News and Opinion

Prime minister Boris Johnson has arrived in Orkney on his first visit to Scotland since December’s general election. He flew into Kirkwall Airport before heading to the first in a series of engagements, and was faced with protesters on his arrival. They gathered on the road to Stromness, Orkney, where Boris Johnson is expected to […]

Boris Johnson and Nicola Sturgeon have both been criticised by opposition leaders for rowing over the constitution at a time when the pair have been told they should be co-operating over coronavirus. Boris Johnson is planning a trip north of the border to remind Scotland that almost 900,000 workers are benefiting from UK government assistance. […]

A petition calling for peers to amend the government’s trade bill to protect the NHS has been signed by more than 40,000 in less than a day. The petition comes after MPs in the House of Commons voted against amendments to the bill earlier in the week that would have stopped the NHS from being […]

Former Tory party chairman and cabinet minister Brandon Lewis has defended taking money from Russian donors, and supported 14 of his colleagues for doing so, despite a number having links to Vladimir Putin. According to the Russia report, the Commons intelligence and security committee (ISC) found Russian involvement ran to the heart of the Tory […]

At PMQs Boris Johnson claimed that Keir Starmer ‘sat on his hands’ and ‘said nothing’ about Russia, but a video has disproved those claims about the leader of the opposition. In the House of Commons the prime minister insisted he took ‘the strongest possible action’ against Russia when he was foreign secretary, as he failed […]

ANDREW ADONIS says the long-awaited Russia report further demonstrates the negligence of our government as our country becomes more isolated on the international stage. The Russia report – finally out this week – reeks of negligence and weakness. Just consider this sentence from it: ‘In response to our request for written evidence at the outset […]

PAUL KNOTT on the Chinese leader’s reckless overreach. For several decades, China’s rise to global power followed wily former premier Deng Xiaoping’s maxim to ‘secure our position but keep a low profile and bide our time’. But that was Deng and this is now. The current Chinese leader, Xi Jinping’s more belligerent approach is provoking […]

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said he wants to ‘draw a line’ under anti-Semitism, but his predecessor has claimed it is ‘disappointing’ the party settled a claim with whistleblowers behind a Panorama programme investigating the matter. Labour said it will pay ‘substantial damages’ to whistleblowers who contributed to a TV expose of its handling […]

New polling has shown that the coronavirus pandemic has led to the British public becoming more sympathetic towards welcoming EU citizens to work and live here – just as freedom of movement is being cut off as part of Brexit. Across the UK, 63% of people agree that we will need more EU citizens to […]

Downing Street’s failure to plan for the economic impact of a pandemic like the coronavirus has been called ‘astonishing’ in a scathing report by financial watchdogs. The influential cross-party Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said the government underestimated and was unprepared for the economic toll a pandemic would have on Britain. It warned that Number […]

Donald Trump asked the US ambassador to the UK to persuade Westminster to hold a major golfing tournament at his luxury resort in Scotland. Trump tasked ambassador Woody Johnson with swaying UK diplomats to hold the next British Open at his golf course in Turnberry, Scotland. Johnson went against official embassy advice and met with […]

Prince George provided a welcome distraction from the findings of the Russia report for many newspapers, while the red-tops relegated the findings towards the back of their publications. And so, the Russia report has finally been published. It didn’t say the Russians had interfered with the Brexit referendum. It came up with a far more […]

A Tory minister has tried to allay fears that Dominic Cummings is trying to interfere with the parliamentary committee in charge of the Russia report. James Brokenshire tried dispel rumours brought forward by the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) chair Julian Lewis that the prime minister’s top advisor had tried to replace committee members with […]

Boris Johnson has been warned that his planned visits to Scotland will only increase support for independence in the country. As previously reported, Johnson is looking to head to different parts of the UK to increase support for the union, after the coronavirus crisis appeared to boost support for the devolved administrations. But at Prime […]

A new bill to be presented to the House of Commons before the summer recess will call on MPs to support the launch of an independent inquiry into the government’s roronavirus response before a possible second spike this winter. Acting leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey last week managed to secure an assurance from […]

Sir Keir Starmer slammed Boris Johnson over suggestions he had not spoken out against the Sailsbury poisonings, telling the PM to ‘check the record’ during Prime Minister’s Questions. Johnson accused the leader of the opposition of ‘sitting on his hands’ when it came to commenting on the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and […]

Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis has rebuked a Brexiteer who tried to blame the media for raising questions about allegations of Russian interference in the Brexit referendum. Tory MP Robert Seely MP, who chairs the foreign affairs committee, said it was the media that was ‘rehashing the stale debate’ about the 2016 referendum, and said there […]

The minister for housing and communities has denied any wrongdoing over the approval of a large development in London after meeting the developer at a Tory fundraising dinner last year. Robert Jenrick told a parliamentary select committee on housing that he had no idea he would be sat next to Richard Desmond, an influential Tory […]

The Tories are seeking revenge on Labour MPs which voted against ending freedom of movement by stoking up fears over immigration on Facebook in their marginal seats. Have your say Send your letters for publication to The New European by emailing letters@theneweuropean.co.uk and pick up an edition each Thursday for more comment and analysis. Find […]

Downing Street has abandoned hope of clenching a Brexit trade deal with Brussels and instead ramped up preparations for trading on World Trade Organization (WTO) terms, but has insisted it is not what it wants the outcome to be. Ministers are now working on the assumption that no deal will be struck before the December […]

A new Tory group labelled the ‘CURG’ has been launched alongside the ERG and CRG, with the aim to make Boris Johnson more supportive of the United Kingdom. The Conservative Union Research Group joins the China Research Group and European Research Group in attempting to pressure the Tory leadership on key issues at the heart […]

With attacks on Jeremy Corbyn and ‘Islingtonian Remainers’ seeking to block Brexit, the PM today decided to party like it’s 2019 The prime minister was in bullish form as he surveyed his enemies opposite, attacking them on every flank. With the Russia report dominating almost every front page he took aim at Jeremy Corbyn, who, […]

Boris Johnson’s scripted gag about the leader of the opposition ‘flip flopping’ over Brexit backfired after Keir Starmer reminded the house about the two Telegraph columns Johnson wrote ahead of the EU referendum. In another heated exchange in the House of Commons at the last PMQs before summer break, both leaders went head-to-head over Tuesday’s […]

A majority of Scots would vote to rejoin the EU in a future referendum, a new poll has revealed. The polling conducted by Survation for the new eu+me campaign group found 62% of Scots would want to rejoin the EU and the other 38% would opt to stay out of the EU, excluding those who […]

Nicola Sturgeon has said she is open to an inquiry being launched looking at Russian interference in the Scottish independence referendum, but says it falls into the remit of the Westminster government. Speaking after a heavily redacted report by Westminster’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) was published, Sturgeon said governments should not be ‘complacent’ about […]

A Tory MP accused of sending inappropriate text messages to staff has been referred on to the parliamentary standards commissioner. Rob Roberts allegedly sent a string of messages to a female intern and asked a male staffer out to dinner. The MP for Delyn in North Wales recently split from his wife and publicly came […]

A former Brexit Party MEP has attacked the Withdrawal Agreement agreed by Boris Johnson has already ‘failed the United Kingdom’, despite voting for it alongside his party colleagues earlier this year. Ben Habib claimed that what was agreed between the UK and EU was flawed, and that it would prevent Boris Johnson from fulfilling Brexit […]

The chancellor’s plan for jobs will fail without greater collaboration with trade unions and businesses, says Josh Abey The chancellor’s so-called ‘plan for jobs’ this month involved a job retention bonus for employers bringing back furloughed staff, the ‘kickstart’ scheme to provide work placements for young people facing long-term unemployment and demand-boosting policies to protect […]

The attorney general has denied a tweet she shared defending Dominic Cummings was ‘legal opinion’ and stated that she did not regret her remarks. Suella Braverman told a Commons justice committee that her tweet could not have swayed the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) or police because it was ‘only 10 words long’. The government’s top […]

Nigel Farage has demanded an apology from Remainers after he claimed the Russia report cleared him of charges that he colluded with the Russians to boost the Vote Leave campaign. https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1285519670922170368 The Brexit Party leader went on a small tirade on Twitter demanding ‘Remain politicians’ and ‘much of our media’ apologise for accusations that Russia […]

An elite group of Russians with connections to president Vladimir Putin have donated to UK political parties, an investigation into foreign interference in UK institutions has found. The probe, spearheaded by the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), concluded that rich figures from Russia are laundering money through a range of sectors and effectively turning the […]

England’s chief medical officer has defended the actions taken over the coronavirus pandemic, blaming under-investment in public health for issues with the government response. In a heated exchange with former health secretary and chairman of the Health and Social Care Committee Jeremy Hunt, Professor Chris Whitty told MPs that widespread community testing earlier on in […]