News and Opinion

Politicians in Wales have joined those in Northern Ireland and Scotland to reject Boris Johnson’s Brexit bill. On Tuesday, 35 assembly members from Labour and Plaid Cymru rejected the Bill, while 15 backed it. First minister Mark Drakeford told the assembly: “It is a bad deal for Wales because it would clearly damage our economy, […]

TIM WALKER reviews Coming Clean – a performance at Trafalgar Studios in London until February 1st. If there’s one actress it’s always enlightening to interview, it’s Dame Eileen Atkins. “Infidelity,” she told me, “is one of the last things you should fall out with someone over.” That’s not the modus vivendi agreed by Tony (Lee […]

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has restated her position that the UK’s access to the single market would be weakened if it diverged from Brussels’ rules. Speaking at the World Economic Forum at Davos, the commission president said the “next negotiations will start in February with our British friends” and promised that officials […]

The GMB union has backed Lisa Nandy in the Labour leadership contest. Just as the contest looked like it was going to become a two-horse race, Lisa Nandy managed to secure the support of another union She has already received the support of the NUM – the National Union of Mineworkers – meaning she just […]

The organiser of a pro-EU rally on January 31 says he does not care if the media want to compare it to Nigel Farage’s Brexit celebration. Peter French is the man behind ‘À bientôt EU, See you soon’, a procession from Downing Street to the European Commission in Central London taking part on Brexit Day […]

With Jess Phillips out of the race the number of contenders to be the next leader falls to four. Rebecca Long-Bailey, Lisa Nandy, Keir Starmer and Emily Thornberry all remain in the race. But who are you backing to replace Jeremy Corbyn? Have your say by voting in our poll.

Thousands have signed a petition that calls on Holyrood to keep the European flag flying after the Brexit departure date on January 31st. The Union flag, Saltire and the European Union flag fly alongside each other outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA Wire. – Credit: PA The Scottish parliamentary corporate body – […]

Ministers have been defeated a fourth time in the Lords over Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal. Peers inflicted three defeats on the government on Monday night when debating the Withdrawal Agreement Bill. And the mauling continued on Tuesday after a vote on Lord Dubs’ bid to restore the right of unaccompanied child refugees to be reunited […]

The cabinet will mark the day the UK is expected to leave the EU by visiting the north of England – and holding a meeting there. The prime minister’s official spokesman said that it was part of Johnson’s commitment to “engage more widely” across the country. Downing Street announced last week that senior ministers would […]

Jess Phillips has dropped out of the Labour leadership race – leaving four candidates attempting to replace Jeremy Corbyn. Speculation was rife that Phillips would drop out after the Birmingham Yardley MP was missing from a hustings event organised by the GMB union, whose support could prove crucial to the candidates still hoping to make […]

Former speaker John Bercow has claimed Remain’s best opportunity to stop Brexit was in October – and suggested they could have succeeded if they had managed to work together. Bercow was speaking at a gig in a community centre in Holland Park to raise money for a local charity when he answered questions on his […]

A majority of British business believes that the government is still not providing enough detail on the UK’s relationship with the EU, a new survey has found. The Institute of Directors (IoD), which conducted the research, also found that directors are three times more likely to view negotiations with the EU as a priority, versus […]

Jess Phillips has said that Labour needs to rethink its ‘patronising’ view that having a working-class background is all that matters to voters. The leadership contender said it was more important for people to know what the candidates stood for rather than where they had come from. The competition so far has focused on the […]

Anti-Brexit actor Sir Patrick Stewart has given his view on the Labour leadership race – saying David Miliband should be in charge of both the party and the UK. The actor backed Miliband during the close-fought race for Labour leader in 2010, when he was beaten by his brother Ed. Sir Patrick said that despite […]

Pro-EU campaigners are crowdfunding to display a massive pro-EU banner on the White Cliffs of Dover ahead of Brexit. Set up by South East England MEP Antony Hook on Friday, the campaign has raised more than double the £5,500 target over the weekend. The message will include a European flag and will read: “We still […]

The House of Lords has inflicted three defeats on the government over Boris Johnson’s Brexit bill – meaning it must now return to the House of Commons. The first was over the right of EU citizens lawfully residing in the UK after Brexit. Peers backed a cross-party amendment to the Withdrawal Agreement Bill allowing them […]

The penny has finally dropped for a Brexit Party MEP days before the UK is due to depart from the European Union. https://twitter.com/june_mummery/status/1219267050574618626 June Mummery, from Nigel Farage’s group of politicians, tweeted to announce she had attended the penultimate session of the European parliament’s fisheries committee to include British MEPs. Posting a photograph on Twitter […]

Emily Thornberry has claimed she would ‘frighten the life out of’ Boris Johnson as Labour leader as she faces a tough fight to stay in the contest. In what might be a last-ditch pitch to party members, the shadow foreign secretary accused the prime minister of having a “woman problem” and said she was the […]

Downing Street are reportedly unhappy with the news Labour could nominate John Bercow for a peerage after the Tories failed to put him forward over the New Year period. Labour has not denied reports that ex-speaker Bercow is among the list of nominees for peerages drawn up by Corbyn. But Downing Street stressed that the […]

Brexit trade talks may not begin until March, Brussels has said, dealing a blow to Boris Johnson’s chances of securing a deal by the end of the year. The prime minister has insisted the UK was ready to start negotiating on February 1. But the European Commission said today it would “take some time” for […]

Laurence Fox is continuing to dig a hole for himself after a disastrous performance on BBC Question Time. Speaking to talkRADIO’s Julia Hartley-Brewer the actor said “wokeists” were the actual racists, and defended his appearance on television last week. He also criticised those who complain about racism, adding that in the past he has got […]

A new petition urging the government to retain membership of the influential Erasmus+ scheme for university students has hit 40,000 signatures. The petition was launched by news website Scram News earlier this month after the government blocked an attempt to protect the UK’s role in the scheme while Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal was being debated […]

The Stormont assembly has joined the Scottish parliament and Welsh assembly in rejecting Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal. Just over a week after it was revived after a three-year political impasse, the devolved legislature in Belfast is debating whether to give legislative consent to the Brexit agreement. Ahead of the debate, Sinn Fein deputy first minister […]

Boris Johnson remains under pressure to release a report into alleged Russian interference in UK democratic process, after it was revealed it could be delayed until late spring. The report was produced by Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) before the general election but has yet to be published. Johnson claimed in a BBC interview […]

Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse says she is seriously considering running for leader of the party. German-born MP Hobhouse, who started her political career as a Conservative councillor, was first elected as a Lib Dem MP in 2017. While the Lib Dem leadership competition is yet to kick off, Hobhouse confirmed she is preparing a […]

Lord Tony Hall will step down as director general of the BBC this summer after seven years in the job. Lord Hall revealed his decision in a message to BBC staff, saying he will remain in the role for the next six months before leaving in the summer. He said it was a “hard decision” […]

Anti-Brexit activist Steve Bray has been subjected to another attack from a group of ‘thugs’ while campaigning outside the Houses of Parliament. Bray, who is leading a protest in protecting child refugees through the Withdrawal Agreement Bill outside parliament today, was filmed over the weekend being subjected to abuse from those goading him while on […]

The Labour membership has increased by 100,000 since the general election – reaching the pivotal number that grandees suggested would be needed to change the direction of leadership. Labour supporters wanting a say in the leadership election have until 5pm to join the party to be eligible to vote in the contest. The Huff Post […]

A frustrated Brexiteer MP has compared Boris Johnson to the ‘grand old Duke of York’ for signalling support for a Big Ben crowdfunder – only to distance himself from it hours later. Francois is now calling for MPs to have a vote in the House of Commons to decide in the coming days whether to […]

The leader of Fianna Fail has urged caution after a poll gave his party a 12-point lead over rivals Fine Gael. The Sunday Times/Behaviour and Attitudes opinion poll published shows Fianna Fail’s support has increased by five points to 32%, while Fine Gael has dropped by seven points to 20% – the party’s lowest standing […]

The Wetherspoon pub chain is to cut prices on a series of European drinks for a month from Brexit day in a bid that will supposedly help UK-EU relations. Its so-called “Let’s stay friends” move will offer customers around 60p off drinks which originate in European countries including Germany, France, Spain, Poland, Holland and Ireland, […]

CHARLIE CONNELLY profiles on the Frenchman rescued from obscurity by a chance discovery in a Normandy dairy shed. By the spring of 1929 Jean-Placide Mauclaire had grown used to being given old reels of film. The previous year he had opened Studio 28, an art house cinema in the Montmartre district of Paris that quickly […]