News and Opinion

Eurotunnel has withdrawn its legal claim against Chris Grayling’s Transport department over post-Brexit ferry contracts after reaching an agreement worth up to £33 million, the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 […]

‘We are in a time – and rightly so – when we believe people who say that they have been victims of assault of any kind. We have to, because so many people have lived their pain, their lives unbelieved.’ Jussie Smollett poses for a booking photo after turning himself into the Chicago Police Department […]

‘If TIG should call by-elections so should the MPs in the ERG or linked to Momentum’ Labour and Tory representatives say MPs in the Independent Group (TIG) should call by-elections in their seats as they were originally elected on another party’s manifesto. If this is the case, why is it that MPs such as those […]

‘You do not have control when you cannot find work. You do not have control when your rights are sold off and dismantled for profit.’ David Lammy has said that a no-deal Brexit would mean a ‘whole generation of families will be impoverished’ in a rousing speech to the House of Commons. The Labour MP […]

Anti-Brexit campaigners have said that the prime minister is ‘playing political games with public money’ by spending money on no-deal Brexit television adverts. Jo Stevens has slammed government plans to air tv adverts on the implications of a no-deal Brexit. Photograph: Parliament TV. – Credit: Archant Sir Mark Sedwill, head of the civil service announced […]

Leave Means Leave have announced they will hold a march from Sunderland to London in support of Brexit, but rather than hold it at once will instead run the event over a two week period. https://twitter.com/Card5hark/status/1053622328272306181 The ‘March To Leave’ will campaign under the slogan ‘Brexit Betrayal’ and will be led by arch Brexiteer Nigel […]

A Brexiteer minister has quit the government over Theresa May’s decision to allow MPs to vote on extending Brexit negotiations beyond the scheduled withdrawal date of March 29. The fisheries and agriculture minister George Eustice said he wanted to return to the backbenches ‘to be free to participate in the critical debate that will take […]

Hundreds of dogs and their two-legged companions, together with MPs and celebrities, will hold the world’s biggest ‘dog’s dinner’ to demand that the government pull the country back from the brink of a no-deal Brexit disaster. On Sunday 10th March the hungry hounds will gather around huge cans of ‘Pedigree Chump’s Brexit Dog’s Dinner’ and […]

Who is on Question Time tonight and where do they stand on Brexit? Here’s your guide… The BBC’s flagship current affairs programme tonight comes from Catford, birthplace of Ben ‘a little bit of politics’ Elton. But whose performance will be a critical and ratings hit like Upstart Crow – and whose will be best forgotten […]

Brexiteers have seized on the defeat of an SNP amendment to claim that MPs were now in favour of a no-deal option for Brexit. That is despite the government having to promise to offer votes on a no-deal Brexit and an extension to Article 50 next month to avoid a Tory rebellion in the House […]

Dominic Grieve has damned the ‘mad fantasies’ of Brexiteers and told the House of Commons it is not too late to put Brexit back to the people. The Tory Remainer MP stood up in parliament to tell MPs that they are making it harder to deliver a better quality of life for their constituents by […]

Theresa May’s closed mind has brought her country to the brink of disaster. NICK COHEN’s damning verdict on a prime minister unfit to lead. When Theresa May became prime minister the BBC ran a profile of her which confirmed the comforting stories the English once told themselves. A contemporary at Oxford University said she was […]

Tory Remainer Dominic Grieve told Brexiteer broadcaster Julia Hartley-Brewer he would not allow an ‘illegal’ no-deal Brexit and would have to be voted out if Brexiteers wanted it to happen. Speaking on talkRADIO, Grieve said that the pair actually agree that the process should be brought to an end to resolve the ‘continuing uncertainty’ over […]

The deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats said she made a ‘genuine mistake’ by accidentally voting for Jeremy Corbyn’s Brexit plan. Jo Swinson was recorded as having supported a Labour amendment to the government’s Brexit motion, according to the division list. Her apparent defiance of her party’s policy raised eyebrows in Westminster – but a […]

The Labour leadership’s support alone will not guarantee a People’s Vote – but it is a crucial step towards one, argues ANDREW ADONIS. So serpentine were Prince Talleyrand’s manoeuvres in transitioning at high level from the French Revolution to Napoleon and the restored French monarchy that when he finally died the Austrian chancellor Metternich asked: […]

Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer has pointed out, despite claims the government was trying to make changes to the Withdrawal Agreement, not one word has changed since it was first proposed to the House of Commons. He said the tactic was an attempt to ‘run down the clock’ to force MPs to decide between […]

Car production has fallen for the eighth month in a row amid warnings that the sector faces a ‘clear and present danger’ from Brexit. Around 120,600 cars left factories in January, down by 18.2% on the same month a year ago, a report from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) reveals. Exports slumped […]

Labour must now throw its support behind a People’s Vote after the House of Commons rejected its Brexit plans in the House of Commons. Labour’s amendment would have forced the government to make its alternative plan the government’s negotiating objectives. Jeremy Corbyn’s five demands included: • A permanent and comprehensive customs union with the EU […]

STEVE ANGLESEY on Nadine Dorries’ attempts to lecture The Independent Group on party loyalty and her appearance on The Junk Food Experiment. In her seminal 2014 novel of simple Irish folk forging a new life in Liverpool The Four Streets, Nadine Dorries writes of one character: ‘He might have been angry and lost all reason, […]

French president Emmanuel Macron has suggested the UK will need a good reason to delay its scheduled departure from the European Union on March 29. Theresa May has said she will allow MPs to vote on an extension to the two-year negotiation period set down in the EU’s Article 50 if she has not secured […]

Brexit is in a month’s time and, at today’s PMQs, it felt like both main party leaders had made an unspoken pact not to discuss it. It is a sign of the weirdness that permeates British politics these days that for the second successive week the dominant issue was pretty much ignored in the leaders’ […]

Theresa May has been accused of putting people’s lives at risk by awarding a post-Brexit agreement for delivering NHS supplies to the company responsible for failing to deliver enough chicken to KFC. Green Party MP Caroline Lucas warned a company ‘incapable of delivering chicken to KFC’ will be involved in importing medical supplies should the […]

Despite a commitment from Theresa May for a festival of Brexit Britain in 2021, the government has no plans to commemorate the UK’s departure from the EU on the planned exit day. The government confirmed that no street parties, EU flag-lowering ceremonies or bongs from Big Ben have been planned. Culture minister Michael Ellis has […]

Nigel Farage has told a magazine for the super-rich of the ‘horrible’ hatred he has endured after leading the campaign for Brexit. The former three-time Ukip leader, speaking to the editor of Spear’s, said it was a ‘shock’ that he received abuse during a campaign during which he unveiled a poster showing a queue of […]

Retailer Poundland is to bring the nation together by selling both blue and red passport covers for both sides of the Brexit debate. The Brexit-inspired passport covers mean that those Brexiteers who wanted out of the European Union so that they could have blue passports can finally live out their dream at an affordable price. […]

Broadcaster Sara Cox has spoken out about Brexit and criticised ‘self-serving’ Jeremy Corbyn for backing a People’s Vote ‘too late’ in the day to make it happen. The BBC Radio 2 drivetime presenter said told Jeremy Vine on 5 that she felt a ‘tickle of excitement’ when Labour initially announced plans to back a second […]

Labour’s Jess Phillips said she ‘so enraged’ about the ‘complete and utter lack of bravery to do the right thing for our country’ she made an emotional plea on behalf of constituents to Theresa May. She claimed there is one midwife for her area and people living in hotels face being moved out as the […]