Jump to content
Sign up to our newsletters
Independent
US election
More
Best
Climate
TV

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in

Chuka Umunna

@chukaumunna

Chuka Umunna is a columnist for The Independent, lawyer and a British politician. He worked as a corporate employment law solicitor in the City and central London for almost a decade, before serving as the Member of Parliament for Streatham from 2010 to 2019. During his time in the House of Commons he served in a number of Shadow Cabinet posts leading on business, trade and foreign policy, first for the Labour Party and then for the Liberal Democrats. He is a leading figure in the pro-European movement in the UK and co-founded the People’s Vote campaign.

MPs claim the policy ‘will lead to significant increases in the numbers of children living in poverty’
Voices

The government promised to ‘level up’ the UK – so what’s stopping it?

Voices

Local police were integral to gathering intelligence on Streatham

Ensuring products have several life cycles is key
Voices

Making sustainability a win-win for the economy and the environment

Voices

Leaving the EU won’t do a thing to plug the UK’s generational gap

World leaders will gather in Davos for the World Economic Forum from Tuesday 21 January
Voices

At Davos, businesses must accept the merits of sustainable capitalism

Voices

Brexit can’t be ‘oven ready’ – unless we extend the transition period

UK economy starting 2020 in ‘stagnation’ and uncertainty, British Chambers of Commerce warn
Voices

Now is not the time for Johnson to take businesses for granted

Related: Britain not resolving problems with economy that run deeper than Brexit, says former Bank of England chief Mervyn King
Voices

The next step for progressive parties? Keeping the economy afloat

General Election 2019: Opinion polls over the last seven days
Voices

How you can change the two-party system rules by tactically voting

Boris Johnson, Donald Trump and the issue of Brexit have loomed large over the last few years
Voices

There’s no hiding the ‘special relationship’ between Trump and Johnson

Boris Johnson will meet with the US president at the UN General Assembly in New York
Voices

If Boris Johnson wins, we’ll be Trump and Putin’s puppets

Voices

Hong Kong citizens deserve more from the UK – including residency

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn addresses the audience at the University of Lancaster on 15 November 2019
Voices

Even Labour voters know the Lib Dems will beat the Tories

Voices

Even Labour voters know the Lib Dems will beat the Tories

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn addresses the audience at the University of Lancaster on 15 November 2019
Is it something I said? Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson is being excluded from the ITV leaders’ debate
Voices

What are ITV playing at excluding Jo Swinson from its leaders’ debate?

Voices

I want a People’s Vote, but now I’m backing an election – here’s why

Voices

The dark threats from No 10 show a brazen taste for persecution

Voices

Five reasons Johnson’s so-called Brexit deal must be booted out

Voices

Five reasons Johnson’s so-called Brexit deal must be booted out

Remaining in the EU is not a cause for which Corbyn is prepared to put the national interest before his party political interests
Voices

Corbyn effectively blocked himself from leading a caretaker government

Voices

Parliament was working till a few years ago. Here’s how it collapsed

Voices

Corbyn’s poisonous Labour party is imploding fast

Voices

I am proud to stand up to Corbyn’s illiberal Labour Party

Phillip Lee dramatically crossed the floor to join Jo Swinson on the Liberal Democrat benches as Boris Johnson spoke in the Commons
Voices

The death of the Tory and Labour parties could be a blessing

A new dawn?
Voices

MPs can scupper no-deal Brexit this week with unity and clarity

Voices

Don’t let the reckless Brexit gamblers claim they speak for the people

Voices

Parliament can still absolutely stop no-deal Brexit

A new dawn?
Voices

MPs can scupper no-deal Brexit this week with unity and clarity

Voices

Don’t let the reckless Brexit gamblers claim they speak for the people

Voices

Parliament can still absolutely stop no-deal Brexit

Voices

The Liberal Dems’ changing leadership is the real sign of progress

Voices

The Liberal Dems’ changing leadership is the real sign of progress

According to a report from this January, almost a quarter of US adults now own a smart speaker
Voices

I love new technology, but we need governments to start regulating it

Voices

Labour and the Tories are blind to the slow death of our economy

Flowers and tributes left for 18-year-old Israel Ogunsola, who was stabbed to death in Hackney last April
Voices

London’s young people know how to stop the knife crime epidemic

Voices

Boris in No 10 would tell the world that Britain tolerates hatred

Voices

Boris in No 10 would tell the world that Britain tolerates hatred

Voices

Don’t believe the lie that centrism is dead

Voices

This is why I joined the Liberal Democrats

Voices

Gove's challenge is dead, so let's now focus on the drug trade instead

Voices

The Tory party is advocating economic ruin by backing no deal

(L-R) Chuka Umunna, Anna Soubry, Heidi Allen and Chris Leslie, all MP's of the new pro-EU political party, Change UK, listen to speeches at the launch of their European election campaign in April
Voices

Remain parties must ditch tribalism and work to stop a no-deal Brexit

Voices

Only revoking Article 50 can save us from no-deal oblivion

Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage protests on Sunday’s ‘Andrew Marr Show’ as he is questioned about his past views
Voices

Farage stands only for himself. Let's oust him at the EU elections

Voices

Farage hype is designed to make us forget he led Britain into chaos

Voices

You can't push for Brexit and be a voice for UK business

Femi Oluwole and Lara Spirit asked experts on Norway and the EU what a Norway model would look like in the UK
Voices

A ‘pro-Remain’ alliance for Euro elections is in practice impossible

Voices

May and Corbyn are colluding in an establishment stitch-up

Voices

May and Corbyn are colluding in an establishment stitch-up

Whether or not Article 50 is revoked, there’s a rift in this country which needs to be healed
Voices

We're heading for a long Brexit delay – even the ERG is resigned to it

Voices

Both parties must now take a stand against their useless leaders

A protester with face painted with the colors of British flag during a protest staged by about 20 anti-Brexit demonstrators calling for a second referendum on Brexit in front of EU Commission Building ahead of EU Summit in Brussels
Voices

Britain was sold a fantasy Brexit, so let's march to restore sanity

Voices

Corbyn is helping Britain leave the EU – he always was a Brexiteer

Voices

Corbyn is helping Britain leave the EU – he always was a Brexiteer

Jess Phillips says she is attacked by people on all sides of the political spectrum
Voices

Jess Phillips is right to make her loyalty to Labour conditional

Voices

Cabinet ministers are praising TIG – here’s what one said to me

Voices

Why we’re bringing contempt proceedings against the government

Voices

Corbyn should not be prime minister – that's why I’m leaving Labour

Voices

This week could be the last chance to rule out no-deal Brexit

Voices

Jeremy Corbyn’s new Brexit plan has betrayed young Labour voters

Nissan had committed to production at the Sunderland plant in October 2016, four months after the EU referendum
Voices

It’s time to call out broken Brexit promises on trade

Voices

Why I'll be voting for two key Brexit amendments tomorrow

Demonstrators participate in the People's March in central London on the second anniversary of the referendum
Voices

The Brexit leadership vacuum on both sides has never been clearer

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May and her husband Philip leave church, near High Wycombe
Voices

Remarkably, May is still ignoring the urgency of the Brexit deadline

Voices

MPs are getting serious about their duty to prevent a no-deal Brexit

Voices

MPs are getting serious about their duty to prevent a no-deal Brexit

A person sleeps rough in a London doorway in February
Voices

The broken politics of Brexit has let down Britain's homeless people

Voices

The only way to break the Brexit deadlock? Give the people a Final Say

Voices

I'm not surprised May pulled the vote – and I don't feel sorry for her

Voices

The Tory hard right want to obstruct a Final Say – we can’t let them

Voices

The Tory hard right want to obstruct a Final Say – we can’t let them

Voices

May is about to lose the Tories all their economic credibility

Theresa May has been peddling, for many weeks, the falsehood that the choice is between her deal and no deal
Voices

I put forward an amendment which could change Brexit

A 'humble address' is binding on the government, which means Theresa May will be forced to publish the advice
Voices

Ignore the hot air from cabinet members about a no-deal Brexit

The prime minister could try telling MPs that avoiding a hard border is something they should want – but a lot of them don’t agree
Voices

What Brexiteers told me behind May's back was worrying

Voices

Hammond's Budget was anti-business and anti-opportunity

Demonstrators hold placards and European Union flags as they take part in a march calling for a People's Vote on the final Brexit deal, in central London on October 20, 2018. - Britons dreading life outside Europe gathered from all corners of the UK to London on Saturday to try to stop their country's looming breakup with the EU.
Voices

A People's Vote will be impossible without cross-party consensus

Around 100,000 people are expected to march in London to call for a Final Say on the deal
Voices

A People's Vote is our final chance to get it right

Across the world, progressive politics is making a comeback – as in the case of Justin Trudeau's building popularity
Voices

Whether you call it centrism or progressive politics, it's back

May is now asking the House of Commons and the British people to hand over £50bn with no agreed trade deal in return or any clarity on what the future relationship will be
Voices

Brexit is a dead end – come and join Saturday’s march for a Final Say

Jeremy Hunt has met with Japan’s foreign minister Taro Kono in the past, but even as Shinzo Abe says the UK can join TPP after Brexit, he still recognising that Brexit was a bad idea overall for the British economy
Voices

Why a Canada-style Brexit deal would be a disaster for Britain

The PM on the Andrew Marr Show on Sunday
Voices

What Tory MPs told me is really going on behind the scenes

Voices

A final Brexit vote without Remain on the ballot would be nonsensical

Sebastian Kurz said Angela Merkel agreed on the importance of avoiding a hard Brexit
Voices

What EU diplomats told me about Brexit was painful to hear

Jacob Rees-Mogg’s City investment firm shifted money to Ireland amid concerns about being cut off from European investors; Lord Lawson is seeking residency in France; and Johnson sacked off trying to deliver what he argued for
Voices

Brexit is a project by the elites, for the elites

The community care system is to a large extent reliant on informal networks of support
Voices

These are the everyday issues being ignored as MPs fight over Brexit

Anti-Brexit campaigners protest outside High Court
Voices

This isn't Project Fear – this is Project Reality

Jacob Rees-Mogg’s City investment firm shifted money to Ireland amid concerns about being cut off from European investors; Lord Lawson is seeking residency in France; and Johnson sacked off trying to deliver what he argued for
Voices

Brexit is a project by the elites, for the elites

The community care system is to a large extent reliant on informal networks of support
Voices

These are the everyday issues being ignored as MPs fight over Brexit

Anti-Brexit campaigners protest outside High Court
Voices

This isn't Project Fear – this is Project Reality

Both leaders need to rein in people in their party who have spoken with hate about vulnerable groups of people
Voices

We deserve more than what we're getting from Corbyn and May

Theresa May says she's had 'constructive responses' so far from the EU on the UK’s Brexit proposals
Voices

Britain's future should not be left to 650 politicians in London

Businesses now think the Conservatives have it in for them too
Voices

The Tory party is hardly pro-business. They are screwing them over

In the short term, the EU institutions will give May a bit of space to steady the ship and will not immediately shoot down her plans. But, they will in due course raise their objections
Voices

May must let the people vote on her Brexit plan

Jacob Rees-Mogg has threatened to bring down May if she does not cede to Brexiteer demands
Voices

Who cares about Brexit? The Cabinet stinks of naked self-interest

Generally, political arguments pinning the blame for society’s ills on one generation or another are featuring more in social debates
Voices

We can't navigate Brexit without tackling the generational divide

Voices

Brexit was never about immigration and it's time we said it

People like Jacob Rees-Mogg are pushing for a hard Brexit that we already know from assessments will hit Leave-voting areas the most
Voices

Most Leave-voting Labour supporters don't actually want a hard Brexit

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in