In a piece for The Guardian, Sir Simon Jenkins makes very heavy weather of the obvious point that this, like most other elections, turns on the question of identity as well as economics. The Brexit plebiscite of 2016 was an anti-immigration vote - the posthumous revenge of Enoch Powell. Every referendum in European nations this century (bar two small ones) with the EU on the ballot paper has been rejected by voters.

The Germans have a word for the pleasure I felt when I read the verdict from pollster YouGov that “Since becoming Lib Dem leader, Jo Swinson’s detractors have grown at a faster rate than her fans” - it’s schadenfreude. It means “pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune. 

Her performance in the Leaders Question Time programme won’t have changed You Gov’s findings.

Once again as at every moment since the 2016 Brexit plebiscite, Labour is getting mixed and messed up over European citizens working in Britain.

Eugenia Marna interviewed Dr Andrew Hill, Liverpool University, on how a US-UK post-Brexit trade deal could affect UK drug prices.

Dr Hill recently featured in Dispatches programme Trump's Plan for the NHS (recommended watch - Only 5 days left!)

See the transcript below:

There is an undoubted weariness about the Brexit saga which the Tories are seeking to exploit with the slogan Get Brexit done. The truth is that Johnson’s deal won’t get it done as he claims.

We have all seen the dreadful event that occurred recently in Grays, Thurrock where 39 people were found dead in the back of a lorry trailer. We commend Essex Police, the national crime agency and Europol’s trafficking team for all the work they have done in this fast-moving investigation.

If the UK leaves the EU without agreeing a cooperation agreement it will no longer be part of Europol or the European Justice network and will fall outside the scope of the European Arrest Warrant.

Boris Johnson’s rise and rise could have been strangled at birth in the 2008 London Mayoral campaign.

I was a press officer at Labour HQ part of the campaign to return Ken Livingstone for a third term in City Hall.

Livingstone was a good Mayor but a lacklustre campaigner unwilling to take the fight to Johnson.

We know that Boris Johnson is a liar. How many examples do you need? The Daily Telegraph which paid him a quarter of a million a year has just apologised for blatant untruths in three columns this year.

The BBC’s respected Laura Kuenssberg, uncharacteristically, made a serious mistake when she asked the first question to Jeremy Corbyn after he launched the Labour Party’s election campaign in Battersea yesterday.

By Agnes Jongerius MEP, Coordinator of Socialist & Democrats Group in Employment and Social Affairs Committee
Jude Kirton-Darling MEP Labour spokespersons on Employment and Social Affair

Larry Elliott's provocative opinion column ("Don’t be fooled – the EU is no defender of workers’ rights" 24/10/2019) led to pretty lively discussions on social media, as it should. Elliott’s assertions have been robustly countered on Twitter, notably by Professor Michael Dougan - an EU law expert specialised in free movement and equal treatment rights - and Larry Elliott's view that "social Europe never delivered all that much" simply isn't shared by British labour lawyers