Lisa O’Carroll
Lisa O’Carroll is a senior correspondent at the Guardian who focuses on the political consequences of international trade, tracking how post-Brexit arrangements, EU policy and disinformation shape power and everyday life. She covers Brexit and EU affairs through the lens of trade, borders and rights, often following complex regulatory debates from European institutions to their impact on businesses and citizens. Her beat sits at the intersection of politics and economics, with a particular emphasis on Ireland and the evolving relationship between the UK and the EU.
Post-Brexit trade and EU relations
O’Carroll’s core subject is post-Brexit trade, especially the political tensions that arise when the UK and EU revisit market access, tariffs and regulatory alignment. She reports on European trade policy from a European perspective, following negotiations, trade defence instruments and industrial strategy debates inside the EU.
Her work includes coverage of EU discussions on potential restrictions on Chinese imports and fears of economic overreliance, reflecting her focus on how trade tools are deployed in response to geopolitical risk and industrial competition.
She regularly examines how trade decisions translate into risks of trade wars or diplomatic stand-offs, particularly between London and Brussels. In commentary on the Northern Ireland protocol, she has highlighted that a failure to reach agreement risks escalating towards a trade war with the EU, underlining the stakes for political leaders and for cross-border commerce. She engages with technical topics such as tariff regimes and customs checks, informed by exchanges with trade specialists on issues like US Section 232 tariffs and the uncertainty created by broad inclusion processes. Across these stories, she links institutional decision-making to consequences for exporters, supply chains and national economic strategy.
Ireland, borders and citizens’ rights
Coverage of Ireland and border issues is a steady strand of O’Carroll’s reporting, reflecting her long-term focus on Brexit’s impact on the island and on people who move between jurisdictions. She has reported on the political and legal fallout from the Northern Ireland protocol, explaining how arrangements designed to avoid a hard border influence party politics, business decisions and UK–EU relations. Her work traces how technical provisions on checks and controls translate into tensions within unionist and nationalist communities and into pressure on the UK government.
She also covers border rules affecting individuals, including changes for British dual nationals and EU citizens whose rights have been reshaped since Brexit. In pieces on new border rules for British dual nationals, she has focused on how policy can abruptly constrain travel and residency, amplifying calls from political figures and legal experts for those rules to be reversed. This strand of her reporting often brings together legal detail, practical case studies and political reaction, showing how decisions taken in London or Brussels are felt by families and workers at ports and airports rather than only in parliaments.
Disinformation and political narratives
Alongside trade and borders, O’Carroll covers disinformation as part of her politics brief, treating it as a structural factor in contemporary European and UK politics rather than a stand-alone tech issue.
Her beat description emphasises disinformation, and she approaches it in the context of campaigns around Brexit, EU relations and wider European debates. This includes scrutiny of misleading narratives around trade deals, border arrangements and sovereignty, and how these narratives influence voter perceptions and policy choices.
Her interest in disinformation connects to her broader focus on institutional versus “creator” journalism, engaging with discussions about trust, the role of established news organisations and the risks that arise when complex topics such as trade and protocol arrangements are reduced to simple slogans. In public appearances, she has addressed the challenges of reporting technical political stories in an environment where inaccurate information spreads quickly, reinforcing the need for detailed, evidence-based coverage of Brexit and EU affairs.
Reporting format and approach
O’Carroll’s reporting is primarily hard news and explanatory coverage, supplemented by regular appearances in political podcasts and public forums. At the Guardian she has been identified over time as a Brussels correspondent and later as a Brexit correspondent, roles that inform her current focus as a senior correspondent on Brexit, EU affairs, disinformation and Ireland. She participates in the Politics Weekly podcast, contributing analysis on Brexit developments and their implications for domestic politics and EU relations.
Her work is widely carried by other digital news platforms, extending the reach of her reporting on trade and Brexit beyond the Guardian’s own channels.
Across formats, she tends to pair close attention to legislative and regulatory detail with clear explanations of who is affected, whether businesses facing new tariffs or citizens navigating changed border rules. Her coverage is distinctive in how it keeps trade and border mechanics central to the political story, making the technical architecture of Brexit and EU policy legible to general readers while maintaining focus on the power struggles and strategic choices behind it.
4 more politics journalists.
Alexander Britton
Alexander Britton is a senior digital editor and political reporter whose work combines political strategy, economic policy and the human impact of major decisions. He covers tax and cost-of-living pressures, central bank forecasts, interest rates, trade risks, parliamentary accountability and social debates. His reporting also examines global crises, including Gaza, with a focus on humanitarian need, aid limits and direct testimony. Britton has written about sport, culture and language, including fans travelling for the Boxing Day Test and Words of the Year. He now works in senior newsroom leadership for a major news group, after digital editorial roles at SBS News. Earlier, he was a political correspondent in the UK. He writes in clear, accessible language, using concrete examples, eyewitness material and direct reporting to connect policy and political conflict to households, businesses and individual lives.
Andi Yu
Andi Yu reports on how politics and legal processes shape social cohesion, public safety and everyday life. She is a journalist and digital producer for ABC News. Her beat spans politics, antisemitism, extremism, multicultural and faith issues, housing, planning, transport, courts, crime, health regulation and inequality. She has covered a royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion, an alleged attack on an Indigenous protest camp, changes to the Suburban Rail Loop, high-rise housing plans, Erin Patterson’s appeal, black-market peptides and culturally tailored midwifery care for First Nations families. She previously reported for the Australian Associated Press and has covered politics, health, crime, refugees and diverse communities. Yu explains complex policy, court and regulatory issues in clear, accessible formats. She connects testimony, evidence and government decisions to their effects on residents, businesses and marginalised communities.
Andrew Bolt
Andrew Bolt is a journalist, columnist and political commentator known for combative conservative analysis across print, online and television. He writes for the Herald Sun, where his national affairs columns and political blog are promoted as driving the news cycle, steering discussion and offering a strong perspective on leadership and cultural conflict. He hosts The Bolt Report on Sky News Australia four nights a week, extending the same opinion-led style to broadcast. Bolt’s core focus is party politics and leadership struggles, using senior figures in government and opposition to argue about values, national interests and ideological direction. He also writes on culture, history, identity and race, including contested narratives about Indigenous identification, and covers populist movements, border control, terrorism and free speech. His work is written as arguments rather than reportage, using direct language, stark framing and sustained campaigns on chosen issues.
Ben Smee
Ben Smee is a public interest reporter whose defining work examines how state power affects justice and vulnerable people. He is Guardian Australia’s Queensland correspondent and senior correspondent, covering Queensland politics, policing, youth crime, domestic and family violence, courts, elections and major policy debates. His investigations into children held in police watch houses exposed institutional failures and won a Walkley Award and Queensland Clarion honours. He also reports on police use of force against vulnerable First Nations people, police culture, victims failed by domestic violence systems, human rights, health policy, electric vehicles, surrogacy and infrastructure spending. His work has appeared across breaking news, features, live blogs and investigative podcasts. A former editor, head of news and political reporter, he combines sustained investigations with daily coverage, returning to institutions and laws to track whether promises of reform produce change.