Political news

• Sunak’s snacks to save the economy

  11-07-2020 06:00 via ft.com
  
  UK chancellor sets out a £30bn job-saving plan, with a boost for pubs and restaurants
  
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• Sunak's snacks to save the economy

  11-07-2020 06:00 via ft.com
  Chancellor Rishi Sunak set out a £30bn plan to save British jobs this week, with a b…
  
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• BlueBay bets on sterling drop from hard Brexit

  11-07-2020 05:00 via ft.com
  Bond fund believes a long-term trade deal between UK and EU could be out of reach
  
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• Sanctions regime stokes warning of diplomatic ‘bumpy ride’

  10-07-2020 23:30 via ft.com
  New strategy could leave post-Brexit UK more vulnerable to retaliation, say experts
  
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• UK-Bharti bid for OneWeb gets green light from US court

  10-07-2020 23:22 via ft.com
  Decision bolsters Britain’s ambitions to be at forefront of space technology
  
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• Activists urge more scrutiny of standards in trade deals

  10-07-2020 23:00 via ft.com
  Environmental and welfare groups demand say over global Britain trade policies
  
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• Boris Johnson signals stricter face mask rules

  10-07-2020 20:04 via ft.com
  Prime minister urges public to start wearing coverings in shops and confined space
  
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• Tory conference finally cancelled, but the football season rolls on | John Crace

  10-07-2020 14:59 via theguardian.com
  
  Will anyone attend the livestreamed fringe events without free sandwiches as inducements?There are times I feel I’m losing my touch as a hypochondriac. There were long periods during my 40s and 50s when I would only have to exhibit the mildest of symptoms and I would be on the phone to the doctor – with Google almost any symptom can be potentially fatal. I’ve lost track of the number of blood tests and more invasive procedures I’ve had in order to find out I’m not a
  
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• Why are we not wearing masks in the UK?

  10-07-2020 14:48 via ftalphaville.ft.com
  If we want more people to do so, we need consistency from government, but also a moral framing of the reasons for wearing them.
  
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• Chris Grayling's track record? There is no longer a track: just a stretch of scorched earth | Marina Hyde

  10-07-2020 14:45 via theguardian.com
  
  His career has been a series of breathtaking failures. Yet he’s just been made chair of the intelligence committee
  News that Chris Grayling is to be appointed chair of the intelligence and security committee feels like a cosmic inevitability. There is simply no aspect of the British state that is regarded as too big to Grayl. In the event of nuclear devastation, almost certainly somehow caused by Chris Grayling, Chris Grayling would not simply survive, but there would be someone surveying
  
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• Pressure mounts on Priti Patel over case of 11-year-old at risk of FGM

  10-07-2020 14:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Open letter by former judges, leading politicians and campaigners urges home secretary to grant asylum to Sudanese girlBarristers, former judges, politicians and campaigners are among 300 people who have signed an open letter to the home secretary, Priti Patel, urging her to grant asylum to an 11-year-old girl at high risk of female genital mutilation if taken abroad.Helena Kennedy QC, former chief prosecutor Nazir Afzal, campaigner Leyla Hussein and more than 30 MPs have added their names to th
  
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• Brussels proposes Brexit crisis fund to break EU budget deadlock

  10-07-2020 14:20 via ft.com
  Charles Michel’s draft plan offers countries at risk of economic shock a €5bn emergency reserve
  
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• Brussels proposes €5bn Brexit crisis fund to break EU budget deadlock

  10-07-2020 14:20 via ft.com
  Charles Michel’s draft plan offers countries facing an economic shock an emergency reserve
  
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• Liz Truss is suddenly worried about a Brexit deal – but for the wrong reason | Jill Rutter

  10-07-2020 14:02 via theguardian.com
  
  The international trade secretary fears the UK may fail to comply with WTO rules. But the real problem will be trade with the EUThe international trade secretary, Liz Truss, joins a long list of people concerned that the UK may not be as ready for Brexit on 1 January 2021 as it needs to be.In a letter to cabinet colleagues this week, she has reportedly raised concerns that the UK will not be operating a World Trade Organization (WTO) compliant border when we leave the EU. It was an embarrassing
  
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• Keir Starmer needs a bolder vision – being the grownup in the room isn't enough | Andy Beckett

  10-07-2020 13:42 via theguardian.com
  
  The Labour leader’s minimalist, methodical approach is beating Boris Johnson’s chaos so far. But where are the big ideas?Keir Starmer likes things to be neat. His hair, how he speaks, how he manages his party: a definite Starmer style has emerged since he became Labour leader just under 100 days ago. He doesn’t waste words, briskly summing up the government’s handling of Covid-19 as “flailing around”. He quickly sacked Rebecca Long-Bailey when the row about he
  
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• Ingram Pinn’s illustration of the week: UK summer statement

  10-07-2020 13:30 via ft.com
  Autumn storms threaten chancellor Rishi Sunak's plans
  
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• We must maintain the UK as a world leader in the law

  10-07-2020 13:17 via ft.com
  Legal services are one of Britain’s top global exports and should be protected
  
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• Chocolate and sweet sales face further curbs in No 10 obesity drive

  10-07-2020 12:49 via theguardian.com
  
  Supermarkets in England may be stopped from displaying unhealthy food at end of aislesSupermarkets in England could be stopped from placing chocolate and sweets as impulse purchases at the end of aisles as part of a government drive to improve the health of the nation in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, it has emerged.Measures to try to nudge the public into healthier food-buying habits are among policies being considered in what has been billed a “war against obesity” being dra
  
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• UK to shun EU coronavirus vaccine purchase plan

  10-07-2020 12:25 via ft.com
  Officials believe conditions will limit ability to strike bilateral deals
  
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• Week in Review: When lies and incompetence collide

  10-07-2020 12:21 via politics.co.uk
  
  Sometimes the smallest things can reveal the most.
  
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• Firm with links to Gove and Cummings given Covid-19 contract without open tender

  10-07-2020 12:15 via theguardian.com
  
  Research company owned by associates of senior Tory and PM’s adviser gets £840,000 jobCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe Cabinet Office has awarded an £840,000 contract to research public opinion about government policies to a company owned by two long-term associates of Michael Gove and Dominic Cummings, without putting the work out for tender.Public First, a small policy and research company in London, is run by James Frayne, whose work alon
  
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• Will Rishi Sunak succeed Boris Johnson?

  10-07-2020 12:11 via ft.com
  The FT's Robert Shrimsley and Miranda Green discuss the chancellor's 'brand'
  
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• How best to shrink UK’s post-coronavirus deficit

  10-07-2020 11:00 via ft.com
  Fiscal retrenchment should be left for later and focus must be on raising taxes
  
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• Vital role for business following 'ill-conceived' DFID merger

  10-07-2020 08:16 via politics.co.uk
  
  Business has a role to play in tackling poverty following the ill-conceived and poorly timed DFID merger.
  
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• The world's poorest women and girls risk being biggest losers in DfID merger

  10-07-2020 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The department is a world leader in programmes based on gender equality. The government must show this will continueNews that the Department for International Development and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office are to merge raised many questions about the UK’s commitment to supporting the world’s poorest people. A key question for us is how the new department will support women and girls.For more than 20 years, UK aid has saved and transformed the lives of women and girls in some of
  
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• Cost of rolling out universal credit rises by £1.4bn, say auditors

  10-07-2020 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  NAO says benefit may not be able to meet aim of getting more people into workThere is still no evidence that universal credit benefit is meeting its central aim of getting more people into work – while the costs of implementing it have risen by £1.4bn and it remains beset by delays, according to the government spending watchdog.In a critical report, the National Audit Office said that although more claimants were being paid on time, the controversial five week wait for a first univer
  
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• Stamp duty holiday boosts buy-to-let landlords

  10-07-2020 06:00 via ft.com
  Property investors set to benefit from tax savings announced in the chancellor’s summer statement
  
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• Rishi Sunak’s short-term jobs plan tackles long-term failures in the UK economy

  10-07-2020 06:00 via ft.com
  The long tail of low-paid, low-skilled workers has been a persistent stain on society, but this crisis is a chance for change
  
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• Turkish foreign minister says trade deal with UK ‘very close’

  10-07-2020 05:00 via ft.com
  Ankara has already set a post-Brexit bilateral trade target of $20bn
  
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• Water regulators taken to task in damning report by MPs

  10-07-2020 01:04 via ft.com
  England risks running out of water because of leakages and lack of investment
  
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• UK's Windrush scandal seeing it lose influence across African continent

  10-07-2020 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  By contrast China is seen as a partner across much of Africa, offering itself as a growth modelBritain’s treatment of the Windrush generation and attitude to its colonial past means it is struggling to retain the same influence across the African continent as China, a cross-party group of peers has said.In a new report, sharply critical of a lack of a clear UK government strategy for Africa, the Lords International Relations and Defence Committee said the Home Office’s treatment of A
  
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• What kind of revolution can follow the Tories' education crisis?

  09-07-2020 21:44 via theguardian.com
  
  Too popular, too hopeless, too dead-end – Gavin Williamson awards low marks to England’s universities during adult learning speechGavin Williamson was aware of at least one thing in his speech today in which he promised a revolution in England’s further education sector. “A lot of education secretaries across the years have said they want to support further education,” he told an empty room during his pre-recorded speech. “I know some of you will feel you&rsqu
  
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• Coronavirus: Pools, gyms, team sport and outdoor gigs to return

  09-07-2020 21:39 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Restrictions in England are further eased - with beauty businesses also able to reopen on Monday.
  
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• Labour MP Dawn Butler closes office after receiving racist threats

  09-07-2020 21:36 via theguardian.com
  
  London MP also says constituency premises expensive and hard to keep Covid-19 safeA Labour MP has been forced to close her constituency office after escalating racist threats towards her and her staff since she spoke out in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.Dawn Butler, a former youth minister and the first black woman to speak at the dispatch box in parliament, said racism, death threats and attacks on her office and staff meant she had no option but to close her high street premises i
  
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• Gyms, pools and salons to reopen shortly in England

  09-07-2020 21:05 via theguardian.com
  
  Beauticians and outdoor pools to return within days with indoor pools and gyms opening on 25 July Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageGyms, swimming pools and leisure centres will reopen in England within days as part of the government’s lockdown easing, with the UK culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, suggesting “normal life is slowly returning”. Related: Parklife! When gyms reopen, will anyone go back?Continue reading...
  
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• Oliver Dowden unplugged: entering and exiting largely unnoticed

  09-07-2020 21:01 via theguardian.com
  
  All he could offer were half-baked assurances the PM would never have put the public at riskRobbed. This should have been one of the greatest press conferences of all time. Just imagine. The lights go dim in Number 10 and the sound system belts out Eye of the Tiger. Moments later the strobes start flashing and Boris Johnson shadow boxes his way to the podium in a silk dressing gown.As the Survivor front man sings “Went the distance, now I’m back on my feet / Just a man and his will t
  
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• Chris Grayling closes in on role as chair of UK intelligence committee

  09-07-2020 20:28 via theguardian.com
  
  Four Tory MPs named on nine-person committee expected to back ex-minister’s appointment
  The accident-prone former cabinet minister Chris Grayling is expected to be appointed as chair of the powerful intelligence and security committee (ISC) next week after the Conservatives announced four other members who are expected to support him.The former transport and justice secretary has long been Boris Johnson’s pick for the job but the plan has been partly disrupted by months of wrangling
  
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• UK accused of 'empty talk' as Bahrain activists face death penalty

  09-07-2020 20:21 via theguardian.com
  
  Calls intensify for withdrawal from security arrangement with kingdom over human rights The British government has been accused of “empty talk” over human rights as two pro-democracy campaigners in Bahrain face the death penalty.The UK has provided security advice to the island nation in the Persian Gulf for five years and funds a body that examines allegations of police mistreatment. Continue reading...
  
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• The Guardian view on the Covid-19 inquiry: if not now, when? | Editorial

  09-07-2020 20:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Boris Johnson has no intention of setting up an independent probe of Britain’s handling of the pandemic. MPs and civil society must take the initiativeOn Wednesday the World Health Organization appointed a committee of inquiry, to be led by the former New Zealand prime minister, Helen Clark, and the ex-president of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, to evaluate the global response to the Covid-19 pandemic. They will produce an interim report in November and a full report in May 2021. For all
  
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• Dawn Butler MP closes Willesden office over race threats

  09-07-2020 20:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Dawn Butler says staff were verbally assaulted and bricks were thrown at the office in Willesden.
  
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• The Guardian view on Britain and China: fasten your seatbelts | Editorial

  09-07-2020 19:57 via theguardian.com
  
  The UK and other countries are reshaping their approach to Beijing. It’s going to be bumpyFive years ago George Osborne, then chancellor, promised a golden decade for Sino-British relations. The sheen was always deceptive, and the decade has ended prematurely. In April, Dominic Raab remarked that there could be no return to business as usual. Now the foreign secretary’s rhetoric is translating into reality, with indications that the government is preparing to turn its back on Huawei
  
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• ONS signals rail nationalisation with debt sheet move

  09-07-2020 19:55 via ft.com
  Watchdog considers technical reclassification as sector grapples with pandemic disruption
  
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• Brussels warns UK citizens of ‘thorough border checks’

  09-07-2020 19:45 via ft.com
  Commission says there will be ‘far reaching changes’ regardless of outcome of talks
  
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• Brussels warns of far reaching Brexit impact as talks make little headway

  09-07-2020 19:45 via ft.com
  UK nationals told: prepare for ‘thorough checks’ at EU borders after transition period ends
  
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• England’s outdoor swimming pools, theatres and music venues to reopen

  09-07-2020 19:42 via ft.com
  Move comes amid growing pressure from Tory MPs to accelerate wider revival of economy
  
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• Rishi Sunak decided hospitality was worthy of special help

  09-07-2020 19:38 via ft.com
  Chancellor accused of not doing enough to tackle unemployment in his summer statement
  
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• Security committee: Tory majority ahead of Russia report

  09-07-2020 19:36 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Chris Grayling is expected to be named chairman of group that will publish long-delayed report.
  
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• We need a review of the first coronavirus wave now – before the second hits | Gaby Hinsliff

  09-07-2020 19:31 via theguardian.com
  
  The prime minister’s squirming over care home deaths makes it clear that an independent review is urgent, before a second wave hitsWhen Boris Johnson gets caught, his first inclination is to wriggle.He squirms and he splutters; if all else fails, he rumples his hair like a chastened little boy and mumbles regretfully at his shoes. When confronted with the story of his affair with Petronella Wyatt, he retreated behind claims about a “pyramid of piffle” rather than admit it was t
  
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• Labour warns UK recovery plan could end up wasting public money

  09-07-2020 18:52 via theguardian.com
  
  It comes after HMRC chief warned chancellor he could not vouch for ‘efficiency’ of plans Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageLabour has warned that Rishi Sunak’s £1000-a-worker job retention scheme could see money ending up in the wrong pockets, as the chancellor refused to rule out future tax rises to pay for his £30bn summer budget.Amid warnings from experts that much of the cost of the scheme could be banked by firms that would have
  
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• 'No masks': Wagamama criticised over Rishi Sunak photo op

  09-07-2020 18:16 via theguardian.com
  
  Chancellor visited branch after summer statement, but some have pointed to his lack of PPE
  Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageRishi Sunak was nowhere to be seen on Thursday at the central London branch of Wagamama where the chancellor did a stint as a waiter in a PR stunt that followed the announcement of his £30bn economic plan the day before, though his appearance left a bad taste for some.“He’s off today,” laughed one member of staff, as
  
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