News and Opinion

As Theresa May’s cabinet divisions continue to stunt the progress of Brexit, JAMES BALL examines the factors which could trigger another snap election. If you like putting pencil crosses in boxes it’s been a good few years for you. The UK had a general election in 2015, the Brexit referendum in 2016, and another general […]

The UK may have to stay in the customs union beyond 2020 because of the government’s abject failure to arrange any alternatives. The cross-party Commons Exiting the European Union Committee has published a brutal report on Theresa May’s efforts and concluded that extending the current arrangement is the only ‘viable option’. The MPs said it […]

Businesses could be left up to £20bn worse off if the customs plan favoured by Brexiteers is implemented, the head of HM Revenue and Customs has warned. The so-called “max fac” plan to use modern technology to solve the Irish border question would leave firms facing huge charges for customs declarations and for EU “rules […]

The £39bn Brexit divorce bill could be signed off by Parliament without any formal legal commitments on a future trade deal with the European Union, MPs have been told. Brexit minister Suella Braverman acknowledged there was currently no explicit condition in the withdrawal agreement between the UK and EU but both sides had promised to […]

Theresa May’s de facto deputy has failed to respond to an “urgent” call from Scottish ministers to come to Holyrood to try to end the dispute over Brexit powers. Mike Russell, the Scottish Brexit minister, wrote to David Lidington on May 15 – the same day that Holyrood voted formally against the UK Government’s EU […]

Boris Johnson’s idea for a new brightly-coloured “Brexit plane” to help him sell Global Britain abroad appears to have failed to get off the ground. Speaking on an official tour of Latin America the foreign secretary had said the RAF Voyager jet shared by the prime minister, senior Cabinet members and the royal family “never […]

Corbyn has enjoyed two strong PMQs in a row and both kicked off with zingers – sadly not this week. Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn Photo: PA – Credit: PA Wire/PA Images His decision to go with the NHS was not the problem. His questioning was. He started with: ‘In 2010 £4bn of NHS services […]

A proposed plan to replace the customs union after Brexit will not be fully ready by the end of 2020, MPs have been told. HM Revenue and Customs chief executive Jon Thompson told the Brexit Select Committee that elements of the so-called “maximum facilitation” plan could take three years to put in place. The plan, […]

Former Ipswich mayor Inga Lockington has had her application for British citizenship turned down by the Home Office – because officials will not accept that she is a UK resident. Mrs Lockington, who has been a Liberal Democrat councillor for 19 years and was mayor of her adopted town 10 years ago, is Danish. She […]

Join our community of supporters and get a FREE Amazon Echo Dot worth £49.99 The New European is proud of its journalism and we hope you are proud of it too. We believe our voice is important – both in representing the pro-EU perspective and also to help rebalance the right-wing extremes of much of […]

Axel Scheffler, illustrator of the Gruffalo children’s books, used his acceptance speech at the British Book Awards to launch a ferocious attack on Brexit. The German, who was presented with an award for illustrator of the year, said “I can’t pretend it’s business as usual. It’s just 10 months until ‘Freedom Day’ – next March. […]

A fresh cabinet row has erupted after Michael Gove wrote to colleagues blaming the Treasury for a government defeat in the House of Lords. The Brexiteer environment secretary accused Philip Hammond’s department of ‘short-sightedness’ which had led to an ‘avoidable’ Lords defeat for the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill. Peers voted to force the government to […]

A panicky Boris Johnson has urged Tory backbenchers to calm down over talk of a snap election. The foreign secretary has pleaded with Conservative MPs to rein in talk of another snap election, warning that voters would have little patience for being told to go back to the ballot boxes so soon after last year’s […]

A Brexit backstop that would keep the UK aligned to the European Union customs union must only be a short-term solution, Michael Gove has demanded. The environment secretary claimed that by definition the fall-back position, a last resort if disagreements over plans for the Irish border are not resolved in time, was ‘a temporary infill’. […]

​With the football match day programme facing an uncertain future, Charlie Connelly suggests how they could return to their glory days. The Manchester United review. Picture: Archant – Credit: Archant Towards the end of last month I could be found rummaging in boxes and tutting a lot. Afflicted by a sudden bout of nostalgia I’d […]

The governor of the Bank of England has revealed the decision to quit the European Union is already hitting hard-working families in the pocket. Speaking before the Commons Treasury Committee Mark Carney told MPs economic growth was between 1.5% and 2% lower than predicted on the eve of the referendum. He said: ‘That’s a reasonable […]

Tony Blair has launched another Brexit broadside at Labour saying the party’s current position is pleasing no-one. The former prime minister and ardent Remainer said the current Labour policy would not please either side of the argument. Talking on the Today programme he said: ‘At the moment we’re in a halfway house. We are in […]

Charlie Connelly on a book that brings a new level of analysis to the divisive issue on which Ireland is about to decide. Amid the intense national debate surrounding Ireland’s imminent referendum on whether to reform the country’s near-total ban on abortion, one book has emerged to help truly humanise the argument and, perhaps, sway […]

The UK has been accused of turning a blind eye to Russia’s “dirty money”, putting national security at risk The Commons Foreign Affairs Committee said despite the outcry over the Salisbury nerve agent attack, President Vladimir Putin and his allies were continuing to use the City as a base for their “corrupt assets”. In a […]

The country’s close-call referendum on abortion will reveal much about a changing nation, says Jason Walsh This month the hoardings and walls of buildings in Dublin, usually home to advertisements for mobile phones, drinks and car insurance, are more akin to Havana street scenes. It is political slogans, not commerce, that vie for attention. Between […]

Foreign secretary Boris Johnson has been accused of threatening Theresa May from thousands of miles away as the Conservative battle over the EU’s customs union rages. Mr Johnson used a trip to Latin America to issue a warning to the prime minister that she must not let the so-called “backstop” become a permanent solution. There […]

There is plenty of gloom about the global growth of authoritarianism. But, as Natasha Ezrow argues, it is not all good news for despots All around the world, democracy seems shaky. While consolidated democracies are struggling to stay healthy, many flawed ones have turned into outright authoritarian regimes – most notably Russia under Vladimir Putin […]

Reading the runes is tricky, but it appears that Theresa May could be more courageous than many of us thought, as she seemingly tries to avoid the hardest of Brexits. Criticism from Johnson and Gove suggests she might be positioning herself on the side of the angels after all. She should be brave and think […]

Ignore the naysayers, there is a way to cancel our departure from the EU, argues Jonathan Lis. As the simple passage of time ruthlessly exposes Brexit’s rancid dishonesty and illuminates its epochal futility, it also emboldens the movement to stop the calamity altogether. For months, the government and right-wing media silenced Remainers with nativist denunciations […]

People in Northern Ireland want the UK to stay in the customs union and single market, an in-depth analysis of public attitudes to Brexit has shown. Researchers from Queen’s University Belfast found that there was “substantial and intense opposition” in Northern Ireland to possible north-south border checks between Northern Ireland and the Republic. One in […]

George Walden reviews recent books on Brexit and finds himself asking who can truly consider themselves patriots. Feelings about the European Union tend to be personal, and in the early years mine were positive. When the UK joined the Common Market in 1972 I was Soviet desk officer in the Foreign Office, working on the […]

When she suffers a break-in, Emma Jones is left with no alternative but to turn DIY detective. As needs must, I’ve come up with my own plan to help Sadiq Khan improve the clear-up rate for crimes in the capital, so the mayor can concentrate on more pressing matters, like tackling obesity. My solution is […]

I’ve just had ten days in France and North Italy. As I was wearing my EU/UK badge, I got Brexit chat – three types. My summaries may be useful to readers who discuss more vigorously than this octogenarian. (1) Leavers in the group I travelled with were polite but firm: ‘Bureaucratic gravy train’; ‘Under the […]

Last Friday on the Daily Politics I watched a rather smug Peter Bone and Yasmin Alibhai-Brown discussing the mental stresses caused by the Brexit process on Remainers. The debate was good-natured and none the worse for that. Bone clearly feels the war is won and he can afford to be comfortable with his vision of […]

Britain’s departure from the EU has sparked enough anger at home. But, as Alastair Campbell writes, Brexit is giving our foreign friends sleepless nights as well. RIGA: It says something about my old hyper-stressed, too-much-flying life that I cannot remember if I have ever been to Latvia before. I have a vague memory of having […]

By ignoring his members, Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour has become a party for the few, not the many, argues student activist Rosie McKenna I joined the Labour party in the summer of 2015, shortly after Jeremy Corbyn was elected Labour’s leader. Like many of my generation, I was enthused by his authenticity, values and left-wing principles. […]

TIM WALKER gives four stars to 3Women at London’s Trafalgar Studios 2 3Women Trafalgar Studios 2, London, until June 9 **** (Four stars) The playwright Alan Bennett once noted that every family has a secret – and the secret is it isn’t like any other family. Katy Brand’s new comedy drama 3 Women certainly doesn’t […]