News and Opinion

Theresa May’s hopes of securing approval for her Brexit deal has suffered a blow as leading Tory Brexiteers in the European Research Group and Democratic Unionist Party said they could not vote for it. The so-called ‘Star Chamber’ of lawyers convened by the ERG found that Theresa May has not delivered the legally-binding changes the […]

MPs have tabled a number of amendments to Theresa May’s motion for the second ‘meaningful vote’ on her EU Withdrawal Agreement. The amendments are likely to prove a sideshow, with all eyes on the simple question of whether May can get her deal through the House of Commons at the second attempt. It is quite […]

Geoffrey Cox, the attorney general, has delivered his legal advice to cabinet and it confirms that nothing has changed. The legal advice deals a significant blow to the prime minister’s hopes of overturning MPs’ 230-vote rejection of her Withdrawal Agreement in the second ‘meaningful vote’ on the deal in the House of Commons.. Shadow Brexit […]

Attorney general Geoffrey Cox has given a one-word response to claims he had told Theresa May her new Brexit deal was not legally valid He described the suggestion as ‘bollocks’. Cox, the government’s chief legal adviser, was responding to Channel 4 News presenter Jon Snow, who had tweeted: ‘A Lawyer contact tells me that the […]

The Italian government combines the far-right League and the anti-establishment Five Star Movement. Recent regional elections show exactly which of these strange bedfellows is benefitting from the arrangement. Davide Vampa reports. These have been interesting weeks in Italian politics, with significant elections taking place in Abruzzo and Sardinia – two regions located in the south […]

Three of Britain’s most senior experts in European and international law have declared that the measures announced in Strasbourg ‘do not come close’ to meeting the tests set for Theresa May by backbench critics of her Brexit deal. In an 11-page legal opinion drawn up for the People’s Vote campaign, the lawyers say that what […]

Brexit-backing newspapers are urging MPs to vote for Theresa May’s deal after her trip to Brussels. The Daily Mail claims that, ‘to her enormous credit’, Theresa May appears to have secured ‘the guarantees she needed on the Northern Ireland backstop’. Urging MPs to back the deal, the paper said: ‘Mrs May has fulfilled her side […]

Theresa May has claimed she has secured ‘legally binding’ changes to the Brexit deal in order to win parliament’s backing – but not every MP is convinced. Here is the latest reaction. – The Democratic Unionist Party, whose support the Prime Minister relies on in the Commons, rejected her deal in the first meaningful vote. […]

Theresa May insists she has secured ‘legally binding’ changes to the Brexit deal which she hopes will appease Brexiteer MPs in her party and the DUP. Following last-ditch talks in Strasbourg ahead of a crunch Commons vote May said she has now delivered what Parliament asked her to do. The PM said she ‘passionately believed’ […]

Former cabinet minister and Brexiteer MP Esther McVey has been to task on social media after tweeting and then deleting a false claim about the European Union. The former work and pensions secretary shared a tweet claiming all EU member states will ‘have to adopt the euro’ after 2020 on her personal Twitter account, writing: […]

John Bercow has insisted the Commons will ‘not be messed around’ by ministers over a crucial Brexit vote as MPs prepare for the showdown. The speaker sounded his warning after several MPs condemned the lack of time available for them to consider any changes to the Brexit deal and to table amendments. Brexit minister Robin […]

Theresa May would be guilty of telling the country a ‘straight-up lie’ if she pulls votes in parliament this week allowing MPs a chance to delay Brexit, Yvette Cooper has claimed. Cooper said it would be ‘a complete derogation of duty’ for the prime minister to drop votes on her Withdrawal Agreement, a no-deal Brexit […]

The true significance of the other backstop – in Ireland – is often lost in the rhetoric. BARNABY TOWNS reports on what it represents One of the saddest features of the Brexit debacle is Brexiteers’ continual development of ever more extreme EU exits, while the government scrambles to appease their increasing intransigence. But of all […]

Just as things could not get any worse for Theresa May, David Cameron has re-entered the debate to tell reporters he backs her deal, and does not agree with a no-deal Brexit. https://twitter.com/itvnews/status/1105060013175959553 The Conservative politician, held widely responsible for sparking Brexit, was asked by ITV News for his latest verdict on the crisis engulfing […]

A pro-Brexit group has been mocked for trying to reach young Brexit voters… using 63-year-old pub chain boss Tim Martin. Leave Means Leave appears to be setting up a number of splinter groups to reach audiences, potentially in preparation for a second referendum. It has already unveiled a campaign called Ladies for Leave – with […]

Buried in the detail of a new poll which right-wing newspapers seized on as support for a no-deal Brexit reveals that the public have swung in support of Remain and believe that anti-Brexit measures are the best options for democracy. The ComRes poll, which was splashed on the front of the Sunday Telegraph over the […]

Giant cans of ‘Pedigree Chump’ and dog-sized dining tables were set up on Victoria Tower Gardens for a unique anti-Brexit protest. Fox terrier Celeste sits on a dinner table during an anti-brexit event billed as “the biggest dog’s dinner in history” at Victoria Tower Gardens, near the Houses of Parliament in London. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA […]

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has dismissed the threat of the MPs who left the party to form The Independent Group as ‘completely irrelevant’. John McDonnell said it was ‘absolutely futile’ that politicians including Chuka Umuna and Luciana Berger had quit, pointing to Labour’s subsequent support for a second Brexit referendum. He spoke out as a […]

Theresa May is battling to save her Brexit strategy as she is warned that she faces another defeat on Tuesday. Tory Brexiteers said rejection of the Withdrawal Agreement was ‘inevitable’ unless the prime minister could secure significant changes to the Northern Ireland backstop. ‘Technical’ talks between officials took place in Brussels over the weekend and […]

Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt admitted today that Brexit sceptics have ‘the wind in their sails’ and that the country is only three short steps away from remaining in the European Union. Brexit could be lost if deal rejected, Jeremy Hunt says https://t.co/j0xQws6qen— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) March 10, 2019

Tim Walker review The Son, which runs until April 6 at Kiln Theatre, London. When I look back on my teenage years, I realise an awful lot of my time was spent fretting about how Peter Barkworth would cope with finding out that his wife Hannah Gordon was having an affair with Keith Barron in […]

Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt admitted today that Brexit skeptics have ‘the wind in their sails’ and that the country is only three short steps away from remaining in the European Union. Brexit could be lost if deal rejected, Jeremy Hunt says https://t.co/j0xQws6qen— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) March 10, 2019

His 1908 debut in London flopped spectacularly, but a new exhibition of work by Spanish painter Sorolla is certain to get a better reception. Claudia Pritchard reports. The children stare firmly out of the picture like any family holding still for posterity. The two little girls are in Sunday-best red dresses; the solemn boy seems […]

Labour’s Keir Starmer and John McDonnell are no clearer on when Labour will table their proposed amendment on a second referendum as Theresa May’s punch-drunk Withdrawal Bill goes for another vote. Is Labour serious about a second #Brexit referendum? Shadow Brexit secretary @Keir_Starmer tells #Ridge a three-month extension would be "doable". Follow live reactions as […]

With a week of crucial votes on the horizon, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has refused to rule out a no-deal Brexit despite stark warnings that medics may have to ‘prioritise’ between cancer patients. "I'm not going to talk about how I'm going to vote in them."Senior cabinet minister @MattHancock refuses to answer how he would […]

The territory has barely featured in the endgame deal discussions, but it is about to move to the centre stage, says Marius S. Ostrowski. Fabian Picardo, Chief Minister of Gibraltar (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images) – Credit: Getty Images As the date of Britain’s departure from the European Union draws near, you might be forgiven […]

David ‘democracy can change its mind’ Davis brought a hefty dose of selective outrage to the Brexit debate today.. On BBC’s Andrew Marr show today, Mr Davis said any decision not to leave the EU would be a ‘democratic disaster’. Expanding on that, he said: ‘Britain would get its Trump moment. ‘What happens is that […]

As the washboard-and- tea-chest movement peaked, and took British music ever closer to a new era, the Beat Generation and original ‘highschool’ musicals dragged the US in a different direction. SOPHIA DEBOICK reports. Sandwiched between the year Elvis made his first national television appearance, sending Heartbreak Hotel to No.1, and the advent of British rock […]

Can a referendum ever really work? Mitch Benn investigates. Referendums are often a bad idea. There, I said it. Oh and by the way, I don’t care if it’s more properly pluralised as referenda. I don’t even know if it 
is more properly pluralised as referenda and I can’t be bothered to Google it. 
This […]

Theresa May’s hopes of a Brexit breakthrough are hanging in the balance after the EU rebuffed her latest appeal for help in getting her unloved withdrawal deal through Parliament. The EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier said they would be ‘working intensively’ in the coming days to resolve the impasse over the Northern Ireland backstop ahead […]

In the wake of a landmark legal case which redefines domestic violence, EMMA JONES speaks to two bereaved brothers about the devastating effects of living in a ‘coercively controlled’ family. Claire and Charlotte Hart. Photo: Contributed. – Credit: Archant When Sally Challen’s conviction for murdering her husband was quashed last week, domestic violence was redefined. […]

A clip of author Will Self arguing with Conservative Brexiteer MP Mark Francois on live television has gone viral after it ended with a terrifying death stare. The pair started a row on BBC Politics Live after snowflake Brexiteer Francois took offence to something that someone with an opposing view said – something he appears […]