News and Opinion

A poll which suggested more voters rate leaving the EU as a priority ahead of maintaining the Union with Northern Ireland did not ask a single person in Northern Ireland what they thought. More than a third of those polled (36%) for the radio station LBC said exiting the EU was a higher priority than […]

The 2003 conflict is blamed for setting the Middle East ablaze, but in one unintentional and surprising way it helped bring stability to another hotspot explains ELLIOT SHORT Back in March 2003, George W Bush’s ‘coalition of the willing’ launched an invasion of Iraq, the consequences of which reverberate to this day. The now-ubiquitous US […]

MICHAEL WHITE on the transitional deal and the problems that still remain over the Irish border Home late from the theatre, I broke half a lifetime’s habit and switched on BBC Newsnight to see how David Davis’s latest ‘decisive’ breakthrough in Brussels was being received at home. To judge by the pained expression on the […]

Thousands of anti-Brexit campaigners demonstrated across Britain this weekend calling on the government to halt the rush to quit the European Union. Exeter March. Picture: John Presley – Credit: Archant The protests kicked off on Friday in Oxford at Christopher Wren’s Sheldonian Theatre where Andrew Adonis and Will Hutton previewed their new book. Lib Dem […]

David Davis has claimed the Irish border issue will be ‘much easier’ to solve after the European Union trade deal is agreed. Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, with his usual hubris, the Brexit secretary said such a deal is now ‘incredibly probable’ and added that the government would protect the Good Friday Agreement […]

The officially designated Brexit campaign ‘cheated’ during the European Union referendum, a whistleblower has claimed. The claims centre around Vote Leave’s links to another campaign – BeLeave – which it helped fund. Shahmir Sanni, who worked on the campaign, claimed Vote Leave used it to get around strict spending limits set by the Electoral Commission. […]

We should recognise that however charmingly it is sold, what Rees-Mogg is selling is toxic, and not fit for consumption, says JAMES BALL During his early years in parliament, Jacob Rees-Mogg was a joke. Despite being the multi-millionaire part-owner and manager of a hedge fund, with hard-right homophobic and anti-choice views, his faux aristocracy was […]

Following the death of Anna Campbell -the first British woman to die fighting alongside Kurdish forces in Syria- YASMIN ALIBHAI BROWN asks how we should treat the ‘jihadis’ who return home. How very sad that Anna Campbell, a young British woman, has been killed in Afrin, northern Syria. She went off to join the Kurdish […]

Understanding Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy is not difficult, says JENNIFER MATHERS. But countering it could be The poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia is seen as just the latest in a long line of audacious foreign policy moves authorised by Moscow since Vladimir Putin returned to the presidency in […]

As relations with Russia become ever chillier, PAUL KNOTT unearths a document from the 1940s with advice on dealing with Moscow which seems remarkably relevant today. Vladimir Putin might seem intent on returning us to the Cold War, but fortunately for Western leaders a blueprint already exists for dealing with this situation. Written in 1946, […]

A first class sentimental journey says TIM WALKER Old black and white films had their own subtle ways of conveying messages that were deemed to be awkward at the time they were made. The sight of a character seated with a blanket over his or her legs tended, for instance, to be a portent of […]

Michael Romberg doesn’t believe Jeremy Corbyn will ever change his mind on Brexit – here he explains why. Those who hope that Jeremy Corbyn will change his line (Zoe Williams, The New European, issue 87) should imagine what his conversion-to-Remain speech would have to say. The first line is easy: ‘The deal that Theresa May […]

Theresa May has achieved very little when it comes to mental health, the very issue she set out as a priority on the day she became PM writes ALASTAIR CAMPBELL There are two changes visitors to Downing Street may have noticed since Theresa May took over. First, the change of art in the main rooms. […]

Labour is missing a huge electoral opportunity by refusing to back remaining in the EU, a conference has been told. Eloise Todd, CEO of anti-Brexit campaign Best for Britain, told the ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go?’ conference in central London that data from last year’s election showed Labour had benefited considerably from Remainers […]

The young stand to lose the most from Brexit. But, ahead of a series of anti-Brexit events this weekend, 16-year-old activist LEO BUCKLEY offers a rallying cry I have just turned 16, and I’ll be marching again this Saturday. But why am I the only young person I know who cares? And what can be […]

Leaders of the 27 remaining European Union states have approved negotiating guidelines for talks on Britain’s future trade and security relations. But the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier warned that any future partnership ‘must respect the principles and identity of the EU and the single market’. The move sets the scene for talks on trade […]

The Should I Stay or Should I Go? conference, Facebook’s woes and Brexiteer of the Week. Richard Porritt, Steve Anglesey and Geri Scott are back to delve into another madcap week in Brexit. And Matt Withers joins the pod to report back from the Should I Stay or Should I Go? conference which included speakers […]

The comedian, musician and writer MITCH BENN on why the return of blue passports really is the perfect symbol for Brexit I type this sitting in a café in Victoria Station. I have a couple of hours to kill and decided to make use of the time by getting this column written now, rather than […]

In this week’s diary column, the Queen is not amused by Liam Fox and Mandrake’s hopes for a Brexit television drama look as though they may become a reality. The Queen’s wish to bow out gracefully from next month’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting – expected to be her last in charge – is being […]

For the Brexiteers the most important aspect of the transitional deal was not extending Article 50, argues ANDREW ADONIS who warns we are now facing a Tory Brexit by a thousand cuts. So is Brexit a case of ‘for things to remain the same, everything must change’? That is the view of the fatalists and […]

The old jibe that the EU is undemocratic just doesn’t bear up to scrutiny, says MALCOLM TURNER. It is high time this myth was debunked. ‘But the EU’s not democratic, is it? Juncker and that other bloke, nobody voted for them.’ The unfamiliar face in the pub who has engaged me in a Brexit conversation […]

As Brexit negotiations grind on and neither side is happy, the focus should return to the issues which will affect communities in the long run, says MATT KELLY Nobody is happy. Nobody is getting what they wanted. Some Brexit dividend this is turning out to be. The Brexit Ultras feel betrayed. Farage, Rees-Mogg, Johnson 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 returns tonight from Leeds Beckett University’s Headingley campus. But who’s on the panel – and where do they stand on Brexit? Here’s who you can expect… James Cleverly Who? Deputy chairman of the […]

The deepening scandal over the role of Cambridge Analytica means the 2016 Brexit referendum vote should be void, argues AC GRAYLING As more revelations emerge about the role of Cambridge Analytica in Donald Trump’s election, and with them claims, suspicions, denials and facts about the data company and the EU referendum, so the question arises […]

The entire web is built on the exploitation of our data, says JAMES BALL. The latest scandal asks serious questions – not just of the tech giants but of ourselves Every day we are all bought, sold, and traded dozens if not hundreds of times. Each time we click ‘search’ on the internet, companies compete […]

An anti-Brexit boyband has set off on their first European tour – and already they are wowing the crowds. Sir Nick Clegg, Lord Heseltine and Lord Adonis kicked off their tour of European capitals in Dublin by bashing Theresa May over the Irish border issue. Former deputy prime minister Sir Nick said: ‘We remain as […]

To heal our cultural divide (and stop Brexit) we have to stop berating Brexiteers, says Lib Dem deputy leader JO SWINSON I had mixed feelings when The New European was launched. While it’s comforting to know there are many others who share my sense of devastation about Brexit, and are up for the fight to […]

Liverpool fans have embraced striker Mohamed Salah’s religion in a new terrace chant. But, ASIF MAJID asks, is it really an example of inclusiveness? Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah is currently one of the Premier League’s most prolific goalscorers, with a strike rate that has made him a contender for Player of the Year. Beautiful though they […]

An anti-Brexit campaigner felt so strongly about the lack of in-depth information provided by the Government in their Brexit impact papers that he has developed his own – focusing on his constituency of north Norfolk. Martyn Sloman from north Norfolk has produced a paper on the impact of Brexit on his constituency (Photograph: Martyn Sloman) […]

Jeremy Corbyn went on council funding ahead of the local elections – but didn’t quite land a knock out blow. It might have appeared to be a strange line of questioning at first glance but Corbyn and his team are quite right to challenge the prime minister on funding. The only problem he faced in […]

According to campaigners, Britain’s immigration detention system is a secret scandal. WikiTribune’s LYDIA MORRISH visits the crisis-hit Yarl’s Wood centre to investigate. In a nondescript industrial estate just north of Bedford, a privately-run detention centre – some call it what it looks like, a prison – has become a focal point for the European immigration […]

The UK’s most senior judge has warned the government’s Brexit legislation could leave the judiciary at risk of “appearing to make a political decision”. Supreme Court president Baroness Hale said she had concerns about the legislation as it was currently drafted because it required judges to decide if it was “appropriate” to consider rulings by […]