News and Opinion

Iain Duncan Smith has claimed polls show the ‘vast majority’ – including Remainers – want a no-deal Brexit, without citing any evidence. Polls suggest "the vast majority want to get out now, even if they voted Remain" and most people would be happy with a no-deal Brexit, Iain Duncan Smith says https://t.co/cWjms6ELp0 pic.twitter.com/mvtm7a4MWG— Bloomberg Brexit […]

The Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales will vote simultaneously on a motion declaring opposition to Theresa May’s Brexit deal. Both motions object to the deal to leave the European Union by the UK government and declare that a no-deal Brexit would be ‘completely unacceptable’. If passed, they would call for the UK […]

A business leader has issued a fresh warning about the impact on the business industry warning that the country has been ‘circling the same Brexit roundabout for months.’ John Allan, the president of the CBI, has said that firms have been watching a series of parliamentary votes, hearing the same arguments over and over again. […]

Labour has accused the government of using the health secretary as a ‘human shield’ to protect the transport secretary Chris Grayling. Despite it being Grayling’s department that were taken to court by Eurotunnel over no-deal Brexit ferry contracts, it was Matt Hancock who was sent to the despatch box to answer questions. It prompted the […]

An anti-Brexit campaign group in Northern Ireland have unveiled a new billboard at Stormont announcing a protest to take place at the Irish border. Border Communities Against Brexit launch a new billboard at Stormont and announce a day of protest on March 30 against a hard border. Photograph: Rebecca Black/PA Wire – Credit: PA The […]

Any hopes that Sinn Fein would support a delay to Brexit have been scuppered by the vice president’s claims that it would cause more ‘chaos and Tory infighting’. Vice president Michelle O’Neill questioned the rationale behind an extension of Article 50. Prime minister Theresa May has promised MPs a vote on delaying Brexit if parliament […]

The author of Das Boot would have hated the new TV adaptation – but he hated most things. CHARLIE CONNELLY on the troubled mind which could never escape the terror of war beneath the waves. Lizzy Caplan as Carla Monroe in Das Boot, 2018. PHOTO: IMDB – Credit: Archant One morning in the spring of […]

An influential Brexiteer, who has given legal advice to the European Research Group, has claimed that extending Article 50 by 21 months would be better to avoid Theresa May’s deal. Martin Howe QC, chairman of Lawyers for Britain and who has given a number of presentations to the Tory Brexiteers in the ERG, has written […]

A new £1.6 billion government fund to boost run-down towns after Brexit has been criticised for being ‘just a drop in the ocean’ of what is needed to help communities once the UK leaves the EU. Labour said that it was a ‘Brexit bribe’ aimed at trying to influence its MPs in Leave-supporting areas to […]

Tony Blair has said he has ‘sympathy’ for the MPs who established the Independent Group but insisted he will stay in the Labour Party. The former prime minister said he did not speak to the MPs about breaking away but told BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show: ‘I’m in touch with them and I have spoken […]

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has suggested Labour frontbenchers would be expected to back the party’s push for a second Brexit referendum in any Commons vote. Asked if shadow ministers would be sacked if they broke any whip on voting for a second referendum, McDonnell told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday: ‘Normally we will whip […]

Jeremy Corbyn has been urged to join forces with other opposition leaders to push for a new Brexit referendum. The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Vince Cable, and the Westminster heads of the SNP and Plaid Cymru, Ian Blackford and Liz Saville Roberts, have written to Corbyn, inviting him to a joint meeting. The […]

Labour voters in the North and Midlands strongly back the party’s shift on a new Brexit referendum, according to a poll. The move is supported by 75% of people who voted Labour in the 2017 general election and expressed a preference, a YouGov survey for the People’s Vote campaign shows. More than one third, 35%, […]

Forget Pele – the man who really put football on the map in New York was an Italian with a Swansea accent who had an ego as big as his talent. RICHARD LUCK reports Members of the New York Cosmos, winners of the 1977 NASL Championship, pose with their trophy and keys to New York […]

The Balkan country’s emergence from its own peculiar brand of communism has been long and faltering. STAN ABBOTT visits and finds a people still yearning for a brighter future Bunker built under Enver Hoxha in communist Albania between 1972 and 1984 at Llogara Pass Albania (Photo by Braunger/ullstein bild via Getty Images) – Credit: ullstein […]

MICHAEL WHITE on a week when things started to shift… but in which direction? Well, has it finally happened? Has the stalemate finally broken in favour of a second referendum and the prospect that voters will grab the chance to stay in the European Union, as polls now regularly report they would? As the clock, […]

While much of the country consists of the sort of constituency wherein, to quote the late great Alan B’stard, they’d elect a hatstand if you stuck the right colour rosette on it, hatstands is what we’ll get. Events are developing at a dizzying rate, and I’m currently suffering the after-effects of some not entirely successful […]

Vegan writer SELENE NELSON has found herself at the forefront of the war on meat after her exchange with Waitrose magazine editor William Sitwell went viral. She argues why meat-eating can no longer be considered a personal choice Getty Images/Claudia Totir – Credit: Getty Images The rise of veganism is impossible to ignore. The year […]

Chris Grayling is facing a double inquisition into his department’s no-deal Brexit planning that forced the government to pay £33m to Eurotunnel for ‘absolutely nothing’. The beleaguered transport Secretary was urged to resign over the fiasco after it emerged yesterday that ministers had agreed to pay the Channel Tunnel operator the huge sum in order […]

Follies, National Theatre, until April 6 When the National Theatre gets a production absolutely right – and let me say immediately that’s what it’s achieved with its revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Follies – it lifts you in a way that no other venue in the world can quite manage. I have seen a few productions […]

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…

Beware the reckoning… the public inquiry that will leave Brexiteers marooned. Sajid Javid. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) – Credit: Getty Images Desert Island Discs, deservedly voted Britain’s greatest ever radio show, had a particularly interesting castaway last weekend. In addition to good musical choices, Canadian historian Margaret MacMillan made for excellent listening because of […]

Theresa May’s former chief of staff, Nick Timothy, has claimed that the prime minister and her ministers ‘struggle to see any economic upside to Brexit’ and see it as a ‘damage limitation exercise’. One of May’s most influential advisers since her time at the Home Office, Timothy was forced out of 10 Downing Street in […]

Donald Trump’s administration has published negotiating objectives for a post-Brexit deal which include demands for a block on state institutions – such as the NHS – discriminating against American companies when purchasing goods and services. The White House document also seeks ‘comprehensive market access’ for American agricultural products through the reduction or removal of tariffs […]

Brexiteers that want to take part in Nigel Farage’s fourteen day march from Sunderland to London are being asked to pay £50 – which in return will provide them with a marchers’ kit. Those that pay the fee will be able to march with Nigel Farage as a ‘core marcher’ bringing benefits including a special […]

The Tory and Labour defectors have acted as extraordinary political catalysts, says Jane Merrick. They have raised the prospect of stopping Brexit altogether. A month ago I wrote an article in these pages about whether an insurgent centrist party could thrive in British politics, ending with this line: ‘A new party would be a huge […]

Eurotunnel has withdrawn its legal claim against Chris Grayling’s Transport department over post-Brexit ferry contracts after reaching an agreement worth up to £33 million, the government has said. I see ferries!!! Illustration by Martin Ronson – Credit: Archant The firm, which operates the Channel Tunnel, was challenging the department’s decision to award contracts worth £108 […]

Despite it now being policy for Labour to back a People’s Vote, Barry Gardiner has still claimed it ‘undermines trust in democracy’. Gardiner was asked by BBC’s Question Time presenter Fiona Bruce about Labour’s stance. She said: ‘Labour has now come round to the idea of a second referendum. But you said last year, a […]

Nigel Farage has still to claim expenses for his much-talked-about private jet to Strasbourg, the Brexit evangelist who wrote about the ‘cloying molasses of Brussels,’ and who was behind Amber Rudd’s defiant stand against Theresa May? Britain’s Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd. (Photo by TOLGA AKMEN/AFP/Getty Images) – Credit: AFP/Getty Images After having his […]

The Belgian capital might seem like a footballing backwater, but if you dig deep enough you find a different story: scandal, tragedy, revolutionary moments – and even the odd decent team. Neil Fredrik Jensen reports on one of the game’s most influential cities. While Belgium is enjoying a remarkable purple patch in international football, with […]

If you have the misfortune to be paying close attention to Brexit – a sensible choice, even if not one likely to spark joy – this week has, on the surface of things, looked like an exciting one. If you have the misfortune to be paying close attention to a Brexit – a sensible choice, […]

To celebrate St David’s Day, here’s a list of 10 things the EU has done for Wales. Dydd G?yl Dewi hapus! 1 A home for under-20s rugby The EU provided £1.5m of funds to help develop Parc Eirias in Colwyn Bay as the home of Wales’ under-20s rugby side. CYMRU AM BYTH! 2 Welsh language […]