News and Opinion

Steve Anglesey names the worst Brexiteers of the week 10. HENRY BOLTON UKIP’s leader-for-the-next-five-minutes used possibly the most creative excuse yet while defending his an-aus girlfriend Jo Marney in an interview with the Times’ Andrew Billen. ‘A lot of young people say things on social media these days that don’t necessarily – which is strange […]

The Tories are once again in turmoil as open warfare breaks out over Brexit – can Theresa May survive? The prime minister is currently on a three day visit to China to encourage post-Brexit investment in the UK. Picture: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire – Credit: PA When Theresa May stood for leader of the Conservative Party […]

George Osborne has said the “sums don’t stack up” for severing economic ties with the European Union and warned Tories they could face electoral defeat unless Theresa May ditches her Brexit plans. The former chancellor said the way to take on Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour was to put a “sound economic plan forward” but the prime […]

RICHARD PORRITT with the week’s big stories, including clear signals in Austria, snow in Switzerland and Sweden’s most hapless burglar And so Theresa May heads off on a trade jolly to meet China’s President Xi Jinping when ideally she needs to be at home facing down growing disquiet among the ranks – both in and […]

Ukip’s embattled leader has admitted he was wrong to claim he had a degree from Sandhurst, but said it was no worse than giving the wrong result of an egg and spoon race. Henry Bolton listed a BA from the military academy on his profile on networking site LinkedIn. But after Channel 4 News pointed […]

Former Tory minister Anna Soubry has launched a scathing attack on her Hard Brexiteer colleagues, saying they would destroy the party and the prime minister to get the Brexit they wanted. The leading Remain rebel pulled no punches, saying that 35 of her colleagues had been “banging on about Europe” for decades in a way […]

Leaked government documents which indicate that any outcome from Brexit would be negative for the UK economy will be released if the Commons insists on it, Downing Street has said. The move is in stark contrast to comments made en route to China by prime minister Theresa May who said making the analysis public before […]

After The New European was accused of sexism by a leading feminist, ZOE WILLIAMS explores the divisive nature of progressive politics and the purity it often demands. If there is one thing you should never do, after an argument on Twitter, it’s to go on about it, afterwards, at greater length, to people who weren’t […]

One in 10 posts in specialist mental health services are vacant and Brexit is set to make recruitment more difficult, the Mental Health Network has said. The stark warning is issued by the organisation, which represents 93% of statutory mental health trusts in England, in its Brexit and mental health briefing. It warns the two […]

The “clueless” government is pursuing an “I haven’t got a clue Brexit”, a Labour peer has said. Lord Liddle, a former Europe adviser to Tony Blair, said “this Bill is a dagger to my heart”, adding that he was overcome by a sense of shame that “over decades our political leadership failed to make the […]

Ministers urgently need to strike a deal with the European Union on data and information sharing after Brexit, two former spy chiefs have warned. Ex-MI6 chief Sir John Sawers and Robert Hannigan, the former director of GCHQ, said it was essential the UK continued to have access to intelligence about terrorists and other “bad actors” […]

ANGELA JAMESON on the danger that real lessons from the collapse of Carillion are being missed. ‘Whoever forms the next Government can’t afford to ignore private finance. But PFI has to evolve, it has to become more responsive and flexible.’ That was what a businessman called John McDonough told me in 2010, when I wrote […]

The SNP has accused the government of being “prepared to make everyone poorer” and called for leadership over Brexit. Ian Blackford, the party’s leader at Westminster, spoke out after leaked analysis showed the economy would not grow as much as current forecasts predict under a number of scenarios for the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. […]

Betty Boothroyd has urged peers to use the “entire arsenal of our powers” over Brexit legislation to “limit the damage” to Parliament and the national interest. The former Commons speaker said she could not recall “a comparable crisis of such prolonged intensity and danger to the national interest”, adding that, having campaigned for Remain, she […]

The United Kingdom is a country profoundly divided by class, place, age and values, a comprehensive academic report on Brexit and public opinion reveals today. The report by The UK in a Changing Europe, based at King’s College London, has uncovered deep divisions in British society 19 months after the EU referendum which it warns […]

Brexit minister Steve Baker has been accused of insulting civil servants after claiming their forecasts are always wrong. The FDA, which represents senior public servants, said it was extraordinary that a minister should tell the Commons he would not believe analysis carried out in Whitehall. Quizzed by MPs about leaked assessments on the impact of […]

A former top Whitehall civil servant has said landmark Brexit legislation “strikes a dagger” to his soul. Independent crossbencher Lord Butler of Brockwell, who headed the civil service for a decade, also issued a stark warning over Britain’s “illusory quest for independence” as it is “carried along on a tide of narrow nationalism”. However, he […]

The collapse of Carillion has put the world of public sector outsourcing and contracting in the spotlight. COLIN TALBOT, who has seen such deals from the inside, explains the perils involved. In my career, I have been involved in bidding for contracts, helping design them and working alongside private contractors in several projects. And as […]

A former Liberal Democrat leader has accused Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg of threatening the Lords over Brexit. Lord Campbell of Pittenweem even dubbed the leading Conservative Hard Brexiteer “Robespierre” after one of the most influential figures of the French Revolution. Prominent backbencher Mr Rees-Mogg, the bookmakers’ favourite to be the next Tory leader, has said […]

House of Cards author Lord Dobbs has warned fellow peers it would be “sad and unwise” to try to sabotage what he dubbed “the People’s Brexit”. The Tory said while the role of the House of Lords was to advise and improve legislation, it was not to “obstruct or overturn”. Speaking at the second reading […]

A Labour former minister has accused his party leadership of putting “tribe before country” over Brexit. Lord Rooker told peers there were factions in both Labour and the Tories who had more in common with each other than their party leaders on the issue. He also said he could consider joining a political movement led […]

A Tory former minister has called on the government to consider banning referendums, calling the 2016 EU vote “the most sordid political campaign I can remember in my lifetime”. Lord Higgins urged his frontbench colleagues to speed up the Brexit process by making its own amendments to the Bill to address issues raised by the […]

Labour former Cabinet minister Lord Mandelson has warned against the government taking the UK out of the EU in “just about any vandalistic way it chooses”. In the marathon Lords debate on the EU (Withdrawal) Bill, Lord Mandelson said the only way to maintain “frictionless” trade was to enter the European Economic Area. Highlighting Cabinet […]

Last week’s New European caused waves with its caution over a second referendum. But for columnist PAUL CONNEW, another vote holds no concern. I found myself uncharacteristically at odds with The New European’s cover headline last week urging caution over a second referendum, and editor Matt Kelly’s line that the ‘Brexit mess should be fixed […]

Is it time for another referendum on Brexit? Our readers have filled our mailbag with their own perspectives on what happens next. I agree that referendums are a tool of demagogues and dictators, unsuited to a representative democracy, but now that we’ve gone down that road, it will take one to cure one. Matt Kelly’s […]

International trade secretary Liam Fox’s warning that some Tories will “have to live with disappointment” has drawn a sharp rebuke from fellow leading Brexiteer Iain Duncan Smith. After days of Tory turmoil over the government’s Brexit strategy and questions over whether Theresa May can remain as prime minister, Dr Fox called for an end to […]

Theresa May is facing demands to publish the government’s latest Brexit analysis following a report it had concluded Britain would be worse off whatever deal is struck with Brussels. As the prime minister prepared to fly out on a three-day trade mission to China, opposition MPs said the public were entitled to know the true […]

The government says it is confident peers will be “constructive” over key Brexit legislation as a marathon two-day debate began. Lords leader Baroness Evans of Bowes Park said she did not share concerns that peers would ignore the referendum or use the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill to frustrate the Brexit process. She added she expected […]

Tunisia provided the spark for revolutions in North Africa and the Middle East. As PAUL KNOTT reports, tensions are rising once again. And the West is among those to blame. Tunisia is a small, mostly quiet and often ignored corner of the Middle East and North Africa. It burst into the international limelight in 2011, […]

Britain will have to obey the EU rulebook in full during a transition period after Brexit while having no voice in decision-making bodies, under proposals agreed by the remaining 27 member states. In a brief meeting in Brussels, the EU27 gave their approval to new guidelines for chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, ahead of talks […]

PAUL CONNEW takes a look at the unique circumstances surrounding the US government shutdown. It wasn’t so much ‘America First’ as a double first for America. The first time that a US president’s first inaugural anniversary was commemorated by a government shutdown triggered by a congressional stalemate over the funding to keep it fully functioning. […]

MICHAEL WHITE on whether a tapestry is all we get from Le President. Cyber warfare and cuts to armed forces leave UK vulnerable to Russian attack. Illustration: Gary Barker. – Credit: Archant When Emmanuel Macron made his grandiose offer to lend Britain the Bayeaux Tapestry during his Sandhurst summit with Theresa May, one wag suggested […]