Political news

• Ukip Donor Arron Banks Is 'Sick To Death' Of People 'Milking' Hillsborough Tragedy

  14-02-2017 23:15
  
  Ukip donor Arron Banks has been condemned for saying he is “sick to death” of hearing about the Hillsborough disaster, the football stadium tragedy that saw 96 Liverpool fans unlawfully killed.
  His comments on Twitter followed Ukip leader Paul Nuttall admitting his claim to have lost a “close personal friend” at the Sheffield stadium was not true.
  Tonight, Nuttall, who is the party’s candidate at the upcoming Stoke by-election, published a statement a
  
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• Nuttall admits he did not lose 'close friends' at Hillsborough

  14-02-2017 22:37 via bbc.co.uk
  
  UKIP's leader says he is "appalled" the impression was given on his website that he lost close friends.
  
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• Theresa May 'looking forward' to Trump state visit

  14-02-2017 21:49 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Theresa May discusses Donald Trump's controversial state visit to the UK with the US President.
  
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• Toshiba exposes fragility of UK’s future power supply

  14-02-2017 20:33 via ft.com
  Ministers want to eradicate coal-fired power by 2025. The issue is what will replace it
  
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• Theresa May Tells Donald Trump She's 'Looking Forward' To His UK Visit

  14-02-2017 20:27
  
  Theresa May has told Donald Trump she is “looking forward” to seeing him in the UK later this year, despite the growing row over his planned State Visit.
  The Prime Minister defied critics of her invitation to the US President as he rang her personally on Tuesday to discuss a range of issues from security to trade.
  Their phone call came after No.10 formally rejected an online petition signed by 1.8m people to halt the visit, insisting Trump should be extended “the full courtesy
  
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• Fresh disruption risk for Southern commuters

  14-02-2017 19:53 via ft.com
  Talks to end dispute with RMT drivers break up after 3 hours
  
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• Proposed Opel sale raises questions over UK plants

  14-02-2017 19:48 via ft.com
  Ellesmere Port and Luton employ 3,500 and produce 185,000 vehicles a year
  
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• MoD rejects claim UK missed Nato spending target

  14-02-2017 19:39 via ft.com
  Think-tank says Britain fell short of commitment for 2% of GDP
  
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• Paul Nuttall's Five Most Dubious Claims He's Been Forced To Defend

  14-02-2017 19:21
  
  1. He lost a ‘close personal friend’ at Hillsborough.
  Ukip leader Paul Nuttall has admitted his claim to have lost a “close personal friend” at Hillsborough was not true.
  The MEP and party candidate in the Stoke Central by-election made the claim on his official website. “I lost close personal friends at that match and understand as well as anyone how deep the scars of that tragedy go,” he said in a now deleted post from 2012.
  However, appearing on Radio
  
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• How UK farmers could do without EU workers | Letters

  14-02-2017 19:21
  The fall in immigration from the EU since the referendum vote suggests that Theresa May’s “pull factor” is in the process of correcting itself, an outcome that was easily predictable (Jobs going unfilled as EU workers desert UK, 13 February). There is no reason to expect this trend to reverse, and so it seems that the market forces so beloved by the Conservatives are doing the job for them. In that case there is no need for physical controls on immigration, which are bound to b
  
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• Nigel Farage Refuses To Campaign For Paul Nuttall In Stoke Amid Splits At Top Of Ukip

  14-02-2017 19:04
  
  Nigel Farage is refusing to do any more campaigning for Ukip in the Stoke Central by-election after falling out with the new leader’s closest advisor, Huff Post UK has learned.
  Farage last week appeared at a rally in Stoke to support Paul Nuttall’s bid to win the seat from Labour, but was furious to discover a Ukip member who had made a series of allegations about him was helping to run the event.
  Lisa Duffy – who unsuccessfully stood to be party leader last summer – was
  
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• Nigel Farage Refuses To Campaign Anymore For Paul Nuttall In Stoke Amid Splits At Top Of Ukip

  14-02-2017 19:04
  
  Nigel Farage is refusing to do any more campaigning for Ukip in the Stoke Central by-election after falling out with the new leader’s closest advisor, Huff Post UK has learned.
  Farage last week appeared at a rally in Stoke to support Paul Nuttall’s bid to win the seat from Labour, but was furious to discover a Ukip member who had made a series of allegations about him was helping to run the event.
  Lisa Duffy – who unsuccessfully stood to be party leader last summer – was
  
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• Brexit Vote Research Shows How Much More Likely Social Conservatives Were To Vote Leave

  14-02-2017 18:12
  
  As Brexit exposes the deep divisions in British society, new research has identified the correlation between voting Leave and holding conservative positions on unrelated topics including religion, being gay and women going to work.
  Think tank Demos broke down the data from its research to estimate the likelihood people with certain views and experiences would back Brexit.
  They found big differences in, for example, how people who supported ethnic diversity voted compared with how those who
  
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• Devolved finance ministers call for Brexit clarity from UK

  14-02-2017 18:01 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The finance ministers of the UK's devolved administrations call for more clarity over plans for Brexit.
  
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• Nato defence spending target met, government insists

  14-02-2017 17:53 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A think tank says the UK missed Nato's 2% target - but the government says this is "wrong".
  
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• Who has been knocking on Labour voters’ doors?

  14-02-2017 17:50 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Tristram Hunt's resignation has triggered a by-election in Labour 'safe seat' Stoke Central, but who has been knocking on doors looking for votes?
  
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• Ukip leader denies responsibility for website Hillsborough claim – video

  14-02-2017 17:40
  
  Ukip leader Paul Nuttall tells Liverpool’s Radio City Talk on Tuesday that he did not lose any close friends at the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, contrary to a statement on his website. Nuttall is shown the statement from his site but denies he was responsible for it
  Ukip leader admits claim that he lost close friends at Hillsborough was false
  Continue reading...
  
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• Paul Nuttall challenged over Hillsborough 'personal friend' claim

  14-02-2017 17:36 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The UKIP leader admits claims he lost "close, personal friends" in the Hillsborough tragedy are false.
  
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• UK nuclear plans hit as Toshiba balks at Cumbria plant

  14-02-2017 17:31 via ft.com
  Move by Japanese group part of retrenchment that forces chairman’s resignation
  
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• UK energy plans hit after Toshiba balks at nuclear risk

  14-02-2017 17:31 via ft.com
  Japanese group backs away from Cumbrian project after chairman resigns
  
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• Paul Nuttall admits claim he lost close friends at Hillsborough was false

  14-02-2017 17:02
  
  Ukip leader, who is contesting Stoke byelection next week, admits claim made on his website in 2012 is not trueThe Ukip leader, Paul Nuttall, is facing more questions about Hillsborough after being forced to admit that claims on his website about losing close friends in the disaster were false.In an interview with Liverpool’s Radio City News on Tuesday, it was put to him that in 2012 he said on his website that he had “lost close personal friends”. Nuttall denied making the cla
  
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• Pro-Trump Fake News Phenomenon Saw British Far-Right Activist Take 'Central' Role

  14-02-2017 16:54
  
  The founder of Britain First and a London vlogger are being credited with being “central” disseminators of “devastating anti-Clinton” propaganda that helped win Donald Trump the US presidency.
  From a bolthole in the Hungarian capital of Budapest, Jim Dowson “engaged in a concerted campaign” to promote Trump by spreading fake news about Hillary Clinton through a constellation of websites such as Patrion News, charity Hope not Hate (HNH), claim.
  
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• British political parties ask GCHQ for advice on preventing cyber-attacks

  14-02-2017 16:50
  
  Ciaran Martin, head of UK National Cyber Security Centre, says he expects formal requests for help with digital securityBritish political parties have approached the surveillance agency GCHQ for advice on beefing up their internet security after a cyber-attack during the 2015 UK general election and the hacking in the US last year of the Democratic party.
  Ciaran Martin, head of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, which is part of GCHQ and was officially opened on Tuesday, confirmed in
  
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• Race to reform

  14-02-2017 16:41 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Brexit fuels a sense of EU crisis - but reforms are likely to be slow, Kevin Connolly reports.
  
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• Days of low inflation are over with UK consumer finances to take a hit | Larry Elliott

  14-02-2017 16:36
  
  High street competition has helped rein in prices, but households are facing rising cost of living due to falling pound and rising commoditiesIt was nice while it lasted, but the days of ultra-low inflation are over – at least for the time being.The year ahead is going to be marked by rising prices and squeezed living standards, but the pickup in the cost of living needs to be put in perspective; January’s increase was smaller than expected, and the result of prices falling less shar
  
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• Diane Abbott, John McDonnell And Clive Lewis To Tour Brexit Towns To Fight Ukip Threat

  14-02-2017 16:01
  
  Diane Abbott, John McDonnell and Clive Lewis plan to tour Brexit-voting cities with the pro-Jeremy Corbyn campaign group Momentum in an attempt to fight off the threat from Ukip.
  The allies of the Labour leader will aim to convince people not all ‘Remain’ voters are members of the “croissant munching metropolitan elite”.
  June’s referendum has exposed the gulf between the majority of Labour MPs who backed ‘Remain’ and the majority of Labour constituencie
  
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• Plans for UK nuclear plant hang in the balance

  14-02-2017 15:55 via ft.com
  Ministers urged to intervene after company says it will not take on construction risk
  
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• Theresa May to miss EU's 60th anniversary summit, sources say

  14-02-2017 15:50
  
  British government sees no point in being at event in Rome because UK will not be involved in planning bloc’s futureTheresa May is expected to miss the EU’s 60th anniversary summit in March because the British government sees no point in being involved in planning the future of the EU.The British prime minister was invited to join the celebrations on 25 March with 27 other EU leaders but decided not to take part, a senior EU diplomat told the Guardian. “The door was open, but t
  
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• Politics Live – readers' edition: Tuesday 14 February

  14-02-2017 15:44
  
  Discuss today’s politics and share links to breaking news, and to the most interesting stories and blogs on the web2.44pm GMTReaders below the line have been discussing the Ukip leader Paul Nuttall, who is standing in next week’s Stoke byelection and has been defending his claims that he is a Hillsborough survivor, after the Hillsborough Families Support Group questioned why he had never offered any support.
  Here is our latest story, which comes after Nuttall gave an interview with L
  
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• Cybersecurity: Queen opens centre to protect against attacks

  14-02-2017 15:33 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The Queen is shown how hackers could target power supplies as she opens a centre to see off cyber attacks.
  
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• The Kindertransport saved my sister. Britain must make that effort again | Patricia Losey

  14-02-2017 15:29
  
  My family was enriched by welcoming a young refugee fleeing the Nazis. It’s time to revive Lord Dubs’s scheme to save children with a public appealI think often about the refugees that we in the UK aren’t helping, especially the unaccompanied children wandering about Europe. I probably feel so strongly because at the age of eight (I am now 86), I acquired a big sister who was a refugee. Related: Ending the Dubs scheme will put child refugees at the mercy of traffickers | Aidan
  
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• Ukip leader admits claim that he lost close friends at Hillsborough was false

  14-02-2017 15:27
  
  Paul Nuttall, who is contesting Stoke byelection next week, admits claim made on his website in 2012 is not trueThe Ukip leader, Paul Nuttall, is facing more questions about Hillsborough after being forced to admit that claims on his website about losing close friends in the disaster were false.In a post in 2012 about attempts to block publication of files relating to the disaster, Nuttall wrote: “Without them being made public we will never get to the bottom of that appalling tragedy when
  
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• Paul Nuttall Admits Claim He Lost 'Close Personal Friends' At Hillsborough Is Not True

  14-02-2017 15:20
  
  UKIP leader Paul Nuttall admits that claims on his website that he lost a "close personal friend" at Hillsborough are false pic.twitter.com/bnNKm29IsU— Radio City Talk (@RadioCityTalk) February 14, 2017
  Paul Nuttall has admitted his claim to have lost a “close personal friend” at Hillsborough was not true.
  The Ukip leader made the claim in a post on his official website in 2011.
  However appearing on Radio City Talk today, Nuttall admitted it was false when presented with a cop
  
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• Leave voters are not all idiots – some Londoners still don’t get it | Abi Wilkinson

  14-02-2017 15:02
  
  I live in London and voted to stay in the EU, but the contempt and ignorance displayed by some remain voters towards those outside the capital appals meWhat if the leave camp actually had a point? Not about quitting the EU, I hasten to add. Though I believe reform is urgently necessary, I’m still convinced we’re better off in than out. Nor about the downsides of freedom of movement (wage depression in some industries and increased competition for housing and public services), all of
  
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• The Brexit devolution muddle

  14-02-2017 14:41 via ft.com
  PM’s strategy is triggering backlash over where laws and powers are repatriated
  
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• The Gambia: UK 'very pleased' about Commonwealth return

  14-02-2017 14:40 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson says the return will happen "in the coming months".
  
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• Kellyanne Conway Defends Donald Trump Over Michael Flynn Resignation

  14-02-2017 14:40
  
  Kellyanne Conway has been wheeled out to defend the White House’s handling of the shock resignation of Michael Flynn.
  In an interview on NBC’s Today Show with Matt Lauer, Donald Trump’s counsellor appeared to imply the national security advisor would have kept his job had he not stood down, simply because the President is “extremely loyal”.
  Flynn resigned last night over a call he made to the Russian Ambassador in December during which they allegedly discussed sanct
  
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• David Davis expects parliamentary 'ping-pong' over Brexit bill

  14-02-2017 14:31
  
  Government could see defeats in House of Lords, but Brexit secretary still expects article 50 to be triggered next monthMinisters are expecting a parliamentary battle over the Brexit bill next week as the House of Lords is likely to pass amendments rewriting the legislation, David Davis has said.Speaking in Sweden, the Brexit secretary said he was expecting the bill to be subject to a parliamentary process known as “ping-pong”, which happens when the House of Lords sends legislation
  
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• What can save our prisons from chaos? The governors | John Podmore

  14-02-2017 14:15
  
  Drugs, violence and overcrowding threaten both staff and inmates. After running HMP Brixton, I found that governors are the seeds of reform – support them, and change will comeTo no one’s great surprise, Liz Truss has opted to steer clear of sentencing reform and rejected calls to reduce prison numbers in the UK. Our prison system may be in its most parlous state for decades, but the justice secretary has demonstrated that she is no more likely than any of her predecessors to stray f
  
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• 'We should be ashamed': readers on the backlash over EU nationals' rights in UK

  14-02-2017 14:07
  
  Leaked paper says Britons living in Europe may face consequences if Theresa May fails to secure EU nationals’ rights in the UK. Here’s what our readers said
  British nationals living on the continent could expect a backlash after May’s failure to offer a secure future for EU nationals in the UK, a leaked EU paper, obtained by the Guardian, has warned. The British government is yet to make a commitment to EU nationals currently living in the UK that they would be free to continue
  
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• A hard Brexit will be even harder because of Treasury failings | David Walker

  14-02-2017 13:29
  
  Lord Kerslake’s damning report exposes the yawning skills gap at the heart of government – just when we need to manage BrexitWhitehall needs a strong centre more than ever, to keep the show on the road, to monitor the effects of leaving the European Union and to coordinate Theresa May’s government’s various (and variously contradictory) initiatives.The Treasury has to be a pillar of that strength – yet for the past seven decades at least it has abused its power and
  
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• Parks are a huge asset, and we need to value them for the 21st century | Alison Benjamin

  14-02-2017 12:59
  
  Our green spaces are shrinking, despite all the benefits they give us. If we want to save them, we need to value the ecosystem and health and wellbeing services they offerSheffield city council’s balance sheet shows its parks as a £16m liability. Traditional accountancy methods focus on a park’s saleable value, or its operational costs associated with maintenance. So England’s 27,000 parks are considered as financial liabilities rather than the amazing asset to our health
  
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• UK economy can ill-afford to lose foreign workers

  14-02-2017 12:58 via ft.com
  The additional strain on an already buckling sector will hit the whole country
  
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• Public services can ill-afford effects of Brexit

  14-02-2017 12:58 via ft.com
  The additional strain on an already buckling sector will hit the whole country
  
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• Mike Flynn’s love of Putin has dangerous echoes across Europe’s right | Owen Jones

  14-02-2017 12:27
  
  Trump’s US national security adviser resigned over his relationship with Russia, but its leader is a hero to populists who want to see authoritarian, racist regimes across the westThere’s blood in the water, and the anti-Trump opposition should be in a hunting mood. Michael Flynn, the US national security adviser, is the first major scalp of Donald Trump’s administration, and so soon. This regime is weak. A president who lost the popular vote by nearly three million votes, who
  
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• UK inflation highest since June 2014

  14-02-2017 11:46 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Rising fuel costs help push the rate up to 1.8% in January, its fourth consecutive increase.
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn is vital to Labour’s future – whether he’s leader or not | Maya Goodfellow

  14-02-2017 11:00
  
  Leadership challenges hog the headlines, but the looming ‘McDonnell clause’ could determine something far more important: the Labour party’s identityIs Jeremy Corbyn’s inner circle plotting to replace him? Will he go before the 2020 election or will he stick it out? These questions may sound appealing, but do they miss the point of Corbyn? Is he the person who will take the Labour party to where many want it to be? Because Corbyn’s leadership isn’t solely abou
  
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• UK government says Trump will receive 'full courtesy' of state visit

  14-02-2017 10:41
  
  Response to petition calling for cancellation of visit signed by 1.8m people says No 10 does not support their view Donald Trump should be granted the “full courtesy” of a state visit to the UK, the government has said in a statement sent to 1.8 million people who signed a petition against the invitation to the US president. The petition, which is being considered for debate in parliament, called for Trump to be allowed to enter the UK but not be granted an official state visit &ldqu
  
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• Welcome to the new dark ages, where only the wealthy can retire | Peter Fleming

  14-02-2017 10:00
  
  As never-ending politically motivated austerity takes hold, more and more people will find they cannot afford to stop work. But it doesn’t have to be like thisIt’s almost too easy to imagine the scenario. After spending most of our adult life in paid employment, the golden day arrives. A well-earned retirement. Suddenly we’re released from the grip of office email and that long commute. Finally we can enjoy our remaining time on Earth pursuing those interests we’d never h
  
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• Donald Trump State Visit Petition Rejected By Goverment

  14-02-2017 09:55
  
  The petition to prevent Donald Trump from making a state visit to the UK has been rejected.
  Despite gaining over 1.8 million signatures, the Government said in a formal response the President would be “extended full courtesy” by Britain “once dates and arrangements are finalised”.It added: “HM Government recognises the strong views expressed by the many signatories of this petition, but does not support this petition.
  “During her visit to the United State
  
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