News and Opinion

Labour former Cabinet minister Lord Mandelson has warned against the government taking the UK out of the EU in “just about any vandalistic way it chooses”. In the marathon Lords debate on the EU (Withdrawal) Bill, Lord Mandelson said the only way to maintain “frictionless” trade was to enter the European Economic Area. Highlighting Cabinet […]

Last week’s New European caused waves with its caution over a second referendum. But for columnist PAUL CONNEW, another vote holds no concern. I found myself uncharacteristically at odds with The New European’s cover headline last week urging caution over a second referendum, and editor Matt Kelly’s line that the ‘Brexit mess should be fixed […]

Is it time for another referendum on Brexit? Our readers have filled our mailbag with their own perspectives on what happens next. I agree that referendums are a tool of demagogues and dictators, unsuited to a representative democracy, but now that we’ve gone down that road, it will take one to cure one. Matt Kelly’s […]

International trade secretary Liam Fox’s warning that some Tories will “have to live with disappointment” has drawn a sharp rebuke from fellow leading Brexiteer Iain Duncan Smith. After days of Tory turmoil over the government’s Brexit strategy and questions over whether Theresa May can remain as prime minister, Dr Fox called for an end to […]

Theresa May is facing demands to publish the government’s latest Brexit analysis following a report it had concluded Britain would be worse off whatever deal is struck with Brussels. As the prime minister prepared to fly out on a three-day trade mission to China, opposition MPs said the public were entitled to know the true […]

The government says it is confident peers will be “constructive” over key Brexit legislation as a marathon two-day debate began. Lords leader Baroness Evans of Bowes Park said she did not share concerns that peers would ignore the referendum or use the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill to frustrate the Brexit process. She added she expected […]

Tunisia provided the spark for revolutions in North Africa and the Middle East. As PAUL KNOTT reports, tensions are rising once again. And the West is among those to blame. Tunisia is a small, mostly quiet and often ignored corner of the Middle East and North Africa. It burst into the international limelight in 2011, […]

Britain will have to obey the EU rulebook in full during a transition period after Brexit while having no voice in decision-making bodies, under proposals agreed by the remaining 27 member states. In a brief meeting in Brussels, the EU27 gave their approval to new guidelines for chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, ahead of talks […]

PAUL CONNEW takes a look at the unique circumstances surrounding the US government shutdown. It wasn’t so much ‘America First’ as a double first for America. The first time that a US president’s first inaugural anniversary was commemorated by a government shutdown triggered by a congressional stalemate over the funding to keep it fully functioning. […]

MICHAEL WHITE on whether a tapestry is all we get from Le President. Cyber warfare and cuts to armed forces leave UK vulnerable to Russian attack. Illustration: Gary Barker. – Credit: Archant When Emmanuel Macron made his grandiose offer to lend Britain the Bayeaux Tapestry during his Sandhurst summit with Theresa May, one wag suggested […]

Sexism in the media is deep-seated and progress on the issue is glacial, says LIZ GERARD. Sexism is sewn into the fabric of the media, just as it is in politics, big business, banking, the police and the Forces. Which is not to say that these sectors mean or want it to be. Most men […]

Jeremy Corbyn disappointed Labour members and supporters today as he explicitly ruled out supporting a second EU referendum. A week after a poll showed 51% of Labour’s potential pool of support backs a second referendum on the final Brexit deal, against 23% who oppose the idea, the leader told the BBC’s Andrew Marr that the […]

This week, The New European revives Tim Walker’s Mandrake diary column – three years after the much-feared political diary was shut down by the Daily Telegraph. Cameron takes on the paper tigers Although it’s hard to feel enthusiasm for David Cameron’s forthcoming memoirs – it’ll be like hearing from an ex after a messy break-up […]

The New European’s Editor-at-Large, Alstair Campbell, on the reasons why French president Emmanuel Macron is the real heir to Tony Blair. France’s President Emmanuel Macron. Photo: Eric Vandeville/ABACA. – Credit: ABACA/PA Images To Paris, to speak at a conference on geopolitics, en français bien sur, where I was asked to answer this simple question: ‘The […]

Finland is trialling a revolutionary system of giving people a basic income, regardless of whether they are in work or not. WikiTRIBUNE’s LYDIA MORRISH visits the country to see how the experiment is working. Every month, 560 euros (£495) appears in Marja-Liisa Lähteinen’s bank account, courtesy of the Finnish Social Insurance Institution. Lähteinen, 32, who […]

We need to confront the Angry White Man (AWM) emergency before it is too late, says BONNIE GREER. The following is one of the variety of reasons that Toby Young used to explain the campaign directed against him over his appointment to a new government quango: ‘I’m a middle-aged white male so don’t tick any […]

Jacob Rees-Mogg has been ambushed with his own words and forced out of the second referendum closet, says ANDREW ADONIS. This is the week that Mogg was Mogged and the path to a referendum on Theresa May’s Brexit deal became clear. Earlier this month the de facto Prime Minister, Nigel Farage, came out for such […]

Failure by Britain and the EU to reach agreement on continuing access to financial markets after Brexit risks creating instability and market fragmentation, a parliamentary committee has warned. The Lords EU Financial Affairs sub-committee said it was in the interests of both sides to reach a deal which allowed the continued free flow of financial […]

James Ball explains why when it comes to Brexit we are all just passengers in the back seat. Imagine, if you will, the United Kingdom as a car on a road. Millions of us are strapped in the back with no real say in where things are going at the moment – except for a […]

Ministers’ failure to address the implications of withdrawal from Euratom could have dangerous consequences, warns MIKE GALSWORTHY. As the clock ticks down to March 29, 2019, more and more European frameworks of collaboration look to be slipping off the Brexit plate. The concept of a ‘no deal’ departure from the EU is dangerous because it […]

Talk of a second referendum has divided pro-EU support in the UK. DENIS MACSHANE asks how it has gone down in Europe itself. Most European countries avoid taking big constitutional decisions by plebiscite. But they are used on the continent, most notably in Switzerland. In February 2014, the Swiss voted in a referendum to ban […]

A London council has become the first in the country to formally call on the government to halt plans for a Hard Brexit and give the British people a second EU vote. Labour-run Hammersmith & Fulham Council has passed a motion asking the government to ‘abandon any plans for a Hard Brexit and give the […]

Lib Dem MP Tom Brake has seen the government’s ‘top secret’ analysis of the impact of Brexit. He reports back on what he found In my 20 years as an MP, I cannot recall any government or parliament embarking on a course of action with such a profound bearing on our economy, security, diplomacy and stature […]

Mitch Benn uses his most tortuous analogy yet to explain why he is not rejoicing over UKIP’s downfall. As I lurch ever further into sullen middle age (notched up another birthday this week; growing old sucks, but let’s face it, it beats the alternative) I find myself taking refuge in nostalgia. BBC Four is rather […]

Steve Anglesey picks out the losers and losers from another week on Planet Brexit – where there are no winners. Rosetta Tickner This Brexiteer Twitter user was outraged by the news that McVitie’s are cutting the number of Digestives in a pack by seven after the falling pound made ingredients more expensive. ‘Aldi & Lidl […]

Former Labour Foreign Secretary DAVID MILIBAND intervenes on Brexit, blasting both Labour and the Tories and calling on Jeremy Corbyn to consider committing to giving voters the final say It is strange to watch the unfolding trauma of Brexit from abroad. As the European economy gathers pace, as America abdicates global responsibility, as the UK […]

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown talks the attempts to silence her and backlash from Brexiters even after the hypocrisy of the Jo Marney scandal. Henry Bolton OBE leader of Ukip is 54, is a married man and father of young children. Jo Marney, his fair young mistress, sent nakedly racist texts about Meghan Markle to a male friend. […]

Remainers have seized on comments made by Brexit secretary David Davis today in which he said he had changed his mind on Customs Union membership – saying the British public could change their mind too. Giving evidence before the Commons Brexit Select Committee today, Mr Davis shrugged off previous comments he had made backing the […]

If there was a second referendum, how could we win it? Mike Hind suggests ten ways. In October 2016 The New European published my ‘How to win the next referendum 10-point plan’. It canvassed expert opinion on how to get it right if there were ever to be a next time. Suddenly, thanks to Nigel […]

The prospect of a soft Brexit may seem to offer some solace to Remainers. But, says former government trade advisor Jim Fanshawe, it is still a path beset with pitfalls. The Irish border deal hammered out to get the Brexit negotiations through the first phase has inadvertently edged Britain towards a softer deal than was […]

The government is heading for a “hotch-potch” Brexit deal amounting to “leaving without leaving” which will not be acceptable to voters, former prime minister Tony Blair has said. He suggested that public opinion may shift far enough to force a second referendum when voters were confronted with the reality that the deal they favoured was […]

Tim Farron has committed another U-turn over whether he believes gay sex to be a sin. And Liberal Democrat activist and LGBT right campaigner Mathew Hulbert thinks it might be the end of his political career. Mea Culpa. Mea Culpa. Mea Culpa. Sometimes, in political commentary as in politics and indeed life itself, when you […]