Political news

• NHS data loss: 500 patients may have suffered serious harm

  27-02-2017 22:45
  
  NHS England is investigating 537 ‘live cases’ resulting from failure to deliver 500,000 documents over five-year periodFive hundred patients may have suffered serious harm as a result of the NHS mislaying 500,000 test results and letters over a five-year period, ministers and officials have admitted in parliament.The review is also understood to be looking at whether correspondence between GPs and hospitals that was mislaid between 2011 and 2016 caused or contributed to the death of
  
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• Clive Lewis denies registering websites for Labour leadership bid

  27-02-2017 22:00
  
  Former ally of Jeremy Corbyn says story came from ‘people out there’ nervous about possible challenge to party’s leaderClive Lewis, who resigned from the shadow cabinet after voting against the Brexit bill, has denied secretly registering internet addresses linked to a potential leadership bid and warned that unnamed Labour figures were taking an “unhealthy interest” in him.Lewis, the MP for Norwich South, flatly denied that he, or anyone working for him, was respon
  
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• Labour MPs Slam Shami Chakrabarti For Blaming Copeland Defeat On New Labour 'Neglect'

  27-02-2017 21:12
  
  Labour MPs have slammed claims by Shami Chakrabarti that the Copeland by-election defeat was due to party “neglect” of its heartlands.
  Backbenchers used a meeting of the weekly Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) in the Commons on Monday night to criticise the Shadow Attorney General for blaming New Labour for the loss to the Tories.
  MPs also ridiculed Baroness Chakrabarti’s refusal on the Andrew Marr Show to apportion any blame for the defeat to Jeremy Corbyn’s leader
  
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• Better election results ahead for the Green party? | Letters

  27-02-2017 21:05
  
  Both John Curtice (Remain voters must now be Corbyn’s top priority, 25 February) and Jonathan Freedland (Copeland shows that Corbyn must go. But only Labour’s left can remove him, 25 February) suggest that Labour’s only hope is to champion the 48% – or, to put it more accurately, the 63% who did not vote to leave the EU. But Jeremy Corbyn has already blown that one with his tragically misguided three-line whip to crawl after the Tories in voting for article 50, even thoug
  
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• John Major attacks government over approach to Brexit

  27-02-2017 21:04
  
  Former PM calls for ‘a little more charm, and a lot less cheap rhetoric’ and says public have been given unrealistic expectationsTheresa May’s government must avoid souring the article 50 negotiations with “cheap rhetoric” and give voters an honest warning about the risks of Brexit, the former prime minister Sir John Major has said.With the prime minister planning to begin the formal process of leaving the European Union within weeks, her predecessor used his first
  
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• Beware of fickle Brexiter allies, Major warns May

  27-02-2017 20:50
  Former prime minister says Britain made ‘historic mistake’ with vote to leave
  
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• Chairman of housing association behind 'substandard' development resigns

  27-02-2017 20:08
  
  Sir Robin Young’s decision to stand down from Clarion Housing Group in April comes after reports into residents’ ‘living hell’ at Orchard Village estateThe chairman of the housing association at the heart of a scandal focused on a newly-built East London residential development has announced that he is standing down.Sir Robin Young, a former high-ranking civil servant during Tony Blair’s time as prime minister, was appointed chair of the newly-created Clarion Housin
  
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• Gerald Kaufman 'amiable' and 'clever' says Hattersley

  27-02-2017 19:23 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Lord Hattersley reflects on the life of his friend Gerald Kaufman who has died aged 86.
  
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• BMW considers making electric Mini outside UK due to Brexit worries

  27-02-2017 19:21
  
  Suggestion that carmaker could produce vehicle in Germany instead of Oxford comes amid fears over Vauxhall’s futureThe new electric Mini could be made in Germany rather than the UK because of the uncertainty caused by Brexit.Most Minis are manufactured at its plant in Oxford, one of the biggest factories in the country, but BMW, the owner of the brand, is considering making the electric version of the car in Germany. Continue reading...
  
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• May’s speech to head off Scottish independence poll

  27-02-2017 19:20
  PM’s address before Tories to emphasise importance of upcoming local elections
  
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• Sir John Major Slams Theresa May's 'Cheap Rhetoric' In Bruising Brexit Warning

  27-02-2017 19:09
  
  Sir John Major has delivered a withering assessment of Brexit, warning the UK will become reliant on an unpredictable Donald Trump, risks making the poorest “worse off” and could unleash Europe-wide populism marked by “bigotry, prejudice and intolerance”.
  In a speech, the former Conservative Prime Minister, making a rare intervention in British politics, calls the vote a “historic mistake”, warns Theresa May of “cheap rhetoric”, and criticises Bre
  
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• Sir John Major attacks 'unreal' Brexit vision

  27-02-2017 19:01 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The former Tory prime minister also says the costs of leaving the EU will be "unpalatable".
  
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• Brexit donor Arron Banks under financial spotlight

  27-02-2017 18:59
  Allegations of ‘serious and widespread’ failings while chief executive of Brightside Group
  
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• UK national security adviser post changes hands

  27-02-2017 18:54
  Sir Mark Lyall Grant steps down in latest Whitehall merry-go-round
  
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• Corbyn Allies Lobbying For Momentum's Sam Wheeler To Succeed Sir Gerald Kaufman

  27-02-2017 18:50
  
  Allies of Jeremy Corbyn have been lobbying for a left-wing “rising star” to be selected in a safe Labour seat – just hours after the death of its MP Sir Gerald Kaufman, HuffPost UK has been told.
  Corbyn led tributes to Sir Gerald from across the political spectrum following his passing on Sunday evening after a long illness. He was 86.
  Sir Gerald, a former Shadow Foreign Secretary under Neil Kinnock, was ‘Father of the House of Commons’, the title given to the olde
  
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• Hain: High cost of Brexit for Northern Ireland peace

  27-02-2017 18:32 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Former Northern Ireland Secretary Lord Hain says the open border should be maintained after Brexit.
  
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• Donald Trump's Attacks On Media And Muslim Ban Condemned By George W. Bush Who Refused To Criticise Obama

  27-02-2017 18:26
  
  George W. Bush has attacked Donald Trump over his attacks on the press and stance on immigration, having refused to criticise Barack Obama during his eight-year presidency,
  Trump’s Republican predecessor as president said the media were “indispensable to democracy” - after the president repeatedly attacked outlets he disliked as “fake news” and “enemies of the people”.
  Bush also said he wanted “an immigration policy that’s welcoming and uphol
  
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• Education Minister Accidentally Asks Lords To Visit His 'Web-Shite'

  27-02-2017 17:36
  
  whoops pic.twitter.com/sRiwU7eWqX— Esther Webber (@estwebber) February 27, 2017
  Conservative schools minister Lord Nash accidentally told peers to visit the Department for Education’s “webshite” today - prompting titters up an down the red benches.
  Lord Nash was sternly rejecting claims by Labour’s shadow education spokesman, Lord Watson, that the schools system was underfunded.
  “Schools that run themselves efficiently have ample resources to have a broa
  
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• The Labour party saunters into history’s mausoleum

  27-02-2017 17:34
  Its decline is a loss for the world as well as a tragedy for UK politics
  
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• 'Wet Ukip' To Blame For Stoke Defeat, Say Faragists

  27-02-2017 17:32
  
  “Thanks to you, Stoke was our best fought by-election ever” – not the words you would expect to read from the Ukip chairman after Thursday’s defeat.
  But that was the subject line of an email sent out by Paul Oakden to party members on Saturday afternoon.
  “Many of us had hoped that we’d be starting our day today with a second UKIP MP,” read the email, before continuing: “The work that so many of you put into helping our campaign in Stoke deserved fa
  
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• Arron Banks: UKIP needs rebrand and new role for Farage

  27-02-2017 17:28 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Arron Banks offers to become chairman and calls for a new role for ex-leader Nigel Farage.
  
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• NHS misplaced half a million patient documents

  27-02-2017 17:07 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The material, mistakenly stored in a warehouse over five years, included cancer test results.
  
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• Sir Gerald Kaufman obituary

  27-02-2017 17:01
  
  Veteran Labour MP and father of the House of Commons who famously labelled his party’s 1983 manifesto ‘the longest suicide note in history’In Sir Gerald Kaufman, who has died aged 86, the Labour party had not only one of its longest-serving MPs, but also one of its loyalest, if most waspish, members. He supported a succession of leaders from Harold Wilson onwards through all vicissitudes, regularly coming high in MPs’ polls for the shadow cabinet through his earlier years
  
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• IICSA child sex abuse inquiry public hearings under way

  27-02-2017 16:56 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A former child migrant breaks down while talking about British children abused overseas.
  
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• Voter changes

  27-02-2017 16:51 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Why are so many voters switching parties from one election to the next?
  
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• Pound falls on fears of Scottish independence poll

  27-02-2017 15:50
  UK government refuses to deny it is making contingency plans
  
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• New Scottish independence poll expected next year

  27-02-2017 15:50
  UK government refuses to deny it is making contingency plans
  
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• NHS faces £1bn annual bill after 'reckless' change to injury payouts

  27-02-2017 15:46
  
  Angry insurers criticise alteration to personal injury formula that will also hike car premiums by £75 for millions of peopleA “reckless” government-ordered change to the way awards are calculated for car crash injuries or botched medical operations will add up to £75 car insurance premiums, and land the NHS with an additional annual £1bn bill, the insurance industry has warned.The lord chancellor, Liz Truss, has announced a change to the Ogden discount rate, which
  
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• Michael Gove Fronts Bizarre Brexit Publicity Stunt For The Sun On Sunday

  27-02-2017 15:40
  
  Undeterred by the dangers of using boats for publicity stunts, illustrated last year by Bob Geldof in the lead-up to the EU Referendum, a group of pro-Brexit MPS have “launched” a boat carrying a copy of Article 50 that was delivered to Brussels.
  Michael Gove smashed a bottle across the vessel to christen it, as part of The Sun On Sunday’s stunt that saw the boat sail from Westminster down the Thames in its mission to deliver a giant placard of the article to the European
  
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• McDonnell warns of ‘soft coup’ against Corbyn

  27-02-2017 15:25
  Labour leader under pressure after losing Copeland by-election
  
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• McDonnell claims ‘soft coup’ against Corbyn

  27-02-2017 15:25
  Labour leader under pressure after losing Copeland by-election
  
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• Article 50 day won't be cut-off date for EU migrants, No 10 suggests

  27-02-2017 15:19
  
  Downing Street indicates deadline for EU nationals to register right to live in Britain will be part of Brexit negotiationsNo “cut-off date” for EU nationals to register their right to live in Britain is expected to be announced until negotiations on reciprocal rights of Britons living in other EU countries are concluded, government sources have indicated.Downing Street rejected taking unilateral action before a deal on residency rights is secured – meaning it is highly unlikel
  
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• The schools row highlights the pitfalls of austerity

  27-02-2017 15:18
  A focus on Brexit narrows the UK government’s bandwidth, writes Miranda Green
  
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• Daily Politics soapbox: Sugar tax

  27-02-2017 15:15 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Dia Chakravarti of the Taxpayers' Alliance says a sugar tax is regressive.
  
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• Business rate rises do not happen often enough

  27-02-2017 15:05
  What we really need is far-reaching reform and the introduction of a land value tax
  
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• Labour MP Gerald Kaufman dies at 86

  27-02-2017 14:49 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Sir Gerald had been an MP since 1970 and became the oldest serving member of the Commons in 2015.
  
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• Disability benefits: Number 10 defends changes to PIPs

  27-02-2017 14:41 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Downing Street says "nobody is losing out" in planned changes to disability benefits.
  
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• BBC's Meet The Lords Documentary Accused Of 'Sexing Up' Taxi Claim

  27-02-2017 14:37
  
  The BBC has been accused of trying to “sex up” its documentary about the House of Lords by generating controversy over the claim a peer left a taxi running outside parliament.
  Lord Fowler, the Speaker of the House of Lords, today accused the broadcaster of misrepresenting the work peers do in its ‘Meet the Lords’ programme which airs tonight on BBC 2 at 9pm.
  “It is utterly predictable that much of the BBC film Meet the Lords should dwell on the red robes, an extrav
  
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• Heseltine to the Brexit barricades

  27-02-2017 14:27
  Defiance is an important signal that the Lords will give the prime minister trouble
  
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• May adviser regrets saying benefits should only go to 'really disabled' people

  27-02-2017 14:14
  
  Tory policy chief George Freeman says he ‘hugely regrets’ remarks suggesting funds should not go to people with anxietyGeorge Freeman, the chair of the prime minister’s policy board, has expressed regret after defending government changes to benefits rules by saying funding should go to the “really disabled”.The Department for Work and Pensions announced last week that it was tightening benefits rules in response to two tribunal rulings, including one that found peo
  
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• Peers 'popping into parliament' to collect £300 allowance

  27-02-2017 13:28
  
  New TV programme reveals endemic laziness and greed in Britain's second chamber
  
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• Tory MP 'Regrets' Causing Offence With 'Really Disabled People' Comment

  27-02-2017 13:03
  
  A senior Conservative has said he regrets causing offensive after he said disability payments should go to “really disabled people” rather than those who are “taking pills at home, who suffer from anxiety”.
  George Freeman, the head of Theresa May’s policy unit, had made the comments while defending government plans to restrict who received personal independence payments (PIP).
  The Tory MP said this morning that having experienced “traumatic anxiety&
  
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• UK faces EU push on transparency of trusts

  27-02-2017 13:01
  European Parliament set to vote for fully public registers disclosing beneficial ownership
  
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• John McDonnell says 'soft coup' launched against Corbyn

  27-02-2017 12:38 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell says plotters are using "dark arts" to destabilise Labour's leader.
  
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• In praise of echo chambers

  27-02-2017 12:27
  
  Surrounding myself by like minded people is what keeps me sane in these crazy times
  
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• EU nationals: have you applied for permanent residency? Share stories

  27-02-2017 12:12
  
  New data analysis shows 28% of EU citizens have had their applications rejected. Were you one of them? What do you plan on doing now? Tell us here
  Since the referendum, around 28% of EU citizens have had their applications for permanent residency in the UK rejected, new analysis of government data shows.The data, which includes figures from the last two quarters of 2016, showed more than 800 EU citizens had their permanent residency requests refused with a further 5,500 declared invalid. EU nati
  
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• Kaufman's 'humour and one-liners were brilliant'

  27-02-2017 12:11 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Tony Lloyd remembers his friend and colleague Sir Gerald Kaufman
  
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• Fox News Blunders From Nigel Farage As 'Opposition Leader' To Birmingham’s 'No-Go Zones'

  27-02-2017 11:49
  
  Fox News has hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons once again after a guest claiming to be a “Swedish defence and national security advisor” turned out to be no such thing.Nils Bildt appeared on commentator Bill O’Reilly’s slot on the channel, later prompting Swedish officials to announce they have no idea who the man is.
  The blunder is the latest in a long line from the network. Some, like Nigel Farage’s unexpected promotion were relatively harmless but
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn Media Team Twitter Account Criticised After Public Rebuke Of Former Labour MP

  27-02-2017 11:13
  
  Labour MPs have shared their exasperation after Jeremy Corbyn’s media team publicly rebuked claims made by a former colleague.
  The party leader’s communications staff attacked ex Copeland MP Jamie Reed via a Twitter account named ‘Labour Leader Media’.
  The account responded to Reed’s claim that Corbyn himself suggested Labour could increase its majority in Copeland - which ultimately fell to the Conservatives by 2,147 votes last week.
  “Saddest thing is t
  
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• Insurers hit as personal claims ceiling is raised

  27-02-2017 11:04
  Shares of insurance groups suffer after rule changes go deeper than industry expected
  
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