News and Opinion

A union which represents migrant and gig economy workers is backing calls for a People’s Vote on Brexit. The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) said it wanted to protect employment rights introduced under EU law such as holiday pay and discrimination protection. The union said migrant workers had benefited from free movement of […]

A Remain MP who abstained on triggering Article 50 now backs a People’s Vote over Theresa May’s deal. Norman Lamb, who campaigned for Remain but whose North Norfolk constituency voted heavily for Brexit, said he does not believe the deal will heal a divided nation. The Liberal Democrat said: ‘I thought it was right to […]

A new exhibition shows why the works of Anni Albers rank alongside the output of the greatest abstract expressionists. Claudia Pritchard reports Under ‘W’ in the Encyclopedia Britannica of 1963 the long entry on weaving was written by an expert in that craft who made a point of attributing the greatest skill to people who […]

JASON SOLOMONS on a tale of two films of the same story, and their very different fates. When we talk about entente cordiale, it very rarely refers to the French and British film industries. First of all, as Francois Truffaut infamously remarked to Alfred Hitchcock, the French think of ‘British’ and ‘cinema’ as two incompatible […]

As the prime minister published her ‘letter to the nation’ to try and sell her Brexit deal, more than a hundred grassroots anti-Brexit campaign groups have written to the president of the European Council urging him to keep ‘no Brexit’ an option. A total of 114 grassroots organisations have asked Donald Tusk not to do […]

The next two weeks will come to define Britain’s future. Theresa May is battling to win support for her Brexit deal ahead of the crunch Parliamentary vote. The prime minister’s hard sell to the public has already begun, in the hope they can exert pressure on MPs to back the Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration […]

With Theresa May struggling to win over MPs in the House of Commons what are the alternative options? • Second referendum Supporters of the People’s Vote campaign want a referendum on any withdrawal deal – or no deal – with the option of remaining in the EU on the ballot paper. They argue that voters […]

The BBC’s cunning plan of building a platform to block out anti-Brexit campaigners has failed. Steve Bray with his extended flagpole. Photograph: Steve Bray (@SNB19692) – Credit: Archant The broadcaster, along with other news channels, has been involved in a losing battle with notorious People’s Vote campaigner Steve Bray. He has made it his mission […]

Can you name the new Brexit Secretary? Stephen Barclay, who was given this post when Dominic Raab resigned in a huff, has been virtually invisible from that day to this. He was elevated from the obscurity of the Health Department to the new obscurity of being the cabinet minister, supposedly overseeing probably one of the […]

In an understatement of how tough it will be for Theresa May to get her Brexit deal passed, the Brexit secretary has admitted it will be ‘challenging’. But Stephen Barclay said the prime minister has managed to get the best agreement possible. After scores of MPs have declared their intention to vote it down, Barclay […]

David Davis takes it upon himself to try to negotiate a free trade deal in US, Paul Dacre now wants a peerage for services to Brexit, and why Sky’s Sophy Ridge no longer sees Andrew Marr as serious competition. David Davis, the former Brexit secretary, caused some alarm when he imperiously announced that he had […]

New figures reveal that 26,000 EU nationals have left the NHS since 2016 with one hospital witnessing a 94% rise in departures in 2017. The explosive new research has been carried out by anti-Brexit campaigners Best for Britain and uncover the devastating scale of EU nationals leaving vital public services since the Brexit vote. In […]

French writer, Marion Van Renterghem, talks to Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon about nationalism, Brexit and whether her country can ‘take back control’ from Westminster MVR: What is your priority, support for a People’s Vote or a new referendum on Scottish independence? NS: We are fighting to protect Scotland’s interests. We are looking at every […]

The EU is the glue that holds superpowers together and UK’s failure to understand is a tragedy, says BONNIE GREER In my early days in this country, my television-watching consisted mainly of back-to-back documentaries. Gradually what began to fascinate me was the proliferation of programmes about the Second World War. They seemed to be endless. […]

A referendum on May’s deal versus remain is the only option, says ANDREW ADONIS ‘To be or not to be’ is indeed the question if there is to be a People’s Vote – whether or not England will continue to be fundamentally European and a responsible member of the British Isles. The actual choice on […]

The first economic analysis of the government’s proposed Brexit deal concludes the UK economy will be hit by £100 billion each year by 2030. The report – comparing the proposals to the UK remaining in the EU – finds that Theresa May’s Brexit plan will cost each person more than £1,000. The total loss is […]

Theresa May’s letter pleading with the country to get behind her Brexit deal was met with a furious response from many. Prominent physicist Jon Butterworth issued a fiery reply to a tweet of the letter, which was published on social media. ‘I want freedom of movement for me and my children, and it will be […]

Young anti-Brexit campaigners have taken a blowtorch to Theresa May’s Brexit plan metres away from the summit where the prime minister is seeking agreement from EU leaders. Around 50 campaigners from the Our Future Our Choice (OFOC) movement headed to Brussels to call for a People’s Vote – smshing up a seven-foot tall mockup of […]

Voters in the constituencies of Jacob Rees-Mogg, Theresa May and Michael Gove now back Remain according to new polling. In-depth research, carried out by Populous and commissioned by Best for Britain and Hope Not Hate, has found a majority of English constituencies support Remain for the very first time. According to the latest polling 522 […]

Without the ghosts of the Iraq War haunting France, the country is taking a muscular approach with its military campaign in North Africa. But will it work? PAUL KNOTT reports Iraq. Afghanistan. Libya. Syria. Yemen. Some recent Western interventions have been too excessive. Others have been timid or non-existent. The problems overwhelming each of these […]

Theresa May might have got her Brexit agreement passed the EU27 but there seems little chance of her having the numbers to get it through parliament. And the Conservative party’s parliamentary allies, the DUP who the government relies upon for a majority, remain brutally opposed to the deal. DUP leader Arlene Foster called for a […]

Nicola Sturgeon has challenged Theresa May to a debate on the UK government’s Brexit proposals. Amid speculation that the prime minister could hold a debate with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn before MPs vote on the deal, Scotland’s first minister called for a full leaders’ debate. She tweeted: ‘I can’t speak for @jeremycorbyn, but I’d be […]

Leading pollster PETER KELLNER on the inexorable logic driving calls for a People’s vote. Here is a thought experiment. Imagine that the Brexit referendum two years ago had weighted each vote by age. That is, the votes of 20 year-olds, with more than 60 years (on average) still to live, would have six time the […]

Journalist Robert Peston thinks for the first time since the Brexit vote there is a feeling that we may end up staying in the EU. Speaking to ITV News political editor Peston said that MPs are now accepting that the only option for Brexit to cancel it – and that this sense of feeling is […]

Winning the right to repeal Article 50 could bring its own problems, says JAMES BALL Was there ever a better warning than ‘be careful what you wish for’? Hard Brexiteers are certainly getting that lesson in droves this week. First, they campaigned to leave the EU, and got their wish – only to discover that […]

Brexiteers have a new cunning plan to avoid blame for the consequences of Brexit – by claiming that what the government is proposing isn’t actually Brexit. The revelation – that Britain leaving the European Union isn’t actually Brexit – comes from Brexiteer and broadcaster Julia Hartley-Brewer. Hartley-Brewer was responding to the suggestion that everyone but […]

Boris Johnson has been warned he faces private prosecution over his ‘£350m a week’ claim that was used throughout the EU referendum campaign. Private prosecutor Marcus Ball said he notified the former foreign secretary on Saturday of his intention to bring a court case over alleged misconduct in public office. MORE: ‘Don’t blame us – […]

Theresa May still will not reveal whether she believes the UK would be better-off under her Brexit deal than as a member of the EU. Rather than give a yes or no answer she instead opted to say that it would be ‘different’. She told BBC Radio 5 Live listeners: ‘The first thing is it’s […]

Former Tory adviser Barnaby Towns on the ignorance, irresponsibility and ideology which menace the party – and the country. Brexiteers and Remainers alike now know what a 585-page Withdrawal Agreement looks like. This detailed document deals with thorny issues such as: UK and EU citizens’ rights; the financial settlement of joint UK-EU assets and liabilities; […]

Former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab has said staying in the EU would be preferable to exiting on Theresa May’s terms. Asked if the PM’s deal was worse than remaining in the bloc, Raab told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘I’m not going to advocate staying in the EU. ‘But, if you just presented me terms, […]

The change of editor at the Daily Mail has been followed by a dramatic volte-face over Brexit, says Fleet Street watcher LIZ GERARD Landmark birthdays are supposed to be days to remember. Paul Dacre will surely remember his latest one. Last Wednesday, in common with the Prince of Wales, he reached his 70th. He would […]

He keeps repeating that his party can’t halt Brexit. But, as JANE MERRICK explains, the Labour leader is wrong We always knew this moment would come. The closing stages of the Brexit negotiations, a prime minister compromising with Brussels, and the ensuing fight by the Eurosceptic right wing of her party over the outcome. What […]