News and Opinion

Former Brexit Party MEP Ann Widdecombe is facing intense public backlash after she called for people to use public transport to get to work, even if social distancing rules could not be enforced. GMB panel with Ann Widdecombe (bottom right), scientific advisor David King (bottom left), RMT boss Mick Cash (top right), and presenter Piers […]

A Tory Brexiteer MP has been slammed by his own colleague for his ‘wrong and unhelpful’ remarks about Welsh democracy. Outspoken Brexiteer Daniel Kawczynski told local radio he was fed up of Wales having different rules to England and claimed the ‘current gap emerging’ during the coronavirus outbreak demonstrated the need for ‘one system in […]

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has blamed parliament’s new electronic voting system after he accidentally backed an amendment that blocks chlorinated chicken entering the UK after Brexit. Sunak stands with a handful of MPs across the political divide who cast their vote incorrectly in the Commons on Wednesday. It is reported Sunak immediately rang the Tory whip […]

The whistleblower who exposed Vote Leave for breaking electoral funding rules during the Brexit referendum has urged Scotland and Wales to seek independence, claiming the Brexiteers in the UK government ‘hate’ the Scottish and Welsh. Speaking on Not Another Fake News Cast podcast, Shahmir Sanni said Westminster held a deep dislike for Wales and Scotland […]

Familiar battlelines are emerging as arguments over the government’s handling of the coronavirus deepen. Writer and historian TOM HOLLAND cautions that this crisis requires a different approach If you have had an organ transplant, if you are having chemotherapy, if you suffer from a severe lung condition, then you are, in the chilly language employed […]

The virus is no great leveller, says JAMES BALL. Instead, it is deepening our social divide. Such sentiments are admirable – but their basis is false. Nothing about coronavirus is serving to equalise our society. Instead, in ways big and small, inevitable and unavoidable, accidental and the result of deliberate choices, it is entrenching existing […]

The coronavirus lockdown has led to renewed appreciation of public parks, says ANDREW ADONIS. After it’s over, we need to develop them. For hundreds of millions worldwide, public parks have done more than anything to make the lockdown bearable. Among the most resented restrictions have been the closure of parks or the police stopping people […]

Covid-19 is having a greater impact on ethnic minority communities, says BONNIE GREER. The government must investigate why. One of the more embarrassing things that one of my uncles would do at Sunday supper was to tell everyone around the table how I was as a toddler and little
kid. It seems that I was a […]

International trade minister Liz Truss is reportedly preparing a ‘big concession package’ to secure a trade deal with Donald Trump and the United States. Despite fears from both opposition parties, and ministers in her own cabinet, Truss is looking to cut tariffs on US agricultural imports in order to secure a free trade deal. The […]

The UK government has told Stormont officials that post-Brexit custom checks will now be imposed in ports across the region. The checks look set to take place at ports in Belfast, Warrenpoint, and Larne at the end of this year, whether or not a deal is struck with the EU, the Guardian reports. Officials in […]

The prime minister has been warned by an aide not to meet alone a senior Tory backbencher who claimed the public had been ‘too willing’ to go into lockdown. The Times reports that in a leaked memo entitled ‘Meeting with Sir Graham Brady – Wednesday 13th May 2020’, Boris Johnson is advised against meeting the […]

A new coronavirus antibody test has been found to be 100% accurate, public health leaders have said. Public Health England (PHE) said that last week the scientific experts at its Porton Down facility had carried out an independent evaluation of a new antibody blood test developed by a Swiss pharmaceutical company. The examination found that […]

Junior health minister Nadine Dorries has come under fire for tweeting a misleading video of Sir Keir Starmer which originated from a far-right Twitter account. Tory MP Nadine Dorries’s tweet of a misleading video of Sir Keir Starmer talking about grooming victims that originated from a far-right Twitter account; Twitter – Credit: Archant Dorries, alongside […]

Political campaigner Gina Miller has met with an internet troll who sent hateful, racist and threatening messages to politicians during the Brexit debate. Miller met with Alan before the coronavirus outbreak for the BBC as part of a documentary into internet trolls. The man, who simply gave his name as ‘Alan’, had left comments calling […]

The easing of lockdown is likely to cause a fiery debate on tonight’s Question Time. The panel on a previous episode of BBC Question Time practice social distancing. Photograph: BBC. – Credit: Archant The panellists meet again in the week that Boris Johnson allowed people to take unlimited exercise, see one family or friend in […]

The government is continuing with plans for a much-mocked £120m ‘Festival of Brexit’ in 2022 despite the coronavirus crisis, The New European can reveal. While all cultural life in the country is currently frozen as a result of the outbreak and the subsequent lockdown, the Department for Digital. Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) says it […]

An EU official has claimed the UK could still get an extension to the Brexit transition period even if it does not formally request one. Speaking to the Independent an EU source close to Brexit trade talks insisted that it was keen to help the UK move towards an extension if it wanted one. They […]

A broadcaster has claimed that Boris Johnson needs his MPs back in the House of Commons to avoid repeated humiliation. James O’Brien was analysing the latest Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons as he pointed towards yet another humiliation for the prime minister up against Labour’s new leader Sir Keir Starmer. Speaking on his LBC […]

Boris Johnson has been challenged at Prime Minister’s Questions to explain why the government removed international comparison charts from daily coronavirus briefings. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer pushed Johnson to explain why international coronavirus death charts had been removed from daily Downing Street briefings. ‘For many weeks the government had compared the UK number against […]

Television presenter Lorraine Kelly has criticised the home secretary Priti Patel for thousands of death ‘on her watch’ as the politician appeared on Good Morning Britain. Lorraine Kelly interviews Priti Patel over coronavirus quarantine at airports. Photograph: ITV. – Credit: Archant Lorraine Kelly issued a jibe at the home secretary for the overall government’s handling […]

A Tory Brexiteer MP has turned on the advisers surrounding his party’s leader over their handling of the easing of lockdown. Peter Bone accused Johnson’s advisers of thinking ‘they are running a presidential government’ after the prime minister made a televised address to the public on Sunday evening about easing measures in England. The Brexiteer […]

A new poll has joined a string of others to find that a large number of Britons think the government’s latest coronavirus messaging is confusing. Polling carried out by surveying firm Redfield & Wilton Strategies found that only 49% of respondents viewed the new messaging as ‘extremely’ or ‘reasonably’ clear, compared to 94% who thought […]

Newspaper reports have claimed the chancellor is considering income tax hikes, a public sector pay freeze and the end of the triple lock on pensions to fund the debt sparked by the coronavirus. The Daily Telegraph reported that a Treasury document estimated the UK’s deficit could reach £337 billion this year because of the pandemic, […]

The UK music industry may not survive a double-whammy threat of Brexit and the coronavirus without government help, the Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM) has warned. The professional body for the UK’s musicians is calling on the government to follow Germany and France in providing ‘robust financial support for their cultural industries’. In a new […]

MPs and their staff across the political divide have claimed government plans to force them back into the Commons during the coronavirus crisis are ‘dangerous’. MPs from opposition parties – including the Scottish National Party (SNP) and the Liberal Democrats – say the move by Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg would put them in harms way […]

While the government is said to be following the science in its decisions on the easing of lockdown, it is also running a large-scale data-driven operation to help with strategy, as seen during the general election and EU referendum. POLITICO reports that Downing Street have resorted to Vote Leave tactics to win ‘hearts and minds’, […]

Former Liberal Democrat leader Lord Campbell has said that Remainers have been silenced in the Commons over fears about the end of the Brexit transition period. Lord Campbell said the refusal by ghe Government to extend the Brexit transition period is ‘irresponsible’ as it left open the threat of a ‘catastrophic’ no deal. Speaking during […]

National radio presenter James O’Brien has criticised the prime minister for playing to the Brexiteers with his call for people to use ‘British common sense’. In a stringing rebuke of Johnson’s latest comments, LBC’s James O’Brien said the prime minister was using Brexit-style tactics to whip up support for his government’s latest coronavirus measures. O’Brien […]

Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer returned to the Commons for their rematch today and it didn’t go any better for the prime minister Here’s a question. What does Boris do in his prime minister’s questions preparations? Because, week two of Johnson v Starmer, it’s beginning to look like nothing at all. David Cameron was derided […]

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called on Boris Johnson to return to the Commons to correct the record about the coronavirus advice issued to care homes. Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons. Photograph: House of Commons/PA Wire – Credit: PA In the Commons, Sir Keir said […]

Boris Johnson has been pressed during Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) to publish the scientific advice that led to his decisions surrounding the easing of lockdown. Taking to the despatch box, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer challenged the prime minister to release Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) advice to the public. ‘The prime minister is […]

Media outlets across Europe have ridiculed the government’s latest coronavirus containment plans, branding them ‘confusing’. European papers criticised the prime minister following his statement on Sunday evening where he presented the country with ‘road map’ out of lockdown. Press across the Channel in France said Johnson’s latest approach showcased the difficulty his government faced now […]