News and Opinion

The Prime Minister believes she holds all the cards as the country embarks on a General Election. But Labour could still spring a surprise at the ballot box Theresa May has sprung an early election, breaking her earlier pledges not to, and there are three reasons why. • She knows the Brexit negotiations will very […]

The Liberal Democrat leader is the one Number 10 increasingly fears Cometh the hour, cometh the man. A hoary old cliché, true enough, but for one man in particular Theresa May’s mother of all U-turns means opportunity knocks. Step forward, Tim Farron, leader of the Lib Dems and principled champion of the 48%. OK, he’s […]

MPs would be given the chance to halt a Brexit deal secured by a Labour government, Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer has said. But outlining Labour’s Brexit strategy Sir Keir again ruled out a second referendum. He instead insisted that if Theresa May was ousted from Number 10 Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour would give MPs the […]

All the election news, reaction and updates on April 25. .

I can remember a time when young people were fired by a righteous anger. Now that they are so cosseted by mainstream culture, the flame has gone out Who but a reckless fool would make cast iron predictions about an unexpected General Election that our U-turning Prime Minister vowed not to call? What else is […]

One of France’s most powerful political figures wasn’t on the ballot paper – he was more than 1,500 miles away, at home in the Kremlin Vladimir just did it. Without any fuss, he invited Francis to dinner at one of his dachas – Novo Ogaryovo, near Moscow. It was spring 2013, the gesture was a […]

All the updates, reaction and analysis on Monday April 24. .

Labour could still shock Theresa May at the ballot box. But Corbyn needs to up his game on Brexit In the immediate aftermath of Theresa May’s election bombshell there was confusion in Westminster. No-one saw it coming and only a small inner circle of cohorts were privy to the Prime Minister’s plan. There were no […]

Pro-EU centrist Emmanuel Macron will face far-right Marine Le Pen in a head-to-head battle for the French presidency. Macron, who quit current president Francois Hollande’s Socialists only last year ago to launch a new party, led the way with 23.7% of the first round vote, according to an exit poll by Ipsos and Sopra Steria. […]

Brexit raises more and more questions for its backers. Yet they still have no answers What are Brexiters going to make of the Turkish referendum? Turkey has turned itself into a dictatorship on the basis of a miniscule referendum majority – a majority of votes cast on the day, note, not of the electorate as […]

Follow all the developments and reactions on Sunday April 23. .

The game is back on… and you have to ask why? Well I did NOT see that coming. Literally; as you may even remember, in an early column I dismissed the notion of Theresa May calling a snap election before 2020 as I could see no electoral advantage for her in doing so. What’s changed? […]

… they never do, says The New European’s election editor At least Theresa May deserves a round of applause for pulling off a real surprise. Even her cabinet did not know. Those of us who saw her as a risk-averse, Anglo-Catholic vicar’s daughter, raised in the gentler, Ovaltine conservatism of small town Oxfordshire, never spotted […]

Well, we now know at least one thing about our inscrutable Prime Minister. We know she is prepared to do a u-turn on something she stated categorically would not happen – a snap General Election. Who knows where the u-turns will end! We can but hope. Actually, now Theresa May has taken this enormous political […]

We pick out the worst Leavers of a week in which people came together and united behind the opportunities which lie ahead. Probably. The UKIP Paw Patrol (NEW ENTRY) When a UKIP supporter shouts for his bulldog to come, it doesn’t necessarily mean he wants the hound to move closer. A YouGov poll has found […]

Live election coverage including news, reaction and analysis on Saturday April 22. The leaders are set to hit the campaign trail hard during the first weekend of the election campaign.

Tony Blair has called for a ‘movement’ of pro-EU voters to prevent Theresa May getting a mandate for a ‘Brexit at any cost’. The former prime minister said the opinion polls, which put Labour as many as 24 points behind the Tories, ‘appear to be definitive’ in pointing towards a big Tory victory on June […]

From putting up posters to ward off the forces of Brexit to encouraging young people to vote, we pick 8 easy ways to make a difference for GE2017 1) REGISTER TO VOTE Only 66% of Brits voted in 2015 and there have been suggestions that, because of poll fatigue, 2017 could see the lowest turnout […]

Editor-at-large Alastair Campbell issues a cri de couer for the pro-European cause This is an election like no other I can remember. First, there is no obvious reason why we are having it. Second, there appears to be near universal agreement as to what the outcome will be. Democracy UK style 2017. Weird. Last Saturday, […]

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron has said Theresa May’s appetite for a Hard Brexit makes Nigel Farage look like a moderate. Speaking in two key Remain seats he added that May was using ‘bogus’ Brexit arguments to justify an early election but actually called a snap election to capitalise on Labour’s woes. Far from being […]

The UK would be welcomed back with open arms by the EU if it turned its back on Brexit after the General Election, the European Parliament’s president has said. Antonio Tajani said all 27 other countries in the European Union would be in favour if a new government decided to reverse the Article 50 process […]

Live updates as Britain gears up for the Brexit election on June 8. .

The manifestos are a few weeks away yet. But here is a look at some of the main themes already taking shape. CONSERVATIVES For the Tories this is going to be the Brexit election – and the manifesto is likely to outline a dreaded Hard Brexit. Theresa May, will put her plans for withdrawing from […]

Leaked documents have revealed Brussels will demand Britain pays the cost of moving EU agencies out of the UK after Brexit. And the European Commission will insist that the UK stumps up its ‘divorce bill’ in euros, ensuring that Britain bears the risk of any currency fluctuations. The tough negotiating guidelines, obtained by the Politico.eu […]

Sitting MP Douglas Carswell has announced he will not stand in the general election – dodging a dust up with Brexit bad boy Arron Banks. The former Tory who defected to UKIP – before quitting that party as well – said he would be voting Conservative on June 8 but has decided that ‘it is […]

Jeremy Corbyn has ruled out backing a second referendum on the final Brexit deal after suggestions Labour could include the policy in their general election manifesto. A spokesman for the Labour leader said: ‘A second referendum is not our policy and it won’t be in our manifesto.’ It comes after shadow chancellor John McDonnell said […]

Labour leader’s speech, Burnham and Carswell stand down MORE: The saboteur’s guide to General Election 2017: 8 ways YOU can make a difference

There have been various proposals for ‘neutral’ international languages to help countries to get along, but politics always get in the way Once the UK has left, the number of native English speakers in the EU will fall from around 14% to just 1%. English will, almost certainly, remain one of the EU’s 24 official […]

…not hygge Of all the great things to come out of Denmark, it’s a shame that hygge, the fad for all things cosy and gemutlich, has taken centre stage. In truth the Danes’ best 21st century export by far is the superb actress Sidse Babett Knudsen, in the news at home and abroad at the […]

Don’t miss your chance to vote on election day, June 8: This is everything you need to know about registering to vote in GE2017 Who needs to register? If you have never voted, have moved constituency, or have turned 18 recently then you will need to register if you have not done so already. When […]

Theresa May wants to railroad Britain into a Hard Brexit by increasing her majority in the House of Commons to stifle any opposition or Tory rebellion. The Prime Minister has admitted she called the shock General Election to give her a clearer ‘mandate’ during negotiations with the European Union and many now fear her apparent […]

Parliament gives Theresa May’s snap election the nod. . . . . .