News and Opinion

As Hull relinquishes its title as the UK’s City of Culture, ANTHONY CLAVANE​ visits and finds a Brexit heartland ​looking to the future – with trepidation. On my way to the light-firing robots, I pass a statue of Philip Larkin, mid-dash, notebook clutched under an arm, overcoat flapping open and hat swinging from a hand. […]

For some companies, says ANGELA JAMESON, Jeremy Corbyn is the biggest bogeyman on the horizon. Train operators, energy suppliers and water companies are urgently trying to restore their battered reputations with the public in the final throes of 2017. For if they fail, the punishment could be far worse than a precipitous slide in their […]

The Brexit ‘war cabinet’ has concluded without senior ministers agreeing a position on what trade relationship Britain should pursue with the EU. The ministers most closely involved with Brexit talks began discussing options for the future UK-EU relationship in a Downing Street meeting which lasted about 90 minutes. Brexiteers Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Liam […]

Russia’s leader might seem to be invincible, but in fact he is less secure than he appears, and 2018 could be the year that proves it, argues PAUL KNOTT. Prime Minister Theresa May held a news conference with the Russian President before the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, China. – Credit: PA Archive/PA Images Vladimir Putin […]

The border issue may have been fudged for now, but when it comes to Ireland, much else has become abundantly clear, says DEIRDRE HEENAN. Theresa May is enjoying a rare moment in the sunshine. Last week, when it seemed that she couldn’t find a way to break the logjam in negotiations, many were predicting that […]

Chlorinated turkey, chicken and other poultry washed in chemicals could end up on the menu at Christmas if the UK does a post-Brexit trade deal with the US, food policy experts have warned. A briefing paper prepared by three professors said British shoppers would be safer if the UK kept European Union standards on food […]

A post-Brexit trade deal with the US could result in UK consumers eating ‘dirty’ turkey, chicken and other poultry, food policy experts have said. A briefing paper prepared by three professors said British shoppers would be safer if the UK kept European Union standards on food production and called for future controls to be ‘stricter, […]

PAUL GREGG, one of those to resign from the ​government’s social mobility ​commission recently, gives his own reasons for the decision. How to address inequality in society by redistributing incomes through taxes and benefits has long divided left and right. But equalising opportunities, commonly called social mobility, has wide political credence. The constrained opportunities of […]

Senior Labour figures have clashed over whether there should be a second referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union. Deputy leader Tom Watson was seemingly at odds with shadow home secretary Diane Abbott on the need for a second poll. Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Pienaar’s Politics Watson said ‘you shouldn’t rule anything […]

Support for Brexit has plummeted amid chaotic negotiations and a warring cabinet, a new poll has found. The BMG Research poll found 51% favoured staying in the EU while just 41% backed Brexit. After people who said they did not know were pushed for an answer or excluded, the survey found 55.5% in favour of […]

Brexiteers are gearing up for a clash with the Government over the transition period. Leadership hopeful Jacob Rees-Mogg has hit out at the Prime Minister warning EU plans would leave the UK a ‘colony’ of Brussels for two years after Brexit. Philip Hammond said the deal sought by the Government would mean that, although ‘technically’ […]

The Daily Mail’s frontpages make for contradictory reading, writes Liz Gerard. The Daily Mail seems to have crossed its own red lines. – Credit: Archant When Theresa May set out her tough position ahead of her negotiations with the EU, the Daily Mail was in full support for her hardline stance, declaring, in October 2016, […]

Reader Paul Hollands spent a week on a pro-Brexit Facebook group to break out of the Remain social media ‘bubble’. I have spent the last week in a pro-Brexit group on Facebook. I did this to try and break out of my ‘bubble’, but also I went in search of the reason why people voted […]

To understand Trump’s move over Jerusalem, you have to look to his fanbase and his finances, suggests ALBERT SCARDINO Donald Trump may soon be allowed to build his wall, but it won’t be where he wanted it, along the US-Mexican border. It will be around a new US Embassy compound in Jerusalem. Trump has never […]

MITCH BENN asks whether the likes of David Davis and Donald Trump have decided that shame is a sign of weakness. First of all, some sort of apology is order; I have been laid low with bloke-flu since last we spoke. It seems to be one of those annoying colds which wipes you out completely […]

JAMES BALL asks whether we should expect more of a cabinet minister than an 11-year-old at primary school. Should we expect more of a cabinet minister, or an 11-year-old at primary school? This is maybe not a question we expect to ask ourselves, but when faced with the reality of David Davis’s tenure at the […]

Theresa May has reassured the EU27 she will continue to drive Brexit forward despite an embarrassing Commons defeat as they gave the green light for phase two. European leaders have given their approval for Brexit talks to move on to their next phase but European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker warned that the transition to a […]

The Prime Minister is doomed even if she survives yet another self-created crisis, writes reader Daniel Hunt. She is weak, lacking vision, and unable to unite her own party, let alone her coalition partners. The reluctance of the Tory plotters to knife her while Brexit remains in the balance is understandable. Less so is why […]

MICHAEL WHITE tries to look on the bright side of the fallout from May’s Brexit fudge. What’s that you say? Donald Trump is coming to Britain in January despite everything he’s done lately to upset us? Don’t we have enough problems, including the Rand Corporation’s treasonable claim that a Hard Brexit could be costing the […]

The EU is currently debating proposals to force internet giants like Google and Facebook to pay more for the millions of news stories they offer their users. Here, the leaders of some of the continent’s biggest news agencies explain why the measure is so urgent. An apparently technical debate has been under way for several […]

Why not subscribe to the award-winning New European? After all, it is the only really good thing to come from Brexit. Firstly, thanks so much for reading this newspaper! Whether you are one of our subscribers, or a first-time buyer, your support each week is essential to the continued success of The New European, and […]

The writer on how immigration anxieties are always about race or foreignness Please don’t tell me opposition to immigration is not about race. Or that racism is now more or less extinct in the UK, whatever the ‘race industry’ claims. Or that Brexit was never about claiming back the nation for white, true-born Britons. Or […]

The government must take its share of the EU’s wine and art when Britain leaves, a Brexiteering Tory MP has demanding. Sir Edward Leigh told Parliament that the EU was thought to have a wine cellar stocked with more than 42,000 bottles and has artwork worth more than £13m. He urged the government to “promise” […]

Steve Anglesey counts down the worst Brexiteers of the week. THE UKIP LION Though it was unveiled less than three months ago, the ‘Kippers are reportedly preparing to dump their lion logo after conceding that they cannot afford a copyright court fight with football’s Premier League, whose own emblem it closely resembles. UKIP insiders tip […]

A blistering assault on Brexiteers in the European Parliament, labelling them “political crooks”, is proving a viral sensation on social media. Viviane Reding, a former European commissioner, said that rather than the “global Britain” promised by the likes of Boris Johnson and Liam Fox, Brexit was ushering in “a lonely Britain”. And Britain was “at […]

RICHARD PORRITT with the week’s big stories, including Brexit health risks, trouble in Ukraine and controversy in Italy Nigel Farage’s former spokesman Michael Heaver has been chatting to the BBC about his time with UKIP. ‘Nigel Farage is such a machine,’ Heaver, who got the job aged just 27, said adoringly. ‘What was very important […]

An influential committee of MPs has thrown its support behind a Brexit transition agreement that sees EU laws continue to reign supreme, stressing that it would be a “price worth paying” for stability after March 2019. The Treasury Select Committee is urging the British government to put forward transition deal proposals that are straightforward and […]

Parliament flexed its muscles tonight – and isn’t it glorious? Don’t listen to the ministers who will want to spin this differently, this is hugely significant. Theresa May now has to go to Brussels on the back of the first defeat she has suffered on her own business in the House of Commons. And what […]

MPs have dealt a humiliating blow to the Government by ‘taking back control’ of the Brexit process with a House of Commons defeat for Theresa May. MPs return their result in the House of Commons where the Government has suffered its first defeat over the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill – Credit: PA Wire/PA Images In […]

Conservative former minister Dominic Grieve has suggested he and the government have run out of road over his call for a meaningful vote on any Brexit deal. The MP said what happens in such circumstances is “all rational discourse starts to evaporate”, adding the purpose of his amendment is “entirely lost in a confrontation” in […]

International trade secretary Liam Fox has used a speech in Argentina to lash out at “gloomy” Brexit commentators, urging them to be more positive. Sceptical pundits needed to understand Brexit was “not a time bomb” and leaving the European Union would allow the UK to have a “bold and confident” future, he said. It is […]

The European Parliament has defeated plans to ban an additive that is considered key in industrial meats for the doner kebab. Needing an absolute majority of at least 376 votes for a ban on phosphates, the legislature fell three votes short, saving the popular post-pub delicacy. The vote was 373-272 with 30 abstentions. The decision […]