Political news

• Home Office staff told to avoid criticism of Donald Trump

  14-03-2017 23:57 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Staff urged to avoid "politically controversial" subjects and respect impartiality rules.
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn's Leadership Is So Poor He 'Makes IDS Look Like JFK', Claims Lib Dems' Tim Farron

  14-03-2017 22:04
  
  Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron has launched his strongest attack yet on Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, describing him as a politician “who makes IDS look like JFK”.
  In an interview with HuffPost UK, Farrron suggested that his party could overtake Labour as the main Opposition within a few years as Corbyn led it to a historic defeat.
  Speaking ahead of the Lib Dem spring conference this weekend, he said the Labour leader and his close allies were seen as both “incompetent&
  
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• MP Craig Mackinlay quizzed over election expenses

  14-03-2017 21:32 via bbc.co.uk
  
  South Thanet Conservative Craig Mackinlay is being investigated over general election spending.
  
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• Tory MP Craig Mackinlay 'Interviewed By Police Under Caution' In Election Expenses Probe

  14-03-2017 21:12
  
  A Tory MP has reportedly been interviewed by police under caution as part of the investigation into the party’s election expenses at the last election.
  Media are reporting that police interviewed South Thanet MP Craig Mackinlay last week as they investigate allegations that campaigns in the 2015 General Election in a raft of seats failed to declare the expenses of “Battlebus” campaigners who were drafted in to campaign in marginal constituencies across the country.
  The investig
  
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• Martin Rowson on Theresa May and forging Brexit consensus – cartoon

  14-03-2017 20:37
  
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• Drugs groups take aim at Tories over new medicines

  14-03-2017 20:35 via ft.com
  Nice accused of breaking manifesto pledge to faster patient access
  
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• Charlotte Hogg’s exit raises tough questions for Bank of England | Nils Pratley

  14-03-2017 20:34
  
  The internal review of lessons to be learned from the deputy governor’s resignation must be rigorousCharlotte Hogg’s original error was perhaps forgivable. It was astonishing that she could omit her brother’s job at Barclays in a form asking about personal relationships that could be perceived as creating conflicts of interest. It is jaw-dropping that she could have written the Bank of England’s code herself and yet failed to follow its precise instructions. But even seni
  
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• The Guardian view on Charlotte Hogg’s resignation: a sorry affair | Editorial

  14-03-2017 20:26
  
  Not just one woman, but the entire Bank of England needs to learn the lessons from this debacleA regulator cannot be seen to break the rules. On those grounds alone, Charlotte Hogg was right to resignas deputy governor of the Bank of England. She had failed to disclose that her brother was a senior executive at Barclays, a bank that would be under her very own regulation. And she had failed to do so not once, but a number of times, despite a series of prompts by the Bank of England to declare po
  
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• Conservative MP interviewed by police over election spending

  14-03-2017 19:45
  
  Craig Mackinlay questioned about whether Tories overspent in 2015 South Thanet campaign against Nigel FarageA Conservative MP has been interviewed under caution as part of an ongoing police inquiry into whether the party overspent in its campaign for South Thanet in the 2015 general election, when they were up against Nigel Farage.Craig Mackinlay, the MP who won the seat against the former Ukip leader, is said to have spent about six hours speaking to police about their investigation, which has
  
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• Don't mention the divorce: why must it all be about Brexit, thought Theresa | John Crace

  14-03-2017 19:44
  
  The PM unleashed the diplomacy she was planning to charm the EU with – but for some reason the Scots seemed to find the offence in her charm offensive“Don’t call it a divorce,” said Theresa May crossly. “Brexit isn’t a divorce.” She was right. A divorce implies two parties more or less amicably agreeing their terms of separation within a couple of years. Brexit was going to be messier than that. Much messier. The chances of reaching a mutually satisfacto
  
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• Facebook, Twitter and Google grilled by MPs over hate speech

  14-03-2017 19:43 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Facebook, Twitter and Google are told by MPs to do a "better job" on hate speech and abuse images.
  
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• Don’t let them grind you down, Mhairi | Letters

  14-03-2017 19:42
  
  Mhairi Black, Britain’s youngest MP, says she may stand down at the next general election because, in Westminster, so little gets done (Report, 13 March). It is old and defunct in terms of its systems and procedures – much of the time, it is just a waste of time. Surely Mhairi is just the kind of person who should stand for a second term. She has now had two years to size up the place and its modus operandi. She has youth, intelligence, vision and the strength of character and person
  
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• Theresa May’s charmless style will undermine her Brexit talks | Rafael Behr

  14-03-2017 19:36
  
  The prime minister’s lack of diplomacy towards EU leaders is weakening Britain’s negotiating position and makes a smooth exit less likelyThere aren’t many rules to drug dealing, but one of them is not to get high on your own supply. The product is for punters, and getting wasted is bad for business. The equivalent rule in politics is not to be taken in by your own spin. Prime ministers employ people to push positive stories about them on Westminster street corners. But they sho
  
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• Charlotte Hogg resigns as Bank of England deputy governor

  14-03-2017 19:23
  
  Treasury select committee said executive was not up to the job due to her failure to disclose a potential conflict of interestCharlotte Hogg has resigned as deputy governor of the Bank of England after MPs concluded she was not up to the role she was promoted into barely two weeks ago.
  Her departure was announced 25 minutes after the Treasury select committee published a highly critical report prompted by her failure to disclose that her brother works for Barclays, which is regulated by the Bank
  
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• Face-off between MPs and social media giants over online hate speech

  14-03-2017 19:08
  
  Committee tells Twitter, Facebook and others they should get tough on online abuse, with one MP accusing them of ‘commercial prostitution’Facebook and Twitter should do more to combat fake news, says GCHQ
  Social media companies including Twitter, Facebook and Google have come under pressure from MPs for failing to take tougher action to tackle hate speech online.
  During heated exchanges at the Commons home affairs committee one Labour MP went as far as accusing internet company execu
  
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• Did Barack Obama Wiretap Donald Trump? According To Fox News, GCHQ Did It For Him

  14-03-2017 18:54
  
  A Fox News analyst has claimed - without evidence - that Barack Obama wiretapped Donald Trump with the help of a British spying agency to monitor him during the election campaign.
  Andrew Napolitano said three intelligence sources had told him the former President may have gone “outside the chain of command” and asked GCHQ to avoid “American fingerprints.
  It follows a tweet by Trump earlier this month that Trump Tower in New York had been wiretapped - in which the President also
  
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• How family ties tripped up Hogg at Bank of England

  14-03-2017 18:39 via ft.com
  Damning report by MPs after poor Commons performance sealed fate of establishment insider
  
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• Hogg’s BoE moment of triumph was start of downfall

  14-03-2017 18:39 via ft.com
  Appearance before MPs should have been gentle ride but it exposed potential conflict of interest
  
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• Don't call Brexit 'divorce' from EU, Theresa May tells MPs - Politics live

  14-03-2017 18:07
  
  Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including Theresa May’s Commons statement on last week’s EU summitLunchtime summaryTheresa May’s Commons Brexit statement - SummaryAfternoon summary 5.07pm GMT 4.59pm GMTAt cabinet this morning’s ministers discussed Scotland and the prime minister’s “plan for Britain”. Theresa May’s spokesman would not be drawn any further on her view of the timing of a second independence r
  
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• Scottish Independence Referendum Odds, Polls And Your Questions Answered

  14-03-2017 17:57
  
  Nicola Sturgeon has said she plans to trigger another Scottish independence referendum - and that she expects to win.
  Here are your questions answered on the potential referendum...
  When will the Scottish independence referendum take place?Speaking in Edinburgh on Monday morning, Scotland’s first minister said she wanted the vote to be held between Autumn 2018 and Spring 2019.
  However, sources close to Theresa May told the Daily Telegraph she said she would not allow a referendum until sev
  
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• New Trade Deals Are 'Far Beyond' Liam Fox's Department, Warns Lords Committee

  14-03-2017 17:46
  
  International Trade Secretary Liam Fox does not have the staff to secure new trade deals while also negotiating a Brexit deal with the EU, a Lords report warned today.
  In a damning verdict on the UK’s preparedness for life outside Brussels, the Lords EU Committee warned that striking deals with 15 countries identified by leading ministers “seem to be far beyond the Government’s current staff resources.”
  The report – “Brexit: trade in goods” – also
  
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• Sturgeon’s appeal gives her edge in Scottish referendum

  14-03-2017 17:28 via ft.com
  Scotland’s first minister is widely regarded as one of UK’s most effective politicians
  
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• Nicola Sturgeon signals Scotland referendum could be held after Brexit

  14-03-2017 17:26
  
  First minister indicates she could wait until after UK leaves EU in March 2019 if more time needed to confirm Brexit termsNicola Sturgeon has indicated she could delay a fresh Scottish independence referendum until after Brexit, in the hope of a deal with Theresa May on its timing.After saying on Monday the vote must be offered before the UK leaves the EU in March 2019, the first minister signalled she could stage it after that date if more time was needed to confirm the precise terms for the UK
  
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• Ivanka Trump is complicit in her dad’s mission to get rich at the US’s expense | Arwa Mahdawi

  14-03-2017 17:05
  
  She’s an attractive package, ​appeal​ing​ to Trump’s heartland while simultaneously appeasing liberals. ​But don’t be fooledI hope you are ready to improve and expand your vocabulary today because I am about to drop a very complicated word. Complicit | kəm-’pli-sət | adjective. Merriam-Webster defines it as “helping to commit a crime or do wrong in some way”. One could, for example, say that Ivanka Trump is complicit in her da
  
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• Is it time for the UK to rethink identity cards?

  14-03-2017 16:55 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A succession of peers suggest that in the wake of the Brexit vote ministers should rethink the previous government's decision to axe identity cards.
  
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• 'End the London-centricity': young people on the future of politics

  14-03-2017 16:55
  
  After Mhairi Black said she finds parliament ‘depressing’ we asked the future of UK politics to tell us how they would like to see things changedIt’s a mixed bag. I certainly worry about the implications of having all of our mistakes and history preserved forever online, ready to be picked apart by journalists. It could mean only the boring are allowed to progress and we’ve got enough of them in power now. Equally, many young people like me are turned off by the tradition
  
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• EU workplace headscarf ban 'can be legal', says ECJ

  14-03-2017 16:46 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Employers can ban visible religious symbols as long as it is across-the-board, top Europe court says.
  
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• The Brexit bucket list: what to do before you leave the EU

  14-03-2017 16:44
  
  With the UK on the verge of triggering article 50, Britons have just two years to enjoy the EU’s benefits. So act now if you want to drop everything and move to Greece. Or perhaps you’d like to apply for an agricultural subsidyThe people have spoken. What they said wasn’t clear, but we got the gist and so, by the end of March 2019, the UK will have left the EU. There remain rather a lot of details to be straightened out, but, at the end of it, many of our automatic rights and p
  
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• Serve English wine to help oil wheels of Brexit, urges MP

  14-03-2017 16:37 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Serving homegrown wine at diplomatic functions could help EU negotiations, it is claimed.
  
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• Don’t call Brexit a ‘divorce’, Theresa May tells MPs

  14-03-2017 16:28 via ft.com
  PM looks to refocus premiership after bruising battles
  
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• Theresa May expected to tour UK in effort to forge Brexit consensus

  14-03-2017 16:26
  
  PM will seek to appease concerns over inclusion of devolved administrations in EU talks and ease tensions with Scottish governmentTheresa May is planning a tour of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in an attempt to build consensus before she triggers article 50 and embarks on the formal Brexit process, the Guardian understands.It has been suggested that the prime minister and the Brexit secretary, David Davis, will also meet key business figures to discuss Britain’s approach to the EU n
  
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• It’s time for Wales to start talking about independence | Ellie Mae O’Hagan

  14-03-2017 16:05
  
  In my heart, I long for Wales to leave the UK. While the economics doesn’t add up, we urgently need to follow Scotland in discussing our future as a nationNicola Sturgeon’s announcement on Monday that she plans to hold a second referendum on Scottish independence was inevitable after Theresa May refused to discuss full Scottish access to the single market and threatened to restrict new powers for Scotland after Brexit. Downing Street, having decided the British people have had quite
  
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• UKIP denies donor Arron Banks' suspension claim

  14-03-2017 15:44 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Arron Banks says he is now going to concentrate "on our new movement".
  
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• Theresa May hails 'defining' Brexit moment

  14-03-2017 15:43 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Theresa May tells MPs her EU departure timetable remains on track after bill clears Parliament.
  
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• Unilever urges changes to UK’s takeover rules

  14-03-2017 15:42 via ft.com
  Anglo-Dutch group calls on Westminster to safeguard national corporate champions
  
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• Sadiq Khan: EU citizens' rights guarantee would prevent London worker exodus

  14-03-2017 15:18
  
  Sadiq Khan says businesses in the capital need reassurance over fate of a million Londoners who are EU citizensThe government should offer a “cast iron guarantee” on the rights of EU nationals the moment article 50 is triggered to avoid a potentially disastrous exodus of staff and jobs from London, Sadiq Khan has told MPs.Suggesting he might also support a London-only system of work permits for foreign nationals, the city’s mayor said businesses needed reassurance over the fate
  
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• The new Royal Yacht Britannia – a £100m begging bowl?

  14-03-2017 14:45
  
  Boris Johnson is campaigning to build a new ‘soft power’ ship that he thinks will get trade deals rolling in, presumably from countries impressed by our big shiny boatName: Royal Yacht Britannia.Age: Pending. Continue reading...
  
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• Gina Miller: MPs lost backbone over Brexit bill – video

  14-03-2017 14:45
  
  Gina Miller, the British businesswoman who took the government to court over Brexit, expresses her disappointment that parliament has given the prime minister, Theresa May, the power to file for divorce from the European UnionScotland will leave EU even if votes for independence soon, UK government says- Politics liveContinue reading...
  
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• 'The landscape has changed': Scottish voters on re-evaluating independence | Guardian readers and Matthew Holmes

  14-03-2017 14:43
  
  We asked readers how factors such as Brexit might change how they would vote in a new independence referendum in Scotland
  Nicola Sturgeon announced yesterday that she would act to ensure Scotland had a new independence referendum at the end of the Brexit process, before Theresa May stepped in to reject the first minister’s timetable, accusing the SNP leader of “tunnel vision”. Related: Scottish independence: Nicola Sturgeon fires starting gun on referendumContinue reading...
  
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• Charities criticise new government rules on Dubs child refugees

  14-03-2017 14:38
  
  Cut-off date set by Home Office will exclude the majority of lone children now in camps in Greece, campaigners sayNew Home Office criteria to fill the last 150 places under the Dubs scheme to bring lone refugee children in Europe to Britain have been sharply criticised by charities and campaigners.The department has said only children who arrived in Europe before 20 March 2016 will be eligible for the remaining places before the scheme is closed in April.Continue reading...
  
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• Scottish independence: Sturgeon says Holyrood 'must shape' plans for vote

  14-03-2017 14:36 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Nicola Sturgeon says there should be "no blocking mechanisms" to a Scottish independence vote.
  
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• The lone challenger to a hard Brexit

  14-03-2017 14:27 via ft.com
  Nicola Sturgeon is the only individual who might give Theresa May pause for thought
  
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• Theresa May Confirms She Will Trigger Article 50 By End Of March After Brexit Bill Clears Lords

  14-03-2017 14:13
  
  Theresa May has confirmed she intends to trigger Article 50 before the end of March.
  Last night the EU (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill cleared the House of Lords and the prime minister said it would receive royal assent “in the coming days”.
  May will then have been handed the authority by parliament to begin the formal Brexit negotiations with Brussels.
  In a statement to the House of Commons today, May said this would be a “defining moment for our whole country”.
  It ha
  
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• Article 50 Trigger Date: Theresa May Confirms End Of March After Brexit Bill Clears Lords

  14-03-2017 14:13
  
  Theresa May has confirmed she intends to trigger Article 50 before the end of March.
  Last night the EU (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill cleared the House of Lords and the prime minister said it would receive royal assent “in the coming days”.
  May will then have been handed the authority by parliament to begin the formal Brexit negotiations with Brussels.
  In a statement to the House of Commons today, May said this would be a “defining moment for our whole country”.
  It ha
  
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• Who decides the date of a Scottish independence referendum?

  14-03-2017 13:54 via ft.com
  Downing Street expected to be more assertive about the timing than in previous poll
  
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• 'Lots of nurses have already left': EU workers head for exit

  14-03-2017 13:26
  
  How is the prospect of Brexit affecting different sectors? We asked you whether many EU workers were leaving or had plans to leave. Here are your stories
  Since news of the UK’s looming departure from the European Union hit, lots of industries have spoken out about fears of losing European workers. On Monday academics from Oxford University said staff would go if they were not reassured about their future. It comes amid news that EU citizens working in the NHS are thinking of leaving in the
  
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• Charlotte Hogg was right to resign, but the departure is cause for concern

  14-03-2017 13:19
  
  Treasury committee accepted ex-Bank deputy’s reassurances no conflict of interest issues were raised but the Bank should have been more scrupulousCharlotte Hogg had to go. If you work in one of the top jobs at the Bank of England and MPs say your professional competence falls short of the highest standards required, you are toast. She jumped before she was pushed.The report from the Treasury select committee that sent Hogg on her way could hardly have been more damning about her failure to
  
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• Counting the cost of Brexit in extra civil servants and endless tinkering

  14-03-2017 13:04
  
  As councils decide whether to cut libraries or social care, Whitehall’s Brexit juggernaut pulls in new staff to tackle the historic taskHow many customs officers will the UK need once it has completed a Brexit deal with the EU? Like the number of angels dancing on a pinhead, that may seem to be one of those questions – especially if the SNP gets, and wins, a second independence referendum for Scotland – that is unanswerable right now. Continue reading...
  
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• Britain is in chaos – and now the Tories may destroy the union | Owen Jones

  14-03-2017 13:03
  
  David Cameron warned us an Ed Miliband government would lead to chronic instability – but the former prime minister’s legacy leaves the country teetering on the edge of collapseTell you what, I haven’t half enjoyed all this stability David Cameron promised at the last election. “Britain faces a simple and inescapable choice,” he tweeted solemnly, “stability and strong government with me, or chaos with Ed Miliband.”Who needs The Walking Dead: if you ever
  
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• Ukip donor Arron Banks says he has quit party to set up 'Ukip 2.0'

  14-03-2017 13:02
  
  Man who bankrolled Leave.EU campaign claims his membership was suspended after his outspoken attacks on party Arron Banks, the Ukip donor who bankrolled the multimillion-pound Leave.EU Brexit campaign, has said he has quit Ukip and will now set up a new political force.The insurance millionaire said on Tuesday that he was planning to “concentrate on our new movement” after he claimed Ukip had suspended his membership.Continue reading...
  
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