Political news

• Schools spending to rise by £500m in Budget

  06-03-2017 23:58
  Package includes £320m to help fund 140 new free schools
  
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• Budget to lift schools spending by £500m

  06-03-2017 23:58
  Package includes £320m to help fund 140 new free schools
  
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• Theresa May paves way for new generation of grammar schools

  06-03-2017 23:21
  
  Philip Hammond to set aside £320m in budget for expansion of government’s free school programme, with schools free to offer selective educationTheresa May will pave the way for a new generation of grammar schools on Wednesday, as her chancellor uses the budget to push ahead with a controversial policy that is seen as a key priority for the prime minister.Philip Hammond will plough £320m into expanding the government’s free school programme, creating 70,000 places in 140 s
  
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• Cumbria Zoo Deaths Spark Bizarre Row Between Kay Burley And MP John Woodcock

  06-03-2017 22:53
  
  Details of the neglect and cruelty inflicted upon animals at the South Lakes Safari Zoo in Cumbria were today reported widely after councillors rejected an application for a new licence for the zoo where almost 500 animals died within four years.
  David Gill, who founded the zoo in 1994, had his claim rejected unanimously by Barrow Borough Council’s licensing regulatory committee. The deaths at the Dalton-in-Furness between 2013 and 2016 were revealed in a report submitted to the
  
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• Anyone for tea?

  06-03-2017 22:42 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Allies of shadow chancellor John McDonnell urge party unity after tough few weeks for Jeremy Corbyn.
  
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• John McDonnell calls for Labour unity in week of budget

  06-03-2017 22:20
  
  Shadow chancellor criticises infighting and says focus should be on holding Philip Hammond to account over financesJohn McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, issued a call for unity to Labour MPs in the week of the budget, saying there should be contrition all round – including from himself – over infighting that has dogged the party in recent months. Related: Don’t blame Corbyn for the sins of Blair, Brown and New Labour | Ken LoachContinue reading...
  
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• Ofcom must investigate Murdoch's Sky takeover bid, says Tom Watson

  06-03-2017 21:22
  
  Labour MP urges culture secretary to ask regulator to consider corporate governance failures at Murdoch’s media empireRupert Murdoch’s attempted takeover of Sky must be thoroughly investigated by Ofcom in light of corporate governance failures surrounding the phone-hacking scandal, Tom Watson, the shadow culture secretary, has said.During a debate in the House of Commons on Monday, Watson pressed the culture secretary, Karen Bradley, to refer the deal to the regulator on grounds that
  
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• MPs debate sexist workplace dress codes following petition

  06-03-2017 21:20
  
  Parliament hears reports of women being told to wear high heels and revealing clothing or bleach their hair blondWomen are belittled and face the sack if they complain about sexist dress codes, such as wearing revealing clothing and high heels all day, MPs have heard.One MP described how her daughter was left with a fractured foot after being made to wear heels in a retail job. Speaking during a debate on Wednesday in parliament on workplace dress codes, Labour’s Gill Furniss said her daug
  
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• Disability benefits process is 'inherently flawed', MPs told

  06-03-2017 21:18
  
  As many as 80% of denied personal independence payment claims are overturned on appeal because of failures in system, say campaignersAs many as four out of five cases where a claimant has been denied disability benefits are overturned on appeal because of systemic failures in the initial assessment process, MPs have heard.Frontline welfare advisers told the work and pensions select committee that the personal independence payment (PIP) process was “inherently flawed”, resulting in th
  
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• Amber Rudd asked to reveal where secret £1bn conflict fund is spent

  06-03-2017 21:09
  
  MPs and peers want home secretary to tell them names of the 40 countries receiving aid from conflict, stability and security fundA £1bn-plus British conflict, stability and security fund (CSSF) is so secret that a committee of senior MPs and peers meant to be scrutinising it can’t even be told the names of the 40 countries where it is spent.The problem was raised on Monday with the home secretary, Amber Rudd, by a former Conservative defence minister Archie Hamilton, who said MPs had
  
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• Peugeot sale is an 'opportunity', says Clark. An opportunity for pigs to fly | John Crace

  06-03-2017 20:53
  
  Business secretary begs MPs to see Vauxhall sale in positive light as Labour’s Rebecca Long-Bailey asks if 40,000 jobs are guaranteedBritain is open for business, insisted Greg Clark. The only fly in the ointment was that it was principally open for overseas companies flogging their UK assets to other overseas companies. But the business secretary is by nature an optimist and was determined to cast General Motors’ sale of Vauxhall to Peugeot in a positive light. The devaluation of th
  
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• John McDonnell's Claims Of A 'Soft Coup' Ridiculed By MPs As He Urges Unity

  06-03-2017 20:47
  
  John McDonnell has come under fire from Labour MPs over his claims that they are part of a “soft coup” plot to unseat Jeremy Corbyn.
  Addressing the weekly meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), the Shadow Chancellor was also criticised for a perceived failure to hit the Tories harder over Brexit and the economy.
  As he set out the party’s priorities in Budget week, McDonnell told the PLP on Monday night that the Tories’ “biggest fear” was a unit
  
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• Martin Rowson on the Vauxhall/Opel takeover – cartoon

  06-03-2017 20:40
  
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• Northern Ireland result puts Brexit back centre-stage

  06-03-2017 20:09
  Nationalists convinced Leave prospect boosted support at polls
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn Blames 'Media Barons' For Tax Return Confusion

  06-03-2017 19:38
  
  Jeremy Corbyn has blamed “media barons” for causing confusion over his tax affairs, with the Labour leader arguing newspaper owners were fuelling “entirely false claims”.
  Corbyn on Sunday attempted to flush out millionaire Chancellor Philip Hammond’s tax return by publishing a summary of his own.
  But it appeared to backfire when it was unclear whether the Labour MP included his top-up salary as party leader in his headline calculations.
  Journalists f
  
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• Up to 30 Tory MPs could vote against ministers over Dubs refugee scheme

  06-03-2017 18:43
  
  Government faces potential Commons defeat over its decision to end arrival of unaccompanied refugee children The government faces a potential Commons defeat over its decision to end the arrival of unaccompanied refugee children under the Dubs scheme, with up to 30 Conservative MPs possibly voting to revive the process.Ministers announced last month that the numbers arriving under the system, introduced through an amendment by the Labour peer Lord Alf Dubs, who came to Britain as a child refugee
  
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• Corbyn accuses 'media barons' of hypocrisy over tax transparency - Politics live

  06-03-2017 18:37
  
  Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen10 things we’ve learnt from the YouGov poll of Labour membersNo 10 lobby briefing - SummaryLunchtime summaryAfternoon summary 5.32pm GMTI certainly agree with the principal that the European Arrest Warrant is an effective tool and is absolutely essential to delivering effective judgment to the murderers, rapists and paedophiles that we have managed to seek judgment on. It is a priority to ensure that we do remain part
  
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• 9,000 Youngsters Could Be Made Homeless By Housing Benefit Cuts, Warns Charity

  06-03-2017 18:30
  
  Up to 9,000 young people could be forced on to the streets if Theresa May pushes ahead with cuts to housing benefits, according to a homelessness charity.
  The Government confirmed on Friday that housing benefit would be scrapped for new applicants aged under-22, although there would be exemptions for those in special circumstances.
  Homelessness charity Centrepoint estimates that 9,000 youngsters will be at risk of sleeping in the streets because of the changes – based on the number of 18-2
  
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• Gerry Adams: May and Brokenshire are part of problem at Stormont

  06-03-2017 18:09
  
  Sinn Féin president says British government about to repeat past mistakes on assembly’s first day back after electionGerry Adams has claimed the prime minister and the Northern Ireland secretary are part of the problem in relation to the region’s post-election political stalemate.The Sinn Féin president singled out what he said was a British government attempt to seek “special deals for their own armed forces” in terms of soldiers not being prosecuted for Tr
  
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• Unite challenger shuns ‘Labour puppet master’ role

  06-03-2017 18:08
  Coyne faces tough task to unseat McCluskey as leader of biggest trade union
  
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• Did Obama Wiretap Trump? Kellyanne Conway Thinks So But Has Absolutely No Proof

  06-03-2017 17:53
  
  Donald Trump’s press aides have appeared on TV to defend his claim Barack Obama had his phones tapped armed with no evidence whatsoever.
  Seemingly without any concept of how the media, facts or reality work, both asserted that because news outlets had reported on the alleged conspiracy, this somehow made it true.
  President Trump made the explosive revelation on Saturday but as yet has provided absolutely no evidence to back it up.Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn tax return is 'complete and accurate', office says

  06-03-2017 17:34
  
  Labour leader’s office asserts that he has ‘declared all income and paid appropriate tax’ after questions about the return Jeremy Corbyn’s office has insisted that the Labour leader’s much-scrutinised tax return is “complete and accurate”, and was put together using his actual earnings and HMRC guidelines, after reports raised questions about it. Related: Corbyn accuses 'media barons' of hypocrisy over tax transparency - Politics liveContinue reading...
  
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• UK vocational education push must beware segregation

  06-03-2017 17:14
  Plan to address skills shortages has been widely welcomed, but there are potential pitfalls
  
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• Donald Trump Signs Watered-Down Muslim Ban That Excludes Iraq

  06-03-2017 16:43
  
  Donald Trump has been forced to water down his Muslim ban, signing a new one thats excludes Iraq from the list of countries affected.
  Trump triggered global outrage when he signed an order in January that, as well as suspending resettlement of Syrian refugees in the US, banned travel from seven Muslim countries: Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, Iran, Iraq and Syria.
  Judges struck down the ban after a wave of protests across the world.
  It sparked such confusion that staff at airports turned aw
  
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• 'Don't forget them': Bana Alabed, 7, asks Theresa May to help Syrian children

  06-03-2017 16:38
  
  Bana writes letter to British PM calling for food and medicine to be sent to children suffering in Syrian conflictBana Alabed, the seven-year-old girl whose tweets offered a glimpse into the violence and loss in besieged east Aleppo, has called on Theresa May to help Syrian children at risk of losing their lives in the country’s ongoing civil war.Bana tweeted an image of the letter to the British prime minister, which she said had been written with her mother’s help. Continue reading
  
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• John McDonnell Joint Favourite To Succeed Jeremy Corbyn - New Poll Of Labour Members

  06-03-2017 15:59
  
  John McDonnell has emerged as the joint favourite choice of Labour party members to succeed Jeremy Corbyn as leader, according to a new poll.
  The Shadow Chancellor tops the poll along with former Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, the YouGov/ElectionData survey found.
  McDonnell this weekend ruled out ever standing again for the leadership and insisted that Corbyn would lead Labour into the general election.
  But the new poll suggests he could come under strong pressure from the grassroots to c
  
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• Boris Johnson to tell Russia to 'keep nose' out of European elections

  06-03-2017 15:47
  
  British foreign secretary says Moscow must ‘show they can be trusted again’ amid fears it is meddling with democratic processesBoris Johnson, the British foreign secretary, will tell Russia to “keep its nose” out of western democratic processes when he visits Moscow in the coming weeks.
  The UK defence secretary, Michael Fallon, said there had been a step change in Russia’s behaviour in recent years, and that Johnson planned to raise the subject during a meeting sche
  
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• Hammond’s job is to be the slayer of bad ideas

  06-03-2017 15:14
  The UK chancellor shares the Treasury’s suspicion of grand schemes
  
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• Changing dynamics in Northern Ireland

  06-03-2017 14:44
  Nationalists were buoyed at assembly elections by voters worried about hard Brexit
  
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• Downing Street warns peers over ‘bad’ Brexit deal

  06-03-2017 14:04
  Number 10 puts pressure on Lords ahead of Article 50 vote on Tuesday
  
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• May believes EU could scupper Brexit if MPs given proper veto

  06-03-2017 13:51
  
  Prime minister will not allow meaningful vote in case it encourages EU to offer bad deal, spokesman saysTheresa May will not allow MPs and peers a proper veto over her Brexit deal in case it gives the EU the incentive to offer the UK bad terms, her spokesman has said.The prime minister believed the UK must not allow the establishment of a process that encouraged EU countries to scupper Brexit, he said on Monday. Continue reading...
  
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• When Is The Budget 2017? Predictions, Date And What To Expect

  06-03-2017 13:32
  
  Philip Hammond will this week deliver his first spring Budget - which will also be his last since the main Statement is due to be moved to the autumn.
  In future years, Hammond will deliver an autumn Budget and a Spring Statement.
  Announcing the change back in November, he said: “No other major economy makes hundreds of tax changes twice a year and neither should we.”
  The chancellor warned there would be no “spending sprees” while speaking on The Andrew Marr Show on Sunday
  
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• When Is The Budget 2017? Date, Predictions And What To Expect

  06-03-2017 13:32
  
  Philip Hammond will this week deliver his first spring Budget - which will also be his last since the main Statement is due to be moved to the autumn.
  In future years, Hammond will deliver an autumn Budget and a Spring Statement.
  Announcing the change back in November, he said: “No other major economy makes hundreds of tax changes twice a year and neither should we.”
  The chancellor warned there would be no “spending sprees” while speaking on The Andrew Marr Show on Sunday
  
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• Poland aims to thwart Tusk bid for new term as EU leader

  06-03-2017 12:49 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The Polish government backs a rival to Donald Tusk, but the EU's Polish president has strong support.
  
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• TrumpWatch: 5 Disturbing Things From The World Of Donald Trump This Weekend

  06-03-2017 12:41
  
  1) This Guy...This dickhole was at the trump rally in Nashville yesterday. Let's make him famous. #trumprussia #fuckracists #BenedictDonald #nashville pic.twitter.com/meb2D7dQnx— Donnie Apple (@mcskinner11) March 5, 2017
  Not only is that moustache borderline criminal, this gent spotted at a pro-Trump rally in Nashville is wearing what is possibly the most offensive t-shirt of recent times.
  The t-shirt is available online from T-SHIRT HELL and inexplicably comes in a “censored version
  
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• Martin McGuinness seriously ill in hospital, reports say

  06-03-2017 12:26
  
  As Northern Ireland assembly talks begin, sources confirm health of former deputy first minister is deteriorating
  The health of Martin McGuinness, the former deputy first minister of Northern Ireland, is seriously deteriorating, reports have suggested.As talks aimed at restoring Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government got under way in Belfast, sources in McGuinness’s native Derry confirmed a story in Monday’s Irish News which said he had been in hospital for the last two we
  
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• Vauxhall-Opel sold by GM to Peugeot-Citroen

  06-03-2017 12:11 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The 2.2bn euro deal raises fears of job cuts at Vauxhall's UK factories, which employ 4,500 workers.
  
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• Scottish politicians welcome Aberdeen-Standard Life deal

  06-03-2017 11:52
  MPs say merger has benefits but there are concerns over threat of job losses
  
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• Brexit: Ending free movement may not cut migration, says Lords report

  06-03-2017 11:21 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Ending free movement after Brexit may not result in lower migration, a Lords report says.
  
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• Pointless, cruel & expensive: It's time to close Yarl's Wood

  06-03-2017 10:33
  
  We are detaining women who have experienced rape and torture. But there is a better way
  
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• Peugeot-Citroen agrees deal with GM to buy Vauxhall-Opel

  06-03-2017 10:31 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The 2.2bn euro deal raises fears of job cuts at Vauxhall's UK factories, which employ 4,500 workers.
  
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• The Waugh Zone March 6, 2017

  06-03-2017 10:05
  
  The five things you need to know on Monday, March 6…
  1 BUDGET MEANS BREXIT
  In case you missed it, this week is Budget week. It’s the last one of its kind, before the tax-and-spending statement moves to the Autumn and is replaced thereafter by a mere “Spring Statement”.This weekend, thanks to Philip Hammond’s various media appearances, we learned some of the big picture and smaller detail. He wants to squirrel away £60bn on a ‘Brexit warchest’ in
  
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• Assembly election: DUP and Sinn Féin urged to secure deal

  06-03-2017 09:56 via bbc.co.uk
  
  NI Secretary says it is up to the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin to secure a deal.
  
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• 'Brexit casts doubts over Vauxhall jobs'

  06-03-2017 09:52 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Sir Vince Cable says 'there must be doubts' over Vauxhall jobs due to Brexit
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn's Tax Return And Leader Income Clarified By Press Office

  06-03-2017 09:39
  
  Jeremy Corbyn did declare his income as Labour leader on his 2015/16 tax return, his office has confirmed. 
  The “missing £40,000” is listed on page four of the document under “public office” as it was classed as a benefit rather than salary, a spokesperson told The Huffington Post UK.
  Corbyn released his tax return over the weekend in response to Chancellor Philip Hammond dismissing a challenge from Labour’s Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell to publis
  
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• UK will have to give up all EU perks after Brexit, François Hollande warns

  06-03-2017 08:00
  
  French president says UK has made bad choice at bad moment and that he ‘will not give in to despair’ over EU’s future and Le Pen threatThe French president, François Hollande, has warned that Britain cannot hang on to the advantages of EU membership after it leaves, saying his message to Britain is: “That’s not possible; the UK will become an outsider to the European Union.”In an interview with the Guardian and five other European newspapers as he prepa
  
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• Government faces Lords defeat over registration of student voters

  06-03-2017 08:00
  
  Peers expected to support amendment to higher education and research bill one day before Brexit bill returns to upper chamberThe government is facing another defeat in the Lords over student voter registration a day before crucial Brexit legislation returns to the upper chamber.Peers are expected to vote on Monday to support an amendment to the higher education and research bill that would make it mandatory for all higher education institutions to offer students the opportunity to be placed on t
  
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• Chancellor's budget likely to appease dissent and aim to tackle Brexit | Heather Stewart

  06-03-2017 08:00
  
  Philip Hammond expected to deal with Tory backbenchers challenging austerity aspects and business rate rises, and set plan for ‘transition’ yearWhen Philip Hammond was transport secretary, the bicycling photo opportunities favoured by David Cameron were not his style: his favourite way to get about, he admitted, was at the wheel of his own Jag.So perhaps it should have been no surprise that Hammond, who must now steer Britain’s economy through the most uncertain period since Le
  
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• UK carbon emissions fall to late-19th century levels

  06-03-2017 06:05
  Coal power production diminished by gas, renewables and government policy
  
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• UK carbon emissions fall to 19th century levels

  06-03-2017 06:05
  Coal power production diminished by gas, renewables and government policy
  
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