Mattarella has a point

If Italy really is to make a radical, momentous break with the Euro, sooner or later, voters should explicitly endorse the move.

Henry Newman: The unified reaction to the Skripal affair suggests talk of Britain’s ‘isolation’ was premature

To listen to some commentators a few weeks ago, you’d have thought it was only EU membership – not shared interests and values – that brings allies together.

Salvatore Murtas: The Italian electorate’s message to the pro-EU political establishment is clear and blunt

The election result was simply voters’ latest desperate attempt to send political elites at home and in Brussels a final warning.

Garvan Walshe: In Italy, the battle is now between tax-paying and tax-eating populists

The vote split along geographic and political grounds; it is hard to see how any proper government can be formed between competing brands of populism.

Four questions from the Italian election

Storming results for the Five Star Movement and the League pose big challenges to the established structure of Italian politics, to the EU, and to the left more generally.

Rebecca Coulson: Beware wanting to surrender democracy. For once you’ve done so, you may not get it back.

Only in a place or time where you hadn’t witnessed the effects on people of a lack of choice might you be willing to countenance it yourself.

Salvatore Murtas: Renzi fell because he promised change, but only delivered politics as usual

His Machiavellian approach, backstabbing and dubious tactics cost him popular support. The nation’s problems remain unsolved.

Now that Italy has voted No, the emboldened opposition parties fight to take over

Traditionally, a technocratic government would now steer the country through choppy waters. But this time that could lead to more instability.

WATCH: Renzi quits

With most ballots counted, he trails by 40 per cent to 60 per cent, on a 70 per cent turnout.

How Sunday’s vote in Italy could plunge the Euro into crisis

The referendum was meant to be about constitutional reform. Instead, it’s become an anti-politics storm which could have wide-reaching consequences.

Hammond’s debut. His big task is to persuade business that an Open Britain lies ahead after we leave the EU

Circumstances dictate a suck-it-and-see Autumn Statement – but also one that can transcend its own caution by pointing to a visionary landscape ahead.

Daniel Kawczynski: Plans for an EU army remain as barmy and ramshackle as ever

A range of significant obstacles would need to be cleared to set about forming such a defence force. None of them is anything to do with Britain’s membership of the EU