Political news

• Tory Minister Criticised For Saying People With Anxiety Are Not 'Really Disabled'

  26-02-2017 22:25
  
  A Conservative minister and adviser to Theresa May has been condemned for arguing welfare payments should be going to “really disabled people” with physical problems rather those “taking pills at home, who suffer from anxiety”.
  George Freeman, who heads the No 10 policy unit, has been criticised by disability charities, Labour and the Liberal Democrats for suggesting mental disabilities are less deserving of support when defending “tweaks” to personal independ
  
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• NHS Facing £1bn Bill Under Liz Truss Plan To Increase Compensation Payouts For Personal Injury Court Cases

  26-02-2017 21:00
  
  The NHS is facing an extra £1.5 billion-a-year cost for medical negligence under controversial plans drafted by Justice Secretary Liz Truss to increase compensation payouts, HuffPost UK has learned.
  Millions of motorists, as well as the Ministry of Defence, are also set to see insurance bills rise under the proposal to radically change the ‘discount rate’ for compensation awards.
  In a little-noticed move, the London Stock Exchange has been notified that Truss is set to ma
  
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• Exclusive: Website For Clive Lewis Leadership Bid Registered Two Days After Joining Shadow Cabinet

  26-02-2017 20:50
  
  Clive Lewis is tonight refusing to deny he registered website addresses in preparation for a leadership bid just days after joining Jeremy Corbyn’s Shadow Cabinet.
  The Huff Post UK can reveal that four domain names all supporting Lewis for Labour leader were registered on June 29th last year: cliveforleader.co.uk; cliveforleader.org.uk; cliveforlabour.co.uk and cliveforlabour.org.uk
  A search on www.nominet.uk shows they were registered to “Clive Lewis”.
  The Norwich South MP was
  
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• Article 50: Labour peers confident government will make concessions

  26-02-2017 20:44
  
  Labour peer says there is 50% chance they will vote on Wednesday on amendment to secure rights of EU citizens living in UKLabour peers say they are confident that the government will ultimately make concessions as the article 50 bill on leaving the EU passes through the House of Lords this week.Opposition whips will watch keenly how the government responds to the first debate at the committee stage of the bill on Monday, which will focus on the Good Friday agreement, to gauge whether the governm
  
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• 5 Times Jeremy Corbyn Lost It With The Media

  26-02-2017 19:15
  
  Jeremy Corbyn has had a mixed relationship with the media, and today snapped at Sky News’s Lewis Goodall when asked repeatedly whether he would lead the Labour Party come the general election in three years.
  Here’s that exchange and four other flashpoints with journalists.
  type=type=RelatedArticlesblockTitle=Related... + articlesList=58b00c43e4b060480e06c49d,58afe093e4b060480e069c10,57d2b5efe4b0d45ff871d7d9-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and us
  
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• BoE official warns against ‘light-touch’ regulation

  26-02-2017 17:44 via ft.com
  Sam Woods says moves to retreat on bank rules are ‘misguided’
  
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• Disability benefits: PIPs should be for 'really disabled'

  26-02-2017 17:27 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A key Theresa May aide is criticised over his comments defending changes to the PIPs system.
  
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• Don't give up, Jeremy Corbyn urges Labour

  26-02-2017 17:11 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Leader says the party must "remain united" following its by-election loss to the Conservatives.
  
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• Corbyn deals blow to Dugdale’s federalism policy

  26-02-2017 16:33 via ft.com
  Labour leader did not mention the idea during Scottish party conference
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn Vows Not To 'Run Away' As He Accidentally Congratulates The SNP In Conference Speech

  26-02-2017 16:16
  
  Jeremy Corbyn today said it was not the time to “retreat, run away or give up” despite the “disappointing” by-election defeat in Copeland.
  Speaking at the Scottish Labour conference in Perth this afternoon, Corbyn said he took his “share of responsibility” for the result, which saw the Tories win the seat for the first time since its creation in 1983.
  The Labour leader also defended his decision to support the Government in voting to trigger the formal Brexit
  
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• Brexit: Labour 'Confident' Of Defeating Government Over EU Citizens And Brexit Vote In House Of Lords

  26-02-2017 16:06
  
  Theresa May is heading for a fresh showdown with the House of Lords over Brexit after Labour said it was “confident” of defeating the Government on EU citizens’ rights and on giving Parliament a say over the final deal with Brussels.
  Shadow Leader of the Lords Baroness Smith signalled that a coalition of Labour, Liberal Democrat, rebel Tory and crossbench peers now had the numbers to win crunch votes on the two issues in coming weeks.
  Ahead of another week of debate of the EU (
  
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• Brexit: Heseltine vows to rebel in Lords bill debate

  26-02-2017 15:06 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Senior Tory Lord Heseltine says he will rebel against ministers when peers debate the Brexit bill.
  
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• Sunday Show Round-Up: Labour Divisions, Ukip Battles And More From The Key Interviews

  26-02-2017 14:31
  
  The Andrew Marr Show
  The paper review was slightly weird today, as anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller picked an interview with herself as the first story to talk about. Odd.
  In terms of the main business, Ukip deputy leader Peter Whittle was sent out to bat for Paul Nuttall, who was away licking his wounds after losing the Stoke Central by-election.
  Whittle ruled out any suggestion that Nuttall would step down as leader after the defeat, and insisted Ukip was more united than ever."UKIP are more
  
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• 'Where Are Jeremy Corbyn's Cheerleaders?' Labour Deputy Leader Tom Watson Calls Out Disappearing Corbynites

  26-02-2017 12:31
  
  .@tom_watson asks where is Len McCluskey (@UniteforLen) defending @jeremycorbyn this morning? #Peston pic.twitter.com/g0PQiRMCUP— Peston on Sunday (@pestononsunday) February 26, 2017
   Labour’s Deputy Leader Tom Watson today called out high-profile “cheerleaders” of Jeremy Corbyn for not doing enough to defend the man they got elected.
  Speaking after Labour’s catastrophic by-election result in Copeland, which saw the party lose the seat to the Conservatives for
  
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• Tory peer Michael Heseltine to rebel on Brexit bill

  26-02-2017 10:29
  
  Former minister says he will back efforts to ensure parliament has meaningful say on government’s negotiated dealTory peer Michael Heseltine has vowed to rebel against Theresa May over Brexit and back opposition efforts in the House of Lords to ensure a meaningful vote on the final outcome of exit negotiations.The former cabinet minister insisted he was not engaging in a confrontation with the government. He said Labour, Liberal Democrat and rebellious Tory colleagues ready to back a chang
  
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• Robert Mercer: the big data billionaire waging war on mainstream media

  26-02-2017 10:00
  
  With links to Donald Trump, Steve Bannon and Nigel Farage, the rightwing US computer scientist is at the heart of a multimillion-dollar propaganda networkJust over a week ago, Donald Trump gathered members of the world’s press before him and told them they were liars. “The press, honestly, is out of control,” he said. “The public doesn’t believe you any more.” CNN was described as “very fake news… story after story is bad”. The BBC was &ldqu
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn Insists He Will 'Finish The Job' As Labour Leader

  26-02-2017 09:37
  
  Jeremy Corbyn has insisted he will “finish the job” as Labour leader and “turn back the Tory tide” despite the party’s humiliating Copeland by-election defeat.
  Corbyn acknowledged he has not “done enough” to rebuild voters’ trust in Labour but made clear he will continue despite warnings that the party is heading for a “catastrophic” general election defeat.
  But he also took a fresh blow as an opinion poll showed more than a third of L
  
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• When the net means never having to say sorry to Tony Blair

  26-02-2017 08:00
  
  The Mail’s apology-cum-attack on the former PM over Guantánamo raises interesting questions of who is in charge of what in a print-digital media groupWhen a headline (about Tony Blair and the ex-Guantánamo suicide bomber who got £1m compensation) issues day one from Mail Towers and is retracted on day two, in a Mail editorial no less, you look for a little fancy exculpatory footwork. Ah! Apparently David Blunkett made a soothing statement to the Commons in 2004, and &ld
  
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• Scottish news is a good start, but where does the BBC stop?

  26-02-2017 08:00
  
  The creation of a channel for Scotland with an hour of local news at 9pm is a welcome development, but raises a lot of questions about corporation prioritiesIt’s a grisly problem for the BBC. How, now devolution has turned to SNP hegemony (with another independence referendum in the wind) do you give Scotland what it wants? Does Scotland even know what it wants?Independence, of course, would mean an end to the British Broadcasting Corporation, duly dismembered after the vote. But the more
  
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• Brexit is a Whitehall farce that threatens the heart of Europe

  26-02-2017 08:00
  
  It is not just the British economy at stake: the absurdities and evasions of the Leave campaign are jeopardising hard-won stability across the continentThere are many problems afflicting the British economy, and many afflicting the European Union. The trouble with Brexit is that it is almost guaranteed to aggravate both.Although I continue to emphasise the economic damage likely to result from cutting ourselves off from half of our export market, in common with many Remainers I am also exercised
  
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• May reshapes administration on Home Office lines

  26-02-2017 06:03 via ft.com
  Prime minister has imported key personnel and style from previous role
  
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• May reshapes administration in Home Office mould

  26-02-2017 06:03 via ft.com
  Prime minister has imported key personnel, and style, from her previous role
  
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• Doctors don’t have to sugar the obesity pill | Barbara Ellen

  26-02-2017 01:05
  
  GPs have a duty to prevent unnecessary treatments for their patients, not to avoid giving offenceA lot gets said about how it feels to be overweight, but what is the psychology of having to tell someone that they’re fat if you’re a health professional? Does it feel rude, abrasive, maybe even counter-productive to do so? But perhaps neglectful and harmful not to? A survey of 1,141 GPs by Pulse magazine found that almost one third (32%) of them said that patients became offended and re
  
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• Corbyn, Nuttall and May announce their plans for the future

  26-02-2017 01:05
  
  Chris Riddell on the Stoke and Copeland byelections Continue reading...
  
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• Revealed: how US billionaire helped to back Brexit

  26-02-2017 01:04
  
  Robert Mercer, who bankrolled Donald Trump, played key role with ‘sinister’ advice on using Facebook dataThe US billionaire who helped bankroll Donald Trump’s campaign for the presidency played a key role in the campaign for Britain to leave the EU, the Observer has learned.It has emerged that Robert Mercer, a hedge-fund billionaire, who helped to finance the Trump campaign and who was revealed this weekend as one of the owners of the rightwing Breitbart News Network, is a long
  
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• Corbyn told: take blame for Copeland byelection flop or we face disaster

  26-02-2017 00:06
  
  Deputy leader Tom Watson fears party wipeout as challenge to union ally McCluskey adds to pressureSenior Labour figures have demanded that Jeremy Corbyn orders a full postmortem on the party’s byelection humiliation in Copeland – amid fears that it could spark a meltdown in England comparable to Labour’s 2015 annihilation in Scotland. Related: The Observer view on Labour and Jeremy Corbyn | Observer editorialContinue reading...
  
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