News and Opinion

Government officials ‘war gaming’ ways to stop MPs thwarting Brexit before October 31st have considered creating more bank holidays to stop them sitting in the House of Commons. According to Buzzfeed giving the UK more bank holidays before October 31st is just one idea considered to avoid MPs having being able to fully scrutinise the […]

The government has rejected a plan to rehash an advertising campaign using the slogan ‘take back control’ – instead agreeing to a ‘get ready’ for Brexit campaign. According to The Times, Michael Gove has signed off the campaign which will be launched next week. It will kick off with a billboard campaign and a new […]

The Liberal Democrats have won the Shetland by-election, holding on to the seat despite the SNP returning a record number of votes in the island constituency. Nicola Sturgeon’s party mounted a strong campaign in the election, which was sparked by the resignation of former Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Tavish Scott, with the first minister making […]

A judge is expected to rule on a legal challenge aimed at stopping Boris Johnson suspending parliament to help force through Brexit. A cross-party group of around 70 MPs and peers have backed the action at Scotland’s highest civil court after filing a petition earlier this summer aiming to stop the prime minister being able […]

Scores of protests are taking place over the weekend against Boris Johnson’s plan to prorogue parliament with ‘hundreds of thousands’ expected to attend. At least 32 events from anti-Brexit campaign group Another Europe Is Possible will take place in England, Scotland and Wales. and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has urged MPs to join the demonstrations […]

Doctors are warning that a no-deal Brexit is likely to delay the supply of flu vaccines, at the same moment that ‘a particularly virulent’ strain of the illness is on its way to our shores. Free flu vaccines are offered annually to those most at risk of the illness, such as the over-65s and pregnant […]

As a New European reader, you probably reckon you keep a close eye on the continent’s news. Test yourself with our quiz… Think you’re on top of what’s been going on across Europe in the past seven days? Take The New European’s tricky quiz and find out just how much of a Europhile you are…

A petition to stop Boris Johnson’s proroguing parliament has hit 1.5 million signatures, just a day after the prime minister announced his plans. The petition, which was created by Mark Johnston on parliament’s official petition website, states that parliament should not be prorogued unless there is another extension of the Brexit deadline or the idea […]

Downing Street has distanced itself from a suggestion from a minister that Boris Johnson’s move to prorogue parliament was motivated by Brexit. Ben Wallace was filmed speaking to French armed forces minister Florence Parly at a meeting of defence ministers in Helsinki, Finland. He appeared unaware that microphones were picking up his conversation with his […]

Readers give their views on a the prospect of a trade deal with Donald Trump, and what it will bring to our food shelves. With no-deal getting closer and the necessity of a trade deal with America therefore growing, I detect a media push to persuade us that the infamous chlorinated chicken is not all […]

Veteran political interviewer Andrew Neil is to front a new politics show on BBC Two after stepping down from hosting This Week earlier this year. The Andrew Neil Show will run through the autumn as the Brexit date approaches rounding up the political events of the week. Launching on on September 4, the 30-minute programme […]

The Conservatives who once claimed that Boris Johnson had no plans to prorogue parliament – and would be against such a measure – have gone surprisingly quiet since the prime minister announced the plans. https://twitter.com/BrexitBin/status/1167074658702766080 Boris Johnson once told Tory MPs during the leadership contest: “I am not attracted to arcane procedures such as the […]

The lord chief justice in Northern Ireland will tomorrow consider granting an immediate injunction to block the suspension of parliament. Raymond McCord holds up his newly issued Irish passport. Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA. – Credit: PA Archive/PA Images At a 20-minute hearing on Thursday morning Sir Declan Norman ended his summer holiday to hear Raymond McCord’s […]

David Cameron declared sunshine would win the day. But the Scottish Tory leader’s resignation shows the party no longer has room for social liberals We must respect Ruth Davidson’s given reasons for quitting as Scottish Conservative leader. She has held the role for eight years – effectively a generation in today’s febrile politics – and […]

Constitutional experts have said that Boris Johnson’s decision to prorogue parliament at this time breaks with the core principles of our constitution, calling it ‘frankly extraordinary’. Jacob Rees-Mogg has echoed government claims that the announced suspension of parliament between September 9 and October 14 is “a completely proper constitutional procedure”. WATCH; PM: It’s ‘completely untrue’ […]

The hearing of a court case that aims to stop Boris Johnson proroguing parliament without MPs’ approval has been pushed forward – and will now be heard today. Judge Lord Raymond Doherty had originally agreed to expedite the timetable for the legal challenge to take place, setting the date for the substantive hearing as Friday […]

Michael White says the suspension of parliament has echoes of Charles I, and we know how badly it ended for him. Well, that was a surprise, wasn’t it? Even though it shouldn’t have been. Parliament to be prorogued to prevent MPs blocking a no-deal Halloween Brexit. This is bold, dangerous stuff and many will cry […]

Just as Boris Johnson moves to suspend parliament, Labour is firmly behind the Remain cause, says ANDREW ADONIS. Thank God! Just as Johnson makes his bold move and seeks to suspend parliament, Labour is now firmly behind the Remain cause and, leading an alliance, is acting boldly to stop him. This week’s Church House Declaration […]

Ken Clarke has condemned the ‘blatant lies’ being told by MPs about the reasons for proroguing parliament, after Jacob Rees-Mogg dismissed public objection to the move as a ‘candyfloss of outrage’. The hard Brexiteer MP had told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the reasons for proroguing parliament were merely procedural and had nothing to […]

Brexiteer Labour MP has defended plans from a Tory prime minister to prorogue parliament ahead of the Brexit deadline date. The Tooting member of parliament said that the world was “going bananas” over the measure “as if it’s the greatest crisis ever”. She trotted out the government line by suggesting that it was doing so […]

There were strong reactions to Boris Johnson’s plans to prorogue parliament – both in the British press and across Europe. The front page of Spanish newspaper ABC. Photograph: ABC. – Credit: Archant With some papers emphasising the “rogue” in “prorogue”, the Independent captured the mood for several titles under a stark headline, on an otherwise […]

Femi Oluwole, one of the most recognisable faces of Remain’s social media circus, says there’s no price he wouldn’t pay to support the Remain cause. MIA JANKOWICZ speaks to the man behind the viral campaigning success. In the social media circus of Brexit, Femi Oluwole is Remain’s lion tamer. Put him up against the most […]

The broadcaster’s outlook is looking increasingly outdated, says STUART PRICE. Veteran BBC presenter John Humphrys has spent decades exposing the weaknesses inherent in the rhetorical pronouncements made by the UK’s political ‘elite’. All the evasions, grinding shifts in gear and downright falsehoods that appear when executive power presents its secretive decisions as a public debate […]

Lawyers acting on behalf of Gina Miller have made an urgent application to the high court for a judical review of Boris Johnson’s plan to prorogue parliament. “This is a brazen attempt, of truly historical magnitude, to prevent the executive being held accountable for its conduct before parliament,” she warned as she made the application. […]

A giant video screen is being driven round Michael Gove’s constituency, reminding people that he was against prorogation for a no-deal Brexit just two months ago. “Hi @MichaelGove, we’re driving round Surrey Heath today reminding your constituents what you thought about suspending parliament just a couple of months ago,” tweeted Led By Donkeys, the pranksters […]

A video clip of an EU citizen joining the protests against Brexit has gone viral after she expressed her exasperation with the government’s settlement scheme. The Portuguese national, who had lived in the UK for 20 years, interrupted a live broadcast of the ‘defend democracy’ protests in London to make an impassioned plea on behalf […]

A petition demanding that moves to suspend parliament are halted has already reached more than one million signatures. The petition on parliament’s website amassed the number in just twelve hours of Boris Johnson announcing he planned to prorogue parliament in order to push through his new domestic agenda. Any petition that secures 100,000 names sees […]

Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of London and Edinburgh to defend democracy and fight against newly-announced plans from the prime minister to prorogue parliament to deliver Brexit. Protesters in Westminster fighting against Boris Johnson’s plan to prorogue parliament to force through Brexit. Photograph: Kirsty O’Connor/PA Wire. – Credit: PA The London event […]

Ruth Davidson, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, is understood to be on the verge of making an announcement about her position, according to reports. Boris Johnson and Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson embrace after an EU referendum debate. (Stefan Rousseau/PA) – Credit: PA Archive/PA Images The BBC reported that the MSP is said to […]

A snap poll run by YouGov has found that only 51% of Leave voters think it is acceptable to prorogue parliament in the run-up to Brexit. The poll, which has been weighed to be representative of the population, asked 5734 people in the wake of the news that Boris Johnson has asked the Queen to […]

Donald Trump has been tweeting his approval of Boris Johnson as news broke of the prime minister’s plan to prorogue parliament. Would be very hard for Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of Britain's Labour Party, to seek a no-confidence vote against New Prime Minister Boris Johnson, especially in light of the fact that Boris is exactly […]

Sinn Féin has insisted it will not review its absentionist policy, despite Boris Johnson attempts to force through Brexit. The republican party again rejected calls to ditch its century-old boycott of the House of Commons to help pro-Remain parties in their efforts to prevent a no-deal Brexit. Political rivals of Sinn Féin have repeatedly questioned […]