Political news

• Peugeot offered Brexit promises to save Vauxhall

  17-02-2017 22:39 via ft.com
  Ministers battle to secure future of plants as GM sale raises closure fears
  
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• Treasury plan may allow RBS to avoid selling 300 branches

  17-02-2017 22:29 via theguardian.com
  
  Proposals to meet state aid demands would cost bank £750m if approved by EU but resolve longstanding dilemmaRoyal Bank of Scotland could be released from a demand imposed by Brussels to sell off 300 branches as a result of proposals made by the Treasury. The new plan to meet state aid requirements will cost RBS £750m but remove a significant hurdle facing the bailed-out bank if it wins support in the EU. Continue reading...
  
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• RBS close to being spared Williams & Glyn sale

  17-02-2017 21:59 via ft.com
  UK and EU plan for bank to spend £750m on alternatives to boost competition
  
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• What changes are happening to UK business rates?

  17-02-2017 21:31 via ft.com
  Affluent areas will see bills increase, regardless of their ability to pay
  
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• Martin Rowson on Tony Blair's Brexit speech – cartoon

  17-02-2017 21:02 via theguardian.com
  
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• Theresa May stresses importance of early deal on EU citizens' rights

  17-02-2017 20:48 via theguardian.com
  
  Meeting at Downing Street with French prime minister covered range of bilateral issues, foreign policy and Brexit Theresa May stressed the importance of an early deal on EU citizens’ rights after Brexit during talks with the French prime minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, at Downing Street.
  The prime minister said she was “delighted” to welcome Cazeneuve and that they had “worked so well together” when she was home secretary and he was France’s interior minister. Co
  
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• Labour MPs challenge Tony Blair over Brexit comments

  17-02-2017 20:38 via theguardian.com
  
  Former prime minister’s speech, in which he says party allowed Brexit vote to happen, viewed as unhelpful before byelections Tony Blair faces a backlash from Labour MPs for fuelling the party’s divisions over Brexit, as he launched a campaign to keep the UK in the EU ahead of two crucial byelections in leave-voting seats.In a major intervention on Friday, the former prime minister accused a weakened Labour party of allowing Brexit to happen, and called for a cross-party political mov
  
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• Mark Zuckerberg rules his empire but politics is another country | Anne McElvoy

  17-02-2017 20:22 via theguardian.com
  
  The Facebook founder could yet lead other tech titans into the arena of public life. But theywould need a whole new set of skillsAbraham Lincoln took under 300 words to deliver the Gettysburg address. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg deployed just under 6,000 to explain his mission as a defender of globalisation, and mark an official shift in his career plan from tech titan to political aspirant. Related: Mark Zuckerberg's letter annotated: what he said and what he didn'tContinue reading...
  
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• Tony Blair riding to the rescue on Brexit? Right message, wrong man | Letters

  17-02-2017 19:31 via theguardian.com
  
  Congratulations to Rafael Behr (Who will we blame when the milk and honey don’t flow?, 15 February). This was the most lucid and cogent view of the case against Brexit that I have read anywhere. If only it were possible to deliver these points to the many leavers who voted mainly or only to kick blindly against the situation in which they find themselves. It is undoubtedly the least well off who will feel the greatest pain from Brexit when it fails to deliver.I am less enthusiastic about t
  
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• The Guardian view on Tony Blair’s Brexit speech: the message not the messenger | Editorial

  17-02-2017 19:07 via theguardian.com
  
  The controversial former prime minister made a compelling and well-judged case for Britain in Europe, delivered with his familiar political skillIf the test of a speech is how effectively it generates headlines and dominates conversations, Tony Blair’s call for a Brexit rethink today was a resounding success. Less so, perhaps, if the test was to persuade people who do not agree with him already.Mr Blair always commands attention as the only living British politician to have won three elect
  
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• MPs hit out at Kraft Heinz approach for Unilever

  17-02-2017 18:54 via ft.com
  Concerns raised that deal would undermine UK government’s fledgling industrial policy
  
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• Blair takes aim at Labour in Remain battle cry

  17-02-2017 18:53 via ft.com
  Former PM attacks May and makes passionate defence of Britain’s role in EU
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn's campaigns director quits to pursue other projects

  17-02-2017 18:15 via theguardian.com
  
  Simon Fletcher, former adviser to Ed Miliband and Ken Livingstone, was moved out of role as chief of staff last JuneJeremy Corbyn’s campaigns director, Simon Fletcher, once one of his closest advisers and a key architect of his leadership victory, has left to pursue other projects.Fletcher, a former aide to Ed Miliband, led Corbyn’s campaign to become Labour leader in 2015. He was a senior adviser to Ken Livingstone as London mayor and one of the most powerful people in City Hall. Co
  
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• More Pain For Jeremy Corbyn As Simon Fletcher Quits As Campaigns Chief

  17-02-2017 17:55
  
  One of Jeremy Corbyn’s top aides is quitting in a major blow for the Labour leader, The Huffington Post UK has confirmed.
  Simon Fletcher, who ran Corbyn’s 2015 leadership campaign, will resign as his Director of Campaigns and Planning.
  Corbyn told HuffPost UK: “I’d like to thank Simon for his work both for my office in parliament and as the campaign director of my 2015 leadership election campaign.
  “Simon has played a vital role in shaping the new politic
  
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• Tony Blair's Big Brexit Speech: How The Former PM Started His Comeback Tour

  17-02-2017 17:51
  
  For the rapt audience in Bloomberg’s hi-tech conference room, this was as close as it gets to political Nirvana.
  And like fans of an ageing rock star kicking off his comeback tour, the Labour, Lib Dem and City slicker Remainers couldn’t take their eyes off their hero.
  The feeling of getting the band back together again was evident from the gaggle of former Downing Street aides gathered for the big gig. 
  Formidable former No.10 ‘gatekeeper’ Anji Hunter was in the hous
  
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• The Queen is still partly German, 100 years on

  17-02-2017 17:39 via ft.com
  A century ago the royals bowed to public opinion and changed the family name
  
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• A new name signalled a royal change of heart

  17-02-2017 17:39 via ft.com
  A century ago the British monarchs bowed to popular opinion and became Windsors
  
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• Business rates revaluation boosts struggling north

  17-02-2017 17:33 via ft.com
  Link to rental rates means region benefits while companies in London and the south are hit
  
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• Business rates revaluation boosts northern economy

  17-02-2017 17:33 via ft.com
  Link to rentals benefits regions while companies in London and south are hit
  
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• 'Block him out'

  17-02-2017 17:15 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Abuse victim hails MP's attempt to let people add mothers' names to the marriage register.
  
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• Paul Nuttall: I've had a 'difficult week'

  17-02-2017 17:12 via bbc.co.uk
  
  UKIP leader tells activists that recent negative headlines won't "break" him or the party.
  
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• Paul Nuttall, Ukip Leader, Condemns 'Evil Smears' Over Hillsborough Disaster Claims

  17-02-2017 17:07
  
  Paul Nuttall has wiped away a tear during a speech in which he attacked “evil smears” about his claim he witnessed the Hillsborough disaster.
  Ukip pose the greatest threat to Labour in Stoke-on-Trent Central, where voters go to the polls on February 23, but Nuttall’s campaign has been overshadowed by allegations he lied that he was at the 1989 stadium disaster and had “close personal friends” among the 96 who died.
  Nuttall has since admitted he did not lose clo
  
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• Business revolt grows over 'outrageous and unfair' rate change

  17-02-2017 16:35 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Thirteen trade bodies unite to condemn the government's "outrageous" changes to English business rates.
  
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• Can the article 50 bill be substantially altered or delayed by the House of Lords?

  17-02-2017 16:11 via theguardian.com
  
  The bill to trigger Brexit moves to the Lords next week, and a flurry of new amendments will be introduced. This could lead to the bill ping-ponging between the two Houses, and a high-stakes battle of willsLast week, MPs voted the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) bill through the House of Commons. None of the amendments proposed by opposition MPs from various parties was passed. Parliament is now in recess for a week, but the House of Lords will give the bill a second reading on 20 Fe
  
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• Farage puts pressure on Ukip leader Paul Nuttall

  17-02-2017 16:09 via ft.com
  Predecessor says winning Stoke by-election is ‘fundamental’
  
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• Share your views on the Stoke and Copeland byelections

  17-02-2017 16:02 via theguardian.com
  
  We’re interested in the views of local constituents in Stoke and Copeland ahead of byelections next Thursday
  Two byelections triggered by the resignation of Labour MPs take place next Thursday.Copeland, in Cumbria, and Stoke-on-Trent Central are both constituencies recording a high Leave vote in last year’s EU referendum, but local issues have dominated the respective campaigns. Continue reading...
  
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• Welcome to the Chevening hotel, open government at its best

  17-02-2017 15:20 via theguardian.com
  
  If Trump can turn Mar-a-Lago into a winter White House, surely we can open the foreign secretary’s retreat to paying guestsI’ve never been as good at maths as I would have liked. As some may have gathered from a recent digested read, I even found the Ladybird Book of Quantum Mechanics to be mostly unintelligible. Sentences such as “quantum superpositions exist only at the atomic scale and leak away in a process called decoherence that occurs when a tiny isolated quantum system
  
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• Paul Nuttall gets emotional at Ukip conference – video

  17-02-2017 15:13 via theguardian.com
  
  Ukip leader Paul Nuttall gets emotional after asking if he still had the party’s backing at the Ukip spring conference in Bolton on Friday. Nuttall takes off his glasses and looks to be wiping away tears as he receives a loud applause. Nuttall was forced to admit earlier this week that claims on his website that he had lost “close friends” at the 1989 football disaster were not truePaul Nuttall tells Ukip Hillsborough claims are ‘cruel smear campaign’
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• When the remain camp needed a hero, it got Tony Blair | John Crace

  17-02-2017 15:12 via theguardian.com
  
  ‘Rise up,’ implored the former Labour PM. He was the wrong man at the wrong time, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him It might have been the slap, but the eyes seemed more sparkly and the face less cadaverous than the last time Tony Blair appeared in public, after the publication of the Chilcot report. This was more the Tony we used to know and love. Or hate. When the former Labour prime minister is in full-on messianic mode, he doesn’t particularly mind which. He is
  
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• Paul Nuttall tells Ukip Hillsborough claims are 'cruel smear campaign'

  17-02-2017 14:44 via theguardian.com
  
  Party leader says he has had a ‘tough week’ and refuses to answer further questions about the football disasterThe Ukip leader, Paul Nuttall, has denounced what he calls a “coordinated, cruel and almost evil smear campaign” which he claims has been run against him by people questioning his connection to the Hillsborough football tragedy.Nuttall, who became leader last year, refused to answer questions from reporters asking him to prove he had been at Hillsborough as he to
  
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• Blair needs to listen to the Brexit reality

  17-02-2017 14:38 via ft.com
  The former prime minister seems unaware of Labour’s current problems
  
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• Boris Johnson Hits Out At Tony Blair Over 'Contempt' For The British Public And War In Iraq

  17-02-2017 14:33
  
  Boris Johnson has accused Tony Blair of showing “contempt” for British voters by asking them to block Brexit, and has lambasted him over the Iraq War.
  The Foreign Secretary told Sky News on Friday: “I call on the British people to rise up and turn off the TV when Tony Blair next appears with his condescending campaign.”
  “Now he has the bare-faced effrontery to tell the British people that they were wrong last June. He is showing a contempt for the intelligence
  
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• British troops given guide to Estonian strip clubs

  17-02-2017 14:10 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A booklet included details of three clubs in Tallinn and other ideas for soldiers in the town.
  
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• Is Tony Blair the right person to lead the anti-Brexit fight? Our panel responds | The Panel

  17-02-2017 13:48 via theguardian.com
  
  The former prime minister has called for a political movement to oppose leaving the EU. Should he be getting involved? Our writers give their viewsRafael Behr: He speaks as if from the Eurostar carte blanche VIP lounge, urging people to join his struggleContinue reading...
  
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• Johnson: Turn off 'condescending Blair'

  17-02-2017 13:27 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Boris Johnson says Tony Blair's Brexit campaign is "condescending".
  
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• Nigel Farage Warns Paul Nuttall He Must Win Stoke By-Election To Secure Ukip's Future

  17-02-2017 13:25
  
  Nigel Farage has told Paul Nuttall it is crucial to the future of Ukip that he wins the Stoke by-election next week.
  “I don’t think anybody for one moment can underplay just how important, just how fundamental, that by election is for the futures of both the Labour Party and indeed of Ukip too - it matters and it matters hugely,” Farage told the Ukip Spring conference today.
  Nuttall’s campaign to be elected MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central risked being derailed this week aft
  
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• Stoke byelection candidate arrested over anti-immigrant comments

  17-02-2017 12:57 via theguardian.com
  
  Independent candidate Barbara Fielding, 78, held on suspicion of publishing material that may stir up racial hatredA candidate in the Stoke byelection has been arrested on suspicion of stirring up racial hatred. The byelection has been mired in scandal in recent days with Ukip’s candidate failing to turn up for a hustings and Labour’s candidate apologising for posting a series of abusive tweets aimed at women.Continue reading...
  
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• Tony Blair compares Brexit to a bad home swap – video

  17-02-2017 12:46 via theguardian.com
  
  Former Labour prime minister Tony Blair says the will of the people is not immutable when it comes to the Brexit vote. Speaking at an Open Britain event at Bloomberg in London on Friday, Blair says the people voted without knowledge of what the alternative was, using the analogy of a bad house swap. Photograph: Reuters/Toby MelvilleTony Blair: debilitated Labour is facilitating a disastrous Brexit
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• Tony Blair Says Theresa May Must Build 'Strong Relationship' With Donald Trump

  17-02-2017 12:24
  
  It's important Theresa May builds a strong relationship with Donald Trump, Tony Blair says https://t.co/bE0nCRFSVe pic.twitter.com/cBqGKtqvS0— Bloomberg TV (@BloombergTV) February 17, 2017
  Tony Blair has said it is right for Theresa May to build a “strong relationship” with Donald Trump, following demands the US President be denied an official state visit to the UK.
  Speaking on Bloomberg TV this morning, the former Labour prime minister said it was up to parliament to decide w
  
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• Week in Review: The Second Coming of Tony Blair

  17-02-2017 12:18
  
  You probably don't like him, but all the other grown-ups have left the building.
  
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• Parliament spared steep rise in business rates

  17-02-2017 12:13 via ft.com
  Bills in London surge but will fall in many parts of Midlands and north
  
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• Tony Blair: debilitated Labour is facilitating a disastrous Brexit

  17-02-2017 11:58 via theguardian.com
  
  Former PM turns on own party while calling for cross-party political movement to oppose Theresa May’s pursuit of Brexit at any costTony Blair has accused a “debilitated” Labour party of allowing a disastrous Brexit to happen, as he called for a cross-party political movement to oppose leaving the EU.The former Labour prime minister turned on his own party, saying there was inadequate opposition to Theresa May’s pursuit of Brexit at any cost. Continue reading...
  
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• Tony Blair on Brexit: UK is rushing over a cliff's edge

  17-02-2017 11:57 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, is setting out what he calls his mission to persuade people to change their minds about Brexit.
  
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• Tony Blair Blames Jeremy Corbyn And 'Savage' Eurosceptic Media For Brexit

  17-02-2017 11:40
  
  Tony Blair has said Jeremy Corbyn and the media must share some of the blame for Brexit, as he argued people should “rise up” against leaving the EU.
  In a speech in the City of London on Friday morning, the former Labour prime minister said there was currently an “absence of an Opposition which looks capable on the polls of beating the Government”.
  “The debilitation of the Labour Party is the facilitator of Brexit. I hate to say that, but it is true,” he
  
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• Britain starting to reassess US as an ally, Scottish Tory leader says

  17-02-2017 11:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Ruth Davidson’s remarks about whether US can be considered reliable ally under Trump contrast with official UK policyBritain is beginning to reassess how reliable an ally the US is, the Scottish Conservative party leader, Ruth Davidson, has said, in comments that contrast starkly with the official policy of the UK government.During an interview at the Women in the World summit in Washington, Davidson said: “At the moment, from the UK, we have always seen America as being a very stron
  
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• On Brexit, Tony Blair should get real – and butt out | Simon Jenkins

  17-02-2017 11:14 via theguardian.com
  
  The former PM says remainers should rise up against a referendum that duped them. In truth, it was more open to the public than some of his own decisionsIt doesn’t ring true: a blemished ex-prime minister mounts a campaign against the result of a referendum he never had the guts to call. He complains that the public never had the full facts on Brexit, that they voted “without knowledge of the true terms”. He declares a “mission” to make them repent the error of thei
  
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• Blair calls for fight against May’s Brexit plan

  17-02-2017 11:04 via ft.com
  Former PM urges voters to ‘change their mind’ on leaving EU
  
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• Donald Trump's Press Conference Defended By Sebastian Gorka In Crazy Newsnight Interview

  17-02-2017 10:27
  
  As you’ll no doubt be aware by now, yesterday President Trump held a press conference that stunned the entire world.
  After claiming his chaotic administration was actually a “fine-tuned machine” he then set about goading journalists, lying (again) about the extent of his election victory and denying he was racist, whilst saying some curiously-phrased things to a black reporter and telling a Jewish reporter to be quiet.
  As if that wasn’t enough head-spinning entertainment
  
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• Government urged to abandon changes to business rates appeals

  17-02-2017 10:12 via ft.com
  Treasury minister David Gauke hits back at ‘scaremongering’ ratings agents
  
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• Gauke defends changes to business rates

  17-02-2017 10:12 via ft.com
  Government hits back at ‘scaremongering’ ratings agents
  
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