Political news

• Theresa May faces likely defeat in Lords over rights of EU citizens

  28-02-2017 23:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Peers support Labour amendment to Brexit bill to protect European residents in UK after article 50 is triggeredThe Conservative government is likely to be defeated in the House of Lords over the issue of securing the rights of EU citizens living in the UK, despite a last minute plea from the home secretary, Amber Rudd.Peers are lining up to support a Labour party amendment – which now has the formal backing of a Conservative, a Liberal Democrat and a crossbencher – calling on ministe
  
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• Sturgeon accuses UK government of threatening devolution

  28-02-2017 22:48
  Without Brexit shift, new independence vote ‘only way our voice can be heard’
  
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• Martin Rowson on the global political landscape – cartoon

  28-02-2017 21:34 via theguardian.com
  
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• Sousse inquest expected to reinforce UK travel advice on Tunisia

  28-02-2017 20:55 via theguardian.com
  
  Despite tightened security at resorts and fears of economic damage helping Isis, FCO will probably not reverse tourism warnings Severe criticisms of Tunisian security forces at the Sousse attack inquest make it unlikely that the Foreign Office will lift its advice against travel to the country.Tunisia’s interior minister, Hédi Majdoub, visited London in December for talks with the FCO on easing advice against Britons visiting the country, a move that has dealt a blow to the economy.
  
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• Michael Crick Chases Theresa May’s Chief Adviser Down Whitehall Over South Thanet Expenses

  28-02-2017 20:39
  
  PM's top adviser Nick Timothy challenged by @MichaelLCrick over his role in #electionexpenses investigation – full report #c4news pic.twitter.com/h037Ns1WRS— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) February 28, 2017
  Prime Minister Theresa May’s top adviser has been ‘doorstepped’ by Channel 4 News’s Michael Crick as the controversy over the Conservatives’ general election expenses mounts.
  The programme has led a long-running investigation into the Tory campaign t
  
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• Tory £1bn inheritance tax cut 'will worsen north-south divide'

  28-02-2017 20:20 via theguardian.com
  
  Research shows plans to increase threshold at which tax is paid will overwhelmingly benefit rich families in south-east England
  A £1bn Conservative inheritance tax cut will exacerbate the north-south divide, an MP has warned, as figures lay bare the winners and losers of a flagship government policy.People inheriting homes in constituencies in London and south-east England will gain the lion’s share of the benefits from the tax cut, according to research commissioned by the Labour MP
  
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• The Guardian view on Jeremy Hunt: he must practise what he preaches | Editorial

  28-02-2017 20:16 via theguardian.com
  
  Monumental failures with patient correspondence put lives at risk. The Department for Health needs to ask what needs to change to ensure it doesn’t happen again“Just how easy is it to speak about things that have gone wrong?”, asked health secretary Jeremy Hunt in a speech he made last year about improving transparency and ending the blame culture in the NHS. Mr Hunt is himself failing badly on this critical benchmark for greater openness. The Guardian this week has revealed th
  
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• The Guardian view on Sir Philip Green and BHS: A huge wrong is partly righted | Editorial

  28-02-2017 20:15 via theguardian.com
  
  After months of threats and shaming, a rough kind of justice has been done on behalf of BHS pensionersWould that Samuel Johnson had been alive this afternoon. The doctor who observed that “the gallows doth wonderfully concentrate the mind” would have had due occasion to update his aphorism. It has been over half a century since Britain sent a man to the gallows, but today’s action by Sir Philip Green shows that a tycoon’s mind can still be concentrated – only now it
  
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• Sir Philip pays up for BHS but reaction is muted

  28-02-2017 19:59
  
  MPs say contribution is ‘better late than never’ but ‘is peanuts’ for billionaire tycoon
  
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• Green’s BHS pension hole plug greeted with faint praise

  28-02-2017 19:59
  Tycoon’s £363m injection into insolvent fund seen as important step towards ‘justice’
  
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• Green’s BHS pension hole plug given tepid welcome

  28-02-2017 19:59
  Tycoon’s £363m injection seen as important step towards ‘justice’
  
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• Davis warns ministers to prepare for EU exit with no trade deal in place

  28-02-2017 19:34 via theguardian.com
  
  Brexit secretary tells cabinet meeting departments should draw up contingency plans in case of the ‘unlikely scenario’David Davis has warned his fellow cabinet ministers that they must be prepared for the possibility of Britain leaving the European Union without an agreed trade deal in place, according to Downing Street.The Brexit secretary told ministers at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday that they had to prepare for unexpected outcomes, said the prime minister’s spokesman. Conti
  
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• 'Can do' folk get to see foreign secretary have narcissistic breakdown | John Crace

  28-02-2017 19:33 via theguardian.com
  
  ‘Why can’t you be honest about Brexit?’ Boris was asked. He just looked confused It’s a mixed blessing having Greg Clark as your warm-up man. On the upside there’s the certainty that nothing you could possibly say would be duller and more meaningless than anything the business secretary had come up with; the payback is that you start with a flatlining audience.Boris Johnson looked out towards the few hundred near-comatose faces gathered in the Queen Elizabeth II con
  
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• Don’t blame Corbyn for the sins of Blair, Brown and New Labour | Ken Loach

  28-02-2017 19:27 via theguardian.com
  
  In the parts of Britain that have been left to rot, people support Jeremy Corbyn’s policies. So why aren’t MPs promoting them?The spate of calls for Jeremy Corbyn to quit since last week’s byelections in Stoke and Copeland has been as predictable as it was premeditated. It says everything about the political agenda of the media, and nothing about people’s real needs and experiences.I went to Stoke and Whitehaven, in Cumbria, a few days before polling. Momentum arrang
  
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• Nissan asks for £100m fund to safeguard UK plant

  28-02-2017 19:23
  Japanese carmaker says government must attract suppliers to the UK
  
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• Nissan asks for £100m fund to safeguard UK car industry

  28-02-2017 19:23
  Japan group says government must attract suppliers to assure Sunderland plant’s future
  
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• Nissan asks for £100m fund to guard UK car industry

  28-02-2017 19:23
  Japan group says government must attract suppliers to assure Sunderland plant’s future
  
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• May warned over leaving EU without trade deal

  28-02-2017 18:34
  British Chambers of Commerce and George Osborne alarmed by risk of hard Brexit
  
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• John McDonnell Urged Workers To Break Strike Laws As He Backed 'Insurrection' Against The Tories

  28-02-2017 18:22
  
  Jeremy Corbyn’s key ally John McDonnell urged workers to defy strike laws, backed occupation of City buildings and supported “insurrection” that “gets in the face” of business chiefs.
  At a series of meetings between 2011 and 2014 McDonnell - who is now Labour’s Shadow Chancellor - advocated radical street action to take advantage of the “classical Marxist crisis of capitalism” in Britain and the US.
  Video footage of the meetings, which has been pas
  
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• David Davis tells cabinet to prepare for 'unlikely' possibility of UK not getting Brexit deal – as it happened

  28-02-2017 18:22 via theguardian.com
  
  Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including Boris Johnson and John McDonnell’s speeches at the BCC conference‘Come off it, sunshine’ - Boris Johnson’s response to Major’s ‘moaning’ Brexit speech
  David Davis tells cabinet to prepare for chance of UK not getting Brexit dealJohnson’s speech - AnalysisAfternoon summary 5.22pm GMTIn response to my recent Treasury question, the chancellor of the exchequer accused
  
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• Corbyn partly to blame for Copeland byelection defeat, says Keir Starmer

  28-02-2017 18:06 via theguardian.com
  
  Shadow Brexit secretary says Labour has ‘no prospect’ of winning next general election unless it changes directionJeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour party was partly to blame for the loss of the Copeland byelection and the party has “no prospect” of winning the 2020 general election unless it changes its approach, the shadow Brexit secretaryhas said.Keir Starmer told journalists he was not convinced by the reasons given by some in the shadow cabinet for losing
  
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• What the BHS settlement means for former employees

  28-02-2017 17:49
  More than 19,000 people given chance to receive better benefits than under lifeboat fund
  
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• Nigel Farage Endorsed By David Duke, Former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard

  28-02-2017 17:10
  
  Nigel Farage has been endorsed by none other than David Duke, former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.
  The notorious white supremacist said in a tweet he is “looking forward” to him becoming Prime Minister, conveniently ignoring the fact he is ineligible having failed to become an MP seven times. Farage will make a fine UK Prime Minister. Looking forward to that. #MAGA https://t.co/RXIEmDc6sp— David Duke (@DrDavidDuke) February 27, 2017
  Duke, 66, joined the KKK in 1967 and
  
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• Woman who linked racism with Scottish nationalism quits Twitter over safety fears

  28-02-2017 17:04 via theguardian.com
  
  Claire Heuchan, a black Scottish PhD student who wrote article supporting Sadiq Khan, believes critics were trying to discover where she livedA black feminist researcher who was abused for criticising Scottish nationalism has deleted her Twitter account because she feared for her physical safety.
  Claire Heuchan, a Scottish PhD student at Stirling university, said she believed her often abusive opponents were trying to discover where she lived by searching and sharing tweets from her account.Cont
  
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• Ukip supporters: where should the party go from here?

  28-02-2017 17:01 via theguardian.com
  
  If you’ve voted for Ukip in the past, we want to know what you think the future of the party should be
  Ukip is battling over its future direction, after tensions between its former leader Nigel Farage and its sole MP, Douglas Carswell, again bubbled to the surface.Current leader Paul Nuttall has been under fire after his unsuccessful Stoke-on-Trent byelection campaign, and major donor Arron Banks has said the party needs to stop being “run like a jumble sale”.Continue reading..
  
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• Douglas Carswell ‘undermined everything we stood for’, says Nigel Farage – video

  28-02-2017 16:49 via theguardian.com
  
  Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage tells the BBC’s Daily Politics programme that the party’s only MP, Douglas Carswell, undermined him when he was leader as well as his successor, Paul Nuttall. Carswell reportedly mocked Farage’s attempts to get a knighthood
  Nigel Farage labels Ukip MP Douglas Carswell a ‘Tory party posh boy’Continue reading...
  
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• Boris Johnson Warns Trade Deal With EU Could Take Longer Than Two Years

  28-02-2017 16:49
  
  Boris Johnson has admitted it could take longer than two years for the United Kingdom to sign a trade deal with the European Union.
  The foreign secretary said today “electoral considerations” in France and Germany could lead to a delay.
  Theresa May has said a free trade deal with Brussels can be completed alongside the two-year exit talks.
  She is expected to trigger Article 50 - the formal process of leaving the EU - at some point this month.
  But Johnson issued note of caution today
  
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• 'Come off it, sunshine': Boris Johnson hits back at John Major

  28-02-2017 16:04 via theguardian.com
  
  Foreign secretary attacks ‘prognostications of gloom’ and opponents of Brexit who claim ‘the sky is about to fall in’ Boris Johnson had said he is fed up with people “droning and moaning” about the risks of Brexit, saying that he felt like telling those raising concerns such as Sir John Major to “Come off it, sunshine”.The foreign secretary did not name the former prime minister but made clear in a speech to the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) t
  
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• Nigel Farage accuses Douglas Carswell of sabotage

  28-02-2017 16:02
  Former Ukip leader demands ouster of party’s sole MP after defeat in Stoke by-election
  
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• 'Come off it, sunshine': Johnson's response to Major's Brexit speech – video

  28-02-2017 15:57 via theguardian.com
  
  Boris Johnson takes aim at former prime minister Sir John Major in his speech to the BCC in London on Tuesday, saying he gets impatient with people ‘moaning about the state of the world’. The foreign secretary also quips about UK exports, including ‘Nigel Farage to America’‘Come off it, sunshine’ - Boris Johnson’s response to Major’s ‘moaning’ Brexit speech - Politics live
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• Damian Green Denies Sneaking Out Cut To Disability Benefit Under Cover Of By-Elections

  28-02-2017 15:21
  
  Damian Green has insisted the government did not try to use the cover of the Copeland and Stoke by-elections to sneak out cuts to disability benefits.
  The government is facing a backbench Tory backlash against plans to roll back a legal ruling extending the personal independence payments (PIP) disability benefit.
  A tribunal has ruled that the criteria for qualifying for PIP payments should be expanded to include more people with mental health conditions. It is expected to include 160,000 e
  
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• 'I felt guilty when I got my results': your stories of buying essays | Guardian readers and Sarah Marsh

  28-02-2017 14:57 via theguardian.com
  
  Ministers want to get tough with students who buy custom-made work from ‘essay mill’ websites. Readers share their experiences
  The government has announced a crackdown on “essay mill” websites that sell written-to-order essays. Related: Plan to crack down on websites selling essays to students announcedContinue reading...
  
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• Brexit and Trump push world trade deals up EU list

  28-02-2017 14:34
  From European perspective, an accord with UK is only one piece of a bigger picture
  
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• Philip Hammond Attacked For Sexism After Branding Labour MP 'Hysterical'

  28-02-2017 14:12
  
  "I expect that sort of language from the Daily Mail, not the chancellor of the exchequer"
  Labour's Mary Creagh to Philip Hammond pic.twitter.com/WQFwnvsEk2— Esther Webber (@estwebber) February 28, 2017
  Philip Hammond has been accused by a Labour MP of trying to “diminish women” after he branded her “hysterical” in the House of Commons.
  Mary Creagh hit out at the chancellor today for his response to her question about whether British companies were preparing to move
  
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• Nigel Farage labels Ukip MP Douglas Carswell a 'Tory party posh boy'

  28-02-2017 14:07 via theguardian.com
  
  Former leader says party would be better off without its only MP, who has been called to meet chair amid knighthood row
  Ukip has descended into an open battle over its future direction after the former leader, Nigel Farage, called the party’s sole MP, Douglas Carswell, a “Tory party posh boy” who was afraid of talking about immigration and should be expelled.With tensions high between various factions in the party after the new leader, Paul Nuttall, failed to win last week&rsqu
  
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• Ukip MP Douglas Carswell Set For Crunch Meeting With Party Chairman As Nigel Farage Demands He's Booted Out

  28-02-2017 13:45
  
  Ukip’s only MP is set for a crunch meeting with his party chairman this afternoon, just hours after Nigel Farage called for him to be sacked.
  The former Ukip leader believes Douglas Carswell should be kicked out of the party for consistently undermining him when he was in charge, and also for blocking attempts to secure the MEP a knighthood.
  Other MEPs have also called on Carswell to go, leading current Ukip leader Paul Nuttall to insist party chairman Paul Oakden meets with the Clacton MP
  
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• Patent law: Theresa May's new Brexit battlefield

  28-02-2017 13:25
  
  May's rash promise to remove the UK from the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice will come back to haunt her
  
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• Britain’s chancellor faces the limits of austerity

  28-02-2017 13:23
  Manifesto pledges rule out the most obvious ways of raising revenue
  
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• A tale of two coups

  28-02-2017 13:17 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Beneath the radar there is a grassroots battle which will determine Labour's future.
  
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• John McDonnell Says Copeland Defeat Has Given Him A 'New Spirit' Of Unity

  28-02-2017 12:44
  
  John McDonnell has said Labour’s defeat in Copeland has given him the desire to have a “new spirit” of cooperation with MPs who are opposed to Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.
  The shadow chancellor yesterday was revealed to have written an article warning there was a “soft coup” being launched against Corbyn by Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson.
  But he today called on Labour MPs to “unite” to prevent the party being defeated at the next general election.
  
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• Boris Johnson to rebuke Brexit critics in thinly veiled attack on John Major

  28-02-2017 11:25 via theguardian.com
  
  Foreign secretary will use speech to British Chambers of Commerce to strike positive tone about Britain’s future outside the EUBoris Johnson will hit out at those projecting doom and gloom on Brexit in a speech that will be seen as a rebuke of Sir John Major, sources have told the Guardian.They said the foreign secretary would use a speech to the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) to strike a positive tone about the future for Britain outside the EU. Continue reading...
  
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• Farewell, Public Order: A Musical Tribute to Gerald Kaufman 1930-2017

  28-02-2017 10:54
  
  A tribute to the veteran Labour MP who died at 86
  
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• UK government departments told to outline cuts of up to 6%

  28-02-2017 10:44 via theguardian.com
  
  Shadow chancellor says news of further potential cuts was ‘sneaked out’ and condemns government’s ‘failed austerity’Government departments have been told to outline potential spending cuts of up to 6% with the aim of saving up to £3.5bn by 2020.Before the budget on 8 March, the chief secretary to the Treasury, David Gauke, announced that all Whitehall departments should submit ways to contribute to the government’s “efficiency review”. Contin
  
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• Corbyn actively works with May to force through hard Brexit

  28-02-2017 10:44
  
  Lord Hain is right, Corbyn is on the wrong side of the argument
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn Supporter's 'Soft Coup' Video Demonstrate How To Spot A Plotter

  28-02-2017 10:22
  
  A Jeremy Corbyn supporter has produced a remarkable video demonstrating how to spot a ‘soft coup’ plotter on Twitter.
  The clip, accompanied by sinister music, carries a warning that the new battleground for information is on social media and a new breed of “trolls” that are “polite and seem nice” are out to discredit the Labour leader.BREAKING: The #SoftCoup has started. The strategy is to cause division through social media. Take a look at this video and shar
  
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• Labour’s failure on the NHS is prolonging this health crisis | Polly Toynbee

  28-02-2017 09:59 via theguardian.com
  
  Without fear of the opposition, the Tories are wreaking havoc in our hospitals. When is enough enough?Remember Mavis Skeet? In 2000 the 74-year-old led the news for weeks when her operation for cancer of the oesophagus was cancelled four times, until it became inoperable and she died. Liam Fox, then shadow health secretary, exclaimed: “This is not an isolated case. The NHS is not coping!” Related: Three patients die at Worcestershire hospital amid NHS winter crisisContinue reading...
  
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• The uncomfortable truth about UK cuts | Frances Ryan

  28-02-2017 09:16 via theguardian.com
  
  With parks, libraries, hospitals and prisons under threat, we are not entering a new era of cuts to essential services, but one that more people can see Failing public services need better management: but who’s listening?
  Anyone still clinging on to the idea that austerity is a prudent economic choice will soon need to look no further than the bottom of their road – and their uncollected rubbish bin. Over the past few years, central government has been able to get away with what is n
  
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• The Waugh Zone February 28, 2017

  28-02-2017 09:14
  
  The five things you need to know on Tuesday, February 28…
  1) FROM MAJOR TO MINOR
  Sir John Major’s Brexit speech last night - an attack on Theresa May’s ‘cheap rhetoric' and a warning that the NHS could suffer in a bargain-basement, WTO-style Britain - certainly sparked a fresh cycle of sectarian verbal violence.There was a swift backlash from Tory MPs, anti-EU newspapers and anyone else simply irritated that he’d adopted the very position he loathed about Margaret
  
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• The House of Lords must be honest to be useful: we have too many members | Frances D’Souza

  28-02-2017 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Last night’s Meet the Lords documentary showed the important work we do. But cutting our numbers by a third would make the upper chamber far more effectiveThe House of Lords’ involvement in the Brexit bill has brought the house into the full glare of public – and prime ministerial – attention, most recently because of Lord Heseltine’s vow to defy a three-line government whip. That interest will only increase with the behind-the-scenes BBC television series that bega
  
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• Raising pension age will mean many people die before getting it, say MPs

  28-02-2017 08:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Government should move away from ‘triple lock’ guarantee, says work and pensions select committeeFurther increases in the state pension age could push it to the point where many working people die before qualifying for it, MPs have warned, in a report that calls for the end of the “triple lock” guarantee on pensions. Related: The new retirement: how an ageing population is transforming BritainContinue reading...
  
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