a long-term plan for Britain’s export market after Brexit. MPs who have read the study said the Department for […]

Donald Trump has appeared to take credit for having ‘convinced many countries’ including the UK not to use Huawei after Boris Johnson ordered a ban on the Chinese firm with the country’s 5G network. In a major U-turn provoking criticism from China, the prime minister ordered telecoms firms to remove Huawei equipment from the 5G […]

Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith has trashed the government’s face mask policy by suggesting it is a waste of time. Smith appeared on talkRADIO to discuss Downing Street’s decision to make face masks compulsory in shops and supermarkets across England from July 24. The Brexit-backing Tory MP questioned the efficacy of the decision, telling […]

Health secretary Matt Hancock has said he is ‘not frankly interested’ in pictures of Michael Gove shopping without a face mask, despite insisting it was ‘basic good manners’ to do so. The senior Cabinet Office minister, who had earlier sparked confusion by suggesting face coverings would not be mandatory in shops in England, was photographed […]

The SNP fears a ‘Brexit power grab on Scotland’ from the UK government, in what they claim is the ‘biggest threat to devolution’ since the Scottish parliament was reconvened in 1999. Ian Blackford, SNP Westminster leader, is set to also call on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to accept the extension to the transition period on […]

Campaigners have claimed victory after Boris Johnson appeared to agree with interim leader Ed Davey that there must be an independent inquiry into the government’s handling of the Covid-19 crisis. Speaking during Prime Minister’s Questions, Davey warned that under Boris Johnson’s leadership the country has suffered ‘one of the worst death rates in the world […]

Keir Starmer today interrogated Boris Johnson about his response to the coronavirus crisis. The PM responded with a joke about pants As the parliamentary session heads towards its long summer break, it’s becoming clear that there’s something about Keir Starmer which really gets under Boris Johnson’s skin. This column has dabbled in cod-psychology before in […]

Tory Brexiteer MP Desmond Swayne has led a rebellion against his party’s ‘monstrous imposition’ of wearing face masks in shops during the coronavirus crisis. Speaking in the House of Commons, the MP – who once claimed it is acceptable to ‘black face’ at parties – said: ‘Nothing would make me less likely to go shopping […]

Peers have vowed to fight the government on its plans to move to the House of Lords to York, warning it would be a ‘constitutional emasculation and a gesture of disrespect’. They argued it would lead to greater centralisation in the hands of the executive and not bring parliament closer to the people. Cabinet Office […]

We can’t build a strong and supportive community for our young people of colour until we abolish the inhuman system of prison, argues Ashish Prashar The impact of the Black Lives Matter movement is nowhere near close to fully surfacing. As the movement continues with protests across the world there is a wider social awakening […]

New polling has shown the Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership is viewed by many as a fresh start for the Labour Party, whose image over the last six years has been closely tied to his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn. A poll on Sir Keir’s first 100 days as Labour leader shows that one third (33%) of the […]

A new poll has revealed that there is an increasing amount of support for English independence to break away from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In further signs of strains for the United Kingdom, almost as many English people are in support for the country becoming independent as disagree with the idea. In a new […]

An SNP MSP has quit the party to form a new pro-independence party ahead of next year’s Holyrood elections after claims a vote for his old party in the regional vote ‘will achieve nothing’. Dave Thompson said he was joining the new Alliance for Independence (AFI), which he predicted could win up to 24 MSPs […]

Businesses in Barnard Castle have claimed they have benefited from the exposure of Dominic Cummings’ controversial family trip to Durham during the lockdown. Cummings visited the riverside at Barnard Castle on Easter Saturday after traveling from London to Durham to stay at a property on his parents’ farm when he and his wife fell ill. […]

Boris Johnson has not held a Cobra meeting since May, the mayor of London has revealed after he explained that the prime minister has not spoken to the politician since. Sadiq Khan said that the last Cobra meeting, named after the meeting point of the Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms, was held on Sunday, May 10. […]

A senior Tory minister has been confronted over the government’s ‘confusing’ messaging over face masks, and denied the new measures signalled the end of faith in ‘British people’s common sense’. Environment minister George Eustice appeared on LBC radio to promote a government announcement to make face masks mandatory in shops and supermarkets across England from […]

A motion has been tabled by Plaid Cymru in the Welsh parliament to debate whether Welsh ministers should be given the right to call a referendum on independence in the future. The party’s leader Adam Price has said a new ‘national consciousness’ towards Welsh independence had been boosted by the government’s contrasting pandemic response to […]

Brexit Party activists have said they will turn their back on the organisation after its leader in the Senedd called for the Welsh parliament to be abolished. Former Tory MP Mark Reckless, currently the Brexit Party’s leader in the Welsh parliament, has said he will lead a system to scrap the current system in next […]

New customs paperwork issued after Brexit is poised to burden businesses with eye-watering levels of red tape and will cost £7 billion a year to process. Under the new arrangements introduced as part of the government £705 million spending spree to develop the UK’s borders after Brexit, traders could be inundated with 215 million pieces […]

The UK’s largest animal welfare charity has branded Liz Truss’ attempts to reassure the British public about post-Brexit food standards a ‘Trojan horse’. The RSPCA has criticised the government’s failure to guarantee strict welfare and environmental practices beyond Brexit. It has also attacked the new commission set up by international trade secretary Truss which she […]

A group of MPs have claimed the government’s overly political approach to post-Brexit trading arrangements in Northern Ireland could spell an end to ‘unfettered’ trade between the two nations. MPs belonging to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee condemned Downing Street over what it says is a lack of clear operational guidelines for businesses on the […]

A second wave of coronavirus this winter could be more serious than the first, with scientific advisers warning the government it could lead to 120,000 deaths in the ‘reasonable worst-case scenario’. A new report from the Academy of Medical Sciences, commissioned by the government’s chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance, says action must be taken […]

MPs have called for the Russia report to be published before the summer recess after the House of Commons intelligence committee was re-established, leading Jacob Rees-Mogg to defend the delay. The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) has yet to publish the report after prime minister Boris Johnson refused to clear it for release ahead of […]

Labour has told the government it needed to ‘get a grip’ of its telecomms strategy after it performed a U-turn on a decision to allow Chinese communications giant Huawei to built part of the UK’s 5G infrastructure. Shadow digital minister Chi Onwurah said Downing Street needed to ‘get a plan and secure our critical communications […]

A website which is used to track people infected with coronavirus as part of the government’s ‘world-beating’ contract tracing system has unexpectedly crashed in England, sparking confusion amongst tracers employed to help with the efforts. Tracers who registered two months ago have also had their accounts expire, Sky News reports. A Tier 2 Covid-19 tracer […]