News and Opinion

The Democratic Unionist Party has said it will not accept any Brexit deal which “separates” Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK, it said today. DUP leader Arlene Foster said the party, which props up Theresa May’s Tory minority Government, would not allow “any form of regulatory divergence” from the UK. She spoke out […]

Progressive parties must get their act together and address immigration if we are to avoid a Hard Brexit, writes environmentalist and Green thinker JONATHON PORRITT. Will there be a single inflection point – when the grim state of the Brexit balance sheet becomes undeniable to all but a small number of Brexit-at-any-cost ideologues? Probably not, […]

A crunch Brexit meeting is ‘not a deadline’ according to Number 10 as talks over the Irish border continue to stall progress. Theresa May will today meet with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, in what has been described as a ‘crucial’ moment in negotiations. Last month […]

In an open letter to Jeremy Corbyn, Editor-at-Large ALASTAIR CAMPBELL spells out how fighting Brexit could win Labour the next election. Dear Jeremy, I recently drafted a speech which I was hoping you might use to announce a change of Labour’s position on Brexit. Sadly, this seems to have fallen on deaf ears. Undeterred, I […]

Labour has offered hope the party could still back a second referendum on EU membership at the end of negotiations. Shadow International Trade Secretary Barry Gardiner said although it was not current Labour policy to have a second vote he could not rule out the possibility. He stressed that stating support for another referendum would […]

With on-going investigations into Russian links to Trumps election campaign, will his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, be the first of Trump’s family to be charged. PAUL CONNEW reports. It looks like being a far from cushy 2018 for Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior White House adviser. Kushner appears destined to become the first member […]

The public want a second referendum after the Government botched the first round of Brexit negotiations, according to a new poll. The Survation poll showed 50% of people now believe there should be another vote on the final deal. Just 34% think no further referendum is needed. The poll also showed that 41% of people […]

Post Brexit, Unilever and Shell could take advantage of lower corporate taxes in the Netherlands. ANGELA JAMESON reports. While we have all been braced to hear which American and Asian banks will hotfoot it out of London when Brexit comes, we should perhaps be more worried by signs that two huge British companies are thinking […]

Nigel Farage will not give up his £73,000 European Union pension despite demanding Britain should not pay billions for a divorce bill. The UKIP MEP, who has sat in the European Parliament since 1999, is set to pocket £73,000 in pension payments every year in 10 years once he reaches the age of 63. Negotiators […]

In a very personal reflection on Brexit, YASMIN ALIBHAI-BROWN recalls her own journey of identity from Colonial subject, to Briton, to European. This is a tale of transformation, from inherited historical prejudices to new awakenings, from distrust to ardour, from a wince to a kiss. None of it was planned. I was unaware of the […]

British attacks on the Republic’s stance are wide of the mark and underscore why Ireland, one of the UK’s few potential allies in the exit negotiations, will stay on team EU, writes JASON WALSH. Ireland’s minority Government dodged the bullet of a snap election just two weeks before Brexit negotiations on the border have to […]

The EU has set up a working group to prepare for Britain crashing out without a deal, leaked papers seen by a German newspaper show. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung is reporting that it has seen papers showing that the European Commission has set up the group reporting directly its president, Jean-Claude Juncker, to prepare the […]

Ireland should use its veto on Brexit negotiations if the DUP attempts to use its Westminster influence to impose a new border on the island, Sinn Fein has said. A senior Democratic Unionist has warned the Conservative Government will not be able to rely his party’s votes in Parliament for any Brexit deal that treats […]

Has the constant reel of Brexit news got you pulling your hair out? Comedian and musician MITCH BENN looks at one piece of news this week that has taken minds off of Brexit. Hey folks. Do you sometimes find yourself longing for the days when I – and everyone else – had other things to […]

Viktor Orban, the Hungarian PM, is acting as a Trojan horse, disrupting the EU from within, argues PAUL KNOTT When last in opposition, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán infamously said ‘we have only to win once, but then properly’. True to his word, Orbán has, through extensive and controversial constitutional changes, hollowed out Hungary’s democratic […]

The furore over high street chain Paperchase’s U-turn over advertising with the Daily Mail has caused an almighty row over what is pressure group Stop Funding Hate’s objective. LIZ GERARD investigates ‘The British people relish a good hero – and a good hate.’ Thus spake Sunny Harmsworth, first and only Lord Northcliffe, pioneer of popular […]

It’s Friday, which means the latest episode of The New European podcast is available to download. This week Richard Porritt, Steve Anglesey and Geri Scott share the nation’s outrage at the despicable US president’s retweets of far-right rabble Britain First, ask why Damian Green still has a job and ponder if Labour’s position on Brexit […]

It would be a ‘waste of time’ for the UK to try to seek a trade deal with the US under President Trump, a nobel Prize-winning economist has warned. Joseph Stiglitz said Mr Trump had ‘thrown a hand grenade’ into international trade relationships by putting the future of the North American Nafta free trade deal […]

A return of border checks between Northern Ireland and the Republic appears inevitable after Britain leaves the EU, MPs have warned. The Commons Exiting the EU Committee said it appeared impossible to reconcile the government’s decision to pull out of the single market and the customs union with its declared intention to maintain a “frictionless” […]

Theresa May is planning to rebrand the Conservatives as the ‘caring party’ after internal polling showed they are seen as not caring enough. Several national newspapers report today that backbench Conservative MPs have seen the plans, which aim to improve the party’s electoral fortunes after a disastrous election result in June. The Tories will vow […]

Was Boris Johnson and Michael Gove’s Brexit letter to the Prime Minister really Orwellian? NICK BENTLEY investigates the true sense of the word. Leading Conservative Brexiteers, Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, wrote recently to the Prime Minister, Theresa May, and – surprise, surprise – the text of the letter duly found its way into the […]

Britain has shifted from “go whistle” to “what’s your sort code” over the Brexit divorce bill, MPs were told today. Pete Wishart, the SNP’s Commons spokesman, claimed the total bill “must now come close to hundreds of billions of pounds” as he criticised “chaotic cluelessness” over Brexit. He asked for a parliamentary debate about the […]

STEVE ANGLESEY counts down the worst Brexiteers of the week 10 ALAN BRAZIL Brushing off the departures of the European Medicines Agency to Amsterdam and the European Banking Authority to Paris, the bibulous Talksport host assured listeners that ‘if we get a good Brexit there will be 5,000 jobs created for every 1,000 lost’. So […]

RICHARD PORRITT with the week’s big stories, including some good news on electric planes, some bad news for the Polish economy and some credit for Emmanuel Macron So we have got to that sad moment in the breakdown of any relationship where the shouting is over, the tears have dried up and all there is […]

Do you, like David Davis, find yourself with a lot of time on your hands? Take back control of the infamous Brexit Bus and see how long you can keep it from crashing Since the EU referendum was announced, the value of the pound has been up and down like a yo-yo. Now you can […]

Taxpayers face a £200m annual bill for thousands of extra staff recruited by HM Revenue and Customs to deal with Brexit, its top civil servant has said. Jon Thompson also revealed around 40-60% of his time is now spent dealing with the consequences of the vote to leave the EU. HMRC will play a crucial […]

How did the cult guru convince his followers to kill for him? LINDA DUBROW-MARSHALL and ROD DUBROW-MARSHALL explain Charles Manson, who died this week, was a cult leader par excellence. Back in his heyday, he recruited a devoted set of followers to his ‘family’, some of whom went on to murder people for him. But […]

Remainers are still waiting for evidence of the cunning traps Labour were going to set for the government during this process, writes one reader. Two studies have shown that Labour’s surge at the last general election was mainly due to voters perceiving them as the party who would deliver the softest Brexit, or no Brexit […]

Britain will “meet our obligations” as it leaves the EU and pay for financial commitments made as a member, a Brexiteering Cabinet minister has said amid reports that a “divorce bill” of much as £50bn has been agreed. Transport secretary Chris Grayling refused to comment on “speculation” about the final figure but acknowledged “the price” […]

There aren’t many greater symbols of the UK’s ties to Europe than the Channel Tunnel – a transport operator many are desperately trying to keep on track after Brexit Thirty years ago this month, the first spade broke ground on the Channel Tunnel, for so long a metaphor used by Europhiles and Eurosceptics alike for […]

Ministers could trigger a new Commons vote to rule out having to release their secret papers on the economic impact of Brexit in full. Brexit minister Robin Walker today faced repeated demands from Conservative MPs to develop a revised motion guaranteeing that commercial, market and negotiation-sensitive information would be excluded from material given to the […]

David Davis sent his junior minister Robin Walker to answer Labour’s Urgent Question over the Brexit impact papers this lunchtime. [View the story 'Urgent Question granted on Brexit impact papers' on Storify] MPs from across the political divide used the opportunity to turn on the government over its handling of the papers, with a number […]